LE TRASLAZIONI DI RELIQUIE IN ETÀ CAROLINGIA (FINE VIII-IX SECOLO): UNO STUDIO COMPARATIVO

Abstract

The Carolingian elites used to confirm and legitimate their respective secular or ecclesiastical authority through sacred ceremonies; and relic translations were certainly one such ceremony. The lines connecting the old and new locations for holy bodies and objects draw a cohesive political network: monasteries and, to a lesser degree, cathedrals were the fundamental junctions working in support of the royal authority. The political meaning and use of the Translationes were exported to the new conquered lands where they were adapted to local needs and peculiarities. They were exploited in pagan lands, where the ancient gods were replaced by Christian saints present in their relics and in new religious foundations that bore their name. They were the pioneers in Saxony and they succeeded in reconnecting permanently the fierce region to the Carolingian network. In Christian areas, the translation of relics ― miraculously found, bought or stolen ― allowed men of the Church and laymen to enrich and strengthen their own religious foundations and churches. In Carolingian Italy the transfer of holy bodies became one of the main strategies for the local policy of claim: claim of control over some areas, claim for a more prestigious position in the hierarchy of towns, claim of autonomy against intrusive neighbours. On these foundations Italian civitates started building up their awareness of being an integrated political subject which could gather around and be represented by its local saint.