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Theological construction in the offices in honour of St Knud Lavard
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2014
Abstract
This article discusses the theology of the late twelfth-century offices in honour of the Danish patron saint Knud Lavard, asking to what extent this theology can be seen to have been underlined in musical representations. Altogether, there is surprisingly little war imagery in the offices. Although Knud Lavard was a military leader, a dux, and is presented in the offices as a miles Christi, and although some formulations in the office can be read to construct him as a crusader, his mildness and his passive suffering are much more emphasized. Indeed, the theological tenor is that of a Christ-like martyr being slaughtered without resistance. The emphasis is thus on suffering as a consequence of evil and unprovoked aggression, verbally as well as musically. This will be underscored by textual as well as musical analysis of central parts of the offices, focusing on the relationship between the responsories and the homiletic readings of the last Nocturns of Matins, which so far have not been much discussed in scholarship, taking also the sequence for the Translation Mass, Diem festum veneremur, into consideration.
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References
1 Bergsagel, John, ed., The Offices and Masses of St. Knud Lavard, 2 vols. (Copenhagen and Ottawa, 2010)Google Scholar. The only surviving source for the offices and masses for St Knud Lavard has traditionally been dated to the later thirteenth century, but Bergsagel argues that the manuscript may just as well be dated to the early thirteenth century thus bringing it fairly close to its assumed composition for the translation feast in 1170. See Bergsagel's discussion of the manuscript in his introduction to the edition, 2:xxxi–xliii, esp. xxxi–xxxii. See also Thomas Riis, ‘The Historical Background of the Liturgy of St Knud Lavard’, in Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:xiii–xxx, esp. xxix. The texts of the offices and masses were edited without the music in Chesnutt, Michael, The Medieval Danish Liturgy of St Knud Lavard (Copenhagen, 2003), 87–133Google Scholar, with English translations of the lessons and responsories for Matins, 145–59. This publication also provides a historical introduction as well as discussions of later versions of the St Knud Lavard liturgy printed in early sixteenth-century Nordic liturgical books. Chesnutt also gives a brief reception history of the legend of Knud Lavard. The main medieval liturgical textual source materials, albeit detached from the liturgical context, were printed in Gertz, Martin Clarentius, Vitae Sanctorum Danorum (Copenhagen, 1910), 2:189–247Google Scholar. These include the Matins lessons, some texts of liturgical songs as well as the few preserved fragments from the almost completely lost vita of St Knud by Robert of Ely, probably written in the 1130s, and also Pope Alexander III's bull (1169) ordering the canonisation of Knud Lavard.
2 In Danish historiography, the murder of Knud Lavard and the dramatic events through the civil war leading up to a new stability during the reign of Valdemar I and the canonisation of Knud Lavard have been much debated. See Riis, ‘The Historical Background’; and idem, Les institutions politiques centrales du Danemark 1100–1332 (Odense, 1977); and Breengaard, Carsten, Muren om Israels Hus: Regnum og Sacerdotium i Danmark 1050–1170 (Copenhagen, 1982)Google Scholar, which includes an English summary.
3 Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 5–6 and 55–6.
4 Eskil has been seen as being against the canonisation of Knud. The St Knud Lavard legend (lesson 6 of the Feast of the Translation) hints at this in relating an earlier otherwise unknown attempt by Valdemar to translate Knud Lavard: ‘When word of this reached Archbishop Eskil, he tried to divert the young men's wish from their declared purpose, not because he opposed their motives but out of reverence for the Holy See; and he issued an Episcopal prohibition against it being done.’ Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 118 (Latin), 157 (English). In any case, relations were not good between king and archbishop during Valdemar's early reign. Eskil supported Pope Alexander III during the papal schism of the early 1160s in contrast to Valdemar who was dependent on Emperor Frederic Barbarossa. Additionally, a conflict between Valdemar and Eskil forced Eskil into exile during the 1160s. As part of the reconciliation, in 1169, Valdemar gave his support to Alexander III whereas the pope seems to have issued guarantees for Eskil's loyalty to the king. The eighth lesson of the Feast for the Translation indicates that Valdemar ‘prudently’ consulted Eskil, and continues: ‘Proceeding sensibly, Eskil fulfilled the wise king's wish’, going on to tell about the delegation which Eskil sent to Rome, and how the request was accepted by the pope (see Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 157–8; Latin text, 118 and 121). Saxo, in Book 14 of his Gesta Danorum makes it clear that it was Eskil who presided over the solemnities in Ringsted on 25 June 1170. See the Internet edition of Saxo's Gesta Danorum (14.40.12) maintained by The Royal Library, Copenhagen: www2.kb.dk/elib/lit/dan/saxo/lat/or.dsr/14/40/index.htm (accessed 26 January 2013). Historians have had widely differing opinions as to the causes of the conflict between Valdemar and Eskil. See the detailed discussion in Breengaard, Muren om Israels Hus, 263–319, which plays down the significance of the dynastic implications as secondary, arguing ‘that the most important development in the relationship between the two [regnum and sacerdotium] in our period was the ever-increasing ecclesiastical demand for an extension of the king's authority due to the crucial function of the latter as a means of social protection for the Church.’ See English summary, translated by Michael Chesnutt, 328–33, at 333.
5 As, for instance, Edward the Confessor and Charlemagne, who was canonised by the schismatic Pope Victor IV at the instigation of Frederic Barbarossa. See Riis, Les institutions politiques. Concerning royal saints offices, see Hankeln, Roman, ed., Political Plainchant? Music, Text and Historical Context of Medieval Saints' Offices (Ottawa, 2009)Google Scholar.
6 Breengaard, Muren om Israels Hus, English summary, 332; see also the detailed discussion, 263–319.
7 Jensen, Kurt Villads, Korstog ved Verdens Yderste Rand, Danmark og Portugal ca. 1000 til ca. 1250 (Odense, 2011), 202Google Scholar.
8 See Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:23, and music example 4b (English translation in Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 155). Knud Lavard's role in establishing justice and peace is especially emphasised in Lesson 3 of the Feast of the Martyrdom; see responsory 6 (Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:9 and 15).
9 Gertz, Vitae Sanctorum Danorum, 179.
10 Riis, ‘The Historical Background’, xxvii–xxviii, at xxviii. Concerning the way Saxo presents Knud's canonisation, see Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ‘In the Presence of the Dead: Saint Canute the Duke in Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum’, The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000–1300) (Copenhagen, 2006), 195–216Google Scholar, which supports the view of Riis (and others) that St Knud Lavard was considered a patron of the Danish expansion in the Baltic. For Friis-Jensen, ‘their theory is valid in the case of Saxo’, see esp. 204–7, at 207.
11 See Boynton, Susan, ‘The Bible and the Liturgy’, in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages: Production, Reception, and Performance in Western Christianity, ed. Boynton, Susan and Reilly, Diane J. (New York, 2011), 10–33Google Scholar. The great scholarly work on medieval exegesis is Lubac, Henri, Exegèse médiévale: Les Quatre Sens de l'Écriture, 4 vols. (Paris, 1959–65)Google Scholar. Three volumes have (so far) been translated into English: de Lubac, Henri, Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture, vols. 1–3 (Grand Rapids, MI, 1998–2009)Google Scholar.
12 The musical examples are transcribed from the facsimile in the first volume of Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses; the original spellings are retained. References to the transcriptions in Bergsagel's second volume are given in order to facilitate comparisons. The texts from the homilies are given in Bergsagel's form (vol. 2). English translations of the chant texts, and the homilies will be given with reference to Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy.
13 Latin text: Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:19; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 152–3.
14 ‘[R.] The righteous one prospers in all his ways; but within his own land a foe is stirred up against him, *and for his good deeds he is sold to death.
[V.] Freed from the enslavement of the flesh the faithful soul, offered to the Son of God, becomes a daughter of Zion; [R.] *and for his good deeds, etc.’
English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 153.
15 See Hiley, David, Western Plainchant: A Handbook (Oxford, 1993), 76, 200–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
16 Anselm's prayers were mainly written when he was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Bec before he became archbishop of Canterbury (1093). In his ‘Oratio ad Christum’ he writes: ‘Heu mihi, qui videre non potui dominum angelorum humiliatum ad conversationem hominum, ut homines exaltaret ad conversationem angelorum!’ (‘Alas for me, that I was not able to see the Lord of Angels humbled to converse with men, so that men could be elevated to converse with Angels!’) See S. Anselmi Opera omnia, vol. 2, ed. Schmitt, Franciscus Saesius (Stuttgart, 1968), 6–9, at 7Google Scholar. The English translation here is corrected from The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm, trans. and ed. Ward, Benedicta (Harmondsworth, 1973), 93–9, in particular p. 95Google Scholar.
17 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:19–20; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 153.
18 ‘[R.] Victory is granted to the victim of the sword, succour to mortals, and glory to the saints; *his memory remains forever.
[V.] Now it pleases the Creator to pay the reward of his toil; [R.]*his memory, etc.’
English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 153.
19 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:21–2; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 154.
20 [R.] Straightway the ground revealed the martyr's power: while it drained his blood it gave water to drink. *Not only did this water refresh the healthy, it also cured the sick.
[V.] Those who wash themselves in this water or who drink of it are cured, whatever the affliction with which they may be burdened. [R. ] *Not only did this water, etc.
English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 154.
21 See Saxo's Gesta Danorum, 13.6.9: www2.kb.dk/elib/lit/dan/saxo/lat/or.dsr/13/6/index.htm (The Royal Library, Copenhagen, accessed 28 January 2013).
22 Epistola Alexandri papae III de canonizatione S. Kanuti Ducis in Gertz, Vitae Sanctorum Danorum, II: 246–7, at 246. The letter is also printed in Diplomatarium Danicum, ed. Weibull, Lauritz and Skyum-Nielsen, Niels, række, I., (Copenhagen, 1963), 2:346–8Google Scholar, as no. 190. See also Friis-Jensen, ‘In the Presence of the Dead’, 203–4.
23 Olrik, Hans, Danske Helgeners Levned, 2 vols. (Copenhagen, 1968), I:139, n. 2Google Scholar.
24 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:21–2; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 154–5.
25 ‘[R.] Adornment and liberty of the kingdom, its peace, its flowering, its fruit and fullness! You open the ears of the deaf, give speaking tongues to the dumb, make the lame walk, and the blind see; *each needy one that trusts in you is granted health.
[V.] Joined with the heavenly hosts you are set above the stars, and you help your servants here on earth below; [R.] *each needy one, etc. – Glory be to the Father, etc.’
English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 155.
26 ‘[1a] You, who bring the servants of the Cross together at the Crucified's command,
[1b] illuminate us through your knightly intercession with the brightness of the true light!
[2a] As guardian of the law you dwell in the world, though lacking the world's vice.
[2b] O kingly son, O duke, unrivalled in your care
[3a] for a sinful race, the people and the flocks of Satan!
[3b] By the power of the Almighty your nation is freed from all torment;
[R.] *[each needy one] is granted health.’
English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 155. For the repetition of the last words of the responsory, ‘sanus redditur’, the melisma on the first syllable of ‘sanus’ is abbreviated to its last segment. For the repetenda in this complex of a responsory and a prosa, see the suggestions in Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:63.
27 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:36; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 158.
28 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:36; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 158.
29 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:36; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 159.
30 Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 40. For Pope Alexander's bull, see Gertz, Vitae Sanctorum Danorum, 2:246–7, esp. 247.
31 Bergsagel, The Offices and Masses, 2:37; English translation: Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 159.
32 See Chesnutt, The Medieval Danish Liturgy, 68; Hammerich, Angul, Musik-Mindesmærker fra Middelalderen i Danmark (Copenhagen, 1912), 95–102Google Scholar; Hammerich's volume was also published in English translation by Hamerik, Margaret Williams: Mediæval Musical Relics of Denmark (Leipzig, 1912)Google Scholar. See also the sequence, Ave plena singulari gracia, trans. and ed. Jeremy Llewellyn and Eyolf Østrem, ‘Transcriptions of the Manuscript, LUB MH 14 with a Preface and Comments’, in Liber Scole Virginis, ed. Bohlin, Folkeet al. (Lund, 2003), 47–127, at 96–9Google Scholar. The Diem festum ueneremur is not mentioned in the translation office for St Knud Lavard in the printed Missale Lundense (Paris, 1514).
33 Hammerich, Musik-Mindesmærker, 95. His transcription is given on pp. 101–2.