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                "title": "Rimbertus",
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                        "*": "by Eva Odelman\t\n\t\t\t\n'''Rimbert''', archbishop of Hamburg\u2013Bremen 865\u2013888, is mainly known for having written the biography of his predecessor Ansgar, the first missionary to Scandinavia.\n\n==Biography==\nThe main source for Rimbert\u2019s life is an anonymous biography, Vita Rimberti. Adam of Bremen, in his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of the bishops of the Church of Hamburg), book I, chapters 34\u201344 (eleventh century), amply quotes this work in writing the history of Rimbert; moreover he uses information from an account (compotus) from Corvey in Westphalia, the daughter monastery of Corbie in Picardy, as well as from various annals, e.g. the Annales Fuldenses and Corbeienses. Ansgar had been teaching in both these monasteries, and they became decisively important also for his successor. As a boy, Rimbert lived near Torhout, a small monastery in Flanders, which was to serve the newly-founded archbishopric of Hamburg, and the archbishop, Ansgar, on a visit to that place, noticed him and persuaded his parents to let him become a priest. After finishing his education \u2013 in Torhout and probably in Corbie \u2013, he went with Ansgar to Hamburg and became his special friend and helper. He assisted Ansgar on journeys, for example to Denmark and possibly also to Sweden. Ansgar had designed Rimbert to be his successor, and when Ansgar died, on 3 February 865, Rimbert was elected archbishop of the united see of Hamburg and Bremen, the archbishop\u2019s residence having been transferred to Bremen after the Vikings had plundered Hamburg in 845. Immediately after his consecration he went to Corvey, where he took vows. Rimbert died in 888; his burial took place on 11 June.\n\n==Vita Anskarii==\nThe biography of Ansgar, Vita Anskarii (Life of Ansgar) was written after Ansgar\u2019s death in 865 and before the death of King Louis in 876 (it is clear from chapter 22 that the king was alive). The author\u2019s name is not mentioned in the book, but Adam attests (I 34) that it was written by Rimbert, and so does the Vita Rimberti (chapter 9), adding, however, that there was a co-author, a condiscipulus \u2013 another disciple of Ansgar\u2019s. The book is a traditional specimen of hagiography, both descriptive and laudatory. Great attention is paid to Ansgar\u2019s two missionary journeys to Birka, in 829\u2013831 and around 850 respectively, and interesting information is given on conditions and events in this very early Swedish town.\n\n====Title====\nThe full title given in the principal manuscript (A 1) is: Incipit libellus continens vitam vel gesta seu obitum domni Anskarii primi Nordalbingorum archiepiscopi et legati sanctae sedis apostolicae ad Sueones seu Danos necnon etiam Slavos et reliquas gentes in Aquilonis partibus sub pagano adhuc ritu constitutas.\n\n=====Incipit=====\nDominis sanctissimis et in Christi amore praecipua veneratione recolendis ...\n\n=====Explicit=====\n ...et regnat Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.\n\n=====Size=====\n62 pages.\n\n====Editions====\n* (DUCHESNE, F. 1641: Historiae Francorum sanctorum, vol. 3, Paris, 395\u2013409 (excerpts).)\n* CAESAR, PH. 1642: Triapostolatus septemtrionis. Vita et gesta S. Willehadi, S. Ansgarii, S. Rimberti ... , Cologne, 40\u2013125.\n* LAMBECIUS, P. 1652: \u201cVita S. Anscharii primi archiepiscopi Hamburgensis conscripta a S. Remberto ejus successore,\u201d in Origines Hamburgenses, Hamburg, 167\u2013240 (new edition by J.A. Fabricius 1706, 51\u201378).\n* HENSCHEN, G.F. 1658: ASS, Febr., vol. 1, Antwerpen, 408\u201327; 3rd ed. 413\u201333.\n* ARRHENIUS, CL. 1677: Sancti Anscharii primi Hamburgensium archiepiscopi ... vita gemina, Stockholm, 12\u2013154 (with medieval Swedish translation, see Medieval reception and transmission).\n* MABILLON, J. 1701: Acta Sanctorum ordinis sancti Benedicti saeculi IV, vol. 2, Paris, 78\u2013114; 2nd ed. 81\u2013116 (mainly reprint of HENSCHEN 1658).\n* STAPHORST, N. 1723: \u201cVita S. Anscharii, beschrieben von S. Remberto,\u201d in Historia ecclesiae Hamburgensis diplomatica, das ist Hamburgische Kirchen-Geschichte, vol. I:1, Hamburg, 85\u2013123.\t\n* LANGEBEK, J. 1772: \u201cVita Sancti Anscharii,\u201d in SRD 1, 429\u201395.\n* FANT, E.M. 1828: \u201cVita Sancti Anscharii per S. Rembertum. Latine et Svetice,\u201d in SRS II:1, 175\u2013258 (with medieval Swedish translation, see Medieval reception and transmission).\n* DAHLMANN, F.C. 1829: \u201cVita Sancti Anskarii a Rimberto et alio discipulo Anskarii conscripta,\u201d in MGH SS 2, Hannover, 687\u2013725 (the first critical edition).\n* MIGNE, J.P. 1852: \u201cVita Sancti Anscharii auctore S. Remberto ...,\u201d in PL 118, Paris, col. 959\u20131012 (reprint of DAHLMANN 1829).\n\u2022 WAITZ, G. 1884: \u201cVita Anskarii auctore Rimberto,\u201d MGH SRG, Hannover, 13\u201379.\n* TRILLMICH, W. 1961: \u201cVita Anskarii,\u201d in Quellen des 9. und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der hamburgischen Kirche und des Reiches, Darmstadt, 16\u2013132 (reprint of WAITZ\u2019s edition, with a German translation and an elaborate introduction, see Translations). \n\n====Translations====\n(Danish)\n* LEY, C.S. 1837: Ansgars Levnet beskrevet af Erkebiskop Rimbert og en anden Discipel ... Danske L\u00e6sere tilegnet ved C. S. Ley, Copenhagen, 1\u2013106.\n* FENGER, P.A. 1863: Ansgars Levnetsbeskrivelse af Erkebiskop Rimbert oversat paa Dansk, Copenhagen, 2\u2013115 (new editions 1885, 1910, 1911 and 1926:)\n* \u2022 OLRIK, H. 1926: Rimbert, Ansgars Levned, oversat af P.A. Fenger. Gennemset og forsynet med oplysende Noter af H. Olrik, 5. ed., Copenhagen, 15\u2013204.\n(English)\n* ROBINSON, C.H. 1921: Anskar, the Apostle of the North 801\u2013865. Translated from the Vita Anskarii, London, 25\u2013130.\n(German)\n* MIESEGAES, C. 1826: \u201cSt. Ansgars Leben, beschrieben von St. Rembert,\u201d in Leben des St. Willehads und St. Ansgars, Bremen, 53\u2013184.\n* LAURENT, J.C.M. 1856: \u201cRimbert, Leben des Erzbischofs Anskar,\u201d in Leben der Erzbisch\u00f6fe Anskar und Rimbert. Nach der Ausgabe der Monumenta Germaniae \u00fcbersetzt, Die Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit, Lief. 28, Berlin, 1\u201391 (revised by W. Wattenbach 1889; 3rd edition in Die Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit, vol. 22, Leipzig 1939, 3\u2013102).\n* DREVES, L. 1864: Rembert, Leben des heiligen Ansgar. Zu dessen 1000j\u00e4hr. Todesfeier aus dem Latein. \u00fcbers.und mit erl\u00e4ut. Anmerkungen und einem hymnolog. Anh. begleitet, Paderborn, 1\u2013156.\n* \u2022 TRILLMICH 1961 (see Editions) 17\u2013133.\n* SCHAMONI, W. 1965: Das Leben des heiligen Ansgar von seinem Nachfolger Rimbert, D\u00fcsseldorf, 51\u2013124 (reprint of TRILLMICH\u2019s translation).\n* RIEPER, H. 1995: \u201cDas Leben des heiligen Ansgar aufgeschrieben von Rimbert,\u201d in Ansgar und Rimbert, die beiden ersten Erzbisch\u00f6fe von Hamburg\u2013Bremen und Nordalbingen, Hamburg, 26\u201395 (reprint of TRILLMICH\u2019s translation).\n(Swedish)  \nFor medieval translation see Medieval reception and transmission.\n* BERGGREN, P.G. 1901: \u201cUr \u2018Ansgars lefnad\u2019 af Rimbert,\u201d in Svensk historia enligt samtida skildringar, ser. 1, Stockholm, 9\u201339 (excerpts: the parts about Sweden). \n* RUDBERG, G. 1926: Rimbert. Ansgars levnad. Med historisk inledning av N. Ahnlund, Stockholm, 53\u2013151 (repr. 1965).\n* \u2022 ODELMAN, E. 1986: \u201cRimbert. Ansgars liv,\u201d in Boken om Ansgar, ed. A. Ekenberg et alii, Stockholm, 13\u201377. (Parts of this translation are reprinted, together with the Latin text, in R\u00f6ster fr\u00e5n svensk medeltid, ed. H. Aili, O. Ferm, H. Gustavson, Stockholm 1990, 244\u201361.)\n\n====Commentaries====\n(Danish) \n* OLRIK 1926 (see Translations).\n(English)\n* ROBINSON 1921 (see Translations).\n(German) \n* DREVES 1864 (see Translations).\n* \u2022 TRILLMICH 1961 (see Editions).\n* (Swedish)\n* RUDBERG 1926 (see Translations). \n* \u2022 EKENBERG, HALLENCREUTZ, HELANDER, H\u00c4RDELIN, ODELMAN 1986, 115\u2013214. \n\n====Summary of contents====\nThe Vita starts by giving a fairly short description of Ansgar\u2019s childhood and youth (chapters 2\u20136). From an early time significant dreams and visions play an important part in his life. He is educated in the monastery of Corbie (Corbeia) and soon becomes a teacher there, and later in its daughter monastery, Corvey (Nova Corbeia). Then follows a more detailed account of how Ansgar is sent out by Emperor Louis the Pious as a missionary, first to Denmark and then to Sweden. The journey and visit to Birka (chs. 9\u201311) is dangerous but initially successful, because his mission is supported by the local king, Bj\u00f6rn, and the reeve of the town, Hergeir, who becomes Christian and builds a church. After Ansgar\u2019s return from Sweden, the Emperor founds a new archiepiscopal see in Hamburg, and Ansgar is appointed its first archbishop; together with Archbishop Ebo of Rheims, he gets a papal mandate to supervise the mission in the North. A bishop, Gautbert, is sent to Sweden, but he is soon expelled in consequence of a pagan rebellion. This happens about the same time as Hamburg is destroyed by pirates (chs. 12\u201317). \n\nAnsgar is compensated by being transferred to Bremen, and later he decides to go back to Sweden to renew the mission there. On his second visit to Birka the situation is more ambiguous than before, and the new king, Olof, does not dare to permit Ansgar to preach before the placitum (the people\u2019s assembly) has given its approval. In this connection Rimbert characterizes the Swedish political system by saying that public matters are decided by the people\u2019s will rather than by the king\u2019s power. Facing this crisis, Ansgar, as always, finds support and consolation in divine visions (chs. 25\u201334). The biographer goes on to Ansgar\u2019s various activities as archbishop and ends by describing his personal qualities; the main stress is naturally laid on Ansgar\u2019s piety, dutifulness and humility, but it is not denied that he had to fight against a certain tendency towards self-praise and vanity. His constant distress and sorrows as well as his health problems are pointed out. This description leads up to a very elaborate theological discussion in the last chapter (42), where Rimbert argues that Ansgar should be considered a martyr, although he did not suffer martyrdom in the proper sense.\n\n====Composition and style====\nRimbert is a good representative of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, the renewal of classical culture which was brought about in the Frankish empire by Charlemagne. His Latin is mostly correct and elegant, influenced by Ciceronian rhetoric but also by the language of the Bible and the Church Fathers, such as the Dialogues of St Gregory the Great. An important source of inspiration was the Vita Martini (Life of St. Martin) by Sulpicius Severus (end of the fourth century); this work became a model for the hagiographic genre as a whole, and Rimbert indicates himself (in ch. 35) that Ansgar had read it. Generally speaking, Rimbert\u2019s vocabulary and morphology are classical, whereas his syntax presents certain features typical of learned Late and Medieval Latin (cf. BERSCHIN 1991, 349); exceptionally \u201cpopular\u201d forms and constructions occur, for example claustra (= claustrum, \u201ccloister\u201d) and de vino (= vini) aliquid (\u201ca little wine\u201d). The rhetorical qualities are, naturally enough, more predominant in the argumentative parts of the biography than in the purely narrative ones. The former group comprises mainly the introductory chapter, where Rimbert declares the purpose of his work, chapter 6, where the reasons for Ansgar\u2019s leaving his monastery are explained, chapter 34, which discusses the relations between Ansgar and Archbishop Ebo, and, in particular, the summarizing analysis of Ansgar\u2019s person and his qualifications as a martyr. As an example of hagiography the book is fairly modest: there is not much said about miracles; on the other hand, great importance is attached to visions and dreams. Specific themes, such as the relevant qualities of Ansgar, are treated with great consistency. \n\n====Purpose and audience====\nFormally the book is a letter to the monks of Corbie from Ansgar\u2019s \u201csons and disciples\u201d (filii atque discipuli), which probably means the clergy of Hamburg\u2013Bremen. In the introduction, Rimbert describes the sadness and trouble caused to all the friends and followers of Ansgar by their great leader\u2019s death and explains the purpose of writing his biography. It is his aim (or that of the clergy, in whose name he is writing) to ensure that Ansgar\u2019s memory will always live in the minds of the addressees and that his piety will become a model for them, thus promoting their salvation. However, besides this clearly pronounced purpose, other purposes may be traced. Thus, in chapter 6, Rimbert seems anxious to defend Ansgar from possible criticism for leaving the monastery, where he had obliged himself to stay, and becoming a missionary and bishop: it was not wantonness (levitas) that made Ansgar do it \u2013 this would of course be blameworthy in a monk \u2013, but he was charged with this duty and he performed it, inspired by holy compunction (divina compunctio) and desire to be a pilgrim (peregrinationis amor). Finally it is highly probable that Rimbert, as the new archbishop of Hamburg\u2013Bremen, endeavoured to gain moral as well as financial support for his rather unstable diocese and its missionary undertakings in the North from those in power in the Frankish kingdom; he had, for example, a serious rival in Archbishop Gunthar of Cologne (EKENBERG 1986, 135, 140\u201342, 145; ODELMAN 1986, 125; HALLENCREUTZ 1986, 177). \n\n====Medieval reception and transmission====\nThe Vita Anskarii exists in two different versions, the longer A-version and the shorter B-version. When DAHLMANN (1829) published the first critical edition of the text, he established the A-version as the authentic one, and this view was definitely confirmed by LEVISON 1919. Around 1100 an adaptation was made, obviously in Hamburg\u2013Bremen, with the purpose of defending the interests of the archbishopric; in the same years quite a number of forged ecclesiastical documents appeared. This is the origin of the B-version. It contains 34 chapters, whereas the A-version has 42. In the B-version many passages have been omitted, especially all those which deal with Archbishop Ebo of Rheims, who shared the responsibility for the mission in the North with Ansgar, and some concerning problems about the uniting of Hamburg and Bremen  \u2013 in short, anything that might harm the supremacy of Hamburg\u2013Bremen was removed. On the other hand there are additions in the B-version, intended to widen the range of Ansgar\u2019s missionary charge: according to B it comprises not only the Swedes, the Danes and the Slavs but also Norway, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and other places. \n\nThe manuscripts containing the respective versions are the following (WAITZ 1884, 7\u20139; TRILLMICH 1961, 9\u201312; ODELMAN 1986, 130\u201332):\n\nThe A-version:\n* A 1 = Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek, XIV, 7; 58 fols, from the ninth or tenth century. In 1343 it was present in the Cathedral Library of Constance; in 1630 it was sold to the monastery of Weingarten. Its division into chapters is followed in the standard edition by WAITZ. It is believed to be descended from a copy sent by Rimbert to Bishop Salomon of Constance. \n* A 2 = Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale, 13772, fol. 47\u201388, from about 1200. The text is divided into 108 short chapters. It probably originates from Corbie.\n* A 3 = Amiens, Biblioth\u00e8que, 461, from about 1300. The text starts with chapter 7, the first six chapters having been added later. It is derived from the same exemplar as A 2.\n\nThe B-version:\n* B 1 = M\u00fcnster, Staatsarchiv, I, 228, called \u201ccodex Vicelini\u201d, from the twelfth century, given by Vicelin, canon of Bremen, to the monastery of Abdinghof at Paderborn between 1114 and 1123.\n* B 2* = Copenhagen, Royal Library, GKS 820, from Gottorp, about 1550.\n* B 2 = Hamburg, Staatsbibliothek, Hist, civ. Dan. fol. nr 22, eighteenth century.\n* (B 3 = lost manuscript from Hamburg, about 1100, printed in CAESAR 1642.)\n\nA number of quotations from the Vita Anskarii in its A-version are to be found in the Vita Rimberti, which was written soon after Rimbert\u2019s death, perhaps by a cleric of Bremen or a monk of Corvey. The same version was used as a source for a metrical Life of Ansgar attributed to an eleventh-century monk, Gualdo, and for the above-mentioned work of Adam of Bremen. Later on, the B-version gradually ousted the authentic text and had great success throughout the Middle Ages. It was used as a basis for liturgy (HELANDER 1986, 181; 198; 1989, 163\u201366; >Sanctus Ansgarius) and for a medieval Swedish translation, which is printed in ARRHENIUS 1677, 13\u2013155 and FANT 1828, 177\u2013257 (see Editions) and also by GEETE 1902. Occasionally the Vita is referred to in Swedish narrative sources, for example in the Chronica regni Gothorum of [[Ericus Olai]] (HELANDER 1986, 199).\n\n==Bibliography==\nAn extensive bibliography, written in Swedish, exists in Boken om Ansgar, 1986, 221\u201327 (see EKENBERG et alii 1986), where most of the relevant literature is thoroughly assessed. Later publications are given below, as well as some of the most important ones found in the above-mentioned bibliography.\n\n* BERSCHIN, W. 1991: Biographie und Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter, III. Karolingische Biographie 750\u2013920 n. Chr., Stuttgart, 341\u201351.\n* BRUNH\u00d6LZL, F. 1975: Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, M\u00fcnchen, vol. 1, 385\u201386.\n* D\u00dcCHTING, R. 1992: \u201cRimbert,\u201d in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon, ed. K. Ruh et alii, Berlin, vol. 8, 77\u201379.\n* EKENBERG, A., HALLENCREUTZ, C.F., HELANDER, S., H\u00c4RDELIN, A., ODELMAN, E. 1986: Boken om Ansgar, Stockholm.\n* GEETE, R. 1902: Helige m\u00e4ns lefverne ... (SFSS 34), 3\u201392.\n* HALLENCREUTZ, C.F. 1986, see EKENBERG et alii 1986. \n* HAAS, W. 1985: \u201cForis apostolus \u2013 intus monachus. Ansgar als M\u00f6nch und \u2018Apostel des Nordens\u2019,\u201d Journal of Medieval History 11, Amsterdam, 1\u201330.\n* HELANDER, S. 1986, see EKENBERG et alii 1986. \n* HELANDER, S. 1989: Ansgarskulten i Norden, Stockholm.\n* KL\u00dcPPEL, TH. 1996: \u201cDie Germania (750\u2013950),\u201d in Hagiographies, vol. 2 (CCHAG), Turnhout, 198\u2013209.\n* KNIBBS, E. 2011: Ansgar, Rimbert and the forged foundations of Hamburg-Bremen, Farnham.\n* KUMLIEN, K. 1969: \u201cRimberts Vita Anskarii,\u201d in KLNM 14, col. 296\u201399.\n* LAMMERS, W. 1965: \u201cAnsgar. Vision\u00e4re Erlebnisformen und Missionsauftrag,\u201d Vestigia mediaevalia, Wiesbaden 1979, 198\u2013218.\n* \u2022 LEVISON, W. 1919: \u201cDie echte und die verf\u00e4lschte Gestalt von Rimberts Vita Anskarii,\u201d Zeitschrift des Vereins f\u00fcr hamburgische Geschichte 23, 87\u2013146; reprint in Aus rheinischer und fr\u00e4nkischer Vorzeit, D\u00fcsseldorf 1948, 567\u2013609.\n* Lexikon des Mittelalters, M\u00fcnchen: \u201cAnsgar\u201d, vol. 1, 1980, col. 690\u201391; \u201cRimbert\u201d, vol. 7, 1995, col. 851\u201352.\n* M\u00d8LLER, H. 1998: \u201cHelgonbiografi och biskopshistoria,\u201d in Sveriges kyrkohistoria 1. Missionstid och tidlig medeltid, ed. B. Nilsson, Stockholm, 160\u201367.\n* ODELMAN, E. 1986, see EKENBERG et alii 1986.\n* ODELMAN, E. 2008: \u201dAnsgar\u2019s Life \u2013 a Piece of Carolingian Hagiography\u201d, Hortus Troporum, Florilegium in honorem Gunillae Iversen, ed. Andr\u00e9e and E. Kihlman, Studia Latina Stockholmiensia 54, Stockholm, 290\u2013296.\n\n[[Category:Article]]"
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                "title": "Robertus Elgensis",
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                        "*": "by Karsten Friis-Jensen\n\n'''Robertus Elgensis''' (Robert of Ely) is the author of a (now almost completely lost) Vita sancti Canuti ducis, which was written during the reign of King Erik Emune of Denmark (1134-1137). Robert was perhaps originally a Benedictine monk of the cathedral priory of Ely (Cambridgeshire, England). Later in life he may have been connected with the Benedictine priory of Ringsted (Zealand, Denmark), St. Knud the Duke\u2019s burial place. It is possible that Robert was called to Ringsted when King Erik Emune reorganized the priory in 1135 (WEIBULL 1941, 72).\n\nRobert\u2019s name has been transmitted together with the few preserved fragments of his Vita sancti Canuti ducis, but the evidence has been variously interpreted. The three epitomes of MS y (for the sigla see below) call the author either \u201cBishop Robertus Elgensis\u201d (Biscop Robertus Elgensis a; Robertus Episcopus Elgensis/Reuerendus Episcopus Elgensis Robertus/Elgensis E) or \u201cR. Eliensis from England\u201d (Reuerendus Eliensis Anglicus/R: Eliensis/Eliensis A). The adjectives Elgensis and Eliensis both point to Ely in England (Elge, Elyensis insula), an interpretation supported by A\u2019s Anglicus, whereas the sixteenth-century excerptor of E unconvincingly interprets Elgensis as meaning \u201cfrom Elgin,\u201d in Scotland. The author\u2019s episcopal status most likely originates in a misinterpretation of the abbreviation of the name R. (= Robertus), namely R. in the meaning Reuerendus \u2013 compare the forms of A (GERTZ 1908-1912, 186). Apart from the intrinsic improbability of the author\u2019s having been a bishop, it is a fact that after Ely became a bishopric in 1109, none of its twelfth-century bishops carried the name Robert.\n\n==Vita sancti Canuti ducis==\nRobert of Ely's Vita sancti Canuti ducis (Life of St. Knud the Duke) was the first biography of Duke Knud Lavard (died 1131), written as a complete saint\u2019s life with sections on its protagonist\u2019s life, death, and the miracles he performed after his death. Robert portrayed Knud as possessing saintly qualities long before his death, whereas his murderer Magnus and Magnus\u2019s father King Niels were painted in the darkest colours.\n\n====Title====\nNone of the sources seems to transmit the original title of Robert\u2019s work.\n\n=====Incipit and explicit=====\nIncipit and explicit are not known. Epitome E quotes a sentence from the Praefatio that may constitute part of the incipit: \u03b1 inspirante incepi et opitulante \u03c9 consummaui (I have begun, inspired by Alpha, and I have finished with help from Omega), (cp. Vulg. apoc. 1,8). For a possible explicit see below.\n\n=====Metres=====\nRobert\u2019s work was written as a prosimetrum, a mixture of prose and verse. Among the transmitted fragments, five pieces of verse can with confidence be ascribed to Robert, whereas GERTZ is more hesitant about the authenticity of a sixth (eight leonine hexameters, edited separately in GERTZ 1908-1912, 182 & 220). Besides, epitome E characterizes book 2, chapter 11 as a Cantus carnificum (A song about the murderers), possibly an apostrophe to the murderers on the part of the author. Of the five preserved poems (or fragments of poems, a total of sixteen lines), two are composed in unrhymed elegiac distichs, two in leonine hexameters, and one in hexameters with three internal rhymes (uersus trinini salientes, cp. NORBERG 1958, 66; this fragment, beginning Praesul aue, is quoted below \u2013 notice that the three words which make up the rhyme are common to the two lines, an additional artificiality).\n\n=====Size=====\nEpitomes a and E agree that Robert\u2019s work was divided into three books, and E specifies that it comprised a Praefatio with Prologus and Oratio, a Liber primus with eighteen chapters (about Knud\u2019s origins, childhood and mature life), a Liber secundus with twenty chapters (on the conspiracy against Knud, his death, and the signs which followed immediately upon his death), and a Liber tertius of unspecified length (about the miracles performed by him after his death). Everything points to a work of considerable size.\n\n====Editions====\n* SRD 4 (1776), 256-61.\n* WAITZ, G. 1892: MGH SS 29, 9-11, Hanover.\n*\u2022 GERTZ, M.CL. 1908-1912, VSD, 183-87 & 234-41, Copenhagen.\n\n====Translation====\n* (Danish) OLRIK, H. 1893-1894: Danske Helgeners Leved, 348-66, Copenhagen.\n\n===Date and place===\nThe protagonist of Robert of Ely\u2019s Vita sancti Canuti ducis, Duke Knud Lavard, was killed by his cousin Magnus, King Niels\u2019s son, on 7 January 1131 in Haraldsted near Ringsted. A spring is supposed to have appeared at Haraldsted after the murder, and to have possessed miraculous healing powers. After having seized the crown in 1134, Knud\u2019s brother Erik Emune began to promote the cult of Knud as a saint. In 1135 Erik Emune reorganized and endowed the monastery at Ringsted in whose church Knud was buried, and Robert\u2019s life of Knud must be regarded as another product of this campaign.\n\nEpitome E states that the Vita sancti Canuti ducis was dedicated to King Erik Emune, and this is corroborated by two leonine hexameters which according to E belonged to the Praefatio: Rex, sine fine uale! tibi sit decus imperiale,/ Regnum, maiestas, sceptrum, diadema, potestas! (O King, remain forever healthy! May imperial glory remain in your possession, and royal authority, majesty, sceptre, crown, and power!). Consequently it is likely that Robert finished his work after the reorganization of Ringsted Priory, and before Erik\u2019s death, i.e. in the period 1135-1137, and probably in Ringsted.\n\nIt is possible that Robert\u2019s work carried a second dedication to a bishop, since Epitome E quotes two hexameters from book 3 that most likely were addressed to a bishop (perhaps taken from the very end, in which case it may have been part of the explicit of the entire work): \u201cPraesul, aue! patrone, uale! pastor bone, salue!/ Semper aue! sine fine uale! per secula salue!\u201d (\u201cBishop, farewell! Patron, goodbye! Good shepherd, adieu! Fare you well always! Remain forever healthy! Be well to all eternity!\u201d). In medieval Latin, the word praesul nearly always means \u201cbishop\u201d, although the meaning \u201cpatron/protector\u201d occurs from late antiquity and onwards. It is therefore not likely, but on the other hand not quite impossible, that Robert addresses the king in these lines (or perhaps the saint). We know of other works from the period containing a double dedication, for instance to a king and a bishop.\n\n===Composition and style, literary models===\nAll the evidence we possess suggests that Robert\u2019s Vita sancti Canuti ducis followed a well-established literary tradition for writing saints\u2019 lives, sharing among other features the chronological narrative with subsequent sections on life, death (passion), and miracles. It is likely that Robert\u2019s work in particular resembled a group of prosimetrical saints\u2019 lives written in northern France and England in the second half of the eleventh century, a tradition represented in Denmark by >Ailnothus of Canterbury\u2019s Vita sancti Canuti regis (ca. 1120, Odense). There were very close relations between the monasteries of Odense and Ringsted, so that there can be little doubt that Robert knew Ailnoth\u2019s work. As an example of correspondence between Ailnoth and Robert it may be mentioned that Ailnoth wrote a poetic apostrophe (in forty-one leonine hexameters) to the murderers of King Knud, the people of Jutland (ch. 22), as Robert probably did to Duke Knud\u2019s murderers. Ailnoth\u2019s prose and verse are florid and mannerist. Well-attested fragments of Robert\u2019s prose are very few, so that we do not really know enough to judge his prose style. However, the following paraphrase from epitome E of one of his sentences, which also reveals his interest in the literary tradition of saints\u2019 lives, suggests that he too wrote a rather florid Latin prose: \n\nDicit Reuerendus Eliensis Anglicus, quod nullum genus inualetudinis in humano corpore mirifice esse curatum legisse meminerit, quod apud sanctum Kanutum non caperet medicamen, excepto quod ibi nulli mortui reuiuiscerent (The English bishop of Ely says that he does not remember having read about any kind of illness in the human body cured miraculously, which had not found a remedy with St Knud\u2019s help, except that there no dead persons had become alive again). \n\nHowever, a characteristic of Robert\u2019s poetic style seems to emerge in the verse fragments, namely a highly developed sense of word-play, again in a mannerist direction. This was already apparent in the two examples quoted above, and a third example confirms the tendency (epitome E, an unrhymed elegiac distich from Book 3): \u201cNam quicumque uelit quae restant scribere cuncta,/ Lux, manus, anser, ouis, sepia deficient\u201d (\u201cFor whoever should want to write about all the rest, he will lack light, hand, goose [i.e. goose-pen], sheep [i.e. sheep\u2019s hide, parchment], and squid [i.e. squid\u2019s ink]\u201d).\n\n===Purpose and audience===\nRobert of Ely composed his work for a very specific purpose, as we saw, namely the promotion of the cult of Knud Lavard as a saint. Most likely the work was simply commissioned by the dedicatee, King Erik Emune, who was at the time the head of that branch of the royal family to which Knud Lavard belonged. In the dynastic struggles of the Middle Ages it was always a powerful weapon to have a saint in one\u2019s nearest family. In this case Robert also seized the opportunity to blacken the strongest of the opponent family branches, the one to which the saint\u2019s murderer Magnus belonged. Besides stressing the treacherous behaviour of Magnus, Robert was very outspoken about his father King Niels\u2019s complicity. Erik Emune may have planned to let Robert\u2019s work accompany an application to the pope for an official authorization of the cult of Knud Lavard, but we have no evidence that the king started such a procedure. Papal recognition of Knud\u2019s sanctity was not obtained until 1169. Besides the immediate political purpose of a hagiographical work like Robert\u2019s, it would naturally also serve more general purposes of edification, as well as providing lections for chapter-meetings and perhaps also divine service.\n\n===Medieval reception and transmission===\nIn the late twelfth century, Robert of Ely\u2019s life of Knud Lavard was ousted by the anonymous Vita altera of >Sanctus Kanutus Dux, composed some time after the saint\u2019s translation in 1170. It is uncertain whether the author of the Vita altera knew Robert\u2019s work (cf. J\u00d8RGENSEN 1931, 22-23). The same applies to Saxo\u2019s use of Robert (cf. CHRISTIANSEN 1980-1981, I, 290, CHESNUTT 2003, 56, and FRIIS-JENSEN 2005, 229). The copy of Robert\u2019s work possessed by the monastery of Ringsted may have been used to record new miracles performed by the saint in the period down to the early thirteenth century (see below).\n\nThere are traces of at least two medieval manuscripts, x and y:\n\nx (probably lost): LANGEBEK (1776, 256) quotes a notice in the hand of the famous antiquarian \u00c1rni Magn\u00fasson: \nRobertus Elgiensis Episcopus in Scotia Vitam Sancti Kanuti descripsit satis prolixe. Vidisse se eam in Bibliotheca Cottoniana ait Chr. W. [i.e. Christen Worm, 1672-1737], et ibi locum illum, quem citat Vellejus [i.e. VEDEL 1575, 277, see below], et de valle Josaphat [Knud\u2019s mother Bodil died on a pilgrimage to Palestine and was buried in the Valley of J., according to epitome E of Robert\u2019s work], (Robert of Elgin, bishop in Scotland, wrote a rather detailed account of St. Knud\u2019s life. Chr(isten) W(orm) claims to have seen it in the Cottonian Library, and to have found in it the passage to which Vedel refers, and the mentioning of the Valley of Jehoshaphat). \nWorm\u2019s stay in England belongs to the 1690s. There seems to be no trace of this volume in the Cottonian Collection, neither among the manuscripts that survived the fire of 1731, nor in Thomas Smith\u2019s catalogue of 1696.\n\ny (lost): it is likely that the following excerpts or epitomes are derived from the same manuscript; at one time it may have been owned by Vedel:\n\nA(1.2.3): Excerpta Arnamagn\u00e6ana. Their hyparchetype was probably the manuscript Veriloquium Vetus in the University Library of Copenhagen, which was destroyed in 1728; see GERTZ 1908-1912, 185 & 187, and J\u00d8RGENSEN 1931, 22 n. 1. GERTZ and E. J\u00d8RGENSEN suggest that epitome A had specific relations with the monastery of Ringsted, since it contains a series of miracles performed by St. Knud, from the times of King Erik Emune down to the early thirteenth century. The source for the early miracles seems to have been Book 3 of Robert\u2019s work, but the source of the later ones was most likely an official catalogue of miracles kept at the saint\u2019s church, perhaps even in the form of additions to an authoritative copy of Robert\u2019s work. There exist three copies of A: Copenhagen, Royal Library, Add. 90 fol., s. xvii/xviii (two copies = A1 & A2). Copenhagen, the Arnamagn\u00e6an Institute, AM 1049 4\u00b0, s. xviii in., 2r-11r (=A3).\n\na: VEDEL 1575, 277 (to Saxo Gramm. 13,6,7): \u201cBiscop Robertus Elgensis, som screff tre B\u00f8ger, om Sant Knud Hertugis leffnet oc endeligt, siger at denne Sangere hed Siuord, oc handlede anderledis imod Hertugen end her fort\u00e6lis\u201d, (\u201cBishop Robertus Elgensis, who wrote three books about St. Knud the Duke\u2019s life and death, says that this singer was called Siuord, and that he behaved differently towards the duke than it is told here [i.e. in Saxo\u2019s version]\u201d). Since the episode about a singer who warns Knud is not explicitly referred to in epitomes E and A, they cannot have been Vedel's source, which must have been more complete. There exists corroborative evidence that Vedel had access to Robert\u2019s work in its entirety. Among Vedel\u2019s books a volume is listed as \u201cKnud Hertugs oc Martyris Historie\u201d (\u201cSt Knud the Duke and Martyr's History\u201d) (Vedel\u2019s Promus condus, Copenhagen, Royal Library, GKS 2438 4\u00b0, p. 5; E.J. Westphalen\u2019s edition, Monumenta inedita rerum Germanicarum 4, Leipzig 1745, 1587, shows the same phrasing). This book was possibly a copy of Robert\u2019s work, in which case it must be identified with MS y.\n\nE: Excerpta Vedeliana, series I-II: Copenhagen, Royal Library, Add. 112 8\u00b0, 6 (7) fols., s. xvi/xvii (written by Vedel or perhaps by Cornelius Hamsfort). Like Vedel in a, the excerptor of epitome E (perhaps also Vedel) comments on the relationship between Robert and Saxo, in connection with Knud\u2019s death: \u201cCaedes Canuti; in huius narratione uariat a Saxone Elgensis\u201d (\u201cThe murder of Knud; in the narration of this event the author from Elgin differs from Saxo\u201d). This remark is not specific enough to have been the source of a.\n\n==Bibliography==\nThe main contribution to the study of Robert\u2019s work is GERTZ's introduction to his edition (GERTZ 1908-1912, 183-87), but important discussions, in particular of source value and background, are found in the following works:\n\n*CHESNUTT, M. 2003: The medieval Danish liturgy of St Knud Lavard, Copenhagen (5, 66, 75).\n*CHRISTENSEN, A.E. 1977: in (Gyldendals) Danmarks historie I, 288 & 337, Copenhagen.\n*CHRISTENSEN, A.E. 1981: \u201cKnud Lavard,\u201d in DBL 8 (3rd ed.), 61-63.\n*CHRISTIANSEN, E. 1980-1981: Saxo Grammaticus, Books X-XVI. The text of the first edition with translation and commentaries I, 290, Oxford [the author states that it is likely, but not provable, that Saxo knew of Robert\u2019s work, and refers to passages where Saxo may have used or rejected it].\n*FRIIS-JENSEN, K. 2005: (review of CHESNUTT 2003), Danske Studier, 222-25.\n*J\u00d8RGENSEN, E. 1931: Historieforskning og Historieskrivning i Danmark indtil Aar 1800, Copenhagen, 22-23.\n*NORBERG, D. 1958: Introduction \u00e0 l'\u00e9tude de la versification latine m\u00e9di\u00e9vale (SLS 5), Stockholm.\n*SKYUM-NIELSEN, N. 1971: Kvinde og slave, Copenhagen, 81-83.\n*VEDEL, A.S. 1575: Den Danske Kr\u00f8nicke som Saxo Grammaticus skrev, Copenhagen, 277 [the source of epitome a]\n*WEIBULL, L. 1941: \u201cRingstedklostrets privilegier 1135-1225,\u201d Scandia 14, 57-73.\n\n[[Category:Article]]"
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