The comparative
study of the saints Edward the Confessor (d.1066, can.1161) and Louis
IX of France (d.1270, can.1297) is an immensely rich field, and the
reasons for this are many. First of all they both belong to the same
saint-type, being both royal saints and confessors, and this in
itself requires much in-depth exploration. Secondly, they are both
important figures in the histories of their respective countries,
both while living and posthumously. Thirdly, they have both, as
saints, engendered a significant repertoire of literary and musical
works. What is of course most interesting about this subject, is that
the two cults influenced each other throughout the later Middle Ages,
meaning - unsurprisingly - that their respective devotees were very
much aware of the other cult. A detailed survey of the relationship
between the cults of Edward and Louis would require a book of its own
(and hopefully such a volume will be written in not too long). In
this blogpost, however, I aim to focus on one single text which
illustrates the interaction between the cults quite nicely, namely an
antiphon found in the MS. Codex
Coloniensis, Köln Historisches Arkiv, W. kl. 8o 28.
Louis on his sickbed, vowing to go on crusade
MS. Royal 16 G VI Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (Central France, after 1332, before 1350)
Courtesy of British Library
Louis' crusade of 1249, leaving Damietta for Egypt
MS. Royal 16 G VI Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (Central France, after 1332, before 1350)
Courtesy of British Library
This
manuscript is a collection of chants compiled by a 15th-century
Carthusian monk, and its content is very varied, comprising "pieces
from ecclesiastical office cycles, singular antiphons, responsories,
invitatories" and also fragments of hymns, sequences and
non-liturgical items. The collection was edited by Guido Maria Dreves
and published as volume XXVIII of Analecta
Hymnica in
1898, and he identified the collector as a native of Cologne, and the
book as a prayerbook (1). Later, Andrew Hughes has claimed that the
book was produced sometime around 1480 (2). This book, henceforth
referred to as CCW, contains two antiphons for Edward the Confessor,
and the latter of these is the focus of today's post. The translation
is my own.
O
decus ecclesiae, O glory of the church,
Pie rex Anglorum, Pious king of the English,
Pie rex Anglorum, Pious king of the English,
Exemplar
iustitiae, Example of justice,
Lex
et norma morum, Law and standard of customs,
Post
finem angustiae, [Who] upon the end of struggle,
Mortis
et laborum Death and suffering
Praesta
dono gratiae Give your gift of goodwill
Regnum
beatorum. From the kingdom of the blessed
As
we see, Edward the Confessor is hailed for a number of virtues
commonly included in his aretalogy, but the interesting part is that
this antiphon was originally written for the liturgy of Saint Louis.
The first part, from O
decus
to morum,
features in two antiphons from two different offices written at the
turn of the 13th century, both of which were used by the Dominicans,
either composed for that order or adapted for secular use. Some
confusion still remains concerning the details and we don't know
which office was written first or by which of the available
candidates (3). The antiphon as it is found in CCW, however, is taken
verbatim from the office Ludovicus
decus,
except, of course, that Francorum
is substituted with Anglorum.
Louis receiving the Crown of Thorns
MS. Royal 16 G VI Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (Central France, after 1332, before 1350)
Courtesy of British Library
Edward receiving a Papal letter with dispensation from going on pilgrimage
MS Ee.3.59, English, 13th century
Courtesy of Cambridge University Library
Naturally,
we will never know whether the French liturgists composed these lines
themselves, or borrowed them from an antiphon to Edward now lost to
us. Personally, however, I find it more likely that it originated in
an environment either Dominican or with Dominican influence. The
reason for this is that in the 1290s the Dominicans had had a
long-standing relationship with the French court of Louis IX and his
son Philip III, and upon canonisation Louis quickly made his way into
the Dominican sanctorale
(4).
Edward the Confessor, however, did not enter Dominican calendars
until 1267, despite the fact that Edward by then had been revered as
a saint for over hundred years and that the Dominicans had been in
England since 1221 (5). It was not the Dominicans, but rather the
Cistercians who considered Edward to be the ideal king. I
therefore find it more plausible that a Dominican antiphon was
disseminated to St. Edward's liturgists than the other way around.
Massacre at Sidon, Louis helps burying the dead
MS. Royal 16 G VI Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (Central France, after 1332, before 1350)
Courtesy of British Library
That
Louis, the younger of the two saints, should influence Edward is
quite fascinating, but it also makes good sense. Both were kings,
both were revered as confessors, both were addressed as patrons and
guardians of their respective realms, and they shared a great number
of features. Louis was hailed for his justice in court cases, while
Edward was called a just lawmaker, they were both applauded for their
religious life and for spurning the world, they both engaged in the
building or refurbishing of churches and they both died in sickness.
It is therefore unsurprising that liturgists at Westminster - the
centre of Edward's cult - should borrow from their French brethren at
Saint Denis, the focal point of the cult of Louis (although
challenged by the royal chapel in Paris) (6).
Louis ministering to the poor
MS. Royal 16 G VI Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (Central France, after 1332, before 1350)
Courtesy of British Library
Edward the Confessor dreaming of the Seven Sleepers turning in their sleep
MS Ee.3.59, English, 13th century
Courtesy of Cambridge University Library
We
do not know how this text was transmitted, and although I suggest
that it was taken to England from France, we do not find this text in
an English source and can therefore not ascertain that it in fact
ever reached England. It may, for instance, have been meant for
performance at Fécamp in Normandy instead, where Edward had been
included in the liturgy since the 12th century, and where there was
put up a cycle of stained glass images with scenes from Edward's life
around 1308 (7).
Nor
can we say with certainty when it was adapted to Edward's liturgy.
The text was certainly available when the glass cycle was finished at
Fécamp, or it may have been borrowed during the 1390s when Edward's
popularity at the royal court reached its highest peak since the
mid-13th century (8). It may also have been adapted for another
house, or even another country - it is, after all, found in a German
prayerbook - and we simply do not know the answer.
Although
we can glean little information from the available sources, this case
study pinpoints the interesting comparisons that can be made between
Edward and Louis, and also the interchange between the cults. In the
future, I hope there will be done more on this particular subject,
and perhaps we'll even find more information somewhere.
Louis about to be brought to Heaven by angels
MS. Sloane 2433 (c1410-20), Grandes chroniques de France
Courtesy of British Library
Footnotes
1)
Dreves,
Guido Maria, Analecta Hymnica Vol. XXVIII, Leipzig, 1898:
6-7
2)
Hughes, Andrew, "British Rhymed Offices: A Catalogue and
Commentary", printed in Rankin, Susan and Hiley, David (eds.),
Music
in the Medieval English liturgy: Plainsong & Mediaeval Music
Society centennial essays,
Oxford University Press, 1993: 281
3)
Gaposchkin,
Cecilia M., The
Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity and Crusade in the Later
Middle Ages,
Cornell University Press, 2010:
79-81
4)
Gaposchkin 2010: 77
5)
Pfaff, Richard W., The
Liturgy in Medieval England,
Cambridge University Press, 2009: 311-14
6)
Jordan,William
Chester, A
Tale of Two Monasteries,
Princeton University Press, 2009:
48-59
7)
Harrison, Madeline, "A Life of St. Edward the Confessor in Early
Fourteenth-Century Stained Glass at Fecamp, in Normandy",
printed in Journal
of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
Vol. 26, no. 1/2, 1963: 23-25
8)
For an overview of Edward's popularity at the English court, see
Hope, Steffen, The King's Three Images,
Trondheim, 2012
References
Dreves,
Guido Maria, Analecta Hymnica Vol. XXVIII, Leipzig, 1898
Gaposchkin,
Cecilia M., The
Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity and Crusade in the Later
Middle Ages,
Cornell University Press, 2010
Harrison,
Madeline, "A Life of St. Edward the Confessor in Early
Fourteenth-Century Stained Glass at Fecamp, in Normandy",
printed in Journal
of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
Vol. 26, no. 1/2, 1963
Hope,
Steffen, The
King's Three Images,
Trondheim, 2012
Hughes,
Andrew, "British Rhymed Offices: A Catalogue and Commentary",
printed in Rankin, Susan and Hiley, David (eds.), Music
in the Medieval English liturgy: Plainsong & Mediaeval Music
Society centennial essays,
Oxford University Press, 1993
Jordan,William
Chester, A
Tale of Two Monasteries,
Princeton University Press, 2009
Pfaff,
Richard W., The
Liturgy in Medieval England,
Cambridge University Press, 2009
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