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Horizontal and Vertical Theologies: “Sacraments” in the Works of Paschasius Radbertus and Ratramnus of Corbie*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2010

Owen M. Phelan
Owen M. Phelan*
Affiliation:
Mount Saint Mary's Seminary and University
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Extract

In the middle decades of the ninth century, Charles the Bald, the West Frankish Carolingian ruler, received two treatises on the subject of the Eucharist. Paschasius Radbertus (ca. 790–ca. 865) and Ratramnus (d. after 868), both monks from the royal monastery at Corbie in Neustria, composed treatises entitled De corpore et sanguine domini.1 That these were the very first Latin Christian treatises devoted solely to the Eucharist and, further, that they came to different conclusions, has attracted well-earned scholarly scrutiny from almost immediately after their appearance. I would like to return to the question of the difference between their views. Specifically, I will show that the doctrinal differences between the two treatises have their roots in different approaches to, or—perhaps better—interests in, sacraments in general. The two authors do not take opposed positions on the topic of the sacraments, or even mutually contradicting positions on the Eucharist, rather they choose to emphasize different aspects of the sacrament, different guiding themes which suggest to each different lines of analysis. Paschasius sees sacraments primarily as instruments of unity, while Ratramnus views sacraments principally as salvific tools. This recognition yields two insights. It recalibrates analysis of the eucharistic tracts, foregrounding the contemporary concerns of the authors, while deliberately deemphasizing the subsequent theological controversies and scholarly debates into which the treatises were drawn. For both Paschasius and Ratramnus, distinctive approaches to sacraments color not only their analyses of the Eucharist, but also their approaches to larger political and social questions. This recognition also emphasizes the vibrance and creativity characteristic of the Carolingian theological milieu, too often dismissed as a supposedly derivative and unoriginal era in Christian theology. To these ends, the paper will proceed in four stages. First, I situate my question in the long historiography of the Corbie eucharistic treatises. Second, I briefly set the authors and their treatises in historical context. Third, I compare their ‘sacramental’ theologies of the Eucharist, underscoring both Paschasius's emphasis on its horizontal or communal significance and Ratramnus's stress on its vertical or salvific importance. Fourth, I trace how each author's particular sacramental interests remain consistent across their other projects with ramifications for their theological and social opinions.

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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 103 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 271 - 290
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Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010

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References

1 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore et sanguine domini (CCCM 16; Turnhout: Brepols, 1969); Ratramnus, De corpore et sanguine domini. Texte original et notice bibliographique (ed. J. N. Bakuizen van den Brink; Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1974).

2 Gerbertus, De corpore et sanguine domini (PL 139.0179A—0183D). Although Migne published the text under the name Gerbertus, the text's attribution and significance have been well-established. See Willemien Otten, “Between Augustinian Sign and Carolingian Reality: The Presence of Ambrose and Augustine in the Eucharistic Debate between Paschasius Radbertus and Ratramnus of Corbie,” Dutch Review of Church History 80 (2000) 137—56, at 139; Jean-Paul Bouhot, Ratramne de Corbie. Histoire littéraire et controverses doctrinales (Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1976) 129—35; Joseph Lebon, “Sur la doctrine eucharistique d'Heriger de Lobbes,” Studia Mediaevalia in Honorem admodum Reverendi Patris Raymundi J. Martin (Brugis: De Tempel, 1948) 61—84; Josef Geiselmann, Die Eucharistielehre der Vorscholastik (Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1926) 267—81.

3 The well-known Magdeburg Centuries highlights the episode. Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Ecclesiastica historia (Basel: Oporini, 1559—1574) Century 9 de doctrina. A similar spirit led to the popularity of Ratramnus's text in sixteenth-century England as with, for example, the publication of The Book of Barthram Priest/Intreatinge of thee Bodye and Bloude of Christe, Wryten to Great Charles the Emperoure (London: Thomas Raynalde, 1549). Van den Brink offers substantial detail concerning the transmission and reception of Ratramnus's work in his introduction to the critical edition of De corpore, see Ratramnus, De corpore, 71—137.

4 Michael Frassetto, “The Gentle Voice of Teachers: Carolingian Eucharistic Thought and the Sermons of Ademar of Chabannes” in Medieval Monks and Their World: Ideas and Realities. Studies in Honor of Richard E. Sullivan (ed. David Blanks, Michael Frassetto, and Amy Livingstone; Brill's Series in Church History 25; Leiden: Brill, 2006) 147—62; Otten, “Between Augustinian Sign and Carolingian Reality,” 137—56; Patricia McCormick Zirkel, “The Ninth-Century Eucharistic Controversy: A Context for the Beginnings of Eucharistic Doctrine in the West,” Worship 68 (1994) 2—23; Celia Chazelle, “Figure, Character, and the Glorified Body in the Carolingian Eucharistic Controversy,” Traditio 47 (1992) 1—36; Hans Jorissen, “Zum Verhältnis von Bild und Sakrament. Wandlungen des philosophischen Kontextes als Hintergrund der frühmittelalterlichen Eucharistiestreitigkeiten,” in Streit um das Bild. Das zweite Konzil von Nizäa (787) in ökumenischer Perspektive (ed. Josef Wohlmuth; Bonn: Bouvier, 1989) 97—111; Jaroslav Pelikan,The Growth of Medieval Theology 600—1300 (vol. 3 of The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) 74—80; George H. Tavard, “The Church as Eucharistic Communion in Medieval Theology” in Continuity and Discontinuity in Church History: Essays Presented to George Huston Williams on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (ed. F. Forrester Church and Timothy George; Leiden: Brill, 1979) 92—103; W.V. Tanghe, “Ratramnus of Corbie: The Uses of the Fathers in His Writings,” StPatr16 (1982) 176—80; John F. Fahey, The Eucharistic Teaching of Ratramn of Corbie (Mundelein: St Mary of the Lake Seminary, 1951); Henri de Lubac, L'eucharistie et l'église au moyen âge (Paris: Aubier, 1949); Geiselmann, Die Eucharistielehre.

5 Geiselmann, Die Eucharistielehre, 194: “Radbert ist Realist, Ratramnus dagegen Symboliker.”

6 Ibid., 216: “Ratramnus zeigt unverkennbar eine innere Verwandt-schaft mit den an Augustin orientierten Theologen seines Jahrhunderts. Aber wie Radbert auf seiten der ambrosianisch denken den erste war, der den Metabolismus zum System ausarbeitet und an Stelle des unausgeglichenen Nebeneinander von Ambrosius und Augustin…ein organisches Ineinander schuf, indem er die symbolische und dynamische Betrachtungsart Augustins innerlich mit dem Realismus verarbeitete und ausglich, so arbeitet nunmehr Ratramnus auf der Gegenseite auf der Grundlage Augustins ein Sakramentssystem heraus.”

7 Pelikan, Growth of Medieval Theology, 74: “On the basis of a passage from Ambrose about ‘the order of nature,’ which was ‘the only true authority on which his theory is founded,’ but which was quoted by both sides in the conflict, Radbertus drew a parallel between the ‘temerity of certain brethren’ regarding the birth of Christ and their error regarding the eucharistic presence.” Ibid., 77: “Ratramnus could claim the support of a long and distinguished Augustinian tradition, in which the concept ‘body of Christ’ itself and the idea of ‘eating’ it in the Eucharist were part of a broader and more ‘spiritual’ way of speaking and thinking that went far beyond the Eucharist.”

8 Celia Chazelle, “Exegesis in the Ninth-Century Eucharist Controversy” in The Study of the Bible in the Carolingian Era (ed. Celia Chazelle and Burton Van Name Edwards; Turnhout: Brepols, 2003) 167–187; Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002) 47–59; Jorissen, “Zum Verhältnis von Bild und Sakrament,” 97–111.

9 Fulton, From Judgment to Passion, 16.

10 Gary Macy, The Theologies of the Eucharist in the Early Scholastic Period: A Study of the Salvific Function of the Sacrament according to the Theologians c. 1080–1220 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1984) 30.

11 Celia Chazelle, The Crucified God in the Carolingian Era (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001) 209–39; Chazelle, “Exegesis in the Ninth-Century Eucharist Controversy,” 167–87.

12 Chazelle, The Crucified God, 209–10.

13 This approach also helps to distinguish more clearly between the exegetical readings of the Bible, the Fathers, and the liturgy offered by Paschasius and Ratramnus in interpreting the Eucharist and the coming dialectical struggles over understanding the Eucharist appearing from the eleventh century. Henry Chadwick, “Symbol and Reality: Berengar and the appeal to the Fathers” Auctoritas und Ratio. Studien zu Berengar von Tours (ed. Peter Ganz, R. B. C. Huygens and Friedrich Niewöhner; Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1990) 25–45. R. W. Southern, “Lanfranc of Bec and Berengar of Tours” Studies in Medieval History Presented to Frederick Maurice Powicke (ed. R.W Hunt, W.A. Pantin, and R.W. Southern; Oxford: Clarendon, 1948) 27–48.

14 James J. M. Curry, “Alcuin, De ratione animae: A text with introduction, critical apparatus, and translation” (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1966). See also the comments in Paul E. Szarmach, “A preface, mainly textual, to Alcuin's De ratione animae”in The Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered Full Many Ways: Festschrift in Honor of János M. Bak (ed. Balázs Nagy and Marcell Sebők; Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999) 397–408.

15 Paschasius Radbertus, De uita sancti Adalhardi (PL 120.1507C–1556C).

16 Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii (PL 120.1557A–1650D).

17 Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Matheo libri xii (CCCM 56–56B; Turnhout: Brepols, 1984); Paschasius Radbertus, De benedictionibus patriarchum Iacobi et Moysi (CCCM 96; Turnhout: Brepols, 1984).

18 Paschasius Radbertus, De fide, spe, et caritate (CCCM 97; Turnhout: Brepols, 1990), vii.

19 Paschasius Radbertus, De partu virginis (CCCM 56C; Turnhout: Brepols, 1985); Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Psalmum XLIV (CCCM 94; Turnhout: Brepols, 1991).

20 See the introduction to the modern critical edition Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, vii–xii. For a general introduction to Paschasius Radbertus see Henri Peltier, Pascase Radbert, abbé de Corbie. Contribution à l'étude de la vie monastique et de la pensée chrétienne aux temps carolingiens (Amiens: L.-H. Duthoit, 1938).

21 Paschasius, De corpore, 4–5. “Quod ideo placuit communius stilo temperari subulco et ea quae de sacramento sanguinis et corporis tibi exigis necessaria tui praetextatus amore ita tenus perstringere, ut ceteri quos necdum unda liberalium attigerat litterarum, uitae pabulum et salutis haustum planius caperent ad medelam et nobis operis praestantior exuberaret fructus mercedis pro sudore, quia pecunia uerbi, sicuti plenius nosti, quantos repleuerit suis sumptibus auditores, tantis copiosius in sese amplificatur meritorum opibus.” Paschasius seems to have had a deep and consistent concern for Corbie's daughter monastery as seen in this text and the treatises on faith, on hope, and on charity.

22 The editor presents a single critical edition of Paschasius's work. He identifies additions to the second edition through the use of a smaller font.

23 Paschasius, De corpore, 8. “Inter quos nimirum etsi ultimus fide deuotus, quia monuistis et mea, ut opto, uos delectant, decreui non ignaui ponderis metalli maiestati uestrae munus offerre, sed libellum, quamuis exiguum corpore, magnum tamen de sacramentis sacrae communionis quem dudum Placidio meo Warino abbati deuoto, fideli uestro, consecrans ideo sic communiusuolui stilo temperare subulco,ut ea quae de sacramento corporis et sanguinisChristi sunt necessariarescire, quos necdum unda liberalium attigerat litterarum, uitae pabulum et salutis haustum planius caperent ad medelam.” Portions taken from the original prologue are in italics.

24 For a general biographical and textual introduction to Ratramnus see Bouhot, Ratramne de Corbie. Histoire littéraire et controverses doctrinales.

25 Timothy Roland Roberts,“A Translation and Critical Edition of Ratramnus of Corbie's De Predestinatione Dei” (Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri, 1997). For a fine summary of the controversy, including the main positions and major contributors see David Ganz, “The Debate on Predestination” in Charles the Bald: Court and Kingdom (ed. Margaret T. Gibson and Janet L. Nelson; 2d rev. ed.; Norfolk: Variorum, 1990) 283–325.

26 J. M. Canal, “La Virginidad de María según Ratramno y Radberto, Monjes de Corbie. Nueva Edición de los Textos.” Marianum 30 (1968) 53–160.

27 Ratramnus, Liber de anima ad odonem bellovacensem (ed. C. Lambot; Namur: Editions Godenne, 1952).

28 Ratramnus, Contra Grecorum opposita (PL 121.225D–346B).

29 Ratramnus, De corpore,44. “Quod in ecclesia ore fidelium sumitur corpus et sanguis Christi, quaerit vestrae magnitudinis excellentia in misterio fiat, an in veritate… . Et utrum ipsum corpus sit quod de maria natum est, et passum, mortuum et sepultum, quodque resurgens et caelos ascendens ad dexteram patris consideat.”

30 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 18. “participatio Christi in unitate corporis concedatur.”

31 Ibid., 24. “Sunt autem sacramenta Christi in ecclesia baptismus et chrisma, corpus quoque Domini et sanguis.” This number is common though not universally agreed upon by Carolingian theologians. For example, Hrabanus Maurus identifies the same four—counting the body and the blood of Christ as two sacraments—in his influential books on priestly formation. Hrabanus Maurus, De institutione clericorum libri IV (ed. Detlev Zimpel; Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1996) 282, 316.

32 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 25. “Porro baptismi sacramento intrandi ad eandem adoptionem ostium credentibus panditur, ut deinceps in membris Christi per eandem renascentiam liberati a malo unum corpus efficiamur.”

33 Ibid., 19. “Si ergo habitat in nobis et nos membra corporis eius maneamus in illo, iustum est, quia in illo sumus, ut ex eo uiuamus. Et ideo carne Verbi pascimur et potamur sanguine.”

34 Ibid. “Haec, inquam, firmitas fidei nostrae, haec unitas et uitae communicatio.”

35 Ibid. “Ita siquidem et in isto communionis sacramento uisibili diuina uirtus ad inmortalitatem sua inuisibili potentia, quasi ex fructu ligni paradysi, nos et gustu sapientiae sustentat et uirtute, quatinus per hoc inmortales in anima, quamdiu ex hoc digne sumimus, demum in melius transpositi ad inmortalia feramur.”

36 The term “Eucharist” appears in a miracle story Paschasius with striking parallels to an episode from Gregory of Tours' eight books of miracles. Ibid., 60. See Gregory of Tours, Libri octo miraculorum (ed. B Krusch, Hannover; MGH Script. Rer. Mero., 1885) 494.

37 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 8. “libellum … magnum tamen de sacramentis sacrae communionis…. Placidio meo Warino abbati devoto …”

38 Ratramnus, De corpore, 47. “Consideremus sacri fontem baptismatis qui fons vitae non immerito nuncupatur quia descendentes in se melioris vitae novitiate reformat et de peccato mortuis viventes iustitiae donat.”

39 Ibid., 48. “Si misterii vero perpendas virtutem, vita est, participantibus se tribuens immortalitatem.”

40 Ibid., 55. “Unde secundum visibilem creaturam corpus pascunt, iuxta vero potentioris virtutem substantiae mentes fidelium et pascunt et sanctificant.”

41 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 17. “Nihil enim Christus ecclesiae suae maius aliquid in mysterio reliquit quam hoc baptismique sacramentum, necnon et Scripturas Sanctas in quibus omnibus Spiritus Sanctus qui pignus totius ecclesiae est, interius mystica salutis nostrae ad inmortalitatem operatur.”

42 Ibid., 25. “Spiritus Sanctus in animam renascentis diffunditur, ut universa Christi ecclesia uno Spiritu percepto uiuificetur et corpus unum efficiatur.”

43 Ibid., 34. “Ille igitur in Christo manet qui renatus ex aqua et spiritu nullo mortali crimine reus tenetur, et Christus in eo utique, qui aperuit illi ianuam fidei, in Spiritu Sancto consecratus et [ut] membrum est [esset] in eius corpore et templum Spiritus Sancti.”

44 Ratramnus, De corpore, 47. “Sed accessit sancti spiritus per sacerdotis consecrationem virtus et efficax facta est non solum corpora verum etiam animas diluere et spiritales sordes spirituali potentia dimovere.”

45 Ibid., 51. “ ‘Spiritus est qui vivificat (Jn. 6:64).’ In hoc itaque misterio corporis et sanguinis, spiritualis est operatio quae vitam prestat. Sine cuius operatione misteria illa nihil prosunt. Quoniam corpus quidem pascere possunt, sed animam pascere non possunt.”

46 For a very brief summary of sacramentum in the ninth century see Brian Stock, The Implications of Literacy. Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983) 254–259. For an insightful treatment of intended conceptual overlap of politics and theology in Carolingian oaths see Matthias Becher, Eid und Herrschaft: Untersuchungen zum Herrscherethos Karl der Grossen (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1993) 94–111. A survey of the semantic range of sacramentum from antiquity to the Carolingian period is found in Owen M. Phelan, “The Formation of Christendom: Baptism under the Carolingians” (Ph.D. diss. University of Notre Dame, 2005) 12–51.

47 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 23. “… quicquid in aliqua celebratione diuina nobis quasi pignus salutis traditur, cum res gesta uisibilis longe aliud inuisibile intus operatur quod sancte accipiendum sit.”

48 Ibid., 24. “Sunt autem sacramenta Christi in ecclesia baptismus et chrisma, corpus quoque Domini et sanguis.”

49 Ibid. “Est sacramentum iuris in quo post electionem partium iurat unusquisque quod suo pactu decreuerit.” He draws this definition from Isidore, compare Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae (ed. W. M. Lindsay; Oxford: Clarendon, 1911) 5.24.31.

50 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, 24–25. “Est autem et sacramentum in Scripturis diuinis ubicumque Sacer Spiritus in eisdem interius aliquid efficaciter loquendo operatur.”

51 Paschasius Radbertus, De partu virginis, 13–14.

52 Concern for the unity of the church, including lengthy considerations of Baptism and the Eucharist, dominates Paschasius' massive Commentary on Matthew written for the monks of St. Riquier, with whom he spent his exile from Corbie. See examples in Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Matheo libri xii, 188–194, 1288–1298, and 1432–1437. Unity, as well as sacraments, also figure prominently in his treatise on faith, hope and charity written for the new community of monks at Corvey. See examples in Paschasius, De fide, spe et caritate, at 7, 31–38, and 135–39.

53 The importance of this identification in the theology of Paschasius Radbertus is developed in S. Bonano, “The Divine Maternity and the Eucharistic Body in the Doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus,” Ephemerides mariologicae 1 (1951) 379–94.

54 Paschasius Radbertus, De partu virginis, 51–52. “Verbum caro factum non ut caeteri nascuntur infantes, aut ut ex dono gratiae fiunt homines, sed sicut beatus Gregorius ait in Moralibus, salua proprietate utriusque naturae essentialiter in suam assumpsit personam hominem. Per quod mirabile sacramentum et aeternus ex Patre et temporalis ex matre, unus idemque esset uerus Dei hominisque Filius.”

55 Ibid., 55. “Verbum caro factum est (John 1:14), non commixtione naturae, sed ex unitate personae…. Quia et ista ineffabilis est et mira natiuitas carnis, non sicut isti caecutiunt, communis ex lege naturae, sed sacramento gratiae.”

56 Ibid., 62–63. “…in sacramento futurae praefigurationis uocabantur sancti, cum non essent, donec ueniret Christus essentialiter sanctus, qui et sponsae suae uuluam aperiret fecunditatemque periendi filios refunderet.”

57 MacDonald notices a logical correspondence between the Carolingian argument over predestination and theology of the sacrament. A. J. MacDonald, Authority and Reason in the Early Middle Ages (London: Oxford University Press, 1933) 53.

58 Ratramnus, De praedestinatione, 19.

59 E.g., ibid., 130.

60 Ibid., 346. “Et quod novissime in Mari Rubro Pharao cum exercitu suo perierit, et Israel in laesus transierit. Sicut magni continet mysterium sacramenti, ita constat divinae dispensationis secreto gestum, ut illi perirent, illi salvarentur.”

61 Ibid., 372, “At Sanctorum sententia est Catholicorum predestinationem esse operum Dei aeterna dispositionem, unde quia quaecumque facturus est Deus, in aeterno iudicii Sui consilio iam dispositum habet.”

62 Ibid., 372–74. “Quapropter, cum dicitur de malis, quia ad poenas praedestinati sunt; hoc dicitur. ‘Quia Deus, secreto iudiciorum suorum sacramento, dispositum habet, quid de his, facturus sit.’ Non est igitur divinae dispensatio repugnans, si mali dicuntur esse predestinati ad poenam, quoniam predestinatio est operum Dei.”

63 Paschasius's sympathetic portrayals are no doubt motivated in part by his own turbulent career as well as his affection for his predecessors. For a brief introduction to the lives and careers of Adalhard and Wala, as well as treatment of Paschasius' lives see David Ganz, Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1990) 22–30. Paschasius's biographies give considerable detail to the political turmoil embroiling Adalhard and Wala see Steven A. Stofferahn, “A New Majesty: Paschasius Radbertus, Exile, and the Masters' Honor” Medieval Monks and Their World, 49–69. David Ganz, “The Epitaphium Arsenii and Opposition to Louis the Pious” Charlemagne's Heir. New Perspectives on the Reign of Louis the Pious (814–840) (ed. Peter Godman and Roger Collins; Oxford: Clarendon, 1990) 537–50. Brigitte Kasten, Adalhard von Corbie. Die Biographie eines karolingischen Politikers und Klostervorstehers (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1986). Lorenz Weinrich, Graf, Mönch und Rebell. Die Biographie eines Karolingers (Lübeck und Hamburg: Matthiesen, 1963). Henry Mayr-Harting, “Two Abbots in Politics: Wala of Corbie and Bernard of Clairvaux,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Fifth Series 40 (1990) 217–37.

64 Paschasius Radbertus, De uita sancti Adalhardi 80 (PL 120.1547D): “Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace (Luke 2:29), quia percepi omnia tui mysterii sacramenta. Et nunc quid superest, nisi ut ad te veniam?”

65 Ibid., 82 (PL 120.1548D) The importance of the Eucharist to community with Christ is explored by Patricia McCormick Zirkel, “‘Why Should it be Necessary that Christ be Immolated Daily?'—Paschasius Radbertus on Daily Eucharist,” American Benedictine Review 47 (1996) 240–59.

66 Stofferahn, “A New Majesty,” 66.

67 Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii (ed. E. Dümmler; Berlin: Abhandlungen der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1900) 74 (also PL 120.1623A–1623B) “Honorius, qui erat longe diu consors a patre et ab omnibus procreatus imperator, removetur a potestate, repellitur a consortio; sacramenta universorum, quae illi facta fuerant, auctoritate paterna violantur.”

68 For a survey of the evidence on oaths, with an emphasis on its institutional significance in the Carolingian World, see Francois Ganshof, “Charlemagne's Use of the Oath” in The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy. Studies in Carolingian History (trans. Janet Sondheimer; Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1971) 111–124, originally published “Charlemagne et le serment” Mélanges d'histoire du Moyen Age dédiés à la mémoire Louis Halpen (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1951) 259–70. Charles E. Odegaard, “Carolingian Oaths of Fidelity,” Spec 16 (1941) 284–96; idem, “The Concept of Royal Power in Carolingian Oaths of Fidelity,” Spec 20 (1945) 279–89; idem, Vassi and Fideles in the Carolingian Empire (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1945; repr., New York: Octagon Books, 1972). Ferdinand Lot, “Le serment de fidélité à l'époque franque” Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 12 (1933) 569–82.

69 Paschasius Radbertus, De uita sancti Adalhadi 18 (PL 120.1518A) “Quid putas, inquit, o princeps, si fides saepe inter cruores et saevientium arma, etiam inter paganos tantum valuit, ut quisque se committeret alterius fidei sacramentis: quantum valere debeat foedus Christiani in veritate promissum?”

70 Ibid., 18 (PL 120.1518A) “Talibus dictis procul dubio liquet, quod facilius fuerit ferri violari vincula, quam hujus viri fidei contaminari promissa.”

71 Ratramnus, Epistola. MGH Epp. VI, 156. “Nam et baptismi sacramentum divinitus illum consecutum fuisse, nubis mysterio eum perfundente, sicut libellus ipse testatur, creditur.”

72 Aethicus Ister, Cosmographia. (ed. Otto Prinz; MGH Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters 14; Munich: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 1993) 114–15; Isidore, Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX12.3.12–17.