Tears for Fears: Alienation and Authority in the World of Benedict of Aniane

In this article, we will take a closer look at the role played by the depiction of weeping and tears in the story of the conversion of Benedict of Aniane. According to his hagiography, Benedict, seen as one of the most important intellectuals at the Carolingian court in the late eighth and early ninth century, started his career as a secular aristocrat before undergoing an inner conversion and subsequently pursuing a monastic lifestyle. As presented by the contemporary hagiographer Ardo, the tears, rather than denoting any kind of ‘abnormal’ behaviour, were among the first external signs of this conversion. As such, they should be analysed not only in terms of the behaviour of a historical figure, but also as a narrative trope with many layers of meaning that would have presented themselves to a contemporary audience familiar with the same traditions as the author of Benedict’s vita. Rather than simply denoting the emotionality of the protagonist, they signalled the author’s concerns about the state of the world as well, and as such should be seen as a way of ‘normalising’ rather than exoticising Benedict’s conversion against the broader backdrop of Carolingian court culture in the early ninth century.