The Conversion of Europe by Richard Fletcher

Author:Richard Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780007502967
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 1997-03-06T21:00:00+00:00

King Sigehere apostasized from Christian monotheism to traditional Germanic polytheism. A different form of apostasy, and a much more worrying one for ecclesiastical authority, was defection from Christianity to a rival monotheism, be it Judaism or Islam. Such shifts of religious allegiance will occupy us for much of the remainder of this chapter. These experiences of conversion present us with something different from what we have been examining in earlier chapters, and are offered here as a species of counterpoint to the main theme. The focus will be largely though not exclusively upon Spain, for the simple reason that the surviving sources cast welcome shafts of light upon the turbid confessional scene in that ‘land of three religions’.

The strange story of the deacon Bodo-Eleazar takes us at once to the heart of Judaeo-Christian relations in early medieval Europe. Bodo was a native of Alemannia, to the east of the upper Rhine, scene of Pirmin’s missionary labours in the eighth century. He was born, we may suppose, in the early years of the ninth century, almost certainly to a well-connected family. He received a good education, was ordained deacon and entered the service of Charlemagne’s son, the Emperor Louis the Pious. He evidently made a good impression at court and Louis had a high regard for him. A glittering career seemed to be opening before him, as for other young men of similar background, training and talents. But then the wholly unexpected happened. This was a period when the Jews of Francia were enjoying a considerable degree of favour at the hands of their rulers and rising to positions of eminence in imperial service. A Jew named Isaac, for instance, had been employed by Charlemagne as his envoy to the court of the Abbasid caliph Haroun ar-Rashid in Baghdad. Bodo met these prominent court Jews and was by them persuaded of the truth of the Judaic faith. An open avowal of conversion by such a person as Bodo would have been out of the question, so a subterfuge strategy had to be devised. In the year 838 Bodo sought the permission of the emperor to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome. It was willingly granted, and in the following year Bodo set off. In the course of the journey Bodo made his conversion to Judaism public and then diverted from his itinerary and crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, where he was beyond the reach of Frankish power. There he settled at Saragossa, had himself circumcized, adopted the name Eleazar and married a Jewish girl. He also compelled his nephew, who had been travelling with him, to adopt Judaism too. The defection of Bodo gave rise to the utmost dismay in Frankish ruling circles. As a contemporary annalist noted, ‘It was only with difficulty that the Emperor could be persuaded to believe this news at all, which clearly showed to everyone what a very distressing episode this was for the Emperor and Empress and indeed for all those redeemed through the grace of the Christian faith.

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