Mobilising special forces. An examination of the 'Historia Translationis' of the martyr Gorgon and the uses of this saint for the monastery of Marmoutier in the mid-ninth century.

Abstract

This thesis examines the uses of the Roman martyr St. Gorgon for the Carolingian monastery of Marmoutier in the mid-ninth century on basis of the Historia Translationis, an account of the transfer of the relics of St. Gorgon from Rome to Marmoutier in 846/7. Van de Beek argues that the author of this text wanted to portray St. Gorgon as a powerful protector of Marmoutier's resources and privileges in the face of the political troubles and dangers where Marmoutier found itself in in the mid-ninth century. She amongst others shows how the author, by combining the description of St. Gorgon's settlement in Marmoutier with a quotation of the malediction of psalm 82, related the saint to the synods of the mid-ninth century where the appropriation of church- and monastic property by lay nobility was condemned, and hereby provided St. Gorgon with a relevant and powerful protective function in the troubled times of the mid-ninth century.