Queenship and Sanctity
Queenship and Sanctity: The Lives of Mathilda and the Epitaph of Adelheid (Medieval Texts in Translation)
Translated with an introduction and notes by Sean Gilsdorf
Series: Medieval Texts in Translation
Copyright Date: 2004
Published by: Catholic University of America Press
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5
Pages: 240
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt284ts5
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Book Info
Queenship and Sanctity
Book Description:

Queenship and Sanctity brings together for the first time in English the anonymous Lives of Mathilda and Odilo of Cluny's Epitaph of Adelheid. Richly annotated, with an extensive introduction placing the texts and their subjects in historical and hagiographical context, it provides teachers and students with a crucial set of sources for the history of Europe (particularly Germany) in the tenth and eleventh centuries, for the development of sacred biography and medieval notions of sanctity, and for the life of aristocratic and royal women in the early Middle Ages.

eISBN: 978-0-8132-1608-9
Subjects: History
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Table of Contents
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-v)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.1
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vi-vii)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.2
  3. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. viii-x)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.3
  4. ABBREVIATIONS
    ABBREVIATIONS (pp. xi-xii)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.4
  5. Maps
    Maps (pp. xiii-xv)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.5
  6. Genealogical Tables
    Genealogical Tables (pp. xvi-xviii)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.6
  7. INTRODUCTION
    INTRODUCTION (pp. 1-68)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.7

    One thousand years ago, authors from monasteries in Burgundy and northern Germany sat down to record the lives and deaths of two powerful and pious women, Mathilda and Adelheid. Both were extolled by their Saxon and Burgundian biographers as saints, exemplary figures whose lives were guided by God and witnessed to his grace. In this respect, Mathilda and Adelheid were part of a long tradition within Christianity, in which individuals believed to possess unusual spiritual power were venerated for their holiness, imitated as models for living, and appealed to after their deaths as special advocates with God in heaven. While...

  8. Translated Texts
    • The “Older Life” of Queen Mathilda
      The “Older Life” of Queen Mathilda (pp. 71-87)
      (Anonymous)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.8

      There are many who foolishly devote themselves to worldly study, hoping that by filling the people’s ears with stories of famous men told in a philosophical way, they might either gain lasting fame or curry human favor.¹ By order of the most glorious Emperor Otto, however, we have recorded (in an admittedly rustic style) the praiseworthy lives of his most distinguished forebears, speaking the simple truth rather than philosophizing—lives which may serve as an example both to him and to those yet to come.² Although we realize that we are not familiar enough with this subject to write about it,...

    • The “Later Life” of Queen Mathilda
      The “Later Life” of Queen Mathilda (pp. 88-127)
      (Anonymous)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.9

      To King Henry, wholly deserving of the utmost reverence. The interpreter of this work wishes for you an increase in spiritual gifts, the augmentation of your virtues, and prosperity in worldly affairs. Many know that you, blessed with knowledge and skill in a variety of pursuits, have pored over numerous books containing the lives of the holy fathers, by whose examples your reverend life can be shaped for the better and raised to higher things. Nonetheless, it is no less virtuous for you to seek after the pious deeds of your kinfolk who preceded you, and particularly those of your...

    • The Epitaph of Adelheid
      The Epitaph of Adelheid (pp. 128-144)
      Odilo of Cluny
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.10

      To the venerable lord abbot Andreas and all of the brothers entrusted to him, who devoutly serve our Lord and Savior on the outskirts of Pavia:¹ brother Odilo, the dregs of all of the paupers of Cluny, sends wishes for prosperity in this life and for everlasting joy.²

      I have taken the trouble to send Your Fraternity this Epitaph, written in a poor style, of our domina and august empress Adelheid, concluding that it would be fitting for you to cultivate continually the memory of her whose industry and prudence raised up the buildings of your monastery, and by whose...

  9. Appendices
    • APPENDIX 1: Widukind of Corvey on Queen Mathilda (Res Gestae 1.31 and 3.74)
      APPENDIX 1: Widukind of Corvey on Queen Mathilda (Res Gestae 1.31 and 3.74) (pp. 145-146)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.11
    • APPENDIX 2: Mathilda and the Stirps Widukindi
      APPENDIX 2: Mathilda and the Stirps Widukindi (pp. 147-153)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.12
    • APPENDIX 3: Vestigia deosculari: St. Efrem, Bavaria, and the Vita Mathildis posterior
      APPENDIX 3: Vestigia deosculari: St. Efrem, Bavaria, and the Vita Mathildis posterior (pp. 154-158)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.13
  10. ENDNOTES
    ENDNOTES (pp. 159-198)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.14
  11. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 199-212)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.15
  12. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 213-221)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.16
  13. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 222-222)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284ts5.17
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