Papsturkunden in Frankreich, Neue Folge, 9. Band: Diözese Paris II, Abtei Saint-Denis (review)

Papsturkunden in Frankreich, Neue Folge, 9. Band: Diözese Paris II, Abtei Saint-Denis. By Rolf Grosse. [Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Dritte Folge, Nr. 225.] (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1998. Pp. 257.)

From the time of Clothar II (584-629), St. Denis--the first bishop of Paris, whose relics rested in a basilica just outside the city--was the special patron of the Merovingian kings. It was, however, Clothar's son Dagobert (623-639) who, by reforming the liturgical routine, issuing charters of exemption and immunity, donating property, extending the west end of the basilica, and transforming the monastery into the royal mausoleum, linked the very identity of the royal house with St. Denis. Inextricably linked thereafter with the ruling dynasty of the west Frankish kingdom and its successors in a complicated network of patronage and social and political strategies, the royal monastery of St. Denis and its abbots nevertheless looked also to Rome for security, privileges, and exemptions.

This volume of the Papsturkunden in Frankreich series (four of which have already been published with several more in progress) is devoted exclusively to the monastery of St. Denis on account of the significance of the house in French history and the number of extant privileges (p. 7). It contains a critical edition of one hundred papal privileges (genuine and apocryphal) for the monastery from the period 742/751-1159, most of which date from 1049 onwards, after something of a saeculum obscurum in the tenth century. The early documents, many of which are later forgeries, grant the monastery papal ditio (e.g., no. 4b, 10, 16), the right of appeal (no. 4a), property in Rome (no. 5, 9), as well as confirmations of earlier immunities and exemptions (no. 8, 11a, 16, 19). After the saeculum obscurum, the documents reflect the reform papacy's interest with St. Denis as perhaps part of its less than cordial relations with King Philip I of France (no. 31-41), and in particular reflect Abbot Suger's preoccupations with safeguarding and extending the position of St. Denis as the principal house in France (no. 50ff).

The edition is preceded by an introduction containing a chronological list of the privileges and letters along with information regarding archival sources, the transmission of the privileges in manuscripts, cartularies, and letter collections, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Several useful indices include an incipit index, a concordance of the edited texts with Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, and name and place indices. As regards the edition itself, each document is presented with a full critical apparatus including manuscript references, identification of previous editions, a brief commentary on transmission, as well as variant readings. Reflecting the high critical standards of the Papsturkunden series, this volume is an important edition of texts dealing with a pivotal institution and will be of tremendous use not only for scholars working on St. Denis itself but also in terms of the light the texts can shed on competing patronage networks in early and central medieval Europe.

Kathleen G. Cushing
Keele University

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