Epistola Adefonsi Hispaniae regis
Encyclopedia
The Epistola Adefonsi Hispaniae regis anno 906 (“letter of Alfonso, king of Spain in the year 906”) is a letter purportedly written by Alfonso III of Asturias to the clergy of the cathedral of Saint Martin's at Tours
in 906. The letter is primarily about the king of Asturias purchasing a crown kept in the treasury of the church of Tours, but it also includes instructions for visiting the shrine of James, son of Zebedee, which lay in Alfonso's kingdom. An exchange of literature was also arranged in the letter. Alfonso requested a written account of the posthumours miracles worked by Saint Martin
. In return the church of Tours would receive the Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeretensium, a hagriography of some early Bishops of Mérida.
The authenticity of the letter is widely questioned and "it has generally been regarded with scepticism by modern historical scholarship." It is rejected, for example, by Lucien Barrau-Dihigo, although it has been accepted as genuine by Hermann Hüffer, Carl Erdmann
, and Richard Fletcher
.
, and this is the copy from which all modern editions derive. Since no earlier copy survives, it is impossible to ascertain at which stage of transmission the corruptions in the present manuscript were introduced. No correspondence of the kings of Asturias, Castile
or Kingdom of León
has survived from before the twelfth century save this letter, if authentic. For all these reasons neither the science of palaeography
nor that of diplomatic can solve the problem of authenticity. If a forgery, the letter must pre-date the 1130s, when the cartulary of Tours was compiled.
In his surviving charters Alfonso almost invariably calls himself simply "King Alfonso" (Adefonsus rex), but in the letter he uses the elaborate and higher-sounding style "Alfonso by the power and nod of Christ king of Spain" (Adefonsus pro Christi nutu at que potentia Hispaniae rex). This not entirely unique, however, as a similarly grandiose title is given to Alfonso in the contemporary Chronica Prophetica
(883): "glorious Alfonso in all the Spains to reign" (gloriosus Adefonsus in omni Spanie regnaturus).
, who had received it from Mansio and Datus, two envoys of Tours, who had encouraged the bishop to persuade the king to buy. In this passage Sisnando is anachronistically titled archbishop, centuries before the see of Iria Flavia was raised to that dignity in 1120, under Diego Gelmírez
. If the letter was copied after 1120, the error may be a "correction", intentional or not, to reflect the later status of Iria Flavia. It has also been suggested that the title archiepiscopus is an expansion of æpiscopus (bishop), a spelling known from contemporary Spanish documents, but of which a scribe working at Tours may have been ignorant and assumed the diphthong æ represented an abbreviation of archie-. This variant spelling of episcopus is encountered in an original Asturian royal charter of 7 March 918.
Alfonso accepted the offer and promised to arrange a "journey by sea" (navalis remigatio) for May 906 (that same year) to make the exchange. The year of 906 is given in the anno Domini
(AD) system of dating, rather than that of the Spanish era
, then more prevalent in Spain. This is probable to be explained by the unfamiliarity of the recipients of the letter with his latter system of dating. While the anno Domini system was known in Asturias—and was used in a document recording the consecration of a new cathedral at Iria Flavia in 899—the Spanish era was hardly known outside of Spain, and even the Venerable Bede, "greatest computist of the early middle ages", was ignorant of it. It was planned to send members of the royal household to Bordeaux
, where Alfonso apparently had connexions with the local magnate, Amalvinus
, called "our friend" in the letter and titled both duke and count of Bordeaux
. The obscure figure of Amalvinus, otherwise only known from a document of 887, lends credence to the letter. Alfonso requested that the clergy send the crown to Bordeaux by mid-May and that two or three men of Tours accompany his men back to Spain.
The reason for Alfonso's request for a work about Saint Martin's posthumous miracles—that he then only possessed an account of Martin's miracles performed while alive—can be partly verified, for Alfonso left his library to the church of San Salvador de Oviedo in 908, and the list of books drawn up at the time includes the life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus
, "the most famous piece of hagiography in western Christendom". The work that he offered Tours in exchange was not found widely within Spain and not at all outside it, a state of affairs suspected by Alfonso himself. Its first editor and translator, J. N. Garvin, could find no mention of this work from the Middle Ages outside of Alfonso's disputed letter.
The letter from Tours apparently informed Alfonso of the Viking
attack of 903 in the course of which Saint Martin's, and large swathes of the city, were burnt. The rebuilding began immediately under Archbishop Hebemus. Alfonso in his response rejoices that the restoration of the church is going ahead, and that new miracles have been reported at the saint's shrine, which probably inspired his request for an updated vita of Saint Martin.
Cathedral of Tours
Saint Gatien's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral church of the Tours diocese and the metropolitan cathedral of the Tours ecclesiastic province, in Indre-et-Loire, France....
in 906. The letter is primarily about the king of Asturias purchasing a crown kept in the treasury of the church of Tours, but it also includes instructions for visiting the shrine of James, son of Zebedee, which lay in Alfonso's kingdom. An exchange of literature was also arranged in the letter. Alfonso requested a written account of the posthumours miracles worked by Saint Martin
Saint Martin
Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...
. In return the church of Tours would receive the Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeretensium, a hagriography of some early Bishops of Mérida.
The authenticity of the letter is widely questioned and "it has generally been regarded with scepticism by modern historical scholarship." It is rejected, for example, by Lucien Barrau-Dihigo, although it has been accepted as genuine by Hermann Hüffer, Carl Erdmann
Carl Erdmann
Carl Erdmann was a German historian who specialized in medieval political and intellectual history. He is noted in particular for his study of the origins of the idea of crusading in medieval Latin Christendom, as well as his work on letter collections and correspondence among secular and...
, and Richard Fletcher
Richard A. Fletcher
Richard A. Fletcher was a historian who specialized in the medieval period. He was Professor of History at the University of York and one of the outstanding talents in English and Spanish medieval scholarship....
.
Palaeography and diplomatic
The letter was copied into a cartulary of Tours compiled between 1132 and 1137, but which was destroyed in 1793. A copy was made for the seventeenth-century antiquary André DuchesneAndré Duchesne
André Duchesne was a French geographer and historian, generally styled the father of French history. He was educated at Loudun and afterwards at Paris...
, and this is the copy from which all modern editions derive. Since no earlier copy survives, it is impossible to ascertain at which stage of transmission the corruptions in the present manuscript were introduced. No correspondence of the kings of Asturias, Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
or Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
has survived from before the twelfth century save this letter, if authentic. For all these reasons neither the science of palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
nor that of diplomatic can solve the problem of authenticity. If a forgery, the letter must pre-date the 1130s, when the cartulary of Tours was compiled.
In his surviving charters Alfonso almost invariably calls himself simply "King Alfonso" (Adefonsus rex), but in the letter he uses the elaborate and higher-sounding style "Alfonso by the power and nod of Christ king of Spain" (Adefonsus pro Christi nutu at que potentia Hispaniae rex). This not entirely unique, however, as a similarly grandiose title is given to Alfonso in the contemporary Chronica Prophetica
Chronica Prophetica
The Chronica Prophetica is an anonymous medieval Latin chronicle written by a Christian in April 883 at or near the court of Alfonso III of Asturias in Oviedo. It uses the dating system of the Spanish Era and is essentially an interpretation of the prophecy concerning the fate of Gog found in the...
(883): "glorious Alfonso in all the Spains to reign" (gloriosus Adefonsus in omni Spanie regnaturus).
Contents
The letter purports to be a response to a letter the king received from the clergy of Tours asking him if he would like to purchase an "imperial crown (corona imperialis) made of gold and precious stones, fitting to his dignity" kept at their church. This letter (literas) may not have been the first of its kind from Tours, for Alfonso refers in his response to their mentioning the crown "again" (rursum). It was delivered to the king by Sisnando, the bishop of Iria FlaviaIria Flavia
Iria Flavia or simply Iria in Galicia, northwestern Spain, was a Celtiberian port, the main seat of the Caporos, on the road between Braga and Astorga. The Romans rebuilt the road as via XVIII or Via Nova and refounded the Celtiberian port as Iria Flavia to complement Vespasian...
, who had received it from Mansio and Datus, two envoys of Tours, who had encouraged the bishop to persuade the king to buy. In this passage Sisnando is anachronistically titled archbishop, centuries before the see of Iria Flavia was raised to that dignity in 1120, under Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez was the second bishop and first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Spain of his day...
. If the letter was copied after 1120, the error may be a "correction", intentional or not, to reflect the later status of Iria Flavia. It has also been suggested that the title archiepiscopus is an expansion of æpiscopus (bishop), a spelling known from contemporary Spanish documents, but of which a scribe working at Tours may have been ignorant and assumed the diphthong æ represented an abbreviation of archie-. This variant spelling of episcopus is encountered in an original Asturian royal charter of 7 March 918.
Alfonso accepted the offer and promised to arrange a "journey by sea" (navalis remigatio) for May 906 (that same year) to make the exchange. The year of 906 is given in the anno Domini
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
(AD) system of dating, rather than that of the Spanish era
Spanish era
The Spanish era, Hispanic era or Caesar era refers to the dating system used in Hispania until the 14th century, when the Anno Domini system was adopted. It began with year one in what is 38 BC, probably the date of a new tax imposed by the Roman Republic on the subdued population of Iberia....
, then more prevalent in Spain. This is probable to be explained by the unfamiliarity of the recipients of the letter with his latter system of dating. While the anno Domini system was known in Asturias—and was used in a document recording the consecration of a new cathedral at Iria Flavia in 899—the Spanish era was hardly known outside of Spain, and even the Venerable Bede, "greatest computist of the early middle ages", was ignorant of it. It was planned to send members of the royal household to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, where Alfonso apparently had connexions with the local magnate, Amalvinus
Amalvinus
Amalvinus, Amauvin, or Amauguin was the Count of Bordeaux in the late ninth and early tenth century. He is only recorded on two occasions in history....
, called "our friend" in the letter and titled both duke and count of Bordeaux
Count of Bordeaux
The Count of Bordeaux or comes Burdagalensis was the ruler of the city of Bordeaux and its environs in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. The names of the counts are scarcely known until the ninth century, when they start to take on a larger role because of their strategic importance in the...
. The obscure figure of Amalvinus, otherwise only known from a document of 887, lends credence to the letter. Alfonso requested that the clergy send the crown to Bordeaux by mid-May and that two or three men of Tours accompany his men back to Spain.
The reason for Alfonso's request for a work about Saint Martin's posthumous miracles—that he then only possessed an account of Martin's miracles performed while alive—can be partly verified, for Alfonso left his library to the church of San Salvador de Oviedo in 908, and the list of books drawn up at the time includes the life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.-Life:...
, "the most famous piece of hagiography in western Christendom". The work that he offered Tours in exchange was not found widely within Spain and not at all outside it, a state of affairs suspected by Alfonso himself. Its first editor and translator, J. N. Garvin, could find no mention of this work from the Middle Ages outside of Alfonso's disputed letter.
The letter from Tours apparently informed Alfonso of the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
attack of 903 in the course of which Saint Martin's, and large swathes of the city, were burnt. The rebuilding began immediately under Archbishop Hebemus. Alfonso in his response rejoices that the restoration of the church is going ahead, and that new miracles have been reported at the saint's shrine, which probably inspired his request for an updated vita of Saint Martin.