Be a Perfect Man
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
Be a Perfect Man
Christian Masculinity and the Carolingian Aristocracy
Andrew J. Romig
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2017 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Romig, Andrew J., author.
Title: Be a perfect man : Christian masculinity and the
Carolingian aristocracy / Andrew J. Romig.
Other titles: Middle Ages series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of
Pennsylvania Press, [2017] | Series: The Middle Ages
series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017003575 | ISBN 9780812249248 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Carolingians—Conduct of life. |
Nobility—Europe—Conduct of life. | Masculinity—
Religious aspects—Christianity—History—To 1500. |
Masculinity—Europe—History—To 1500. |
Emotions—Europe—History—To 1500. | Caritas (the
Latin word)
Classification: LCC DC70 .R66 2017 | DDC 155.3/32094409021—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017003575
Contents
Introduction. Ideology, Gender, and Discourse in the Carolingian World
Chapter 1. The Authority of the Ascetic Male
Chapter 2. Manifestos of Carolingian Power
Chapter 3. Louis the Pious and the Manliness of Forgiving
Chapter 4. Questioning Caritas in the Time of Troubles
Chapter 5. The Emergence of the Secular-Spiritual Hybrid
Conclusion. Manliness and Empathy
Abbreviations
| CCSL | Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. Turnhout: Brepols, 1953–. |
| CSEL | Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1866–. |
| Lambot | Cyrille Lambot, ed. Oeuvres théologiques et grammaticales de Godescalc d’Orbais. Louvain: “Spicilegium sacrum Lovianiense” Bureaux, 1945. |
| MGH | Monumenta Germaniae Historica |
| Capit. | Capitularia regum Francorum. Ed. Alfred Boretius and Victor Krause. 2 vols. Hanover: Hahn, 1883, 1897. |
| Epp. | Epistolae Merowingici and Karolini aevi. Ed. Ernst Dümmler et al. 6 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1892–1939. |
| Fontes iuris | Fontes iuris Germanici antiqui in usum scholarum separatim editi. Ed. Mario Krammer. 16 vols. Hanover: Hahn, 1909–. |
| Poetae | Poetae Latini aevi Carolini. Ed. Ernst Dümmler. 4 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1881–1923. |
| SS | Scriptores. Ed. Georg Pertz et al. 39 vols. Hanover: Hahn, 1826–. |
| SS rer. Germ. | Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi. Ed. Georg Pertz et al. 80 vols. Hanover: Hahn, 1871–. |
| SS rer. Germ. N.S. | Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova series. Ed. Harry Bresslau et al. 25 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1922–. |
| SS rer. Merov. | Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum. Ed. Bruno Krusch and Wilhelm Levison. 7 vols. Hanover: Hahn, 1885–1951. |
| QQ zur Geistesgesch. | Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters. Ed. Alois Wachtel et al. 27 vols. Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1955–. |
| PL | Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina. Ed. J.-P. Migne et al. 221 vols. Paris, 1841–1864. |
| SC | Sources Chrétiennes. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1943–. |
Introduction
Ideology, Gender, and Discourse in the Carolingian World
I advise you so that you can be a perfect man. The man who wears down his feet in the mud and the dust as he walks the earth is blessed on account of his worthy merits. He already has his name written in the heavenly kingdom.
—Dhuoda of Septimania to her son, William (ninth century)
Dhuoda of Septimania (d. c. 843/844) penned these solemn words to her absent son, William (d. 849/850), as her world was collapsing all around her. The year was 842 or 843, the most violent apogee of an era of anarchy and civil war that Dhuoda’s contemporaries would come to call their tempus perturbationum—their “time of troubles.” Dhuoda’s husband, once a powerful lord and trusted advisor to the emperor, now lived in exile. He had been forced to surrender William, a boy in his mid-teens, to live as a hostage ward in an enemy court. In his flight, furthermore, he had taken with him his only remaining heir, a baby born to Dhuoda no more than a year or two of age. Thus, Dhuoda wrote her words alone and bereft, left behind, sick in body and roiled in spirit, seeking what comfort she could in a final act of motherly love and protection. Her solace was the hope that her son might one day receive her little book of advice, learn from its wisdom, and live to become a vir perfectus—a “perfect man.”
What it meant to be such a man within the aristocratic