Dhuoda
Encyclopedia
Dhuoda was the author of the Liber Manualis, a handbook written for her son. Her date of birth and death are unknown but it is circa 803-843.
on the 24th of June, 824
. Another source specifies the date of the 29th of June, 824. Bernard was the son of William of Gellone
, Charlemagne's cousin, who was later named the patron saint of knights.
Their first son, William
, was born on the 29th of November, 826
, and the second, Bernard
, on the 22nd of March, 841
. In the interim, the couple probably lived apart most of the time: she in Uzes in the Rhone Valley of Southern France, and he at court in Aachen. Dhuoda herself mentions very little of him during this time. According to Dhuoda, she spent this time struggling to maintain her husband's authority in their land and on the border of Francia. She fulfilled the administrative and military responsibilities of Frankish Septimania of Louis the Pious' behalf. One scholar has suggested that a daughter was born in 844, as one chronicler reports the marriage of William's sister.
What little we know of her life comes from her book, the Liber Manualis, or Manual, which Dhuoda wrote for her elder son, William, between 841
and 843
. It is known to have been sent to William in 843. It was a work written when Dhuoda had been separated from both her husband and her two sons, the victim of the conflicting ambitions of Charlemagne's descendants. William had been sent as a hostage to the court of Charles the Bald
in order to secure the loyalty of his father; Bernard was taken from her before his baptism and was sent to Aquitaine in order to keep him safe.
Emperor Louis the Pious
, son of Charlemagne
, died in 840
. His three sons (Lothar
, Louis the German
, and Charles the Bald
) fought over the partition of the empire. Eventually they divided Europe at the Treaty of Verdun
. Louis would hold onto authority over the eastern Franks, Charles established himself in the west, and Lothar received territory that cut north to south from the Low Countries to Italy.
Dhuoda wrote that the Carolingian house's enmity had started over ten years before when the emperor's sons started to rebel against their father's authority. The struggle for power embroiled the nobility with the heirs, including her husband, who held a great amount of power as the ruler of Septimania
. Because of this power, Dhuoda and Bernard's son, William, was held hostage at the court of Charles the Bold, while their other son Bernard lived with his father in Aquitaine.
Eventually politics caught up with her family. Her husband, Bernard, was condemned for rebellion and executed in 844
. Of her sons, William was killed in 850
, Bernard
in 885
.
Dhuoda wrote the Liber Manualis for her son William, whom she entreated to share the work with his younger brother when he became older. It is intended to be a moral compass and a guide to how a young Christian man should behave at the time.
The Liber Manualis is divided by the 1975 editor into the following books:
The work is known from a manuscript of the seventeenth century in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
, and from fragments of a manuscript of the Carolingian epoch, found in the library of Nîmes
.
Pierre Riché, the 1975 french translator of Dhuoda's work, said that Dhuoda's intellectual background was representative of the education that was offered to women during the reign of Charlemagne
and Louis the Pious
.
Dhuoda stresses often the importance of obeying fathers, even above kings. The Frankish society was extremely patriarchal. She says: "Now I must do my best to guide you in how you should fear, love, and be faithful to your lord and father, Bernard, in all things, both when you are with him and when you are apart from him." (Book 3)
Dhuoda often references works by thinkers including Alcuin of York, Gregory of Tours
, and Augustine of Hippo
, among many others.
Dhuoda's work was not widely studied until 1975 when Pierre Riché translated the text in French in 1975 and it was available for wider distribution.
Life
Dhuoda's parentage is unknown, but her education and her connections indicate that her family was wealthy. She married Bernard, Duke of Septimania, at AachenAachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
on the 24th of June, 824
824
Year 824 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Third Battle of Roncevaux Pass: The Basques and Banu Qasi defeat counts Eblo and Aznar, Frankish vassals....
. Another source specifies the date of the 29th of June, 824. Bernard was the son of William of Gellone
William of Gellone
Saint William of Gellone was the second Count of Toulouse from 790 until his replacement in 811. His Occitan name is Guilhem, and he is known in French as Guillaume d'Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, and the Marquis au court nez.He is the hero of the Chanson de Guillaume, an early chanson de geste,...
, Charlemagne's cousin, who was later named the patron saint of knights.
Their first son, William
William of Septimania
William of Septimania was the son of Bernard and Dhuoda. He was the Count of Toulouse from 844 and Count of Barcelona from 848....
, was born on the 29th of November, 826
826
Year 826 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Religion :* June 24 – The Danish king Harald Klak accepts Christianity.- Deaths :...
, and the second, Bernard
Bernard Plantapilosa
Bernard Plantapilosa , or Plantevelue, son of Bernard of Septimania and Dhuoda, was the Count of Auvergne from 872 to his death. The Emperor Charles the Fat granted him the title of Margrave of Aquitaine in 885....
, on the 22nd of March, 841
841
Year 841 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* June 25 – Battle of Fontenay: Louis the German and Charles the Bald defeat Lothar....
. In the interim, the couple probably lived apart most of the time: she in Uzes in the Rhone Valley of Southern France, and he at court in Aachen. Dhuoda herself mentions very little of him during this time. According to Dhuoda, she spent this time struggling to maintain her husband's authority in their land and on the border of Francia. She fulfilled the administrative and military responsibilities of Frankish Septimania of Louis the Pious' behalf. One scholar has suggested that a daughter was born in 844, as one chronicler reports the marriage of William's sister.
What little we know of her life comes from her book, the Liber Manualis, or Manual, which Dhuoda wrote for her elder son, William, between 841
841
Year 841 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* June 25 – Battle of Fontenay: Louis the German and Charles the Bald defeat Lothar....
and 843
843
Year 843 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire between the 3 sons of Louis the Pious .* Kenneth I , King of the Scots, also becomes King of the Picts, thus becoming the first...
. It is known to have been sent to William in 843. It was a work written when Dhuoda had been separated from both her husband and her two sons, the victim of the conflicting ambitions of Charlemagne's descendants. William had been sent as a hostage to the court of Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
in order to secure the loyalty of his father; Bernard was taken from her before his baptism and was sent to Aquitaine in order to keep him safe.
The context of France at the time
The context of the time was a long period of warfare among the Frankish nobility.Emperor Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
, son of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, died in 840
840
Year 840 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Europe:* After the death of Louis the Pious, his sons Lothar, Charles the Bald and Louis the German fight over the division of the Holy Roman Empire, with Lothar succeeding as Emperor.-Asia:* Tang Wu Zong succeeds Tang Wen Zong...
. His three sons (Lothar
Lothar
Lothar is a modern form of the Old High German name Clotaire or Lothair. Notable people with the surname include:* Ernst Lothar, German writer* Mark Lothar , German composer* Rudolf Lothar , German writer...
, Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
, and Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
) fought over the partition of the empire. Eventually they divided Europe at the Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
. Louis would hold onto authority over the eastern Franks, Charles established himself in the west, and Lothar received territory that cut north to south from the Low Countries to Italy.
Dhuoda wrote that the Carolingian house's enmity had started over ten years before when the emperor's sons started to rebel against their father's authority. The struggle for power embroiled the nobility with the heirs, including her husband, who held a great amount of power as the ruler of Septimania
Septimania
Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
. Because of this power, Dhuoda and Bernard's son, William, was held hostage at the court of Charles the Bold, while their other son Bernard lived with his father in Aquitaine.
Eventually politics caught up with her family. Her husband, Bernard, was condemned for rebellion and executed in 844
844
Year 844 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Rhodri Mawr becomes king of Gwynedd....
. Of her sons, William was killed in 850
850
Year 850 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Emperor Montoku succeeds Emperor Nimmyō as Emperor of Japan.- Europe :...
, Bernard
Bernard Plantapilosa
Bernard Plantapilosa , or Plantevelue, son of Bernard of Septimania and Dhuoda, was the Count of Auvergne from 872 to his death. The Emperor Charles the Fat granted him the title of Margrave of Aquitaine in 885....
in 885
885
Year 885 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The Vikings besiege Paris.* Godfrith, the Sea King is killed in Lobith...
.
Liber Manualis
The Liber Manualis consists of seventy-three chapters as well as an introduction, invocation, and prologue. The book is full of practical moral directives aimed to help guide her sons through life. It is an invaluable document both for the general history of the Frankish era, but also for the history of education and the standards of education which could be attained by women even within the prescriptive bounds of early medieval society. It contains numerous quotations from and allusions to the Bible, and some references to secular writers, though some of the references are incorrect and the Latin is not overly polished.Dhuoda wrote the Liber Manualis for her son William, whom she entreated to share the work with his younger brother when he became older. It is intended to be a moral compass and a guide to how a young Christian man should behave at the time.
The Liber Manualis is divided by the 1975 editor into the following books:
- Prologue - the author and her reasons for writing
- Book 1 - loving God
- Book 2 - the mystery of Trinity
- Book 3 - social order and secular success
- Book 4 - moral life
- Book 5 - God's chastisement of those he loves
- Book 6 - the usefulness of the beatitudes
- Book 7 - the deaths of the body and of the spirit
- Book 8 - how to pray and for whom
- Book 9 - interpreting numbers
- Book 10 - summary of the work's major points, more on the author
- Book 11 - the usefulness of reciting the Psalms
The work is known from a manuscript of the seventeenth century in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and from fragments of a manuscript of the Carolingian epoch, found in the library of Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
.
Influence
Dhuoda's work is the only one written by a woman to survive from the Carolingian period. Her work is important in that it offers insight into the education of women, the raising of children, the order of society, the importance of fathers, and how Christianity impacted the lives of the Frankish nobility.Pierre Riché, the 1975 french translator of Dhuoda's work, said that Dhuoda's intellectual background was representative of the education that was offered to women during the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
and Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
.
Dhuoda stresses often the importance of obeying fathers, even above kings. The Frankish society was extremely patriarchal. She says: "Now I must do my best to guide you in how you should fear, love, and be faithful to your lord and father, Bernard, in all things, both when you are with him and when you are apart from him." (Book 3)
Dhuoda often references works by thinkers including Alcuin of York, Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
, and Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, among many others.
Dhuoda's work was not widely studied until 1975 when Pierre Riché translated the text in French in 1975 and it was available for wider distribution.
Quotations
- You will find in it [the handbook] a mirror in which you can without hesitation contemplate the health of your soul, so that you may be pleasing not only in this world, but to him who formed you out of dust. (Prologue)
- Among the human race, to attain perfection requires the application of great and constant effort. Me must apply to various evils the remedies that are their antidotes. (Book 4)
- We know that poverty and want are found not only among the least of mean but also frequently, for many reasons, among the great, So it is that a rich man too may be in need. Why? Because his soul is wretchedly needy. And then there is the poor man who gathers riches with great ease. Or the rich man who envies the poor man, or the poor man who wishes to become rich, just as an unlettered man wishing to become learned may desire this completely but never accomplish it. (Book 4)
- Pray for the past, if you have been neglectful, that you may finally forget this; for present evils, that you may always escape them; for the future, that you may beware those evils and that they not continue to pursue you there. (Book 8)