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[a]

Bishop Gislebertus deserves special attention because, if the tradition which has come down to us concerning the date ("876") of the acquistion of the "Voile"/Camisia of the Virgin by the church of Chartres is valid, then it was surely under his tenure in office that this momentous event occurred.

In a recent publication which attempts to reconstruct in some detail the cathedral built by Bishop Fulbert after the fire of 1020 (and, of necessity, some of its predecessors), the eminent local Chartrain historian, Roger Joly, has ventured the opinion that : "En 876, le roi Charles-le-Chauve, empereur depuis l'année précédente [Christmas, 875], fait don à l'église de Chartres du Voile de la Vierge. La raison de ce bienfait inestimable tient sans doubt à la personnalité du successeur du malheureux Frotbold [who had drowned in the Eure in 857, during the Norse seige of the city], l'évêque Gislebert qui, auparavant, occupait un post de notaire à la cour imperiale. L'abbé Clerval [Les Écoles de Chartres au Moyen-Age, without page reference] rapporte que la pape Jean VIII, dans une lettre, lui décerna de grands éloges et qu'il fut l'ami d'Hincmar de Reims, d'Agius d'Orléans et de Loup de Ferrièrres. Familier de Charles-le-Chauve, Gislebert avait suivi l'empereur en Italie au cours de cette même année 876, et il se trouvait peut-être à son chevet lorsque Charles mourut, l'année suivante....Par testament, l'empereur le désignait comme devant être le conseiller de l'un de ses fils, Louis-le-Bègue. Il est donc fort vraisemblable que c'est l'évêque lui-même qui a sollicité et obtenu ce dépot dans le dessein de susciter les dons des pélerins et de favorise ainsi la construction d'un édifice de qualité, digne de la relique insigne qui'il devait abriter."[1]

These are very interesting observations, and several of Monsieur Joly's points deserve a closer examination. The reliance upon --and elaboration of-- secondary sources has, for centuries, been something of a leitmotif of Chartrain studies, and, at the least, his publication is going to be taken as a serious and reliable one within the francofile audience and will, therefore, become a part of the living tradition of Chartrain literature, as yet another secondary source which will be cited by future secondary writers as a de facto authority.

The most important secondary source for the early career of Gislebertus is to be found in the third (apparatus), volume of the massive, three-volume publication of the Acta of King/Emperor Charles II (the Bald), the collaborative work of two (or, perhaps, three) generations of pioneering palaeographers : begun by Arthur Giry, continued by Maurice Prou, and ultimately broughrt to press by Georges Tessier.[2]

Tessier’s (I'll assume that he was the author ultimately responsible) treatment of Gislebertus’ career is primarily concerned with rigorously defining his diplomatic/paleographic “personality.”  Since our interest does not lie primarily in that direction, I will summarize his remarks primarily from another point of view :

Gislebertus first appears on the historical scene as a "notary” (notarius) in the rather sophisticated chancery of Charles the Bald, an office which he apparently held from at least 23 March, 847 [3] until 18 September, 857.

During these ten plus years he subscribed 31 known royal charters, including 12 which survive as originals (the remainder known from copies of one sort or another).

At the beginning of his career he was styled “subdeacon,” but sometime between15 August, 850 [4] and 25 February, 852 [5] he was apparently promoted to deacon (though of what church we are not able to say).

We have autograph subscriptions at the bottom of the 12 surviving original charters [6] and, in addition, he wrote his name, as well as the date, under that of the notary Jonas on one surviving charter.[7]
[Tessier, p.69]
All of the charters subscribed by Gislebertus were not written by him, however, [8] and he always drew a chrisom before writing the verbal invocation. 
His handwriting seems to have evolved towards increasing simplicity and regularity.[9]

On 12 June, 857 Bishop Frotbald of Chartres was drowned in the river Eure, trying to escape from the Norsemen who were besieging his city.[10]
Some months later, after 18 September, [11] [p.71] Charles bestowed the vacant see on Gislebertus, who held it for more than 20 years.

At Chartres as well, Gislebertus seems to have followed the destiny of his collegue among the notaries, Aeneas in becomming a bishop (Aeneas became bisop of Paris in 856, after 7 March), [12] because when Charles was about to depart for Italy in 877 he designated Gislebertus, along with his episcopal colleagues from Orléans and Auxerre, to accompany his son Louis on any occasion which the latter might see fit to journey beyond the Loire [sic: the published text reads "ultra Sequanam"].[13]

He attended the council of Troyes in September, 878 and died on a the third of January (according to his obituary notice in the cathedral necrology) in some year between 879 and 885.[14]

[End summary of Tessier]

Significant questions from a Chartrain point of view are [in chronological order] :

--Was Gislebertus' "election" as bishop of Chartres due to his previous service in the King/Emperor's chancery ?
This is pretty much a no-brainer, though there is no positive evidence surviving which gives us a conclusive answer..
Although Chartres does not appear in any significant way in the hundreds of surviving charters issued by Charles (no surviving charter was in favor of any chartrain institution or issued from Chartres. Chartres may or may not have been a significant place in Charles' thinking and politics, but his surviving charters certainly shed no light whatever on whether or not it was. Though it is worth noting that Gislebertus' penultimate predecessor, Burcard (853~6), was appointed one of three royal missi for the pagi of Blois, Orléans, Vêndome, Chartres, Dreux, Châteaudun, Étampes, Evreux, Poissy, Arapajon, and Merey (Capitulare Missarum Silvacense, MGH, Cap. 260).
Presumably the see of Chartres was more or less in the "gift" of the King, if he had sufficient influence over it at any given time when the see became vacant. If 857 was such a moment, then surely Charles' preference would have carried significant --perhaps overwhelming-- weight to ensure his "election." However, we must consider the possiblity that Gislebertus himself might have been of Chartrain origin, which would had added an extra advantage to the King's nomination of him to fill this office. In a few of his subscriptions to the royal charters, Gislebertus styles himself "subdeacon" (Tessier nos. 166, 171), or "deacon" (no. 150), but we are not told in which church he might have held these offices. Of course, that church might well have been the cathedral of Chartres.

--Did Gislebertus accompany Charles on his first trip to Italy, in 876 ?
Once again, there is no conclusive evidence which has survived to allow us to answer this question in any definitive manner, because it appears that we do not possess any surviving documents which might shed light upon the constituency of Charles' ecclesiastical entourage on this journey.
Among the surviving royal/imperial charters published in Tessier's edition there are none which were issued from Charles' trip to Italy (a curious anomoly, perhaps).
But we do possess two "capitularies" (capitularia : "edicts") dated from Pavia in February, 876 (MGH, Cap., 220, 221), neither one of which, however, contains any recognizable French (only Italian) bishops among the witnesses or signatories.

--Was Charles' gift (presumably) of a precious relic of the Virgin (presumably) in 876 or 877 (presumably) the product of Gislebertus' familiarity with the Emperor ?
Again. we are in possession of only circumstantial evicence : no contempory document or other primary souce has survived which informs us of the date or nature of this gift.

-------------------------
NOTES :

[a] Following diplomatic custom, the termini of Bishop Gislebertus' tenure are determined by (a) the last appearance of G. as a royal notarius (note 11 below) and (b) the interval between ("X") the last appearance of Gislebertus himself among the suviving documentary evidence and the first appearance of his sucessor.

[1] Roger Jolly, La Cathédrale de Chartres avant Fulbert (Chartres: Editions Houvet, 1999), p. 66. It would appear that someone (Jolly?) has misread the text of Tessier (note 2 below, p., 71), who most certainly does NOT say that Bishop Gislebertus "followed Charles to Italy in 776."
Tessier's text reads "Sur le point de partir pour l'Italie, à Quierzy, en 877 [i.e., on the eve of the Emperor's second trip to Italy], Charles le [Gislebertus] désignait avec ses [Gislebertus'] collègues [des évêques] d'Orléans et d'Auxerre pour accompagner son fils Louis au cas où celui-ci entreprendait un voyage au-delá de la Loire [citing, note 1: Capitulaire de Quierzy, art. 15, Capitularia, t. II, p. 359]."
Clearly, from this, according to Tessier, it was Charles and not Gislebertus who was on his way to Italy (for the second and last time, dying on his way back). and, on the contrary, it was Gislebertus who was to stay behind in France during the King's absence, to act as some sort of gardian for his son Louis, should the latter venture beyond of the Seine [sic, in Tessier and Joly].
The published text of the Capitulary certainly bares this out : Capitulare Carisiacense [June 14, 877], cap. 15 : "Gislebertus episcopus" and others are designated to accompany Charles' son "si ultra Sequanam perrexerit." Gislebertus is the last mentioned after Abbot Hugo of St. Omer, Bishops Wolter of Orléans and Wala of Auxerre : Gislebertus episcopus, et ceteri nostri fideles ilius portis una cum praedictis..."
Nota Bene that the (printed) text clearly reads "ultra Sequanam" and not "ultra Ligeram" --there is no question of it being "beyond the Seine," not "beyond the Loire." We must assume that Tessier misread the MGH edition and was followed in this error by Joly (who, we presume, did not consult the latter, relying only upon the former).

[2] Recueil des Actes de Charles II le Chauve, Roi de France, commencé par Arthur Giry, continué par Maurice Prou, terminé et publié sous la direction de M. Clovis Brunel…par M. Georges Tessier. Tome III (Introduction et Table). Paris : Imprimerie nationale, 1955. (in the series Chartes et Diplômes relatifs à l’Histoire de France publiés par les Soins de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
(I'll assume that Tessier is responsible for this third volume, though that may not have been the case.)
The discussion of Gislebertus begins on page 67 and extends to page 71. Tessier (p. 71) establishes the terminal dates of Gislebertus' reign citing (n.2) : "Gallia Chrisiana, VIII, cc. 1106-7; Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, II, p. 426; Molinier, Obituaires de la province de Sens, II, p. 4 et 179. Sur la carrièrre encore consulter M. Jusselin, "Les autographes de Gislebert," dans les Mémoires de la Société archéologique d' Eure-et-Loir, XVIII (1951), pp. 201-3.

[3] Actes, Number 92.

[4] Actes, Number 134, signed (in “Tironian notes”) subscripsit indignus subdiaconus and notarius.

[5] Actes, Number 146, signed (in “Tironian notes”) subscripsit indignus diaconus, and no. 150, as simply indignus diaconus and notarius.

[6] Actes, Numbers 100, 101, 104, 108, 134, 146, 148, 150, 166, 171, 180 (this latter being entirely written in a Dionysian hand, including the subscription of the chancellery.

[7] Actes, Number 124.

[8] The scribe of Actes, Number 148 is doubtful, while nos. 134, 150 and 180 were written by his colleague, Aeneas, whose influence on Gislebertus may be seen in several other charters. This leaves nos. 100, 101, 104, 108, 146, 148, 166, 171 (which were  written by him?).
A further --and more recent-- general examination of the role of the notaries within the chancery in the production of royal charters is to be found in Robert Bautier "La chancellerie et les actes royaux dans les royaumes carolingiens," Bibliothéque de l'École des Chartes, 142, 1984, pp. 5-80. Bautier doe not specifically mention Gislebertus, however.
The latter should be considered in view of the on-going research outlined by Mark Mersiowsky, "Towards a Reappraisal of Carolingian Sovereign Charters," in Karl Heidecker, ed., Charters and the Use of the Written Word in Medieval Society (Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 5), Turnhout, 2000, pp. 15-26.

[9] We already see in act 104 that he may have been influenced by a charter of Louis the Pious which he had before him, while nos. 148, 166 and 171 demonstrate quite significant differences in overall appearance and letter forms. Gislebertus therefore seems to have two distinct “styles” : in the beginning he is under the influence of Aeneas and some of his other colleagues in the chancellery; later he seems to launch out on his own.

[10] At the end his annales entry for 857 Prudence adds this note : “Frotabaldus episcopus Carnotum, insistentibus sibi Danis in eadem civitate, pedibus fugiens fluviumque Auduram natatu petens, aquis interceptus moritur” (Annales Bertiniani, ed. Waitz, p. 48).  The necrology of the cathedral of Chartres places the death of Frotabald on the 12th of June, but in 858 : “II id. junii…Anno Incarnationis dominicis dominice DCCCLVIII, indictione VIta a paganis Sequanensibus facta est magna cedes Carnotis, in qua interempti sunt Frotbaldus episcopus, Stephanus presbiter…et cetera multitudo” (Molinier, Obits, p. 14).  Historians have generally accepted day date of the necrology, while the year is beyond dispute.

[11] Actes, Number 196.

[12] Loup de Ferrières, Correspondance, ed. Levilain, II, letters, 92 (see p. 95, n. 5) and 93.  Cf. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, II, p. 471; Depoin, “Essai sur la chronologie des évêques de Paris de 768 à 1138,” Bulletin philologique et historique de Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, 1906, pp. 219-220; Aman, L’époque carolingienne, p. 338. It is not clear to me what Tessier means here by Gislebertus “following in the destiny of Aeneas” –by graduating from the chancellery to a see at the King’s appointment?

[13] Capitulary of Quierzy, Capitulare Carisiacense, 14 June, 877, apparently the"'testamentum" of Charles II, cap. 15, article 15 (MGH, Capitularia, vol. II, p. 359). The capitulary begins "Qualiter et quo ordine filius noster in hoc regno renameat, et qui debeant esse, quorum auxilio utatur, et vicitudine cum eo sint..." appointing various Bishops of the realm to assist him, including, "si ultra Sequanam perrexerit [Charles' son]...Gislebertus episcopus" among those named to accompany him. The text clearly reads "ultra Sequanam" rather than "ultra Ligeriam" --beyond the Seine, rather than the Loire; and the other clerics (mentioned befoere Gisleberus, for whatever that's worth) are Abbot Hugo of St. Omer, Bishops Walter of Orléans, and Wala of Auxerre, Gislebertus...et ceteri nostri fideles illius partis una cum praedictis..."

[14] Tessier cites the Gallia Christiana, vol. VIII, col. 1106-7; Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, vol. II, p. 426; Molinier, Obits, pp. 4 and 179.  On his career see also M. Jusselin, "Les autographs de Gilbert," in the Mémoirs de la Societé archéologique d’Eure-et-Loir, XVIII (1955), pp. 201-3.

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