Table Of ContentHERESY AND DISSENT IN
THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE
Heresy and Dissent in
the Carolingian Empire
The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais
MATTHEW BRYAN GILLIS
1
3
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For Monica
Acknowledgments
It is a tremendous pleasure to be able to acknowledge the many people and
institutions whose contributions have made this study possible. My graduate
advisorattheUniversityofVirginia,PaulKershaw,kindlyofferedhiskeeninsight,
curiosity, inventiveness, and support both during and after my graduate studies.
Alon Confino, Ted Lendon, Elizabeth Meyer, Duane Osheim, Eric Rameriz-
Weaver, and Robert Wilken each generously provided valuable suggestions and
ideas that contributed greatly to my work during my years at the University of
Virginia.ThankstoaFulbrightFellowshiptoAustria(2005–6),Ihadtheprivilege
of conducting my research in Vienna, where Walter Pohl, Helmut Reimitz, and
Toni Scharer not only made it possible for me to use the resources of the Institut
für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität, Vienna and the Institut für
Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, but
they also welcomedme warmlyinto Vienna’svibrant intellectual community and
offered invaluable advice about my work in its earliest stages. During my years at
Furman University, my fellow pre-modernists Ann Leen, Shelly Matthews, and
David Spear kindly shared their ideas about my research as I finished my
PhD. Most recently I have been especially fortunate in my colleagues at the
University of Tennessee, and I am more than delighted to thank Bob Bast, Tom
Burman, Ernie Freeberg, Luke Harlow, Tom Heffernan, Heather Hirschfeld,
Gregor Kalas, Maura Lafferty, Jacob Latham, Vejas Liulevicius, Jay Rubenstein,
TinaShephardson,andAlisonVaccafortheirsupportandinsights.
Partsofmyresearchwerepresentedatconferencesandworkshops,including:
Texts and Identities; the Patristischer- und Frühmittelalterlicher Arbeitskreis,
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Universität, Vienna; the Early
Medieval History Seminar at the Institute for Historical Research, University of
London;WittgensteinWeekattheInstitutfürMittelalterforschung,Österreichische
AkademiederWissenschaften,Vienna;theGermanStudiesAssociation;theAmerican
Historical Association; the American Society of Church History; Nach Rom
gehen—Monastische Reisekultur im Mittelalter, Internationales Kolloquium
am Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen, Kloster Einsiedeln, Switzerland; the Pre-Modern
ReadingGroup,FurmanUniversity;andtheLateAntiquitySeminar,University
of Tennessee.I am most gratefulfor the helpfulandinsightfuldiscussionsI had
withtheparticipantsatthesegatherings.
ToLyndaCoon,AndyRomig,andOxfordUniversityPress’sReadersA,B,and
C—who each read the entire manuscript—I extend my profound gratitude for
their generous and discerning comments, criticisms, and suggestions. This study
has been immeasurably improved thanks to them. I am also grateful to those
scholars who provided insights, encouragement, and support over the course of
thisproject:StuartAirlie,KateCooper,RichieCorradini,MaykedeJong,Albrecht
Diem,MaxDiesenberger,AbigailFirey,DavidGanz,MaryGarrison,ValGarver,
viii Acknowledgments
Patrick Geary, Eric Goldberg, Frank Gumerlock, Greg Hays, Martin Heinzel-
mann,Gerda Heydemann,CristinaLa Rocca,ConradLeyser,RosamondMcKit-
terick,MichaelMoore,JintyNelson,JamesPalmer,MariannePollheimer,Janneke
Raaijmakers, Els Rose, Roland Steinacher, Evina Steinová, Rachel Stone, Alan
Thacker, Irene van Renswoude, Charles West, Herwig Wolfram, and Bernhard
Zeller. I also thank my graduate and undergraduate students at the University of
Tennessee, who have been a lively and engaging audience on Carolingian topics,
Gottschalknotleastamongthem.
I am most grateful for the wonderful financial support I have received for my
project from several institutions. I am happy tothank the Fulbright Program; the
Corcoran Department of History and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
attheUniversityofVirginia;theWittgenstein ProjectattheInstitutfürMittelal-
terforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna; and the
University of Tennessee’s History Department. I am also thankful to the people
(including the folks at Interlibrary Loan Services) at the University of Virginia’s
Alderman Library, Furman University Library, the University of Tennessee’s
Hodges Library, and Bernie, Kim, and Mary in the History Department at the
University of Tennessee for their help in acquiring materials for this study. Some
aspectsofthisbook’sresearchappearedinpreviouspublications,including“Noble
andSaxon:TheMeaningofGottschalkofOrbais’EthnicityattheSynodofMainz,
829,” in Ego Trouble: Authors and Their Identities in the Early Middle Ages, ed.
Rosamond McKitterick, Richard Corradini, Irene van Renswoude, and Matthew
Gillis (Vienna, 2010), and “Heresy in the Flesh: Gottschalk of Orbais and the
PredestinationControversyintheArchdioceseofRheims,”inHincmarofRheims:
Life and Work, ed. Rachel Stone and Charles West (Manchester, 2015). I am
gratefultotheAustrianAcademyofSciencesandManchesterUniversityPressfor
the permission to republish those sections. I also thank the Württembergische
Landesbibliothek Stuttgart for the permission to use the image appearing on the
coverof thisbook(Stuttgart, WürttembergischeLandesbibliothek, Cod.bibl. fol.
23, f. 76v [detail]). At Oxford University Press, I am pleased to thank Stephanie
Irelandforherremarkableefficiencyandsupportasmyacquisitionseditor;Susan
Ferber, who put me in touch with Stephanie; and Cathryn Steele for her kind
assistancehelpingmepreparemymanuscriptforproduction.Ioffermythanksto
ChristineRanftforherkeen-eyedcopyediting,AlbertStewartforhisproofreading,
andPremkumarKaliamoorthiforoverseeingthewholeproductionprocessofthis
bookforOUP.
I am also grateful to my parents, Peter and Marsha Gillis, for consistently
supportingandencouragingmyinterestinhistory.Tomypartner,dearestfriend,
andco-conspirator—MonicaBlack—Iextendmygreatestthanksforsomanyyears
ofinspiration,mischief,travel,andlaughter.Sheknowsbetterthananyonewhere
this study has taken me, and for sharing in those adventures I will remain ever
thankfulanddelighted.
Contents
ListofAbbreviations x
Introduction:TheScandalsofGod’sServant 1
1. AMonkAgainstHisAbbot,829 24
2. BetrayalandInjusticeintheEarly830s 52
3. AMissionaryofGrace,ca.835–848 76
4. ATheologian-Martyrin849 118
5. LettersfromPrison,849–851 147
6. AMasterofSubterraneanDissent,850s 178
7. ResistingHeresyuntoDeathinthe860s 212
Conclusion:HeresyandDissentintheCarolingianEmpire 232
Bibliography 239
Index 271
