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REVUE

BENEDICTINE

TOME CENT NEUVIEME

1999

ABBAYE DE MAREDSOUS

Belgique

, ', . ., ": `ýe. ` .

ý' `. =; 1ý"ýtýi IL: ivi

99 ýý2eS

MILITES CHRISTI UTRIUSQUE SEXUS GENDER AND THE POLITICS OF

CONVERSION IN THE CIRCLE OF BONIFACE*

In the late ninth century, the nuns of Monheim played an active role in the evangelisation of south-eastern Germany by promoting the cult of \Valpurgis and by providing accommodation for the many pilgrims who made their way to Monheim. Furthermore, the nuns of Monheim devised their own liturgical forms to cope with all those pilgrims, and in the absence of any priest, it was the abbess herself who said bless- ings over them. ' This may seem a strange point from which to begin a discussion on gender and conversion in the circle of Boniface. The case of Monheim, however, raises in sharp detail the culmination of a phe- nomenon whose origins, I would argue, are well rooted in the time and circle of Boniface: namely, the interesting and crucial role played by

nuns in early medieval society. My purpose in this paper is to ask whether there was a change in Gaul in the second half of the eighth century in the way that the missionary work was understood by Boni- face himself and by his contemporaries, and how such a change influenced the role played by women in the missionary circle of Boniface.

Boniface and conversion

Let me first fill in the historical background. The history of the Frankish Church in the first half of the eighth century was dominated by the activities of missionaries, who had emerged, relatively suddenly, as the new dominant figures in the ecclesiastical history of the Frank-

*I am grateful to Rosamond 111eKitterick and 111ayke De Jong for their advice and comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

1. See J. NELSON, ̀Les femmes et l'evangelisation an ixC siecle', Revue du Nord 68 (1986), pp. 471-85, especially pp. 479-80.

18 REVUE BENEDICTINE

ish kingdom. ' Foremost among those missionaries was \Vynfrith, 'an impressive but troubled" Anglo-Saxon who, after an abortive missionary expedition to Frisia in 716, returned to Hesse and Thuringia two

years later charged by Pope Gregory II 'to teach the heathens'. ' This time he was also given the new name of Boniface' The abundant and explicit evidence concerning Boniface and his activities - the uilae of Boniface himself and of his Anglo-Saxon followers as well as his co- pious correspondence - might give the false impression that Boniface

was sent by the Pope to convert the heathens in a virgin pagan territory. '

Reality, however, was quite different. From other contemporary sources and thanks to modern research it is now clear that the regions to which Boniface was sent and in which he operated were far from

2. See K. SCIIÄFERDIEK, Kirehengesehichle als Missionsgeschichte, 11 - Die Kirche des frühen 4llillelallers (Munich, 1978); J. M. WALLACE-1-IADIBLL, The Frankish Church (Oxford, 1983), pp. 143-61; I. N. Wool), The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751 (London, 1999), pp. 301-21; L. E. vox PADBEnG, Mission und Christianisierung. Formen und Folgen bei Angelsachsen und Franken im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1995); P. BROWN, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A. D. 200-1000 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 25.1-75.

3. BROWN, The Rise of Western Christendom, pp. 263-1. 4. BoNIFACE, Epislola 12, cd. M. TANGL, Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lltl-

lus, MGI-I Epistolae Selectae (Berlin, 1916). pp. 17-18. A useful selection of Boniface's letters in English translation can be found in E. EIERTON ed., The Lepers of Saint Boniface (New York, 19-10); C. H. TALBOT ed., The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Ger- many (London, 195.1), pp. 65-149.

5. The amount of literature on Boniface and his mission is enormous and cannot be listed here. The following studies are the most important contributions to the bur- geoning literature on Boniface: W. LEVISO., England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford, 1916), pp. 70-93; T. ScIIIEFFER, Winfrid-Bonifalius und die kirchliche Grundlegung Europas (Freiburg, 195-1); J. M. WALLACE-I IADnILL, 'A background to St. Boniface's mission, in P. CLESIOFS and K. Ilucues eds., England before the Conquest: Studies in Primary Sources presented to Dorothy Whitelock (Cambridge, 1971), pp. 35-18 [reprinted in IDEM, Early Medieval History (Oxford, 1975), pp. 138-591; T. IieI. -rl: R ed., The Greatest Englishman: Essays on St. Boniface and the Church at Crediton (Exe- ter, 1080); R. MCKITrERICK, Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Germany: personal canner- lions and local influences, Vaughan Paper 36 (Leicester, 1991) preprinted in EADESI, The Frankish Kings and Culture in the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot, 1995), chapter I]. For further bibliography, see A. DI BERARDINO cd., Patrologia, IV (Home, 1996), pp. 40.1-29.

6. For the life of Boniface, see \VILLIBALD, Vila Bonifatif, ed. W. LEvIsoN, MGI-I SRG in usum scholarum 57 (Hannover, 1905). For an English translation, sec TALBOT ed., The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, pp. 25-62 [reprinted with introduction and notes in T. F. X. NOBLE and T. HEAD eds., Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (London, 1995), pp. 105-101. On the vitae of Boniface and his followers, see W. BERSCIIIN, Biographie und Epochenstil irn lateinischen Millelaller, 111- Karolingische Biographie, 750-920 , Quellen und Untersuchun- gen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters 10 (Stuttgart, 1991), pp. 1-9.1; I. N. WOOD, 'Missionary hagiography in the eighth and ninth century', in K. I3nuNNl: lt and B. MERTA eds., Ethnogenese und Überlieferung: Angewandte Melhoden der Frlillmit- lelallerforschung (Vienna and Munich, 1991), pp. 189-99.

Y. HEN 19

being pagan, nor was he the only missionary working there. ' In fact,

Boniface hardly converted any pagans to Christianity. A close exam- ination of the sources reveals that Boniface was mainly preoccupied with the enhancement of ecclesiastical rules and regulations and with the reorganisation of the Frankish Church. ' Like Caesarius of Arles two hundred years before him, Boniface wanted to bring the Frankish Church into line with ecclesiastical norms from which he thought it

had deviated. ' Thus, promoting Roman norms in doctrine, canon law,

and liturgy in an already Christianised territory, rather than Christia-

nising pagan tribes, was the heart of Boniface's labour on the Conti-

nent. At a fairly early stage of his mission, Boniface travelled to Rome to

seek the Pope's approval for his activities, and supported by the early Carolingians lie completed the reorganisation of the Church east of the Rhine by the early 740s. 10 Under the auspices of Carloman, Boniface became one of the most influential bishops in the Frankish kingdom, but not for long. After Carloman's retirement to the monastery of Monte Casino in Italy, Boniface seems to have had little access to the Frankish court and consequently little influence on the Frankish Church. Only then Boniface embarked on a more 'traditional' mission-

7. See, for example, A. ANGENENDT, `Pirmin und Bonifatius: ihr Verhältnis zu Mönchtum, Bischofsamt und Adel', in A. BORST ed., Mönclilum, Episkopat und Adel zur Gründungszeit des Klosters Reichenau (Sigmaringen, 1974), pp. 251-304; H. LÖWE, `Pirmin, Willibrord und Bonifatius: ihre Bedeutung für die Missionsgeschichte ihrer Zeit, in La conversione at cristianesimo nell'Europa dell'allo medioevo, Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo 14 (Spoleto, 1967), pp. 327-72 [reprinted in IDEM, Religiosität und Bildung inn frühen Millelaller (Weimar, 1994), pp. 133-771.

8. SCHIEFFER, Winfrid-Bonifatius, pp. 139-57; H. J. SC1IUSSLER, 'Die fränkische Reichsteilung von Vieux-Poitiers (742) und die Reform der Kirche in den Teilreichen Karlmanns und Pippins. Zu den Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Bonifatius', Francia 13 (1986), pp. 47-112; T. REUTER, '"Kirchenreform" und "Kirchenpolitik" im Zeitalter Karl Martells: Begriffe und Wirklichkeit', in J. JARNUT, U. NoNN and M. RICHTER eds., Karl Martell in seiner Zeit, Beihefte der Francia 37 (Sigmaringen, 1994), pp. 35- 59; R. MCKITTERICK, 'England and the continent', in EADETI ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History, II - c. 700 - c. 900 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 64-84, at pp. 72-6.

9. See R. A. MARKUS, 'From Caesarius to Boniface: Christianity and paganism in Gaul', in J. FONTAINE and J. N. HILLGARTII eds., The Seventh Century: Change and Continuity (London, 1992), 159-68. On Caesarius of Arles, see W. E. KLINGSIIIRN, Cae- sarius of Arles: The Making of a Christian Community in Laic Antique Gaul (Cam- bridge, 1994), especially pp. 171-243.

10. See BoNIFACE, Epislolae 48,50 and 51, pp. 76-8,80-86 and 86-92 respectively. See also H. LÖWE, 'Bonifatius und die bayrische fränkische Spannung: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen dem Papsttum und den Karolingern', Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung 15 (1955), pp. 85-128; F. STARE, 'Die Grundung der Bistümer Erfurt, Büroburg und Würzburg durch Bonifatius im Rahmen der frän- kischen und päpstlichen Politik', Archiv für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte 40 (1988), pp. 13-11; , McKIrrERICK, 'England and the continent', pp. 73-5.


ary activity among the pagans of north Frisia, where he was murdered in 754 near Dokkum shortly after arriving there. "

Against this background, one has to redefine the term 'mission' in

order for it to fit the work of Boniface and his followers. The idea of 'mission' as the conversion of pagans into Christianity is far too blunt

an analytical model with which to dissect the role of Boniface and his

pupils. 12 Resorting to such a notion of 'mission' ignores both the multi- formity of Boniface's activities and the limited role he had in convert- ing pagan people. After all, Boniface was nothing like Martin of Tours. 13 Therefore, I would suggest, we should understand 'mission' in the Bonifacian context as the inculcation of certain Christian ideas and norms, and as the instillation of Christian values, beliefs and practices in an already Christianised society. Bearing this in mind, it is well justified to use the term 'mission' to describe the various activities of Bo-

niface and his disciples. This sort of activity, which preoccupied Boniface most of his time on the Continent, had some important im-

plications regarding the instruments Boniface and his followers de-

ployed in order to achieve their goal.

The role of monasteries

The promotion of Christianity within the Frankish kingdoms went hand in hand with the foundation of monasteries, for monasteries served as pastoral centres as well as missionary stations, where many of the leading missionaries were monks and ascetics. " Boniface did not

11. WILLIBALD, Vila Bonifalii, c. 8. 12. There is an abundant literature concerning the definition and meaning of con-

version in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. For a useful summary, see D. PnAET, 'Explaining the Christianisation of the Roman Empire, Sacris Erudiri 33 (1992-3), pp. 5-119; see also Y. 1-1E. 1, Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A. D. 481-751 (Leiden, New York and Köln, 1995), pp. 155-7.

13. On the activities of 'Martin of Tours, see C. STANCLIFFE, St. Marlin and His Hagiographer: History and Miracle in Sulpicius Storms (Oxford, 1983); R. VAN DA-Al, Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul (Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford, 1985), pp. 119-40; A. RoussELLE, Croire el guirir: to foi en Gaule dans l anliquilc lar- dive (Paris, 1990).

14. G. CONSTABLE, 'Monasteries, rural churches and the curs animarun: in the early Middle Ages', in Crislianira_ione ed organi=aaone ecclesiaslica della campagne nell'allo Inedioevo, Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sult'nlto medioevo 28 (Spo- leto, 1982), pp. 3.19-89; I. N. WOOD, 'The conversion of the barbarian peoples', in G. BARRACLOIIGB ed., The Christian World: A Social and Cultural History of Chris- tianity (London, 1981), pp. 85-98, at pp. 96-7; M. De , JONG, 'Carolingian monasticism: Lite power of prayer, in MCKrrrEmc: K ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History, pp. 622-53, at pp. 623-1.

Y. HEN

II

21

fail to notice that, and many monasteries, notably Fulda, Fritz Tau-

berbischofsheim, Ochsenfurt, Hersfeld, Karlburg and Holzkirchen, were

established by him or his followers in the regions of his activity, 15

while charismatic learned men and women from Anglo-Saxon England,

as well as from Francia, Thuringia and Bavaria were recruited to lead

those newly founded communities. ' According to Rudolf of Fulda, Bo-

niface wanted monasteries to be established so that people would be

attracted to the Church through them:

When the blessed man saw that the church of God was increasing and that the desire for perfection was firmly rooted he established two

means by which religious progress should be ensured. He began to build monasteries, so that the people would be attracted to the church not only by the beauty of its religion but also by the communities of monks and nuns. ''

In other words, Boniface envisaged that monastic communities would

participate in the conversion of the laity, especially of the countryside, and so aid the growth of the Church. '8 The result of the monastic de-

velopment which occurred in the Frankish Kingdom under the influ-

ence of Boniface is extremely significant, for the monastery became a

rallying-point for the rural lay society and the high Christian standards

aimed at by Boniface. Consequently, monks and nuns became the fa-

cilitators for the creation of new religious allegiances and new religious patterns of observance, as we shall see. Although some precedents to

these new developments can be observed in the work of Amandus,

who founded and encouraged the foundation of several monasteries, '

Boniface's age seems to mark a change in missionary attitudes, which

15. F. Pnl:. z, Frühes Mönchtum im Frankenreich: Kultur und Gesellschaft in Gallien, den Rheinlanden und Bayern am Beispiel der monastischen Entwicklung (4. bis 8. Jahr- hundert) 2nd ed. (Darmstadt, 1988), pp. 231-62.

16. See WILLIBALD, Vita Bonifatii, c. 6; RUDOLF of FULDA, Vita Leobae Abbatissae Biscojesheinlensis, c. 11, ed. G. \VAITZ, NIGH SS XV: l (Hannover, 1887), pp. 121-131. For an English translation, see TALBOT ed., The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, pp. 205-26 [reprinted with introduction and notes in NOBLE and HEAD eds., Soldiers of Christ, pp. 255-771. On the fact that most of these men and women were closely connected by friendship and kinship, see McKITTEIIcK, Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, pp. 10-27.

17. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 10: Widens itaque vir beatissimus aeccle- siam Dei crescere et certantibus studiis ad vota perfectionis accendi, duplicern viam ad perfectum religionis instituens, monasteria construere coepit, ut ad fidem catholi- cam populi non tam aecclesiastica gratia quarr monachorurn ne virginum congregatio- nibus raperentur'.

18. It is worth noting that such a role envisaged for monasteries indicates that there was not a close adherence to the Benedictine rule.

19. On Amandus and his work, see E. DE NIOREAU, Saint Amand: Apdtre de la Bel- gique el du nord de la France (Louvain, 1927); P. RICA i, 'Amand d'Elnone, in IDEAL

Ik

22 REVUE Bt-MMICTI\E

involved a whole new perception of the role of monasteries and nunneries in the Frankish kingdoms.

This new situation in which the monastic community became the focal point of the missionary activity entailed some implications regarding the role played by women, and more precisely by nuns. Boni- face, it seems, did not see any difference between male and female monastic communities, at least as far as the missionary activity was concerned. According to Rudolf, both monks and nuns were to share the burden, 20 and in a letter to abbess Bugga Boniface himself refers explicitly to 'soldiers of Christ from both sexes' (mililes Cluisli ulrius- que sexus). 21 As already noted by Henrietta Leyser, 'high on the list of obstacles which Boniface encountered were shortage of helpers and shortage of books and although women could not of course become priests, they could still do much to remedy both defects'. "" Thus, it is not at all surprising to find nuns and nunneries playing a central role in Boniface's missionary scheme. Nuns were regarded by Ioniface as co-missionaries, 23 and nunneries were destined to become conversion- ary and pastoral centres like any other male community in the Frank- ish kingdom. 2'

ed., Hisloire des saints el de la sainlele chrelienne, vol. IV (Paris, 1987), pp. 58-6.1; WOOD, The Merovingian Kingdoms, pp. 313-14.

20. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobae, cc. 10-11. 21. BONIFACE, Epistola 9-1, p. 215.

22.1-1. LEYSEB, Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England, 450-1500 (London, 1995), p. 29.

23. See, for example, BoNIFAcE, Epislola 67, pp. 139-10. See also S. F. WEMI'LE, Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900 (Philadelphia, 1981), p. 177; F. LIFsIurz, 'Des femmes missionnaires: I'exemple de la Gaule frtnque', Revue d7zistoire ecclesiaslique 83 (1988), pp. 5-33, at pp. 27-8; 1.. i'sNNI-: X, Medieval Women, tr. E. Jephcott (Oxford, 1989), pp. 77-8; M. CIISTIANI, 'La sainlete feminine du haut Aloyen Age: biographie et valeurs, in Les fonclions des saints dans le monde occidental (lnf-x)l/` siede) (Rome, 1991), pp. 385-13.1. at pp. 428-32; S. HOLLIS, An- glo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fale (Woodbridge, 1092), p. 130; H: W. Goi-rz, Frauen im frühen 3lillelaller: Frauenbild and Frauenleben im Frankenreich (Weimar and Köln, 1995), pp. 371-81.

24. It could be argued that Boniface's view was influenced by the pastoral and cultural role of Anglo-Saxon 'double monasteries, such as Whitby. Yet, there is no evidence to support such an assertion. Furthermore, as demonstrated very convincingly by Rosamond AlcKitterick, Boniface's connections with Anglo-Saxon England were mainly with Wessex and Mercia, and there is very little indication of Northumbrian influence with Boniface. See JicKrrrEnmcac, Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Germany, especially pp. 1-25. On the 'double-monasteries of Anglo-Saxon England, sec the important study by D. B. Scm inEaa, Anglo-Saxon Women and the Religious Life. A Study of the Status and Position of SS'omen in an Early Medieval Sociely. (Cambridge PhD. thesis, 1985); see also the various papers in K. ELM and Al. PmUsse eds., Dop- pelkl6ster and andere Formen der Symbiose münnlicher and weiblicher Religiosen inn . llit- telalter, Berliner Historische Studien 18 (Berlin. 1992).

Y. HEN 23

The case of Leoba

We can penetrate rather deeper into this world through one of the

hagiographical texts relating to Boniface and his disciples, namely the

Vita Leobae, composed by the monk Rudolf of Fulda at about 838, and dedicated to a certain nun named Hadamout. 25 At the very beginning

of the preface Rudolf bluntly declares his didactic purpose. '... I have

written about the life and virtues of the holy and revered virgin Leo-

ha ..: ,

he writes to Hadamout `... in order that you have something to

read with pleasure and imitate with profit'. ' The didactic aim of this

composition and the fact that in writing it Rudolf drew heavily on earlier hagiographical works, mainly the Vita Sancti Martini by Sulpicius

Severus, the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, and the fifth-century life

of Bishop Germanus of Auxerre, led some scholars to question the

veracity of Rudolfs narrative. 2'

Stephanie Hollis, for example, emphasising Rudolf's didactic purpose and personal preoccupation, argues that Rudolf refashioned Leoba's life in order that it might serve as an exemplar for monastic women in an age of rigidly segregated and enclosed female monastic communities. 28 Thus, Rudolf was reluctant to present monastic women parti- cipating in missionary activity, simply because it entailed interaction

with the laity, which Rudolfs own monastic ideal disproved. His solut- ion, according to Hollis, was to reconcile truth with didactic purposes and, consequently, to present Leoba as a miracle worker. " Julia Smith, on the other hand, stressing the subordination of Carolingian hagiographers to the literary conventions of Late Antiquity, argues that Rudolf submerged Leoba within a traditional, male texture. "

The fact that Rudolf had to construct Leoba's life within the dominant

male hagiographical tradition, for no conventions for the writing of fe-

25. On Rudolfs Vila Leobae, see SCHIEFFER, lVinfrid-Bonifatius, pp. 162-6; BHnscnuc, Biographie and Epochenstil, III, pp. 260-3; S. I-IOLLIs, Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate (Woodbridge, 1992), pp. 271-300.

26. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobae, preface: 'Libellum quem de vita et virtutibus sanctae et venerandae virginis Leobae conscripti nomini tuo, religiosa virgo Christi Hadamout, dedicare curavi, ut et habeas quod et libenter legere et religiose possis

..:. imitari 27. See W. WATrESBACII, W. LEvºsoN and H. LÖWE, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen

im llillelaller: Vor: eit and Karolinger, VI (Weimar, 1990), pp. 709-10. 28. HOLLIS, Anglo-Saxon Women, pp. 273-4 29. Ibid., pp. 2.13-4. 30. J. SMITH, 'The problem of female sanctity in Carolingian Europe c. 780-920',

Past and Present 146 (1995), pp. 3-37, at pp. 16-17. Smith's paper is seminal for the understanding of female hagiography in the Carolingian period.


male hagiography developed in the early Biddle Ages, led Smith to

wonder 'how much relationship, if any, this image of Leoba bore to the real story of her life'. 31

Both approaches, the one which understands Rudolfs Vila Lcobac as a compromise and the other which regards it as a textual fabrication, highlight our difficulty to determine the relations between Rudolfs text and the changing reality of Leoba's time. It has to be acknowl- edge that we are dealing with a ninth-century composition which, on the one hand, projects a certain image of Leoba and her activities, but

on the other hand should not be accepted at face value as an accurate reflection of reality. In other words, Leoba's image in Rudolf's Vita Leobae suits the ideals of Rudolfs own time and of Fulda's monks two generations after Boniface. Hence, although Boniface's legacy had

a lot to do with Rudolfs views and standards, one has to remember that we are looking at Leoba and her nuns through Rudolfs ninth-century prism.

These reservations, however, must not be taken to imply that the Vita Leobae lacks any historical or documentary value. In fact, Leoba's

case, as pointed out by Janet Nelson, is a very interesting one. 'For

she does not fit the usual categories of earlier medieval female sanctity. ...

Nor is her vita a mere compound of hagiographic topoi. On the contrary, its distinctive details lend it some claim of authenli- city'. 32 Furthermore, Rudolf goes out of his way to establish the credibility of his sources, which are primarily the notes taken by the priest MMago and by some other monks who had interviewed Leoba's four dis-

ciples - Agatha, Thecla, Nana and Eoloba. 33 Thus, Rudolf is careful to

place himself as close as possible to the people who knew Leoba herself

and, by implication, to eliminate any scepticism concerning his sources that might damage the credibility of his account. It is well justified, then, to use the Vita Leobae in order to look for the role played by

women in the circle of Boniface, as reflected in Rudolfs own ideals;

and indeed an interesting picture of the close involvement of nuns in the conversion of lay society emerges from it.

Rudolf begins his account of Leoba's life with a long description of the double-monastery at `Vimbourne in Dorset, where Leoba spent

31. Ibid., p. 16 32. J. NELSON, ''Women and the word in the earlier 'Middle Ages, Studies in Church

History 27 (1990). pp. 53-78, at pp. G5-6 (reprinted in EADust, The Frankish World, 750-900 (London, 1996), pp. 199-2211.

33. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Lcobae, c. 1.

Y. HEN 25

most of her youth under the tutelage of Abbess Tetta. 34 Leoba gradual- ly became famous for her learning and piety, on account of which Boni-

face sent letters to Tetta, asking for Leoba to be sent to help him in his

mission. 35 According to Rudolf, Boniface `knew that by her holiness

and wisdom she would confer many benefits by her word and exam-

ple', "' and shortly after her arrival she was given the abbacy of Tauber-

bischofsheim. 37 The presence of Leoba and her nuns introduced a new

constant religious element into the neighbourhood of Tauberbischofs-

heim and three incidents, on which Rudolf reports, give us a rare

glimpse of Leoba and her nuns at work. The first story to shed some light on the matter is described by Ru-

dolf as an attempt made by the devil to destroy the nuns' good reputation. 38 One night, the poor little crippled girl, who sat by the gate of the nunnery begging alms, drowned her newborn baby in a pool by-the

river that flowed near the monastery. When the body was discovered

early in the morning, the whole village, burning with rage, reproached the nuns. `Look for the one who is missing from the monastery', sug-

gested one woman, `and then you will find out who is responsible for

this crime'. 39 Needless to say, the nuns were shocked by the harsh ac-

cusation brought up against them, and Leoba in her distress, ordered them all 'to go to the chapel and to stand with their arms extended in

the form of a cross until each one of them had sung through the whole Psalter, then three times a day, at tierce, sext and none, to go round the monastic buildings in procession with the crucifix at their hands,

calling upon God to free them, in his mercy, from this accusations'. 40

After the third procession Leoba went straight to the altar and,

34. On the early life of Leoba, see RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, cc. 2-9. 35. From Leoba's own letter to Boniface (dated by Tangl to soon after 732) she

seems to be based at the nunnery at Minster in Thanet, see BONIFACE, Epistola 29, pp. 52-3.

36. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 10: '... propter sanctitatem vitae et sapien- tiae doctrinam, qua plurimis et verbo profuturam noverat et exemplo'. The notion of docere verbo el exemplo goes back at least to Gregory the Greats Regula pasloralis. See, for example, R. MARKUS, Gregory the Great and his World (Cambridge, 1997), especially pp. 17-33.

37. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 11. 38. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 12. 39. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 12: 'Videte, videte, quarr ex eis monasterio

desit, et eam scelus hoc perpetrasse cognoscitel' 40. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 12: '... praecepit omnibus oratorium ingredi,

et. extensis in crucis modum brachiis stare, quoadusque singulare psalterium totum ex ordine psallendo complerent; et deinde per tres vices in die, hoc est Nora tertia, sexta et nona, vexillo crucis elato, cum laetaniis monasterium circuire et pro purgatione sua divinam misericordiam invocare'.


stretching her hands to heaven, begged God to reveal the truth. Imme- diately afterwards, the little girl, 'the dupe and the tool of the devil', *" as Rudolf calls her, seemed to he surrounded with flames and confessed her crime.

Far from being a mere miracle story, this incident illustrates the cir- cumstances and the slow change of mentality by which Leoba came to play a central role in the region. Settled with her nuns in Tauber- bischofsheim, Leoba provided the inhabitants of the area with a spectacle of stunning asceticism. a2 It was a spectacle that was closely watched by the lay population of the neighbourhood, and that raised strong feelings of respect and admiration. These feelings, which gradual- ly began to evolve in the hearts of the people, are apparent even through the veil of the acerbic remarks that one of the villager women made:

Oh, what a chaste community! I-low admirable is the life of nuns, who beneath their veils give birth to children and exercise at the same time the function of mothers and priests, baptising those to whom they have given birth.

... Now go and ask those women, whom you compli-

ment by calling them virgins, to remove this corpse from the river and make it fit for us to use again. "

Baising feelings of admiration and respect, which then will draw the laity closer to the Christian belief and the Christian church, was precisely the rationale that stood behind Bonifacc's plan, as Rudolf perceived it, to use monasteries and nunneries as missionary instruments

- 'so that the people would be attracted to the church not only by the beauty of its religion but also by the communities of plonks and nuns'. "

Leoba and her followers, then, must have impressed the inhabitants

of the region with their prolonged ascetic labour, and the question that

41. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 12: 'antiqui hostis et captiva pariter et mi- nistra'.

42. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobae, c. 11 43. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobac, c. 12: '0 quarn casta congrcgatio. quatn glo-

riosa conversatio virginum, quae sub veto positae filios pariunt, et matrutn pariter ac presbiterorum fungentes officio, eosdem quos genuerint ipsae baptirant! ... Nunc ergo rogate eas, quam virginum appellatione sublimare soletis, tit toflentes cadaver de fill- mine nobis aquam reddant usibilem. On the basis of this passage, Stephanie Hollis came to the conclusion that 'Leoba and her nuns may have carried out lay baptisms because there was a shortage of priests ; see f fOLus, Angfo-Saxon ll'ontcn, p. 280. Such an assertion is extremely difficult to confirm because of the total lack of evidence. It is reasonable to assume that if such an act were indeed performed by the nuns, one would have heard about it from contemporary sources, such as Iloniface's own correspondence or the Frankish Church councils.

44. RUDOLF OF FULDA. Vita I. eobae, C. 10.

Y. HEN 27

needs asking here is: why were the nuns the first to be blamed for the scandalous crime? Is it just because the river flowed by their monastery, or should another explanation be sought?

According to Rudolf, exposing the crime of the crippled girl was Leoba's first miracle in Germany, 15 which implies that the whole incident happened at a fairly early stage of Leoba's residence at Tauber- bischofsheim. If that is the case, then it is not surprising that when such a crime occurred and threatened to break the village's social har-

mony, " the nuns, as a newly imposed element in the region, were the first to be blamed. The process through which the nuns secured a central role within society was not yet completed in Tauberbischofsheim. Indeed it is arguable that by that stage the nunnery had already be-

come part of the social texture of the region, not only because beggars

were gathered at its gates, but also because the nuns were held in high

esteem. Nevertheless, it was too early for them to achieve an unques- tionable status.

That such a status was obtained, is revealed by another incident, on which Rudolf reports. Once, a severe storm came up, the sky was ob- scured by dark clouds that day seemed turned into night, and terrible lightening and thunderbolts struck terror into the heart of everyone. The villagers, shaking with fear and believing that Doomsday has

come, were driven into their houses for shelter. When the storm wor- sened, they all fled to the church, where Leoba tried to calm them. She

promised that no harm would come to them, and asked them all to join her in her prayers. However, when the people could not endure the noise and the wind any more, they rushed to the altar where Leo- ha was praying to seek her protection. Only after her kinswoman, The-

cla, had spoken to her, did Leoba rise, pray to the Virgin Mary, and the storm die out. 47

In this account, Leoba and her nuns already secured for themselves a paramount religious role within the region of Tauberbischofsheim. Furthermore, Leoba herself is portrayed as an indisputable spiritual leader, whom the villagers considered to be their ultimate protector. This impression is confirmed by Thecla's own words to Leoba: 'be-

45. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobae, c. 12. 46. The reaction of the horrified villagers suggests that infanticide was not as com-

mon as thought by several scholars, such as E. COLEMAN, `Infanticide in the Early Middle Ages', in S. M. STUARD ed., Woman in Medieval Society (Pennsylvania, 1976), pp. 47-70.

-17. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vila Leobae, c. 14.


loved, all the hope of these people lies in you; you are their only support'. "

As pointed out by Peter Brown, 'the average believers were encouraged to draw comfort from the expectation that, somewhere, in their own times ... a chosen few ... had achieved, usually through prolonged ascetic labour, an exceptional degree of closeness to God'. " Such a belief gave rise to unassuming and direct expectations for help and comfort from religious persons. 50 In the region of Tauberbischofsheim, it was the nuns, and foremost among them Leoba, who were regarded by the people as closer to God, and therefore in a better position to pray on behalf

of the entire population. That is why the villagers took refuge in the church, which was most probably inside the monastery itself, and that is exactly why they rushed to Leoba to seek her protection.

That Leoba and the nuns of Tauberbischofsheim were perceived in

such a way by the inhabitants of the region is confirmed by yet another incident reported by Rudolf. This time a great fire broke out in the village next to the monastery. Most of the wooden houses were consumed by the flames, and the fire spread with increasing rapidity towards the monastery. The terrified villagers ran in a mob to Leoba, begging her to avert the danger which threatened them. Leoba calmed their fears, and ordered them to take a bucket and bring some water from the stream that flowed by the monastery. 51 She then sprinkled some salt blessed by Boniface into the water, ordering the people to

pour back the water into the upper part of the spring, and to draw

water from the lower part to throw into the fire.

Here again, Leoba appears as the saviour of the people and, as Pe- ter Brown would have put it, an 'arbiter of the holy'. " No doubt that the villagers at the neighbourhood of Tauberbischofsheim regarded Leoba as a genuine spiritual figure and a representative of a superior power. Her reputation as a miracle worker must have spread throughout the region after her first public miracle which, as Rudolf relates, 'came to the ears of everyone'. S3 Leoba's miracles, although presented

48. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 14: '0 dilecta, dilecta, in to opes populi huius, in tc votorum summa consistit'.

49. P. I3naw:., Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisution of the Ro- man World (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 57-8.

50. Ibid., pp. 58 and 61. 51. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 13. 52. Bnow: s, Authority and the Sacred, p. 60. 53. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 12: 'hoc autem in Gennania primum et idea

celebre, quia publicum tuit'.

Y. HEN 29

by Rudolf as dramatic and utterly exceptional, were no more than lo- gical reactions to the various situations. After all, what can be more natural than distracting the attention of the terrified villagers by prayers until the storm had passed, or pouring water on a fire. Yet, even that could not impair Leoba's reputation, for, as already noted by Thomas Hobbes, `reputation of power is power, for it draweth to itself those who seek protection'. ' Leoba, it seems, came to play a crucial role in the imagination of the people around Tauberbischofsheim, for she made the heavenly power present at her own time and place.

The role assumed by Leoba and her nuns seems, in more than one way, to resemble the role played by the holy man in Late Antiquity, as described and refined recently by Peter Brown. 55 Thus, Leoba appears `less

... as an arbiter and as a patron, than a rallying-point -a facilitator for the creation of new religious allegiances and of new religious pattern of observance'. " This is exactly what Boniface had in

mind when he pondered upon using monasteries as missionary instruments. Under Leoba Tauberbischofsheim was actively and successfully engaged in missionary work and, as Rudolf reports, the miracles performed by Leoba inspired devotion among the inhabitants of the region:

The people's faith was stimulated by such tokens of holiness, and as religious feelings increased so did contempt of the world. Many nobles and influential men gave their daughters to God to live in the monastery in perpetual chastity; many widows also forsook their homes, made vows of chastity, and took the veil in the cloister. To all of these the holy virgin pointed out both by word and example how to reach the heights of perfection. 5i

54. T. HOBBES, Leviathan, ed. M. OAKESUOrr (Oxford, 1960), I: 10, p. 50. 55. BROW'-N, Authority and the Sacred, pp. 57-78; and compare with his earlier works

'The rise and function of the holy man in Late Antiquity', Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971), pp. 80-101 [reprinted in IDEaM, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Ber- keley, Los Angeles and Oxford, 1982), pp. 103-521; 'The saint as exemplar', Represen- lations 1 (1983), pp. 1-25.

56. BROWN, Authority and the Sacred, p. GO 57. RUDOLF OF FULDA, Vita Leobae, c. 16: Talibus igitur virtutum signis fides in

populis succensa fervebat, et crescente religions crevit simul et mundi contemptus. Multi enim nobiles et potentes viri filias suas Deo in monasterio sub perpetua virgini- tate servituras tradiderunt, multaeque matronae, relicta saeculari conversatione, casti- tatem profitebantur, et suscepto velamine sacro, monasticam vitam elegerunt; quibus virgo sancta et summa virtutum veniendi et verbo viam praebuit et exemplo'. The donation of Children to a monastery was perceived in the circle of Boniface as an evidence for the monastery's good reputation. In his Life of Sturm, Eigil relates that soon after Boniface's mission in southern Bavaria got under way, '... coeperunt ei cer- tatim viri in servitium Domini nutriendas suas offere soboles ..:. See, EIGIL, Vita Stur- mi, c. 2, ed. P. ENGELBERT, Die Vita Sturmi des Eigil von Fulda: Literarkritisch-

30 REVUE ßLKF? DICTI\Ii

No doubt the presence of Leoba and her nuns had quite an influence

on the entire region, for they had turned Tauberbischofsheim into a successful missionary station, and into a prominent centre of `vocations feminines'. '

It is true that even before Leoba, women had an important role in the promotion of Christianity throughout the Frankish kingdom. '' Furthermore, throughout the Merovingian period nunneries functioned both as centres of culture, where manuscripts were being copied and high standards of education were maintained, GO and as religious centres that provided the inhabitants of their region the same pastoral care that any church or a male monastic community had offered. " Hence, there is little place to doubt that women held a special place in the religious culture of the Frankish kingdoms, whether they became ancit- lae Dei or whether they endowed monasteries and supported the new faith from outside. ̀ 2

Yet, the case of Leoba and the nuns of Tauberbischofsheim illustrates more than anything else the new crucial role of religious women in the Frankish kingdom. Nuns in the second half of the eighth century became, under the influence of I3oniface and his missionary scheme, facilitators for the creation of new religious allegiances and of

hislorisdie Untersuchung und Edition (Marburg, 1968), p. 131. It seems that such an indication was still valid in Rudolfs time. On the donation of children to monasteries see the superb study by M. DE JoxG, In Samuel's Image. Child Oblation in the Early Medieval West (Leiden. New York and Köln, 1996).

58. Al. CIISTIAxt, 'La saintetc feminine du haut Mayen Age', p. "132. 59. See, for example, the crucial role played by Radegund and Balthild: S. GXnl:,

'Radegundis: sancta, regina, ancilla , Francia 16 (1989). pp. 1-30; J. Nia. sox, 'Queens as Jezebels: the Careers of Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian I listory', in I). BA- tct n ed., Medieval Women, Studies in Church I-listor" Subsidia 1 (1978). pp. 31-77 preprinted in EADEH, Politics and Rituals in Early Medieval Europe (London, 1986), pp. 1-18]; IiEx, Culture and Religion, pp. 5-1-7. For more examples, see LIFSIIITZ, 'Des femmes missionnaires, pp. 5-33; CmsTIAx1, 'Ia saintetc feminine du haut Maven Age', pp. 385-13.1.

60. R. McKlrrmucE, 'Women and literacy in the early Middle Ages, in L'. Di: at, Books Scribes and Learning in the Frankish -Kingdoms, 6th-91h Centuries (Aldershot, 1994), chapter XIII; EADE)I, 'Nuns scriptoria in England and Francia in the eighth century', Francia 19 (1992), pp. 1-35 (reprinted in EADE]t, Books, Scribes and Learn- ing, chapter VII].

61. HEN, Culture and Religion, p. 96, with n. 85; 1101.1.1s, Anglo-Saxon Women, pp. 130-7; G. iduscutoL, Famula Dei: Zur Liturgie in nterotuingischen Frauenkldstern, Beitriige zur Geschichte des allen 11önchtums und des Benediktinertunis . 11 (Münster, 1994).

62. See, C. NOLTE, Conversio und Christianitas: Frauen in der Christianisierung vorn 5. bis S. Jahrhundert, Monographic zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 41 (Stuttgart, 1995); EADEAI, 'Gender and conversion in the Merovingian era', in J. Mut. DOox ed., Varieties of Religious Conversion in the . Diddle Ages (Miami, 1997). pp. 81-99.

Y. HEN 31

new religious patterns of observance, and consequently nunneries be-

came a rallying-point, where the inculcation of Christian ideas and values took place. Furthermore, when compared with the activities of nuns and nunneries in Merovingian Gaul, Leoba's role is even more apparent. Jonas of Bobbio's account on Burgundofara and her activities, for example, reveals how little interaction with the outside world the

nuns of Faremoutiers had. ' Thus, the case of Leoba points to a major change in perception regarding the role of nuns and nunneries, not only in the eyes of Boniface himself who regarded both monasteries and nunneries as the instrument for his missionary plan, but also by the people who were willing to accept those institutions and their inhabitants as their new religious guides.

University of Haifa Yitzhak HEN

63. Jos OF Bonwo, Vita Columbani abbatis discipulorumque eius, 11: 11-22, ed. B. Knuscn, . IIGH SRII IV (Hannover, 1902), pp. 130-13.

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