Charlemagne and Rome: Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I

Description

Charlemagne and Rome is a wide-ranging exploration of cultural politics in the age of Charlemagne. It focuses on a remarkable inscription commemorating Pope Hadrian I who died in Rome at Christmas 795. Commissioned by Charlemagne, composed by Alcuin of York, and cut from black stone quarried close to the king's new capital at Aachen in the heart of the Frankish kingdom, it was carried to Rome and set over the tomb of the pope in the south transept of St Peter's basilica not long before Charlemagne's imperial coronation in the basilica on Christmas Day 800. A masterpiece of Carolingian art, Hadrian's epitaph was also a manifesto of empire demanding perpetual commemoration for the king amid St Peter's cult. In script, stone, and verse, it proclaimed Frankish mastery of the art and power of the written word, and claimed the cultural inheritance of imperial and papal Rome, recast for a contemporary, early medieval audience. Pope Hadrian's epitaph was treasured through time and was one of only a few decorative objects translated from the late antique basilica of St Peter's into the new structure, the construction of which dominated and defined the early modern Renaissance. Understood then as precious evidence of the antiquity of imperial affection for the papacy, Charlemagne's epitaph for Pope Hadrian I was preserved as the old basilica was destroyed and carefully redisplayed in the portico of the new church, where it can be seen today. Using a very wide range of sources and methods, from art history, epigraphy, palaeography, geology, archaeology, and architectural history, as well as close reading of contemporary texts in prose and verse, this book presents a detailed 'object biography', contextualising Hadrian's epitaph in its historical and physical setting at St Peter's over eight hundred years, from its creation in the late eighth century during the Carolingian Renaissance through to the early modern Renaissance of Bramante, Michelangelo, and Maderno. Cover Charlemagne and Rome: Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I Dedication PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EDITION AND TRANSLATION: ALCUIN’S EPITAPH FOR POPE HADRIAN I Introduction: Charlemagne and Italy CHARLEMAGNE IN ST PETER’S BASILICA POWER AND POLITICS IN ITALY IN THE EARLIER EIGHTH CENTURY ITALY, ROME, AND THE EARLY CAROLINGIANS CHARLEMAGNE AND ROME BEFORE 774 HADRIAN’S ACCESSION 1. Renaissance Rome: Hadrian’s Epitaph in New St Peter’s INTRODUCTION RECALLING CHARLEMAGNE REBUILDING ST PETER’S: THE DEMOLITION OF OLD ST PETER’S AND THE FATE OF HADRIAN’S ORATORY Fifteenth-centuryplans Julius II and Bramante Demolishing the south transept MOVING HADRIAN’S EPITAPH: TIBERIO ALFARANO AND CONTINUITY AT ST PETER’S IN THE LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY THE OLD BASILICA AND THE COUNCIL OF TRENT ALFARANO AND HADRIAN’S EPITAPH GREGORY XIII AND THE 1575 JUBILEE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE PORTICO GIACOMO GRIMALDI, CARLO MADERNO, AND THE DEMOLITION OF THE REMAINING PARTS OF THE OLD BASILICA 2. The ‘Life’ and Death of Pope Hadrian I HADRIAN’S LIFE SOURCES FOR THE LIFE OF HADRIAN: THE LIBER PONTIFICALIS AND CODEX CAROLINUS Diplomatic innovation HADRIAN’S DEATH BURYING THE POPE 3. Alcuin and the Epitaph ALCUIN AND FRANCIA ALCUIN AND ROME CONTENT AND POETIC FORM OF HADRIAN’S EPITAPH MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF HADRIAN’S EPITAPH CAROLINGIAN ‘SCHOOL TEXTS’ AN ANTHOLOGY FOR ST PETER’S 4. Recalling Rome: Epigraphic Syllogae and Itineraries EPIGRAPHIC SYLLOGAE THE ‘LORSCH’ SYLLOGAE TWO CAROLINGIAN EPIGRAMS AT ST PETER’S HADRIAN’S VERSES FOR CHARLEMAGNE HILDEGARD’S ALTAR CLOTH: FUNCTION AND FORM CAROLINGIAN ITINERARIES OF ST PETER’S AND ROME THE EINSIEDELN ITINERARY 5. Writing on the Walls: Epigraphy in Italy and Francia HADRIAN’S EPITAPH: A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The ornamental border Layout Script ROMAN’ CAPITALS PAPAL INSCRIPTIONS Pope Damasus (366–84) Pope Gregory the Great (580–604) EIGHTH-CENTURY EPIGRAPHY IN ROME BEFORE 795 6. Black Stone: Materials, Methods, and Motives ‘IN FRANCIA’: SOURCING THE BLACK STONE BLACK STONES AND THE MEUSE VALLEY IN THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE BLACK STONES AT AACHEN SPOLIA—NEARAND FAR 7. Aachen and the Art of the Court THE COURT POETRY AT THE COURT Manuscripts and the ‘Court School’ Display script and painted letters The dedication inscription at Aachen 8. Charlemagne, St Peter’s, and the Imperial Coronation LIST OF MANUSCRIPT SOURCES BIBLIOGRAPHY PRINTED PRIMARY SOURCES PRINTED SECONDARY SOURCES INDEX