Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona

by Luidprand, Paolo Squatriti

Overview

This modern English translation of all the surviving literary compositions ascribed to Liudprand, the bishop of Cremona from 962 to 972, offers unrivaled insight into society and culture in western Europe during the "iron century." Since Liudprand enjoyed the favor of the Saxon Roman emperor Otto the Great, and traveled to Constantinople more than once on official business, his narratives also reveal European attitudes toward the Byzantine Empire and the culture of its refined capital city. No other tenth-century writer had such privileged access to the high spheres of power, or such acerbic wit and willingness to articulate critiques of the doings of powerful people.

Liudprand's historical texts (the Antapodosis on European events in the first half of the 900s, and his Historia Ottonis on the rise to power of Otto the Great) provide a unique view of the recent past against a genuinely European backdrop, unusual in a time of localized cultural horizons. Liudprand's famous satirical description of his misadventures as Ottonian legate at the Byzantine court in 968 is a vital source of information on Byzantine ritual and diplomatic process, as well as a classic of medieval intercultural encounter. This collection of Liudprand's works also includes his recently discovered Easter sermon, a rare early document of Jewish-Christian intellectual polemic.

Readers interested in medieval European culture, the history of diplomacy, Italian and German medieval history, and the history of Byzantium will find this collection of translated texts rewarding. A full introduction and extensive notes help readers to place Liudprand's writings in context.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:

Paolo Squatriti, associate professor of history and Romance languages and literatures at the University of Michigan, is author of Water and Society in Early Medieval Italy AD 400-1000 and editor of Natures Past: The Environment and Human History.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

"Few medieval chroniclers are more enjoyable to read than Liudprand of Cremona, the well-traveled Italian courtier, ecclesiastic, and ambassador. . . . Paolo Squatriti has done scholars and students an important service by offering fresh translations . . . plus the first rendering in English of a homily written by Liudprand. . . . The translator has carefully combed the scholarly literature on Liudprand in English, Italian, and German, with emphasis on work done in the last twenty years. A synthesis of sorts appears in a substantial introduction. . . . There follow four texts, in more or less chronological order, with extremely helpful explanatory and bibliographic notes aimed 'to ease the task of students in unraveling Liudprand's culture' (viii). The translation is accurate and faithful, navigating with considerable success the often choppy structure and precious style of Liudprand. . . . Writer and translator seem to come fully into their own with 'Embassy,' a total treat to read here. . . . Students will find much to learn about and chew over in each of these texts and by looking at them as a group. . . . Squatriti has given students and scholars an English Liudprand for the twenty-first century that is an important resource for extending our understanding of the tenth." — Bruce Venarde, The Medieval Review

"At last—a new, up-to-date translation of the Works of Liudprand (or Liutprand) of Cremona. Paolo Squatriti's version has much to commend it. It moves away from the "forsooth language" of the old translation by F.A. Wright and builds on the more recent work of Brian Scott; it captures Liudprand's chameleon-like changes of style in an eminently readable version, and it provides a useful introduction to recent scholarly work on the author and his times. . . . As befits a translator who is both historian and literary scholar, Squatriti's introduction has much of interest to say. . . . A vivi

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813215068
Publisher:	The Catholic University of America Press
Publication date:	11/28/2007
Series:	Medieval Texts in Translation
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Read an Excerpt

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LIUDPRAND OF CREMONA

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The Catholic University of America Press
Copyright © 2007

The Catholic University of America Press
All right reserved.


ISBN: 978-0-8132-1506-8

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Introduction LIUDPRAND'S LITERARY ALIASES

Liudprand of Cremona was born around 920 and died in 972. In the course of the fifty-odd years he lived, he used several names, though all were ultimately related to that of Liutprand, the most successful king of the Lombards, who died in 741. At different times and in different situations he was known as Liutprandus, Liudprandus, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios, and if now we may take the name he affixed to an autograph of his most lengthy work, Liudprand, to be the right one, his mutability gives pause. Unsurprisingly, modern scholars have differed on what to call him as much as on how to interpret him. Italian scholars, those who have been most interested in Liudprand for the past century, still stolidly spell his name Liutprand. In English and German there is less unanimity. The change of heart of Philippe Buc, who reluctantly abandoned Liutprand for Liudprand, demonstrates the peculiar uncertainty surrounding the name of a man who was, after all, one of the preeminent writers of the tenth century, whose opinions still frame, among other things, our ideas about the tenth-century papacy.

Uncertainty about his name reflects basic ambiguities in the chameleon- like bearer of the name. For one of the most striking characteristics of Liudprand's writing, which is almost the only evidence we have about him, is how variable, or versatile, this deceivingly self-revealing author could be. Thus quite different writers emerge between his earliest known text (the book of Retribution, finished in 962 but begun in 958, two years after Liudprand met Recemund, to whom he dedicated it); his newly-discovered sermon (delivered before he became bishop in 961, perhaps in Germany); his apology for Otto I's intervention in papal affairs (written in 965); and his account of his second journey to Constantinople (written in 969).

Liudprand's obvious transformations are probably not signs of psychological instability. Rather, the different tones and styles, and the very different, indeed contradictory, points of view in Liudprand's various texts stem from the vicissitudes of his life. Although born into a powerful and well-connected Lombard family, and taken into the household of the king of Italy very young in 931 or so, according to his typically coy mention of this event (Retribution 4.1), Liudprand did not enjoy a smooth rise to positions of influence. His family managed somehow to survive the demise of King Hugh and the rise of Berengar II, for Liudprand says that his stepfather had Berengar's ear and cash to spare in 949 (Retribution 6.3). Unfortunately for Liudprand, in 950 he lost Berengar's favor, and evidently so did his whole household (Retribution 3.1). Perhaps his family's close ties with King Hugh implied a loyalty to his son Lothar that was deeper than Berengar could tolerate, even after Lothar's liquidation. Regardless, a year before Lothar's widow Adalheid became the focus of anti-Berengarian sentiment (and wife of the German king), Liudprand crossed the Alps, seeking protection and fortune in the east Frankish Kingdom that Otto "the Great" had inherited. Evidently Liudprand was successful in his search. He was probably at Frankfurt, one of Otto's favorite residences, when the emissaries of the Cordoban caliph reached the court there in 956. This would have been the occasion for Liudprand's meeting with Recemund of Elvira, to whom he addressed Retribution.

In the late 950s, Liudprand became involved in Otto's efforts to secure the obedience of Berengar II in Italy. For uncertain reasons he was on the island of Paxos, in the Ionian sea, around 960, diligently writing his book of Retribution. In 961, when Otto decided to intervene directly in Italian affairs, Liudprand must have known that his career would receive a boost from the intervention. Years at the Ottonian court had taught him how much the Saxon rulers relied on loyal men placed in episcopal sees. Indeed, before January 14, 962, he was named Bishop of Cremona, a major city on the Po River; in this capacity he involved himself in the new emperor's administration, though Bishop Liudprand did not usually enjoy the prominence he had had during the settlement of papal affairs described in Concerning King Otto. For this reason he may have thought the mission to Constantinople entrusted to him in 968, the subject of his Embassy, an opportunity to gain visibility at court.

Upon his return to Italy, Liudprand immersed himself in the affairs of his important see, serving Otto's cause in various ways while tending to a bishop's concerns. He witnessed deeds involving the diocese's property and attended synods, and seems even to have received the title of Count of Ferrara. At this point, it may have been Liudprand's un-local knowledge, specifically his expertise in Byzantine affairs, that became fatal to him: a twelfth-century source claims he died during his third voyage to Constantinople in 971-72, when Otto finally obtained the marital alliance with Byzantium he had desired so long. Liudprand appears to have died on the return leg of the journey that brought the princess Theophanu westward to marry Otto II and begin her long period of influence within the Ottonian dynasty, even beyond her death in 997.

Since his contemporaries did not notice Liudprand's presence among them enough to write about him, the details of his biography, in the end quite few, derive from Liudprand's own writings. These are copious, but do not give a precise sense of their author; in fact, the point of this introduction is to show that they were written for specific purposes at specific times, and none was frankly autobiographical. Yet autobiography, or self-examination, was something of a tenth-century specialty, and several of Liudprand's contemporaries left behind texts in which they discuss themselves with surprising candor. Indeed, some experts in medieval Latin literature consider this capacity to consider one's self, to discuss the intimate recesses of the soul, a characteristic feature of writing during the last century of the first millennium. Perhaps for this reason readers of Liudprand's works have tended to seek Liudprand's real personality in his writings, though these center on other people's behavior, and are only incidentally involved in the literary exercise of self-invention. The picture of Liudprand that emerges from this sort of analysis is not flattering, and Liudprand has been characterized as a shallow, venomous, vain creature, a man worthy of the "leaden century" in which he lived.

The personality of anyone who lived more than a thousand years ago tends to appear somewhat foggy to us. This indistinctness is all the more pronounced in the case of Liudprand, who is the sole witness to his self. In addition, Liudprand was first and foremost a great wordsmith, a highly skillful user of literary Latin who had read and studied the classics of Latin literature, pagan and Christian. It is prudent therefore to understand Liudprand's insertion of himself into his compositions as a calculated literary strategy, often an evocation of the style of some previous author. Even Liudprand's moments of apparent candor, such as Retribution 4.1's claims of youthful vocal excellence, usually turn out to be literary reminiscences, in this case of Cornelius Nepos's Atticus 1. A writer who dropped lines of less famous Roman poetry and prose with apparent effortlessness, as well as the more common lines of Virgil, Horace, Cicero, and Augustine, who adopted models and styles from ancient and late antique masters, and who was imbued with a deep biblical culture, was able to represent himself to readers with the persona most attuned to the circumstances. Thus the bilious Liudprand of Retribution, who is also a new Job, persecuted by the nefarious duo Berengar and Willa, or the severe and detached one of Concerning King Otto, or the impassioned moralist at the end of his sole known homily, and especially the sarcastic Liudprand giving account of his mission in Byzantium, are all creations of the pen of a versatile and well-read author, and are better suited to literary analysis than to psychoanalysis. Liudprand left behind personae, not personality, and his unusual distinction between the "inner" and the "outer" persona (evident in the intriguing passage about his attempt to be true to himself in Retribution 6.1) reflects his acute awareness of how written words could become the best means of self-presentation, or even self-invention.

Of course, not all the fascinating personae that Liudprand fabricated were elegant allusions to the classical mode. Some personal details (such as the messenger's embarrassment at entering the Byzantine Great Palace without appropriate gifts in 949, or the homilist's unease before famished beggars, or the secret satisfaction at exchanging a few words with friends in Constantinople in 968) are more clearly part of a master narrator's effort to convince readers of the reality of what is written and the openness and sincerity of him who writes. But, like the classical reminiscences, they serve as pillars in Liudprand's construction of a literary voice endowed with an astonishing range of modulations.

Today we have four of Liudprand's writings. Until recently, only Embassy, Retribution, and Concerning King Otto were known, and considerable effort went into showing that Liudprand's literary production was unitary, consisting of three sections to a single "historical novel." Now that Liudprand's Homily has entered the canon, it is less easy, less necessary, even, to imagine ways in which Liudprand's entire production may appear coherent, one literary project rather than a series of distinct compositions linked to particular circumstances.

LIUDPRAND AS WREAKER OF Retribution

Liudprand's book of Retribution, or Antapodosis as he called it in Greek, stands out among his compositions. It is longer and more sustained than his other writings. It was not written at a successful or particularly hopeful moment in Liudprand's life, but in exile, during his peregrinations. It takes a surprisingly ample view of the affairs that should concern the historically-minded: in Retribution, Liudprand ranges over an integrated "Europe" at once Mediterranean and continental, where the things that happen in Denmark are linked to those occurring in Apulia. Perhaps this broad purview is related to the circumstance that the author worked and reworked the text, correcting and adding passages, inserting transliterations of the Greek phrases; the three prefaces in Retribution (1.1, 3.1, and 6.1) suggest how differently Liudprand conceived of the book as time passed and he continued revising. Liudprand's other writings offer more of a snapshot of his views at a single moment. Retribution is also different from the other known texts by Liudprand in that it has more than one clear target or purpose; for if it began as a pan-European contemporary history to satisfy a Spanish friend (1.1), it soon became a way to get even with Liudprand's main Italian antagonists (3.1), and eventually an outlet or consolation for the unhappiness that a decade of exile caused the author (6.1).

Though it did not often circulate whole, Retribution was by far Liudprand's most popular book during the Middle Ages. The work in its entirety, including the author's own revisions, exists only in the so-called Freising manuscript, now in the Bavarian State Library in Munich, which belonged to Abraham, the bishop of Freising (†994). This manuscript, recently reinterpreted by the editor of Liudprand's complete works, gives us a glimpse of Liudprand as he toiled on his Retribution and proves that the book was conceived as an "open" text. In other words, Liudprand, like many other medieval writers, did not contemplate a finished book in the way that modern writers do, because of printing and the distribution networks that make their writing irrevocable once it leaves their desks and goes to the publisher; instead he kept his book alive, refining its contents and making additions as the circumstances, and his fancy, dictated. What we have, then, are the last retributive thoughts that Liudprand had the time and energy to write down before death overtook him, not necessarily the version he hoped to transmit to posterity. This serial authorship helps to explain the multiple prefaces and some inconsistencies in the narrative.

Despite some structural awkwardness, Retribution remains coherent in its focus on everyone getting his or her just deserts. Liudprand's title has multiple meanings, but all are related to this theme. He advertises one meaning in the second introductory chapter (3.1), using his ink to get revenge against those who brought misery to him and his family (despite favorable descriptions of the Ottonians, the promised reward for those who were kind to him is much less explicit in the book). Retribution is also what God will unleash upon humanity at the end of time, and if Liudprand was not an acutely apocalyptic thinker, pointing out in Embassy 39 and 43 the self-fulfilling nature of most prophecy among those who believe it, he was aware of the intellectual debates about the imminence of the end, and the final acts of retributive justice were an inspiration to him. But the preeminent significance of retribution in Liudprand's history of the period 888-950 is the divine retribution that fell upon the people of the recent past who erred or sinned or simply forgot the true source of their successes, just as it fell, inexorably if more benignly, on the meritorious (who were Ottonians, for the most part).

Only rarely did Liudprand admit he could not make out the divine logic behind some human event: it is a "mysterious" judgment of God that allowed an Islamic colony to flourish in southern France (1.3) or Alberic to flourish in Rome (5.3), and Liudprand wanted to cry over King Lambert's death (caused, ironically, by an unwarranted act of revenge: 1.44), while he was unsure that the "innocent blood" of King Berengar I had flowed as a result of a crime of the victim (2.68-71). The workings of divine justice among humans could, in sum, sometimes prove inscrutable: in Retribution 2.46 Liudprand candidly said that he did not know why Jesus chastised southern Italy with piratical raids from North Africa, and he found unsatisfactory the consolation that God's inexplicable retributive urge had stimulated the locals to a successful military reaction.

For the rest, the meticulous uncovering of human wickedness and, to a lesser extent, virtue serves to show how just was the mechanism of God's universe, and how inevitable was the comeuppance for transgressors of God's law or the bliss for those who applied it to their lives. God does not often intervene directly in Liudprand's narrative: good examples of exceptions are King Hugh's loss of Rome by "the decision of the divine dispensation" (3.46) and God's "just" and "fair" judgment against Hugh's knight shortly afterwards (3.47). But to Liudprand the outcomes he chronicled were manifestations of God's supervision over history whether God showed himself overtly or not.

Underneath this overarching theoretical canopy the chronicler inserted a maze of detail, not all of it logical or necessary to the narrative. Because of certain of these divagations, the book of Retribution, more than Liudprand's other compositions, gave him a reputation as a scurrilous author whose penchant for "the useful laughter of comedies" (1.1) too often led him far from the well-worn path of sober historical exposition. The sometimes malicious, racy stories and an apparently pathological concern with the sexuality of powerful women contributed to Liudprand's notoriety as a misogynist and a sexually-obsessed slanderer. Compared to other tenth-century writers-indeed, compared to most who wrote between antiquity and modern times-the author of Retribution (and, to a lesser extent Concerning King Otto) inserted much more sexual material into his narrative. Others who thought and wrote about human sexuality, such as the reform-minded who worried about clerical continence, were more abstract. Yet it is wise to recall that sex and sexuality are modern western concepts and what Liudprand's audience saw "below the sphere of [Willa's] buttocks" (4.12) is not necessarily what contemporary western audiences see.

(Continues...)

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Table of Contents

Contents Preface....................vii
A Note on this Translation....................vii
A Note on Liudprand's Calendar....................viii
Abbreviations....................xi
Introduction....................3
Liudprand's Literary Aliases....................3
Liudprand as Wreaker of Retribution....................8
Liudprand as Homilist....................18
Liudprand as Imperial Apologist....................24
Liudprand as Emissary....................29
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LIUDPRAND OF CREMONA Retribution....................41
Book One....................41
Book Two....................71
Book Three....................108
Book Four....................139
Book Five....................168
Book Six....................195
Homily....................203
Concerning King Otto....................219
The Embassy of Liudprand....................238
Bibliography....................285
Index....................291