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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
This note presents a previously unedited ninth-century witness of a Carolingian rite of the cold-water ordeal from Septimania and provides an examination of its language and provenance.
The new manuscript witness discussed in this article was identified and analyzed in the framework of the FWF project “Carolingian Culture in Septimania and Catalonia” (Vienna and Barcelona, P 33080-G). The author would like to thank the staff of the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome for the opportunity to consult the original manuscript.
1 This text is not found in the database “Formulae, Litterae, Chartae” hosted by the Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg and directed by Prof. Dr. Philippe Depreux (University of Hamburg).
2 See, for example, M. M. Gorman, “The Commentary on Genesis of Claudius of Turin and Biblical Studies under Louis the Pious,” Speculum 72 (1997): 279–329, at 322 (“saec. ix 1, southern France … later at Lyons”); P. Boulhol, Claude de Turin, un évêque iconoclaste dans l’Occident carolingien: Étude suivie de l’édition du ‘Commentaire sur Josué’ (Paris, 2002), 21 n. 42 (“1re moitié [sc. “du ix e siècle”], sud de la France”) and 336–37 (“1re moitié, ix e s., sud de la France; plus tard à Lyon”); B. Valtorta, Clavis Scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi: Auctores Italiae (700–1000) (Florence, 2006), 78; and B. Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), 4 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1998–2017), 3:230 (no. 5354): “(Südliches) Frankreich (nicht Lyon), ix. Jh., 1./2. Viertel.” Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, Ms. C. 3 has been digitized on the manuscript platform “ARCA.”
3 E. Comba, Claudio di Torino, ossia la protesta di un vescovo: Cenno storico (Florence, 1895), 154; G. Boffito, “Il codice Vallicelliano C III: Contributo allo studio delle dottrine religiose di Claudio, vescovo di Torino,” Atti della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino: Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 33 (1897–98): 250–85, at 250–51 and 256; and S. Tafel, “The Lyons Scriptorium,” in Palaeographia Latina, Part IV, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1925), 40–70, at 54.
4 Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum mcxcviii 1–2, ed. P. Jaffé et al. (Leipzig, 1885–1886), 322 (no. 2565), where it is dated “824–827”; and idem, Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum mcxcviii 2 (Göttingen, 2017), 318 (no. 5114), where it is dated “824–827.” Neither of these repertories mentions the editions by E. de Rozière, Recueil général des formules usitées dans l’Empire des Francs du Ve au Xe siècle, 3 vols. (Paris, 1859–1871), 2:809–10 (no. 592); and K. Zeumer, in MGH, Formulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi (Hanover, 1886), 618–19 (no. 17). See also von Nostiz-Rieneck, R., “Hat Papst Eugen II die Kaltwasserprobe bestätigt? (Jaffé Ewald 2565),” Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 20 (1896): 710–16Google Scholar; A. Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 2 vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1909), 2:321; M.-A. Michel, “Ordalies,” in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique 11: Naasséniens–Ordalies (Paris, 1931), 1139–52, at 1146; H. Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien (Munich, 1956), 324 and 328–32 (in favor of Eugenius’s agency in the authorization of this version of the rite); C. Leitmaier, Die Kirche und die Gottesurteile: Eine rechtshistorische Studie (Vienna, 1953), 17–18 and 75; P. Dinzelbacher, Das fremde Mittelalter: Gottesurteil und Tierprozess, 2nd ed. (Darmstadt, 2020), 81. R. Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal (Oxford, 1986), 11 does not seem to be aware of these well-founded doubts about Eugenius’s authorship of this text.
5 See the editions by Waitz, G., “Formeln zu Gottesurtheilen,” Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte 16 (1876): 619–25Google Scholar, at 619–21 (no. 1); and by K. Zeumer in MGH, Formulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, 620 (no. 18). Further on Reg. lat. 612, see most recently Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften, 3:434 (no. 6723), who dates it to “ix. Jh., ca. Ende”; and L. Kéry, Canonical Collections of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 400–1140): A Bibliographical Guide to the Manuscripts and Literature (Washington D.C., 1999), 120, who provides no information on its date or place of origin.
6 Pellegrin, É., “Nouveaux fragments du lectionnaire hagiographique de Fleury Paris, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 12606,” Scriptorium 39 (1985): 269–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 273–74 (incorrectly referring to the library of Saint-Martin de l’Île-Barbe). On the right-hand side of this entry stands the late medieval shelfmark “C xliij.”
7 Capitulare missorum Wormatiense 12: “Ut examen aquae frigidae, quod actenus faciebant, a missis nostris omnibus interdicatur, ne ulterius fiat,” ed. A. Werminghoff and V. Krause, MGH, Capitularia regum Francorum 2 (Hanover, 1897), 14–17 (no. 192), at 16. See also Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 2:355; Leitmaier, Die Kirche und die Gottesurteile, 18; Barthélemy, D., “Diversité des ordalies médiévales,” Revue historique 280 (1988): 3–25 Google Scholar, at 16; K. Ubl, “Der Entwurf einer imaginären Rechtsordnung im 9. Jahrhundert: Die Kapitulariensammlung des Benedictus Levita,” in La productivité d’une crise: Le règne de Louis le Pieux (814–840) et la transformation de l’Empire carolingien, ed. P. Depreux and S. Esders (Ostfildern, 2018), 185–204, at 194 and 196; Dinzelbacher, Das fremde Mittelalter, 77; and Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien, 330–31. Based on a mistranslation of the passage, Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 11, interprets this as a ban on an older form of the rite rather than on the practice itself.
8 Hincmar, De divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae, Interrogatio 6, ed. L. Böhringer, in Hinkmar von Reims, De divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae, in MGH, Concilia 4: Supplementum 1 (Hanover, 1992), 101–261, at 150–59 (composed in 860); and Hincmar, Epistola 25, PL 126, cols, 161–71 (dated to 870/875). See also Schrörs, H., Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims: Sein Leben und seine Schriften (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1884), 544 (no. 355) and 581 Google Scholar; Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 2:316–19, 322, 355–56, and 398; Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien, 334–37; Leitmaier, Die Kirche und die Gottesurteile, 18, 49, 50, 52–55, 75, 78 and 121; Gaudemet, J., “Les ordalies au Moyen Âge: Doctrine, législation et pratique canoniques,” in La prevue 2: Moyen Âge et temps modernes (Bruxelles, 1965), 99–135 Google Scholar, at 109; Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 74–75, 77, 84–85, 88, 90, and 118; Barthélemy, “Diversité des ordalies médiévales,” 16, 18, and 24; M. Schmoeckel, “Glaube und Glaubwürdigkeit vor Gericht: Ordale im Spannungfeld von Recht und Gesellschaft,” in Karl von Amira zum Gedächtnis, ed. P. Landau et al. (Frankfurt am Main, 1999), 291–308, at 303; and Dinzelbacher, Das fremde Mittelalter, 46, 84, and 111.
9 Agobard of Lyons, De divinis sententiis contra iudicium Dei, ed. L. van Acker, in Agobardi Lugdunensis opera omnia, CCCM 52 (Turnhout, 1981), 31–49. See also Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 2:314–15 and 328; S. Grelewski, La réaction contre les ordalies en France depuis le ix e siècle jusqu’au Décret de Gratien: Agobard, archevêque de Lyon et Yves, évêque de Chartres (Rennes, 1924), 7–10 and 23–39; Leitmaier, Die Kirche und die Gottesurteile, 47, 49, 54–55, 75–76, and 104; Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien, 333–34; Gaudemet, “Les ordalies au Moyen Âge,” 109; E. Boshof, Erzbischof Agobard von Lyon: Leben und Werk, (Cologne, 1969), 43 and 45–46; Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 72–73 and 84; Schmoeckel, “Glaube und Glaubwürdigkeit vor Gericht,” 294–95 and 301; Ubl, “Der Entwurf einer imaginären Rechtsordnung,” 191–92; and Dinzelbacher, Das fremde Mittelalter, 110.
10 For example, the synod of Narbonne in 1054 attests to the survival of the cold-water ordeal in the region by stipulating this trial of God as a sanction in the event of a breach of the Peace of God. See Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien, 391; and Gaudemet, “Les ordalies au Moyen Âge,” 113 and 117.
11 For Zeumer’s edition, see n. 5, above. For the variants of sections (e)–(f), see MGH, Formulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, 694–97 (nos. 1, 3, and 5).
12 aquam frigidam] aquae frigidae Z
13 quoram] et coram Z
14 anteaquam] antequam Z
15 cum coniuracione] coniurationem Z
16 in ista ecclesia sunt] in ista sunt ecclesia Z
17 consentistis] consensistis Z
18 ad] add. supra lin. R
19 si vos hec fecistis] om. Z
20 eos] om. Z
21 illos] eos Z
22 communicat] communicant Z
23 sanguis] sanguinis Z
24 probacionem] comprobationem Z
25 aqua benedicta] aquam benedictam et Z
26 et] om. Z
27 loco] locum Z
28 illis omnibus] omnibus illis Z
29 obsculare] osculare Z
30 unumquemque] aspergat super unumquemque hominem Z
31 proiciet] proiciat Z
32 debes ieiunos] debeat ieiunus Z
33 commedent que] comedant qui Z
34 et] om. Z
35 prebueris] prebuit Z
36 batizare in aquarum elemento voluit] in aquarum elemento baptizari voluit Z
37 batizato] baptizatum Z
38 sancte] sanctae et individuae Z
39 israel] Israheliticus Z
40 illut] illud Z
41 vestigiis] siccis vestigiis Z
42 transit] transivit Z
43 vestigii] om. Z
44 elias] Heliseus Z
45 nomine illo] N. Z
46 si] in add. Z
47 ex oc] est add. Z
48 culpabilis] quod illi add. Z
49 aut per consensu aut per sciencia] aut per consensum, aut per conscientiam Z
50 ingenium] o corr. u R
51 ab aqua] aliqua Z
52 iorestigacio] sic R. prestigatio Z
53 obedies] obedias Z
54 clamant] laudant Z
55 omo illo] N. Z
56 aqua frigida] aquae frigidae Z
57 filium] et add. Z
58 spiritum sanctum] et per add. Z
59 tremente] tremendum Z
60 deo] Deum Z
61 marcum et matteum] Matheum Marcum Z
62 et] om. Z
63 per martires] et add. Z
64 virgines adque confessores] adque R. confessores atque virgines Z. et per add. Z
65 adque] et Z
66 celestium agmina] secreta caelestia Z
67 dominum adsistunt] Deum laudant Z
68 nomina] nomine Z
69 per] cunctum add. Z
70 illum] illud Z
71 quem] quod Z
72 regeneraverit] regeneravit Z
73 adiuro] ut add. Z
74 furto] furtu Z
75 scisti] scis Z
76 †] aut Z
77 consentenus] consentaneus Z
78 aliut] habes Z
79 aut cor] vel Z
80 culpabilis] inde add. Z
81 neque] nec Z
82 illum] add supra lin. R. ullum Z
83 tuum] om. Z
84 possit contra oc prevalere sed manifestetur] contra hoc prevaleat Z
85 propter hoc nixis sedeprecamur] sic R. Propterea obnixe te deprecamur Z
86 recipiantur] recipiatur Z
87 ad laudem et gloriam] tuam per add. Z
88 deus noster] noster om. Z
89 cum patre et filio spiritu sancto] om. Z
90 per inmortalia secula] in secula seculorum Z
91 eugenius papa] papa Eugenius Z
92 illud] illi Z
93 omnes] homines add. Z
94 abbati et comites] abbati comiti Z
95 probatum aput nos est] probatum est apud nos Z
96 utique est ideo] est utique id. Hoc Z
97 et] ut Z
98 ominibus] om. Z