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Imperium and Regnum in Gottschalk’s description of Dalmatia

Gottschalk of Orbais (ca. 805–868/869), a Benedictine monk, theologian, grammarian and a poet, is best known as a staunch supporter of the doctrine of two-fold predestination (developed under the influence of St. Augustine’s writings). His theological ideas, however, met with negative reception among the ranks of Frankish ecclesiastical hierarchy, forcing Gottschalk to travel and move around Carolingian Europe frequently. In ca. 846–848 he resided at the court of Croatian prince Trpimir, afterwards leaving for Bulgaria. Several church synods convicted him of heresy (Mainz 848, Quierzy 849), ultimately resulting in his confinement in the monastery of Hautvillers, where he died. Within the context of his theory of predestination, his works contain several valuable informations on Dalmatia in the time of Trpimir, evidently picked up during his stay in Croatia. In his treatise De Trina deitate he attributed to this ruler the title of »king of the Slavs« (Tripemirus rex Sclavorum) and described his military expedition against the »people of Greeks and their patrician« (contra gentem Graecorum et patricium eorum). He also mentioned some linguistic peculiarities, apparently characteristic of this region. Interpreted out of context, this passage was thought to witness the existence of two different entities in mid-9th century Dalmatia: Dalmatini (Trpimir’s subjects in continental Dalmatia) and Latini (Byzantine subjects in coastal cities and islands). However, the recent contextual and philological analysis of the text (Ž. Rapanić) resulted in some new insights: namely, that Gottschalk identifies homines Dalmatini with homines Latini (i.e. with the Latin-speaking inhabitants of litoral Dalmatia), subject to Byzantine sovereignty. In other words, in this passage he never mentions (explicitly or implicitly) neither the Slavs, nor their ruler. Gottschalk simply states that the people of Byzantine Dalmatia call their sovereign using abstract nouns »kingdom« and »empire«. This manner of speech is by no means specific to Dalmatia, since the same is attested by Gottschalk for the inhabitants of Venice (also homines Latini, who call their sovereign, the Byzantine emperor, dominatio). The same phraseology is attested even earlier, in the so-called Plea of Rižana (Placitum Risanum) of 804, when it was used by Istrians protesting against the Frankish duke John (Ab antiquo tempore dum fuimus sub potestate Grecorum imperii [...] Et qui volebant meliorem honorem habere de tribuno, ambulabat ad imperium, qui ordinabat illum ypato). Michael McCormick was the first who, albeit in passing (and apparently unaware of the Istrian example), hypothesized that these were not mere lexical features used in everyday vulgar Latin. He assumed that the phrases in question reflect the influence of diplomatic documents, issued by Byzantine imperial chancery. Formulas used in these documents by which the emperor designated himself were written in plural form and using abstract nouns: ἡ βασιλεία ἡμῶν (»our majesty«, »our empire«, »our kingdom«). These exactly correspond to Latin titles dominatio, imperium or regnum, that is to say, to abstract nouns attested by Gottschalk. I will further develop the argument used by M. McCormick, using a number of written sources of various provenance, as well as sigillographic evidence. If this assumption is to be accepted, then the penetration of Byzantine diplomatic formulas into vernacular usage points to relatively regular administrative contacts between Venice, Dalmatia and Istria and the Byzantine metropolis, via official documents during the first half of the 9th century.

Gottschalk of Orbais ; Dalmatia ; Croatia ; imperium ; regnum ; Byzantium ; Early Middle Ages

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