Aimoin from Fleury

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Aimoin von Fleury (* around 965 in Ad Francos, today Francs , Gironde department ; † after 1008 in the Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire ) was a monk in Fleury and an early French historiographer and hagiographer . He wrote a history of the Frankish kings and a biography of Abbot Abbo von Fleury .

Life

Aimoin came from the historic south-west French province of Périgord , from a noble family in this region, as his mother Aunenrudis had a relative named Girald, Lord of Aubeterre , who is known as nobilis vir . Already in his childhood Aimoin entered the Fleury monastery as an oblate and became a monk under Abbot Amalbert between 979 and 985. Among his teachers was the highly educated future abbot Abbo von Fleury, with whom he became close friends. He conducted extensive studies; from his writings it can be seen that he had a good knowledge of ancient literature. In addition to reading historical works, he studied Heiligenleben, above all that of Benedict of Nursia , but also the vita of Paulinus Aurelianus .

When Abbo went to the Fleury-dependent La Réole priory in the autumn of 1004 to restore monastic discipline there, Aimoin accompanied his abbot and witnessed how Abbo was slain by rebellious monks from the priory. After this painful experience for him, Aimoin returned to Fleury, where he also joined the new abbot Gauzlin von Fleury closely and died after 1008. The year of his death is not known.

Works

Around 987, Abbo von Fleury had his student Aimoin write a story of the Franks. Aimoin then celebrated St. Benedict in a sermon and in 1005, at the suggestion of Gauzlin von Fleury, wrote a book about the miracles supposedly performed by the same saint. According to Aimoin's own testimony and according to the information provided by Andreas von Fleury , Aimoin then dealt with the life and deeds of the first thirty abbots of Fleury in another work that is now lost. Finally, he is the author of a historically valuable biography of Abbo.

History of the Frankish kings

On behalf of Abbos von Fleury, Aimoin wrote a history of the Franconian kings entitled Historia Francorum , comprising four books and going up to the 16th year of the reign of Clovis II (654). In his dedication letter to Abbo, he provides information about the background to the creation and the content of this work. As a result, the abbot had given him the task of compiling the history of the Franks, which can only be found scattered in various books and in uneducated language, in a uniform work written in high-quality Latin. At Abbo's suggestion, before the actual history presentation, he also provided an eight-chapter overview of the topography of Germania and Gaul, as well as the customs and institutions of the Teutons and Gauls . As sources he mainly used the Commentarii de bello Gallico by Caesar , Book 4 of the Naturalis historia by Pliny the Elder and the Historia adversus paganos by Orosius . Apart from a somewhat modernized description of the cities and landscapes of Gaul, Aimoin thus represented long-past conditions at the time of Caesar and Pliny.

Aimoin began the first book with the legendary excerpt from Troy by Antenor , to which he traced the origin of the Franks . Here Fredegar served him as a source. He also used this informant for the rest of the story, as well as the first seven books of the Decem libri historiarum by Gregory of Tours , the Gesta Dagoberti and some hagiographies. He kept the inserted speeches as a special ornament to the narrative. Contrary to his announcement in the dedication letter to Abbo that he wanted to continue his work into the middle of the 8th century, namely until Pippin the Younger , the father of Charlemagne , came to power, he already included his history of the Franks at the end of the fourth book the foundation of the Fleury monastery by Leodebodus in the middle of the 7th century.

Since the print edition of François Duchesne (see below), the editors of Aimoin's works have still appended his poem, comprising 200 Latin hexameters , about the transfer of the remains of St. Benedict from Monte Cassino to Fleury ( Translatio Patris Benedicti ) at the end of the history of the Franks.

The Franconian story of Aimoins enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages and the early modern period and made its author famous. It was continued in the 11th and 12th centuries, first by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens and later by those from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés , and found its way into the Grandes Chroniques de France in the 13th century . Several manuscripts of Aimoin's history have been preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and other libraries. A copy from Saint-Germain-des-Prés contains a strongly interpolated text from Aimoins and a continuation up to the year 1165. Based on this manuscript, the history of the Franks was first printed in Paris in 1514 . This rather flawed edition in one volume was dedicated to Guillaume Parvi, the king's confessor. In 1567 Jean Nicot published a more correct edition based on the same copy in Paris. Jacques du Breul published a third edition of even better quality, which also offers the text Aimoins including its interpolations and continuation, in 1602 in Paris. The unadulterated and sole text of Aimoins was only published by François Duchesne in 1641 in the third volume of his collection of French historians. This edition was reprinted in Mignes Patrologia Latina (Vol. 139 (1853), pp. 627-798). Martin Bouquet provided an even better version for the Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France (Vol. 3 (1741), pp. 21-143).

Since Aimoin always used extant sources in the preparation of the work, it was underestimated by modern critics who for a long time did not fully appreciate the linguistic and historiographical achievement, namely writing history in the 10th century. It was criticized that Aimoin did not provide an exact narrative of the story, did not name his source authors, changed their presentation and confused their chronology, so that he sometimes contradicted their reports. He also mentioned the most important events only briefly without many details and failed to track down their causes and consequences.

Sermon on St. Benedict

According to Andreas von Fleury, Aimoin wrote the next work after the Franconian story a sermo in festivitatibus sancti patris Benedicti . This is only a sermon at the beginning, then a collection of versed and prosaic pieces from other works, which represent eulogies on St. Benedict. First Aimoin inserts sections from the dialogues of Gregory the Great , then the metrical prologue of Gausbert von Fleury to Vita Benedicti , a passage from the Vita Mauri supposedly written by the so-called Faustus , the twelve distiches of Marcus from Montecassino to Benedict, sections from the Historia Langobardum and Historia Romana by the Lombard historian Paulus Diaconus , the introductory poem Smaragds to his commentary on the Rule of Benedict, as well as two pieces from Aldherlms De laudibus virginum .

Miracle of St. Benedict

The abbot Gauzlin of Fleury and some of the monks there asked Aimoin, after he had revived the interest in Benedict of Nursia in the monastery through his sermo, the book about the saint's book written by Adrevald von Fleury around 875 and supplemented by Adelerius around 880 to continue supposed miracles. Aimoin set out to work out such a representation ( Miracula sancti Benedicti ) in 1005 and dedicated this text, consisting of two books, to the abbot and his confreres. In the dedication letter, he states that he described both the miracles that took place at the saint's tomb and those that occurred in other places dedicated to the memory of Benedict. He reports on the miracles of Benedict, which occurred from the reign of Odo to that of Roberts II . In his hagiographical narrative, the author builds various historical facts that can be related to the sacred in a loose, but roughly chronological order. The history of Fleury is also taken into account.

Biography Abbos of Fleury

Aimoin also wrote a high historical vita of his teacher Abbo von Fleury after his death at the request of his older contemporary Herveus († 1012), who was also a student of Abbos and later treasurer of Saint-Martin in Tours . Aimoin sent Herveus this 21-chapter biography ( Vita et martyrium S. Abbonis abbatis ), written in a specially chosen language and in a clear, lively style, along with a polite letter. He was particularly suitable for this work because he had been very closely connected with Abbo. His biography then became one of the best of the entire Middle Ages. It is generally reliable, although hagiographic in nature, and fits well into general history. The presentation was not only based on Aimoin's own knowledge, but also on a documentary basis. However, the author hid a number of facts that would have cast Abbo in a bad light.

Aimoin describes in detail Abbo's scholarly activity and his stay in England, where the abbot taught in the school of the newly founded Ramsey Abbey . Regarding the resolute church policy of Abbo, Aimoin added larger excerpts from his Apologeticus to his vita, as well as some of his letters to West Franconian prelates. In addition, Aimoin Abbos explains his relationships with the Holy See and trips to Rome in more detail and can also be contacted via letters from the abbot to Otto III. and Odilo from Cluny . Finally, he brings a comprehensive, sympathetic report on Abbos both trips to La Réole priory, the second of which ended fatally for the abbot, as well as a short epilogue on supposed miracles Abbos ( Miracula S. Abbonis ).

A good edition of the text with valuable comments was brought out by Jean Mabillon ( Acta Sanctorum ordinis Sancti Benedicti , Vol. 6, 1, pp. 37-58).

expenditure

  • Jacques Paul Migne : Patrologia Latina , Vol. 139 (1853), Col. 387-414 and 627-870
    • Vita et martyrium S. Abbonis abbatis : Sp. 387-414
    • Historia Francorum : Sp. 627-798
    • Translatio patris Benedicti : Sp. 798-802
    • Miracula sancti Benedicti : Sp. 802-851
    • Sermo in festivitatibus sancti patris Benedicti : Sp. 851-870

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ So Karl Ferdinand Werner : Aimoin 2 . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , col. 242. According to Paul Fournier ( Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , vol. 1, col. 1185), however, Aimoin is in Villefranche-de-Lonchat was born.
  2. ^ Paul Fournier: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1, Col. 1185; Max Manitius: History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages , Vol. 2, p. 239 f.
  3. ↑ Max Manitius: History of Latin Literature of the Middle Ages , Vol. 2, P. 240 f.
  4. ^ A b Max Manitius: History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages , Vol. 2, p. 241.
  5. ↑ Paul Fournier, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1, Col. 1186; Max Manitius, History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages , Vol. 2, p. 241.
  6. ^ H. Stein, Dictionnaire de Biographie française . Vol. 1, Col. 1015 f.
  7. ↑ Aimoin , in: Louis Gabriel Michaud (ed.), Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, 1843 ff., Vol. 1, p. 278; Paul Fournier, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1, Col. 1186.
  8. ^ Karl Ferdinand Werner: Aimoin 2 . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 243.
  9. ^ Paul Fournier, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1, Col. 1186.
  10. ^ Paul Fournier, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1, Col. 1186 f .; Max Manitius, History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages , Vol. 2, p. 242.
  11. ^ Paul Fournier: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 1, Col. 1187; Max Manitius: History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages. Vol. 2, p. 243 f.
personal data
SURNAME Aimoin from Fleury
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aimoinus floriacensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French historiographer and hagiographer
DATE OF BIRTH around 965
PLACE OF BIRTH Ad Francos (now Francs , Gironde department )
DATE OF DEATH after 1008
Place of death Fleury Abbey , Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire