Amulo
[1] As a Gallic prelate, Amulo is best known for his letters concerning two major themes: Christian–Jewish relations in the Frankish kingdom and the Carolingian controversy over predestination.
"[8] Nevertheless, both Amulo and his predecessor were instrumental in spreading anti-Jewish attitudes in the Carolingean court, which eventually sparked changes in "both exegesis and canon law.
[8] Figures such as Rabanus Maurus, Angelomus of Luxeuil, Claudius of Turin and Theodulf of Orléans demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Jewish teachings, but this generated an anti-Jewish reaction.
[9] Several contemporaries of Amulo – including Rabanus and Angelomus – held the traditional view of Jews as a people who refused to accept Christ due to their blindness.
It is clear from his writings that Scripture was insufficient; a wide base of Church scholarship fueled debates between dioceses over Christ's nature, Jewish tradition, and superstition.
Amulo objected to Jewish scholars Josephus and Philo in 844–845, and his writings were echoed by both Angelomus and Rabanus Maurus; these texts were becoming more popular amongst Christians than Scripture.
From the writings of Rabanus, it is clear that Gottschalk had gained sufficient popularity to pose a theological threat to the Church – and not merely in the Carolingian heartlands of Francia.
[18] As a monk, Gottschalk twice defied the Order of Saint Benedict: first, in 849 at a council at Mainz, he nearly succeeded in freeing himself from monkhood, when by rule he was born to serve from pueritia for life.
[23] However, the draconian punishments administered by Hincmar at the council of Quierzy in 849 clearly affirm the power of Church hierarchies in ninth-century Francia.
[28] Similarly, his Opusculum Gratiam itaque Dei on "The Grace of God" asserts that predestination should primarily be viewed as an affirmation of Christian humility: it should not lead to "despair".
[32] When Louis regained the throne in 834, Agobard was sent into exile and temporarily replaced by Amalarius of Metz, former archbishop of Trier, who was more favourably disposed towards Jews.
Amidst the chaos preceding the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims drafted a proposal with three primary aims: to reinforce ecclesiastical power by preventing laymen from becoming prelates; to reclaim all property that had been previously owned by the church; to eliminate all privileges granted to Jews during Louis' reign.
[35] This council was a Church attempt to exercise power independently of the royal court – but Charles formally rejected their proposal at Épernay in 846, and made it clear that he intended to uphold his father's "pro-Jewish" policies.
His treatise Liber contra Judaeos ad Carolum regem or "Letter Against Jews to King Charles" comprehensively lays out his anti-Jewish theses.
[40] Amulo was furthermore concerned over the liturgical versus doctrinal influence of Jewish beliefs – he worried that the "mysticism" of Midrashim and "Talmudic traditions" would translate into Christian worship.
[45] The emperor set a precedent for cultural and economic policies towards Jews, and a strong Judaic tradition rooted itself in Carolingian Gaul.
[47] Amulo reiterates the Jewish origin of both Josephus and Philo in his Liber contra Judaeos, and expresses his anxiety that these works were not to be overvalued by Christians.
Not only did his Antiquities contain an extensive anecdote in praise of Christianity in his Testimonium Flavianum, but the most popular translation of Josephus' history – now called "Hegesippus" for its author Pseudo-Hegesippus – openly discriminates against the Jewish people.
[58] In the case of Radhanite merchants, flourishing economic activity in southern Gaul also extended into the Mediterranean and parts of the Emirate of Córdoba.
[59] As Islamic forces claimed hegemony over the Mediterranean, Christian trading networks out of Syria had largely disappeared – leaving a strong power gap in the market for Carolingian Jews.
[63] Charles was aware of this power imbalance: he attempted to reform Louis' policies, most nobly prohibiting Jewish bankers to accept Christian slaves as "collateral" for unpaid debts.
[3] Not only was Amulo concerned about the "ridiculous manner" in which these two dubious monks delivered the relics,[66] but certain miracula had started to occur after the bones were buried at St. Bénigne (see Dijon Cathedral).
These "miracles" did not cure or heal visitors of the relics: several women within the diocese reported getting "strikings", though they showed no signs of outward injury.
[70] Amulo was deeply concerned about the effects that the relics had on families: most of the fits occurred in women and young girls, keeping them from their duties and generating more anxiety within the parish.
Hincmar had assembled the 843 gathering at which Charles the Bald made a formal pact of peace, or foedus concordiae, with the Church and nobility, known as the Treaty of Coulaines.
[75] The Toledot Yeshu and other Jewish works also contested the legitimacy of Jesus's birth, and these claims are addressed in great detail by Amulo.
[79] Amulo's attention to detail makes it clear that the anti-Christian polemic had a strong public presence in Lyon, and was sufficiently influential to warrant his concern.
5, 1898/1978, 239)[83] was addressed either to Louis the Pious or to his son Lothair, and serves as an addendum to a list of canonical laws compiled by Florus of Lyon.
Opusculum "Gratiam itaque Dei" or "The Grace of God" (PL 116:97–100; also 116:101–106)[81] dates around the same period as both the Epistula ad Gothescalcum and Sententiae ex libris Augustini.
It emphasises the grace of God and discusses both free will and predestination; it also iterates the promise of salvation for Christians and references the work of St Augustine.
