The ''Libri Carolini'' ("Charles' books"), more correctly ''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum'' ("The work of King Charles against the Synod"), is a work in four books composed on the command of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

in the mid 790s to refute the conclusions of the Byzantine

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

(787), particularly as regards the matter of sacred images. They are "much the fullest statement of the Western attitude to representational art that has been left to us by the Middle Ages". Two earlier Frankish tracts against images (known in conjunction as the ''Capitulare adversus synodum'') had been sent in 792 to Pope Hadrian I, who had replied with an attempt at a refutation. The ''Libri Carolini'' was then composed as a fuller rebuttal of Hadrian's position. But Charlemagne realized that further controversy with Rome would serve no purpose, and the work was never sent. It remained unknown until it was published by Jean du Tillet in 1549, in the very different context of the debates over images at the Reformation.

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

refers to it approvingly in later editions of his '' Institutes of the Christian Religion'' (Book 1, Ch 11, section 14), and uses it in his argument against the veneration of images.

Authorship

The work begins, "In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ beginneth the work of the most illustrious and glorious man Charles, by the will of God, king of the Franks, Gauls, Germany, Italy, neighboring provinces, with the assistance of the king, against the Synod which in Greek parts firmly and proudly decreed in favour of adoring (''adorandis'') images recklessly and arrogantly," followed immediately by what is called "Charlemagne's Preface". However, it is unlikely that Charlemagne wrote any of the books himself,Examination of the Caroline Books
". ''Early Church Fathers: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. XIV''. Public domain. although the views expressed were influenced by him. He apparently did not accept that art had any advantages over books, a view not held by many of his advisers. The preferred candidate as author of most modern scholars, following Anne Freeman, is Bishop Theodulf of Orleans, a Spanish

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...

in origin, of which traces can be detected in the Latin and the liturgical references in the work. The Vatican manuscript has an author, considered to be Theodulf, and a corrector. It is very likely that several clerics at the court contributed to discussions formulating a work to be issued in the Emperor's name, but it seems likely that Theodulf composed the text we have. In the past, some have attributed the writings to

Angilram Enguerrand (or Engrand, Ingrand) is a medieval French name, derived from a Germanic name ''Engilram'' (''Engelram'', ''Ingelram''), from ''Angil'', the tribal name of the Angles, and ''hramn'' "raven". The Old Frankish name is recorded in various f ...

, Bishop of Metz or others of the bishops of France, alleging that Pope Adrian having sent Charlemagne the Acts of the Council in 790, he gave them to the French bishops for examination, and that the ''Libri Carolini'' was the answer they returned. There is also evidence that the author was

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...

; besides the English tradition that he had written such a book, there is also the remarkable similarity of his commentary on St. John (4, 5, et seqq.) to a passage in ''Liber IV.'', cap. vi., of the ''Libri Carolini''.

According to the ''Libri Carolini'', images may be used as ecclesiastical ornaments, for purposes of instruction, and in memory of past events. It is foolish, however, to burn incense before them and to use lights, though it is quite wrong to cast them out of the churches and destroy them. It used to be supposed that the work failed to appreciate the distinction made at the Second Council of Nicaea between the ''veneration and worship'' reserved to God alone and the ''veneration of honour'' to be paid to images. There was indeed one passage in the Acts of Nicaea which had been mistranslated as confusing the two; and this passage is duly pilloried in the ''Libri''. But other passages in the ''Libri'' show awareness that Nicaea made this distinction, e.g. at III. 27, which paraphrases Nicaea as saying that ''We do not adore images as God nor do we pay them divine worship''. But the ''Libri'' argue that the distinction made at Nicaea between ''worship'' and ''honour'' does not justify praying to images or attributing miraculous powers to them, as Nicaea had claimed. The text points out that the patristic passages cited by Hadrian in support of his position expressed approval of images as a catechetical aid but not of their veneration; it argues forcibly (at III. 17) that it was absurd to require the veneration of images, when generations of martyrs and holy monks had not venerated them; the veneration of images was not to be put on a par with faith. The ''Libri'' show a better understanding of the Fathers of the golden patristic age (fourth and fifth centuries) than both the iconophiles (who wrongly claimed that the Fathers upheld the veneration of images) and the iconoclasts (who wrongly claimed that the Fathers disapproved of the making of images). The old charge that the Franks were misled by a bad translation and failed to appreciate the subtleties of Byzantine theology has therefore been abandoned in sound recent scholarship (e.g. by Thümmel and Auzépy, see Price, listed below, 69-70). In arguing against Pope Hadrian the ''Libri'' also appealed to a letter by Gregory the Great (''Registrum'' XI. 10) that had argued that ''Pictures are placed in churches not to be adored but purely to instruct the minds of the ignorant.'' It was therefore able to claim that Hadrian in defending Nicaea II was betraying the true tradition of the Roman Church. The contents were interpreted by Calvin and other iconoclast writers during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

as support for their attitude. They were also put on the

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbid ...

, where they remained until 1900, either because of their iconoclastic arguments or because seen as interference by a civil authority in matters of Church doctrine.Dodwell, C.R.; ''The Pictorial arts of the West, 800-1200'', pp. 32-33, 1993, Yale UP,

Editions

* Freeman, Ann, with Paul Meyvaert. ''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum (Libri Carolini)'', Hannover 1998
Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Concilia, Bd. 2, Supplementum I
.

In English translation

* Partial English translation: Caecilia Davis-Weyer, ed. ''Early Medieval Art 300-1150: Sources and Documents'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), pp. 100–103.

References

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia
{{Authority control Carolingian Latin literature Aniconism Byzantine Iconoclasm Catholic theology and doctrine 8th-century Christian texts 8th-century Latin books Manuscripts of the Vatican Library Medieval texts Art history

Authorship

Contents

Editions

In English translation

References

Further reading

External links