Charlemagne’s Cousins: Contemporary Lives of Adalard and Wala

246 Pages·1967·10.421 MB·English

by  Paschasius Radbertus, Allen Cabaniss (transl.)

Charlemagne’s Cousins
Contemporary Lives of Adalard and Wala
Allen Cabaniss, editor and translator
Adalard and Wala, subjects of the two
ninth-century Vitae here translated, were
half-brothers, first cousins of Emperor
Charlemagne. Unable to serve Charles’s
second queen, Adalard abandoned court for
the monastery at Corbie, where he eventu­
ally became abbot. In his administrative
duties as head of a great monastery and
member of the royal family, Adalard earned
high esteem for his virtues and peacemaking
facility.
The younger brother, Wala, rose from
early disfavor to a station second only to
the emperor. His position involved not only
stewardship of the imperial household but
administration of justice and leadership in
battle. Until Charles’s death Adalard and
Wala exercised strong and enviable, per­
haps inordinate, influence on their imperial
cousin’s court.
The succession of Charles’s son Louis
brought a temporary eclipse to the brothers’
fortunes. Under Louis’s distrust Adalard
was banished and Wala sought refuge in
monastic life at Corbie. On their return to
favor, the monks worked to establish a
daughter-monastery, New Corvey. With
Adalard’s death Wala, much loved and ad­
mired, was elected abbot of Corbie. At the
same time, the energetic Wala was "a true
courtier,” a constant adviser to Louis, a re­
luctant accomplice in conspiracy and revolt.
(continued on back flap)

Charlemagne’s Cousins
Allen Cabaniss, professor of history at the
University of Mississippi, has written exten­
sively on the history and theology of the
Middle Ages. The author of two biographies,
Agobard of Lyons: Churchman and Critic
and Amalarius of Metz, he is also editor and
translator of Son of Charlemagne and co­
author of Early Medieval Theology.
Professor Cabaniss, who received his doc­
torate from the University of Chicago, is a
fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a
councilor of The Order of the Crown of
Charlemagne.
Charlemagne’s Cousins
CONTEMPORARY LIVES OF
ADALARD AND WALA
Translatedwith Introduction and Notes, by
ALLEN CABANISS
S Y R A C U S E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
Copyright © 1967
by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Catalog Card: 67-26919
Manufactured in the United States of America
Meis dilectissimis
—
PAUL T. JONES, IV
W. RUTLAND CUNNINGHAM
IRVIN E. LUNGER
G. B. “BART” DeLASHMET
M. C. “CHOOKY” FALKNER
JOHN R. FARRELL
TERENCE S. TARR
FRANK W. HUNGER
JAMES L. GRAHAM
FLORIAN H. YOSTE, hi
WILLIAM E. YOSTE
PAUL E. JONES, hi
Quos duodecim omnes
adhuc amavi
etiam nunc amo
semper amabo
amicos carissimos