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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


The Formulary of Marculf includes templates for documents granting episcopal and royal privileges to monasteries and churches dedicated to saints. One notes among its precedents the special privileges already enjoyed by the 'monasteries of the saints of Lèrins (southern Gaul), Luxeuil (eastern Gaul) and Agaune' (i.e. the *Theban Legion, martyrs of (Saint-Maurice-d')Agaune (south-east Gaul), S00339). Written in Latin in Gaul, probably c. 650/730.

Evidence ID

E08410

Type of Evidence

Documentary texts - Charter or diploma

The Formulary of Marculf

I. 1. De privilegio
Domino sancto et in Christo venerabile fratri illo abbate vel cunctae congregatione monasterii in illi, in honore beatorum illorum ab ill. in pago illo contructo, ille episcopus. Conpellet nos affeccio caritatis vestrae, radio inflammante devino, illa pro vestro quieti providere, que nobis maneant ad mercedem, et ea recto tramitae inconvulso limite, terminari, que perennem deinceps, propiciante Domino, obteneant firmitatem; quia non minor a Domino retributio speratur futura pro succiduis contemplante temporibus quam ad presens munera pauperibus offerentem. Et ne nobis detrahendo aestimet, in id nova decernere carmina, dum ab antiquitus iuxta constitutionem pontificum per regale sanctionem monasteria sanctorum Lyrinensis, Agaunensis, Lossoviensis vel modo innumerabilia per omne regnum Francorum sub libertatis privilegium videntur consistere [...]

'Regarding a privilege
To the blessed lord and venerable brother in Christ Abbot A and the entire congregation of the monastery of B, built in the pagus of C by D in honour of the blessed E-F, Bishop G. Affection of your kindness prompts us, through ardent divine rays, to provide for your peace such things as may contribute to your salvation, and to define them in a correct and permanent way, which, God willing, will retain eternal validity, since the future reward to be expected from God is no less for one who plans for the future than for one who gives to the poor for the present time. And let no one, accusing us, think that they are seeing a new song in this, since from antiquity, according to the decrees of the pontiffs, [and] under royal sanction, the monasteries of the saints of Lérins, Agaune and Luxeuil - or simply: innumerable (monasteries) throughout the entire kingdom of the Franks - have been seen to remain under the privilege of freedom...'


I. 2. Cessio regis de hoc privilegium
Ille rex viris apostolicis, patribus nostris, necnon et inlustribus viris, illi comite vel omnibus agentibus, presentibus et futuris [...] Ergo dum et ille episcopus, aut abba, aut inluster vir, monasterium in honore illius in pago illo, aut super [sua] proprietatem, aut super fisco, noscitur aedificasse, ubi ad presens illi abba vel turba plurima monachorum adunata esse nuscuntur, ad petitionem illius clementia nostra pro quietem ipsorum servorum Dei preceptionem vigoris nostri placuit propalare [...] nec nobis aliquis detrahendo aestimet in id nova decernere carmina, dum ab antiquitus iuxta constitutionem pontificum per regale sanctionem monasteria sanctorum illorum vel cetera in regno nostro sub libertatis privilegium videntur consistere [...]

'Grant from the king regarding this privilege
King A to the apostolic men, our fathers, and also to the illustrious Count B and all royal representatives present and future... Therefore since Bishop - or: Abbot, or: the illustrious man - C is known to have built a monastery in honour of (saint) D in the pagus of E - or: on his property, or: on an estate of the fisc -, where the present Abbot F and a great crowd of monks are known to have gathered, at his request it has pleased our clemency to issue an order by our authority for the tranquillity of these servants of God... And let no one, accusing us, think that they are seeing a new song in this, since from antiquity, according to the decree of the pontiffs (and) under holy sanction, the monasteries of Saints G-H and others in our kingdom are seen to remain under the privilege of freedom...'


I. 4. Confirmatio de emunitatem
Principale quidem clementia cunctorum decet accomodare aure benigna [...] unde et ipsa preceptione iam dictu principe seo et confirmationis illorum regum eorum manibus roboratas antedictus pontifex nobis ostendedit relegendas, et ipse beneficius circa eodem vel memorata ecclesia sua, sicut a supradictis principibus fuit indultum, moderno tempore asserit esse conservatum. Sed pro firmitatis studium petiit celsitudinem nostram, ut hoc dinuo circa eodem vel memorata ecclesa sancti illius nostra deberit auctoritas generaliter confirmare [...]

'Confirmation of an immunity
It befits princely clemency to lend a kindly ear to all... And the said pontiff showed us, in order that it should be read, this document of the aforementioned prince and the confirmation of the kings E-F, signed by their own hands. And he states that this privilege for this and his said church has been observed in present times as it had been granted by the said princes; but out of a desire for firm validation, he asked our highness that our document should generally confirm this again regarding this and the said church of Saint D...'


Text: Zeumer 1886, 39-41, 41-3, 44-5.
Translation: Rio 2008, 128-31, 131-4, 136-9.

Cult Places

Cult building - monastic
Cult building - independent (church)

Non Liturgical Activity

Awarding privileges to cult centres

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops
Monarchs and their family
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits

Source

Marculf is the longest, most famous, and best attested of the surviving early medieval Latin formularies (collections of formulae, template documents for scribes). It is preserved in seven Carolingian manuscripts, although scholars have dated its original compilation considerably earlier, proposing various points in the second half of the 7th century, or at least no later than the 720s. The contents of Marculf should, however, be thought of as occupying a considerably wider time-span than simply c. 650/730: many of the original documents upon which its formulae are based probably date back to several decades before its compilation, while the collection’s continued copying and re-editing well into the 9th, even 10th centuries points to a living, fluid text, that well outlasted late antiquity.

Marculf is of major importance to historians, not least since its formulae effectively preserve diverse documents concerning matters of only transitory value (e.g. letters of recommendation, sales of slaves, Christmas greetings), which archivists would have otherwise seen little purpose in keeping beyond the interested parties’ lifetimes (for full discussion see Rio 2008, 2009).


Discussion

For extant Merovingian episcopal privileges of this kind, see E06246; for royal diplomas of immunity, E06133 (Saint-Denis), E06146 (Angers), E06223 (Tussonval), E06227 (Sithiu/Saint-Bertin), E06228(Montier-en-Der), E06229 (Anisole), E06230 (Saint-Maur-des-Fossés), E08405 (Speyer).

Bibliography

Edition:
Zeumer, K., Marculfi Formulae, in: Formulae Merowingici et Karolini aevi (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Leges V; Hannover, 1886), 32-112.

Translation, introduction and commentary:
Rio, A. The Formularies of Angers and Marculf: Two Merovingian Legal Handbooks (Translated Texts for Historians 46; Liverpool, 2008).

Further reading:
Ewig, E., 'Beobachtungen zu den Klosterprivilegien des 7. und frühen 8. Jahrhunderts,' in idem,
Spätantikes und Fränkisches Gallien. Gesammelte Schriften, 3 vols (Munich and Ostfildern, 1976-2009), ii. 411-26.

Rio, A.,
Legal Practice and the Written Word in the Early Middle Ages: Frankish Formulae, c. 500-1000 (Cambridge, 2009).

Rosenwein, B.H.,
Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint and Privileges of Immunity in Early Medieval Europe (Ithaca and London, 1999).


Record Created By

Benjamin Savill

Date of Entry

27/02/2023

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00339Theban Legion, commanded by Maurice, martyrs of Agaune, Gaulsancti AgaunensisCertain
S00518Saints, unnamedsancti, illeCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E08410 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08410