An Empire of Memory by Gabriele Matthew

Author:Gabriele, Matthew. [Gabriele, Matthew.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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The Franks Recreate Empire

Figure 4.1. Eleventh-Century Ottonian Ivory Water Vessel, Aachen Cathedral Treasury.

# Domkapitel Aachen (photo by Ann Münchow).

hierarchy (an emperor above a king, as a king was above a count). Theirs was a

different dynasty, utilizing different symbols of authority than their Carolingian

predecessors. Territorial boundaries became more important, if perhaps more

limiting, in understanding empire.23 Otto III, however, resurrected and re-engaged

with an earlier Carolingian imperial ideal and Henry II followed in that Otto’s

footsteps. Otto III and Henry II both envisioned either ‘a Christian Empire or

Imperial Christendom, under the sole control of the Emperor’.24 Ritual and

23 Robert Folz, The Concept of Empire in Western Europe from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, tr.

Sheila Ann Ogilvie (London, 1969), 27–32, 47–51; Timothy Reuter, ‘Regemque, quem in Francia pene

perdidit, in patria magnifice recepit: Ottonian Ruler Representation in Synchronic and Diachronic

Comparison’, in Janet L. Nelson (ed.), Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities (Cambridge, 2006),

136–42; and John W. Bernhardt, ‘Concepts and Practice of Empire in Ottonian Germany (950–

1024)’, in Björn Weiler and Simon Maclean (eds.), Representations of Power in Medieval Germany,

800–1500 (Turnhout, 2006), 142–54.

24 Folz, Concept of Empire, 64–6, quotation at 64; Helmut Beumann, Der deutsche König als

‘Romanorum Rex’ (Wiesbaden, 1981), 75–7; and now Matthew Gabriele, ‘Otto III, Charlemagne,

The Franks’ Imagined Empire

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symbolism of universal authority mattered here. For example, at his coronation,

Otto III wore a cloak decorated with figures from Revelation and possessed another

garment called the orbis terraum, the latter based on the description of the mantle

worn by the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem. Henry II’s imperial mantle

was embroidered with stars, signifying his cosmic authority, while he carried a

golden globe, representing his worldly authority.25 An Ottonian ivory water vessel

(Figure 4.1), likely dating from the reign of Otto III, nicely synthesized Roman,

Carolingian, and Ottonian ideas of empire. Here, soldiers and bishops all inhabit a

city reminiscent of the heavenly Jerusalem, while the emperor, likened to Christ

and wielding universal power on earth akin to his in heaven, rules them all. The

entire iconographic program here represents the emperor’s imperium and how it

extended over all the faithful.26 What changed around the millennium, however,

was that Rome became progressively more important to this conception of imperial

authority. For example, Otto III attempted (unsuccessfully) to rule from Rome and

may have begun building himself a palace on the Palatine Hill.27 Later eleventh-

century emperors continued their predecessors’ Rome policy, gradually adopting

the title Romanorum rex (which became standard by the time of Henry V, 1106–

25) and advancing their claims to far-flung empire through these Roman preten-

sions. Anselm of Bésate’s mid-eleventh-century Rhetorimachia thought that Henry

III (1039–56) as king of the Romans would soon rule the ancient provinces of

Greece, Judea, and Persia.28

But––and I cannot emphasize this enough––the study of imperial ideology by

modern scholars is too often confined to the imperial circle itself, despite abundant

evidence that shows how deeply others were thinking about universal empire too.29

The sources discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, especially those coming from religious

houses scattered across Europe, are replete with such instances. Even West Frankish

kings began to absorb some of this imperial language, sometimes calling themselves

imperator or augustus, oftentimes speaking of their special place as rex Francorum

and Pentecost A.

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