Twelve Angry Carolingians I: Anger Management

Sponsoring Organization(s)

SFB Visions of Community (VISCOM), FWF F42

Organizer Name

Rutger Kramer, Cullen Chandler

Organizer Affiliation

Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Lycoming College

Presider Name

Cullen Chandler

Paper Title 1

With Enemies Like These . . .: Benedict of Aniane, Adalhard of Corbie and the Perils of Contentio

Presenter 1 Name

Rutger Kramer

Paper Title 2

Sticks and Stones and Undertones: Florus of Lyon's Strategic Abuse of Amalarius of Metz

Presenter 2 Name

Irene van Renswoude

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Huygens ING

Paper Title 3

Haimo of Auxerre: The Anger of an Exegete

Presenter 3 Name

Thomas A. Greene

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Texas A&M Univ.-San Antonio

Start Date

13-5-2017 10:00 AM

Session Location

Schneider 1145

Description

As far as members of the Carolingian court were concerned, anger tended to be more trouble than it's worth. It could be used to manipulate people into rash actions, drove people to sin, ended friendships and thereby had the potential to tear the very fabric of the empire asunder. It was, in short, a threat to the ecclesia, and needed to be dealt with. However, anger, when used correctly, could also be a boon to the court and the Church: it served as a vessel for righteous admonitions, drove people to action, and could, when applied correctly, steer potential sinners away from the road to damnation. After all, as the Carolingian intellectuals of the eighth and ninth were all too aware, to be angry was also to be human.

This session strand, called together in honor of the 60th anniversary of Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men, will attempt to show the full range of challenges posed by this emotion as it was employed in a variety of political and rhetorical ways. The first session will deal with various ways in which Carolingians reflected on anger as a concept. First, Rutger Kramer will use the supposed enmity between Benedict of Aniane and Adalhard of Corbie to not only show how each of these actors may have regarded their competition, but also to launch into a broader overview of what courtly infighting could actually mean – and how one tried to prevent it. Irene van Renswoude is next, taking the controversy between Florus of Lyon and Amalarius of Metz as a starting point to show that behind every viscious diatribe stood a set of highly ordered rhetorical regulations. Asking the question whether the use of foul language and the rhetorical instrumentalization of anger were still considered effective means to rouse the emotions of the audience and persuade them to adopt the speaker’s/author’s point of view, this paper will delve into the way the guidelines of classical rhetoric were adapted for Christian use, and try to figure out under which circumstances monks, priests and bishops were even allowed to offend one another. Finally, Thomas Greene will highlight the work of a single exegete, Haimo of Auxerre, and show how his exegetical approach to anger (and by extension, all emotion) was firmly rooted in the political circumstances of his time. By focusing on the significance which might be attached to instances when Haimo wrote about biblical figures who were angry, this paper will demonstrate how Haimo, without betraying his own emotions, could allow biblical figures to speak for him by expounding upon anger when it was enacted in Scripture.

Rutger Kramer

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May 13th, 10:00 AM

Twelve Angry Carolingians I: Anger Management

Schneider 1145

As far as members of the Carolingian court were concerned, anger tended to be more trouble than it's worth. It could be used to manipulate people into rash actions, drove people to sin, ended friendships and thereby had the potential to tear the very fabric of the empire asunder. It was, in short, a threat to the ecclesia, and needed to be dealt with. However, anger, when used correctly, could also be a boon to the court and the Church: it served as a vessel for righteous admonitions, drove people to action, and could, when applied correctly, steer potential sinners away from the road to damnation. After all, as the Carolingian intellectuals of the eighth and ninth were all too aware, to be angry was also to be human.

This session strand, called together in honor of the 60th anniversary of Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men, will attempt to show the full range of challenges posed by this emotion as it was employed in a variety of political and rhetorical ways. The first session will deal with various ways in which Carolingians reflected on anger as a concept. First, Rutger Kramer will use the supposed enmity between Benedict of Aniane and Adalhard of Corbie to not only show how each of these actors may have regarded their competition, but also to launch into a broader overview of what courtly infighting could actually mean – and how one tried to prevent it. Irene van Renswoude is next, taking the controversy between Florus of Lyon and Amalarius of Metz as a starting point to show that behind every viscious diatribe stood a set of highly ordered rhetorical regulations. Asking the question whether the use of foul language and the rhetorical instrumentalization of anger were still considered effective means to rouse the emotions of the audience and persuade them to adopt the speaker’s/author’s point of view, this paper will delve into the way the guidelines of classical rhetoric were adapted for Christian use, and try to figure out under which circumstances monks, priests and bishops were even allowed to offend one another. Finally, Thomas Greene will highlight the work of a single exegete, Haimo of Auxerre, and show how his exegetical approach to anger (and by extension, all emotion) was firmly rooted in the political circumstances of his time. By focusing on the significance which might be attached to instances when Haimo wrote about biblical figures who were angry, this paper will demonstrate how Haimo, without betraying his own emotions, could allow biblical figures to speak for him by expounding upon anger when it was enacted in Scripture.

Rutger Kramer