The ''Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai'' ( la, Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium) is an anonymous
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
history of the
diocese of Cambrai
The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Help ...
. It was commissioned around 1024 by Bishop
Gerard I of Cambrai Gerard of Florennes (ca 975, bishop 1012 – 14 March 1051), bishop of Cambrai as Gerard I, had formerly been chaplain to Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and helpful to the latter in his political negotiations with Robert the Pious, King of France. In ...
and completed shortly after his death in 1051. It is the work of two authors.
Context of production
In the period when the ''Deeds'' was produced, the city of
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...
and most of the diocese of Cambrai lay within the
Duchy of Lower Lotharingia
The Duchy of Lower Lotharingia, also called Northern Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lorraine (and also referred to as ''Lothier'' or ''Lottier'' , in the
Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( la, regnum Teutonicorum "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especi ...
in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. (The ''Deeds'' itself frequently identifies its region as the ''regnum Lotharii'', 'kingdom of Lothair', a reference to the kingdom of
Lothair II in the 9th century.) Part of the diocese, including the cities of
Arras
Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...
and
Douai
Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...
, however, lay within the
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries.
From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypr ...
in the
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...
. Spiritually, the bishops were under the jurisdiction of the
archbishop of Reims
The Archdiocese of Reims (traditionally spelt "Rheims" in English) ( la, Archidiœcesis Remensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese ...
, whose ecclesiastical province was otherwise entirely within France.
By the time of Gerard I, the bishop of Cambrai also exercised temporal power in the county (''
pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
'') of the
Cambrésis
Cambrésis () is a former ''pagus'', county and prince-bishopric of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that was annexed to the Kingdom of France in 1679. It is now regarded as one of the "natural regions" of France, and roughly equivalent to the Arro ...
. Their temporal jurisdiction was much smaller geographically than their spiritual. King
Otto I
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...
first granted comital jurisdiction in the city of Cambrai to Bishop
Fulbert in 948. King
Henry II extended the bishop's authority over the whole Cambrésis in 1007, during the tenure of
Erluin, Gerard's predecessor. Gerard was thus the first bishop of Cambrai to exercise both secular and spiritual power over the county and diocese, respectively, throughout his episcopate.
Structure and purpose
The ''Deeds'' is divided into three books. This was the original plan, since at the end of the first book it states that the pontificate of Gerard I "will be discussed in book three" and the preface to the second book says: "The second book ought to begin with this same lord bishop, as the order of affairs appears to demand. However, we are leaving him to the side for the moment..." The first book is a history of the bishops from the
later Roman empire
The Later Roman Empire spans the period from 284 AD (Diocletian's proclamation as emperor) to 641 (death of Heraclius) in the history of the Roman Empire.
Evidence
Histories
In comparison with previous periods, studies on Later Roman history a ...
down to the death of Erluin in 1012. The second book recounts the histories of all the religious foundations under the bishop's authority. It also includes a description of the lands belonging to
Cambrai Cathedral
Cambrai Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Grâce de Cambrai) is a Catholic church located in Cambrai, Nord, France, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Cambrai. The cathedral was registered as a '' monument historique'' on 9 August ...
. The third covers the pontificate of Gerard and incorporates eight letters from Gerard, two agreements he made with his
castellan
A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...
s and his treatise on the
three orders
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...
. The first book has 122 chapters, the second 48 and the third 60.
It is generally accepted that the ''Deeds'' was written to augment the reputation and authority of Bishop Gerard. Robert Stein argues that it had a political and ideological purpose: to show the superiority of government by one possessing both spiritual and temporal authority, i.e., a
prince bishop. Laurent Jégou argues that it was written to enhance Gerard's spiritual authority to compensate for his temporal weakness.
Georges Duby
Georges Duby (7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Franc ...
likewise sees it as designed to enhance the bishop's prestige after the death of his protector, Emperor Henry II, in 1024. Theo Riches argues that the intended audience of the ''Deeds'' was essentially local, and that its text could have been used in the future as an archive to buttress Cambrai's property claims. According to its English translators, the ''Deeds'' is also a royalist text, emphasising the right of the king to
invest
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
bishops and abbots and the royal authority over the use of military force.
Manuscripts and editions
The
autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
manuscript of the ''Deeds'', known as the ''Codex Sancti Gisleni'', survives in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
(MS Den Haag KB 75 F15). It is incomplete. The last part, from the middle of chapter 49 onwards, had been separated from it and lost sometime in the 14th century.
There are five manuscript copies of the ''Deeds'' representing three
recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from Latin ''recensio'' ("review, analysis").
In textual criticism (as ...
s. The oldest surviving copy, dating from the 14th century, is in Paris (
BnF, Lat. 5553a). It is a complete copy made from the autograph before it lost its final eleven and a half chapters. A separate tradition derives from the now lost 12th-century ''Codex Sanctae Mariae Atrebatensis'', which contained a complete copy of the autograph. The earliest copy of the ''Codex'' was made in the
Abbey of Saint-Vaast in 1482 and is now in the municipal library of
Arras
Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...
(Médiathèque 666). It was itself copied in 1591 by
François de Bar, whose copy is now in Brussels (
KBR 7747). Both of these copies are riddled with errors. There is also a late 16th-century copy of the ''Codex'' in Paris (BnF, Lat. 12827). A further 16th-century copy in Brussels (KBR 7675–82) represents a third manuscript tradition, but is missing chapters 52 and 60 of the third book, Gerard's sermon on
Peace of God movement and his letter to the
Emperor Henry III
Henry III (28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.
Henry was raised by ...
, respectively.
The first printed edition of the ''Deeds'' was made by in 1615. Because he made use of the now lost ''Codex'', his edition has been used as a basis for two subsequent editions. The first of these, by in 1834, omits several chapters in the second and third books. The second and most recent, by for the
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...
in 1846, is the basis for the modern English translation published in 2018.
Dating and authorship
The ''Deeds'' was originally commissioned by Bishop Gerard I. A
codicological
Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , ''-logia'') is the study of codices or manuscript books. It is often referred to as "the archaeology of the book," a term coined by François Masai. ...
and
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
*Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
look at the autograph shows that the text was the work of two authors. The first author wrote almost all of the first two books and the third book down to the death of the Emperor Henry II. He had completed the first two books by September 1025 and the rest of his writing probably not long after, certainly not much later than 1030. The first author was probably a
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
of Cambrai Cathedral. He was also the author of a biography of Saint
Gaugericus
Saint Gaugericus, in French Saint Géry (also known as Gorik, Gau; in Walloon, Djèri) ( 550 – August 11, 619) was a bishop of Cambrai, France.
Biography
He was born to Roman parents, Gaudentius and Austadiola, at ''Eposium'' (present C ...
, completed in 1024 and likewise commissioned by the bishop. His
Latinity
Latinity (''Latinitas'') is proficiency in Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then kn ...
is good and writing style straightforward, although he had a penchant for
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
s. He coined at least twelve.
The second author, working in the early 1050s after the death of Gerard I in 1051, emended the existing text and brought the third book down to the death of Gerard. His emendations take the form of erasure and overwriting, marginal notes and additions on separate pieces of parchment sewn into the manuscript. The second author was also a canon of the cathedral. He was probably the author of a biography of Gerard's successor,
Lietbert (died 1076), which bears many stylistic similarities with the last ten chapters of the third book of the ''Deeds''.
The ''Deeds'' was once falsely attributed to
Balderic of Thérouanne A baldric is a shoulder belt used to carry a weapon.
Baldric (also spelled Balderic or Baldrick, in French Baudri or Baudry) is a masculine Germanic given name. It may refer to:
* Balderic of Montfaucon, a 7th-century French abbot and saint
* Bal ...
, who died in 1122.
Sources and methods
The ''History of the Church of Reims'' by
Flodoard
Flodoard of Reims (; 893/4 – 28 March 966) was a Frankish chronicler and priest of the cathedral church of Reims in the West Frankish kingdom during the decades following the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. His historical writings are m ...
stood as a model for the ''Deeds''. Other literary texts which the authors can be shown to have used include
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
's ''
De bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...
'',
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
's ''
De inventione
''De Inventione'' is a handbook for orators that Cicero composed when he was still a young man. Quintilian tells us that Cicero considered the work rendered obsolete by his later writings. Originally four books in all, only two have survived into ...
'',
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
's ''Decem libri historiarum'' and possibly
Pseudo-Hegesippus
Pseudo-Hegesippus is the conventional name of the anonymous author of ''De excidio Hierosolymitano'' ("On the Destruction of Jerusalem"), a fourth-century Christian Latin adaptation of ''The Jewish War'' of Flavius Josephus. The text itself may als ...
' Latin translation of
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
' ''
Jewish Wars
''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...
''. Documentary sources include royal and private charters kept in the cathedral and in other churches of the dicoese. Occasionally such documents are quoted at length in the ''Deeds''. In the preface, the first and primary author describes his method of information gathering, which included interviewing witnesses:
At the command of our lord bishop Gerard, we have committed to memory, to the extent that we have been able to track it down verifiably, information about the history of our cities, namely Cambrai and Arras, as well as about their shepherds.
there is nothing here other than what we have found in annals, or the histories of the fathers, or in the deeds of kings, or in the documents that were in the archive of this church, or what we have learned from certain witnesses through what they saw or heard. Otherwise, it is better to remain silent rather than to pass along false information.
The conception of history held by the authors of the ''Deeds'' is derived from
Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
's ''
Etymologies'', which holds history to be the truth about the past and incompatible with fiction or speculation. The first author of the ''Deeds'' is explicit that "it therefore is better to remain silent ... than to concoct a fable." That this is a conscious decision is clear from the author's knowledge of Cicero's ''De inventione'' and probable familiarity with a competing contemporary Ciceronian tradition represented by
Richer of Reims
Richerus or Richer of Reims (fl. 10th century) was a monk of Saint-Remi, just outside Reims, and a historian, an important source for the contemporary kingdom of France.
Life
He was a son of Rodulf, a trusted councillor and captain of Louis IV of ...
, which held that the historian must fill in gaps in his story to meet
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
al standards.
Continuations
Several continuations of the ''Deeds'' were produced. Together, the original ''Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium'' and the continuations are known as the ''Gesta pontificum Cameracensium''.
Notes
Bibliography
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*
{{refend
11th-century Latin books
11th-century Christian texts
11th-century history books
1020s books
1050s books