Imagining the Sacred Past. Hagiography and Power in Early Normandy (review)

Based on a 2002 Harvard dissertation, this technically impeccable book begins by dating and localizing three texts concerning Norman saints: the vita of Taurinus, first bishop of Evreux, composed at the monastery of St. Taurin in Evreux during the 1020s; the vita of Vigor of Bayeux, evangelist of the Bessin, composed in the monastery of Cerisy during the early 1030s; and the passio of Nicasius, an obscure martyr of the Vexin reimagined as the first bishop of Rouen, composed in the monastery of St. Ouen in Rouen during the early 1030s. Having dated and localized the compositions, the author moves on to a study that the book flap misleadingly claims to be "innovative in its historical use of hagiographical literature." This approach, which I have pursued in numerous publications (all of which Herrick cites), involves connecting the visions of the past contained in the lives and passions of saints with the contemporary circumstances in which those texts were created and thus revealing how images of the infinitely malleable past reflect present concerns and serve present political purposes.

For Herrick, the stories of Taurinus, Vigor, and Nicasius legitimized an expansive version of Norman ducal power. The zones of activity of all three saints (the Evrecin, the Bessin, and the French Vexin) were regions "where the dukes sought to strengthen their authority or fortify their borders, neighboring territories where the dukes looked to increase their influence and solidify alliances" (p. 49). Furthermore, the texts' images of the violent evangelization of the relevant regions justified the contemporary exercise "of a particular kind of lordship" (p. 114). The "image of the saint as warlike savior of the region" (p. 61, in reference to Taurinus), the portrait of "the Bessin as a savage territory not to be conquered for God without difficulty" (p. 90, in reference to Vigor), and "the text's martial imagery [which] presents the enclaves of Christians the saints leave behind them . . . as a series of garrisons"(pp.108–09, in reference to Nicasius and his companions) all combined to "justify violence in the name of rightful authority . . . [and] the expansion of ducal power in these frontier zones" (p. 114).

Herrick's argument is plausible, but weakened by the fact that the texts in question never explicitly mention or even allude to the Norman rulers. The fact that (textual) saints and (real world) dukes could both be understood to have engaged in "conquest and purification" (the saints battled demons and evangelized, while the dukes fought wars and established monasteries) may not have persuaded observers that the Norman dukes were reiterating the deeds of ancient saints (p. 114) or that the saints foreshadowed and vindicated the dukes (p. 115). No evidence external to the texts indicates that the dukes styled themselves as heirs of Taurinus, Vigor, and Nicasius, or that contemporary audiences identified the dukes with these figures.

The tenuous (but not implausible) connection to the dukes aside, Herrick is certainly right to draw attention to the interest in the distant past that suddenly characterized Norman historical thought during the early eleventh century. This interest in apostolic times was but one of the ways in which Norman authors worked clearly within the mainstream traditions of contemporary Frankish culture, just as the policies of Duke Robert I were barely distinguishable from those of his counterparts. For Herrick, the three mainstream texts and their attendant mainstream cults themselves played a crucial role in helping the Norman (Viking) elites to transition to a new identity as Frankish Christians. In my view, it is more likely that the mainstream nature of the eleventh-century narratives attests to the fact that the identity transformation of the conquering dynasty and their allies had already been achieved by the beginning of the century.

Although Herrick may or may not have grasped completely how images of the sacred past functioned in early eleventh-century Normandy, she has certainly brought considerable technical skill (including in manuscript...