Abstract
Otto III’s succession to the German throne in 983 provoked a crisis, one that the Ottonian dynasty was able to weather, Jestice argues, because the Ottonian rulers of Germany consciously enhanced the power and authority of their spouses as a tool of government, a tool that then served the dynasty well in face of this challenge to the succession. The introduction to this study of Ottonian queenship introduces the main women studied—Mechtild, Adelheid, and Theophanu. It also explores the major chronicles, histories, charters, and letters available from tenth-century Germany to assess their careers and significance.
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Notes
- 1.
The eve of the tenth century saw the final division of the Carolingian empire into West and East Frankish kingdoms. The East Frankish kingdom is the main subject of this book. This land was roughly equivalent to present-day Germany and indeed was first called the “German kingdom” in the tenth century. Its people for the most part spoke German. In this work, I follow the practice of important surveys like Timothy Reuter’s Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 800–1056 (London: Longman, 1991) in unabashedly referring to the East Frankish kingdom as “Germany.”
- 2.
An anecdote Ekkehard IV of Saint-Gall reports illustrates Otto II’s irritation at his secondary role during his father’s lifetime: Otto I went into the abbey church and purposely let his staff fall to test the discipline of the monks. When his son heard of the event, according to Ekkehard, he marveled that the elder Otto let his staff fall when he held imperium so firmly that he refused even to share a part of it with his son. Ekkehard IV, Casus sancti Galli, ed. Hans Haefele (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980), (146) 282–84.
- 3.
Thilo Offergeld, Reges pueri. Das Königtum Minderjähriger im frühen Mittelalter (Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2001), 300ff.
- 4.
Several tenth-century French kings also came to the throne at a young age, but since Louis IV was fifteen, Lothar thirteen, and Robert the Pious fourteen, the transition to personal rule was simpler and a placeholder was needed for only a short time. See Jean Verdon, “Les veuves des rois de France aux Xe et XIe siècles,” in Veuves et veuvage dans le haut Moyen Âge, ed. Michel Parisse (Paris: Picard, 1993), 190.
- 5.
Some scholars, most notably Gerd Althoff and Hagen Keller, have gone so far as to argue that the Ottonian reich lacked government organization. See Hagen Keller, “Zum Charakter der ‘Staatlichkeit’ zwischen karolingischer Reichsreform und hochmittelalterlichem Herrschaftsausbau,” FMSt 23 (1989): 248–64 and Gerd Althoff, Die Ottonen: Königsherrschaft ohne Staat (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2000). Recently, however, above all David Bachrach has argued cogently that the Ottonian rulers retained important elements of Carolingian administration, including central record-keeping, missi, and the inquisitio. See Bachrach, “The Written Word in Carolingian-Style Fiscal Administration under King Henry I, 919–936,” German History 28.4 (Dec. 2010): 399–423; “Exercise of Royal Power in Early Medieval Europe: The Case of Otto the Great, 936–73,” Early Medieval Europe 17.4 (2009): 389–419; and “Inquisitio as a Tool of Royal Governance under the Carolingian and Ottonian Kings,” ZS der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Germ. Abteilung 133 (2016): 1–80.
- 6.
See Theo Kölzer, “Das Königtum Minderjähriger im fränkisch-deutschen Mittelalter: Eine Skizze,” Historische Zeitschrift 251 (1990): 293; Offergeld, Reges pueri, 37; Franz-Reiner Erkens, “…more Grecorum conregnantem instituere vultis? Zur Legitimation der Regentschaft Heinrichs des Zänkers im Thronstreit von 984,” FMSt 27 (1993): 273–74.
- 7.
The term “regent” first appears in western Europe in France in 1316. See Kölzer, “Königtum Minderjähriger,” 314.
- 8.
As Bachrach points out, rulers like Otto I did far too much not to have had an infrastructure supporting them. Bachrach, “Exercise,” 393. Andreas Kränzle emphasizes that the Ottonian reich was far too large for a king to rule by personal presence. See Kränzle, “Der abwesende König. Überlegungen zur ottonischen Königsherrschaft,” FMSt 31 (1997), esp. 124.
- 9.
More recent scholarship has emphasized bishops’ connections to family and friend networks, which made them much more complex figures than simple tools of the monarchy, as well as pointing out the inconsistency of royal appointments. For a critique of this earlier understanding, see Rudolf Schieffer, “Der Geschichtliche Ort der ottonisch-salischen Reichskirchenpolitik” (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998), 8–9; Stefan Weinfurter, “Die Zentralisierung der Herrschaftsgewalt im Reich unter Kaiser Heinrich II,” Historisches Jahrbuch 106 (1986): 241.
- 10.
In both cases, other factors were at work, but the failure to bear provided the necessary excuse. Penelope Adair, “Constance of Arles: A Study in Duty and Frustration,” in Capetian Women, ed. Kathleen Nolan (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 11.
- 11.
Daniela Müller-Wiegand, Vermitteln—Beraten—Erinnern. Funktionen und Aufgabenfelder von Frauen in der ottonischen Herrscherfamilie (919–1024) (Kassel: Kassel University Press, 2003), 178 on Theophanu’s offspring.
- 12.
For Gisela’s role in Henry III’s education see Kurt-Ulrich Jäschke, Notwendige Gefährtinnen. Königinnen der Salierzeit als Herrscherinnen und Ehefrauen im römisch-deutschen Reich des 11. und beginnenden 12. Jahrhunderts (Saarbrücken: Verlag Rita Dadder, 1991), 49; on writers’ neglect of queens’ interaction with the royal children, see Matthäus Bernards, “Die Frau in der Welt und die Kirche während des 11. Jahrhunderts,” Sacris erudiri 20 (1971): 55.
- 13.
For example, Cristina La Rocca, “Pouvoirs des femmes, pouvoir de la loi dans l’Italie lombarde,” in Femmes et pouvoirs des femmes à Byzance et en Occident (VI e –XI e siècles), ed. Stéphanie Lébecq, et al. (Villeneuve-d’Ascq: Centre de recherche sur l’Histoire de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest, 1999), 38.
- 14.
DHII 370 (July 10, 1017); Ingrid Baumgärtner, “Fürsprache, Rat und Tat, Erinnerung: Kunigundes Aufgaben als Herrscherin,” in Kunigunde—consors regni, ed. Stefanie Dick, et al. (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2004), 53.
- 15.
Wipo, Gesta Chuonradi II, ed. Heinrich Bresslau, MGH SS rer. Germ. in us. schol. 61, (4) 25.
- 16.
For a classic formulation, see Suzanne Wemple, Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister 500 to 900 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), 63.
- 17.
See for example Franz-Reiner Erkens, “Consortium regni—consecratio—sanctitas: Aspekte des Königinnentums im ottonisch-salischen Reich,” in Kunigunde—consors regni, ed. Dick, 79.
- 18.
Janet L. Nelson, “Women at the Court of Charlemagne: A Case of Monstrous Regiment?” in Medieval Queenship, ed. John C. Parsons (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993), 49.
- 19.
As Jäschke cogently argues in Notwendige Gefährtinnen, 1.
- 20.
Pauline Stafford, “The Portrayal of Royal Women in England, Mid-Tenth to Mid-Twelfth Centuries,” in Medieval Queenship, ed. Parsons, 155.
- 21.
On issues related to royal diplomas, see especially Sean Gilsdorf, The Favor of Friends: Intercession and Aristocratic Politics in Carolingian and Ottonian Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2014); Geoffrey Koziol, The Politics of Memory and Identity in Carolingian Royal Diplomas: The West Frankish Kingdom (840–987) (Turnhout: Brepols, 2012).
- 22.
Of the numerous studies of Gerbert, see especially H. Pratt Lattin, “The Letters of Gerbert,” in Gerberto: Scienza, storia e mito, ed. Michele Tosi (Bobbio: Ed. degli A.S.B., 1985), 311–29 and Pierre Riché, Gerbert d’Aurillac, le pape de l’an mil (Paris: Fayard, 1987), passim.
- 23.
See Gerd Althoff, “Widukind von Corvey: Kronzeuge und Herausforderung,” FMSt 27 (1993): 253–72, esp. p. 267. Also useful are Johannes Laudage, “Widukind von Corvey und die deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft,” in Von Fakten und Fiktionen, ed. Johannes Laudage (Cologne: Böhlau, 2003), 193–224; Ernst Karpf, “Von Widukinds Sachsengeschichte bis zu Thietmars Chronicon: Zu den literarischen Folgen des politischen Aufschwungs im ottonischen Sachsen,” in Angli e sassoni al di qua e al di là del mare (Settimane di studio 32, 1984) (Spoleto: Presso la Sede del Centro, 1986), 547–80; Karl Leyser, “Three Historians,” in Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Carolingian and Ottonian Centuries, ed. Timothy Reuter (London: Hambledon Press, 1994), 19–28; Sverre Bagge, Kings, Politics, and the Right Order of the World in German Historiography, c. 950–1150 (Leiden: Brill, 2002). For English-speaking readers, the introduction to the fine English translation of Widukind’s history is very useful: Widukind of Corvey, Deeds of the Saxons, trans. and intro. Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2014), xiii–xxxvii.
- 24.
David Warner provides an excellent overview of Thietmar’s life and work in the introduction to his translation of the chronicle. Thietmar of Merseburg, Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, trans. and intro. David A. Warner (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001). See also Leyser, “Three Historians,” 19–28; Helmut Lippelt, Thietmar von Merseburg: Reichsbischof und Chronist (Cologne: Böhlau, 1973), passim.
- 25.
For an overview study of Liudprand, see Jon N. Sutherland, Liudprand of Cremona, Bishop, Diplomat, Historian: Studies of the Man and his Age (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di studi sull’ alto medioevo, 1988). Two particularly insightful articles about the acerbic bishop are Gerd Althoff, “Geschichtsschreibung in einer oralen Gesellschaft. Das Beispiel des 10. Jahrhunderts,” in Ottonische Neuanfänge, ed. Bernd Schneidmüller and Stefan Weinfurter (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2001), 151–69; Philippe Buc, “Italian Hussies and German Matrons: Liutprand of Cremona on Dynastic Legitimacy,” FMSt 29 (1995): 207–25. The outstanding English translation by Paolo Squatriti includes a good introduction. Liudprand of Cremona, The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. Paolo Squatriti (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).
- 26.
Althoff, “Geschichtsschreibung,” 158.
- 27.
For Hrotsvit, see especially Stephen L. Wailes, Spirituality and Politics in the Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (Selinsgrove, Penn.: Susquehanna University Press, 2006); Wolfgang Kirsch, “Hrotsvit von Gandersheim als Epikerin,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 24/25 (1989/90): 215–24; Monique Goullet, “De Hrotsvita de Gandersheim à Odilon de Cluny: images d’Adélaïde autour de l’an Mille,” in Adélaïde de Bourgogne: Genèse et représentations d’une sainteté impériale, ed. Patrick Corbet, et al. (Dijon: Ed. Universitaires de Dijon, 2002), 43–54. For a good overview of the issues of identifying women historians, see Elisabeth van Houts, Memory and Gender in Medieval Europe, 900–1200 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999).
- 28.
For the Annales Quedlinburgenses, see Gerd Althoff, “Gandersheim und Quedlinburg. Ottonische Frauenklöster als Herrschafts- und Überlieferungszentren,” FMSt 25 (1991): 123–44; Käthe Sonnleitner, “Selbstbewußtsein und Selbstverständnis der ottonischen Frauen im Spiegel der Historiographie des 10. Jahrhunderts,” in Geschichte und ihre Quellen, ed. Reinhard Härtel (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987), 111–19.
- 29.
For the vitae of Mechtild, see the introduction to the English translation. Sean Gilsdorf, trans., Queenship and Sanctity: The Lives of Mathilda and the Epitaph of Adelheid (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2004). See also Bernd Schütte, Untersuchungen zu den Lebensbeschreibungen der Königin Mathilde (Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1994); Gerd Althoff, “Causa scribendi und Darstellungsabsicht: Die Lebensbeschreibungen der Königin Mathilde und andere Beispiele,” in Litterae Medii Aevi, ed. Michael Borgolte and Herrad Spilling (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1988), 117–33.
- 30.
For the Epitaphium, see Johannes Staub, “Odilos Adelheid-Epitaph und seine Verse auf Otto den Großen,” in Latin Culture in the Eleventh Century, ed. Michael W. Herren, et al. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), 2: 400–409; Patrick Corbet, Les saints ottoniens (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1986), esp. 59–110.
- 31.
Often Anglified as Matilda or Mathilda, use of the German form of her name—Mechtild—serves as a useful reminder of this queen’s (and her granddaughter’s) essential Germanness, as well as making confusion with the daughter of Henry I of England or the famous countess of Tuscany less likely.
- 32.
Some scholars prefer the French form of her name, Adelaide, but I use the Germanic form under which she appears in German sources and German scholarship, since the most important parts of her career were spent in German lands.
- 33.
Gunther Wolf, “Königinnen-Krönungen des frühen Mittelalters bis zum Beginn des Investiturstreits,” Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kan. Abt. 76 (1990): 71.
- 34.
“Theophanu” is the typical western European spelling of this Greek name (although Liudprand of Cremona employs the form “Theophana”). Both “Theophano” and “Theophanu” are correct in Greek usage. See Günther Henrich, “Theophanu oder Theophano? Zur Geschichte eines ‘gespaltenen’ griechischen Frauennamensuffixes,” in Kaiserin Theophanu, ed. Anton von Euw (Cologne: Schnütgen-Museum, 1991), 2: 489.
- 35.
The Casus sancti Galli reports that Otto I, shortly after his marriage, surprised his court by wishing them bôn mân one morning. Ekkehard IV, Casus sancti Galli, (132) 254.
- 36.
Dominae A. imperatrici semper augustae O. gratia dei imperator augustus. Quia secundum vota et desideria vestra divinitas nobis iura imperii contulit felici successu, divinitatem quidem adoramus, vobis vero grates rependimus. Scimus enim et intelligimus maternum affectum studia pietatem quibus rebus obsequio vestro deesse non possumus. Proinde quia dum promovemur, vester honor attollitur, rem publicam per vos promoveri ac promotam feliciter in suo statu regi multum oramus et optamus. Valete. DDOIII 196.
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Jestice, P.G. (2018). Introduction: The Road to Regency. In: Imperial Ladies of the Ottonian Dynasty. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77306-3_1
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