THE IMAGINARY OF TREASURE The 'Treasury of Merit': Indulgences and Alms (Late Middle Ages) While the institution of the 'treasury' was being questioned in some of the great churches, early thjii. th-century Scholastic theologians in Paris were formulating a general reflection on ecclesiastical resources, which likewise involved the image of 'treasure' as a common good.1™ The theory of the 'treasury of merit' thus appeared in the Summn of canon law completed by Henrv of Segusio (c. 1194-1271) in 1253: le son of God poured out not just one drop but all of his blood for those who sinned, and as the martyrs also spilled their blood for the Faith and for the Church, and were punished for more than their sins, it turns out that in this outpouring all sins were punished; and this outpouring of blood is a treasure in the treasure chest of the Church, to which the Church holds the keys. This is why, when she wishes, she can Open this chest and grant her treasure to whomever she wants, granting remissions ami indulgences to the faithful. And so sin does not go unpunished, for punishment has been inflicted on the Son of God and his holy martyrs, as says Master Hugh the cardinal."" Henry of Segusio attributes this theory to a certain 'Master Hugh the cardinal', identifiable as the Dominican theologian and canonist Hugh of Saint-Cher (1190-1263), who had indeed been a cardinal in Rome since "1244, with the basilica of Saint Sabina as his titular church,"'2 But Henry might well have given the title held by Hugh at the time of the writing of the Siimma; the moment when the latter began to speak of the treasury 'of merit', also known as the treasury 'of the Church' or 'of grace' (thesaurus merilnnau, ecck'siae, gratianim), should probably be placed earlier, in the 1230s, and situated in the university circles of Paris, where the two men were teaching at that time. ""The innovation lay in the claim that, through their suffering, Christ and the ma i tyre had acquired a far greater store of merit than was necessary to efface their own sins before God, and that this surplus of 'grace' would not go to waste: collected by the Church, it Mi served in a chest from which the institution could draw without limit and as it wished, redistributing this grace to ordinary sinners in the form of indulgences. "H This image of the 'treasure of the Church' provided an intellectual solution to a problem nii: by the profound transformations that since the eleventh century had affected the practices of penance and almsgiving as well as certain aspects of the cult of relics. During the p century, Latin Christianity had seen the establishment of a system of penance that was >nd i iual and tariff-based, in which believers confessed their errors to a priest, and were freed from llieir guilt and then given a fixed punishment—generally involving almsgiving, prayer, or days of fasting—as stipulated in a book called a 'penitential'. This principle, replacing the rite of public amnesty administered by the Roman emperor and subsequently by the bishops of l.i h antiquity, was imported by missionaries from Ireland where, in the absence of a state-feased system, social control was traditionally exercised through a cycle of accumulations and annulments of individual obligations.1"' But from the end of the eleventh century, the pope and i ertain bishops began to use their own authority to annul the penance that sinners were 39 CHAPTER 1 supposed to do. In granting these 'indulgences', they affirmed their own position as well as that of the Church. For example, by promising participants in the First Crusade of 1095 a total remission of their sins—the first 'plenary indulgence'—Pope Urban II demonstrated in a spectacular way his role as the representative of Christ on earth. With this he rendered manifest the power entrusted by Christ to Saint Peter (Matthew 16:19) and to his successors, the popes, to either bring believers closer to the Kingdom of Heaven, to which the popes hold the keys, or to exclude them from it.1"" Above all, by intervening in the carefully calibrated system of fixed penances, the prelates readopted the attitude of emperors granting amnesties to their subjects. If believers who benefited from indulgences were freed from their punishments, they were nevertheless required to express through a symbolic act their willingness to do penance. This was determined by a bishop or the pope in a 'letter of indulgence' that specified the situation and the conditions in which the indulgence could be granted. Via these recommendations, the prelates were able to exercise a decisive influence over many common devotional practices, both individual and collective (such as prayer or participation in the Mass), and to shape in a significant way the economic realities of the ecclesiastical institution.1117 Indeed, indulgences were generally though not exclusively granted following offerings of alms to specific and well-defined causes. One of the earliest and most significant of these was precisely the construction of churches: promises of indulgences were a highly effective way for bishops, even though they themselves were no longer directly responsible for the works, to swell the coffers of the fabrics, In practice, and independent of indulgences, the collection of alms was often linked to the veneration of relics or images within churches or, as attested from the 1060s in the north of France, during fundraising tours on which the clergy displayed relics to collect contributions for prospective works at their cathedral or abbey churches. This kind of fundraising was an extension of the tradition of processing with relics, which had become increasingly common during the tenth and eleventh centuries, serving to raise the profile of saints or to seek their intercession in conflicts over which feudal sovereigns no longer had effective jurisdiction""': the powers attributed to patron saints, physically present in their material remains, were now being used to provide occasional economic support. The canons of Laon Cathedral, which was damaged during an insurrection in the commune in 1112, set out the following summer for central France, and one year later for the south of England, to win the support of the local populations. They bought back valuable objects such as tapestries, church furnishings, spoons, cups, and silver and gold jewelry, resulting in the consecration of the repaired building in 1114."* In England, indulgences were granted from the 1120s or 1130s for the veneration of relics during translations, ostentations, or pilgrimages, and from the 1160s on fundraising relic tours; the association of a remittance of penance with the veneration of relics, which subsequently became common, quantified the spiritual profit one could hope to obtain, making collection efforts even more effective and transforming the practices of relic devotion."" It was soon recognized that fundraising tours and indulgences, which combined the ancient practices of relic worship and penance with a new way of exercising ecclesiastical authority as well as with the increasing monetarization of the economy, posed the risk of placing spiritual, and financial profit on the same level. The practice of such tours soon gave rise to abuses by false fundraisers presenting fake relics, as demonstrated very early on, between 1114 and 1120, in the denunciations by Guibert of Nogent in his On the Saints and their Relics}" The practice 40 THE IMAGINARY OF TREASUKt of indulgences, quite flexible on account of being unbound to the display of material objects inil thus applicable to a variety of enterprises, developed rapidly and apart from any kind of theoretical legitimization. The subject was not addressed in Gratian's Decretal, the famous com pi l.i tii m of ecclesiastical law that circulated from around 1140. Peter Abelard (1079-1142), I",,||, .,-A by other Parisian masters, was concerned by this omission, in particular the fact that the granting of indulgences in exchange for alms, sometimes even at a fixed price, meant that S(il on through alms might become directly dependent upon the cupidity of prelates."- In 1215, the bishops united at the Fourth Lateran Council endeavored to limit abuses through their t.„M tio number sixty-two. This text forbade taking ancient relics out of their shrines with the aim of making a financial profit (ut antique reliquieamodo extra capstan millatenus ostendantur fgeexpoiiantur uenates)."3 It stipulated that newly discovered relics should be approved by the pope before being venerated, and required collectors of alms to hold official documents and to avoid any immoderation at taverns. Finally, it limited the remittance of penance that could be granted by a bishop to a maximum of forty days (or a year in the case of the consecration of a church)—a duration reckoned in days of fasting."4 This was a compromise that, though it constrained collection practices and the granting of indulgences, also legitimized them. Al< all, the council probably fueled the phenomenon of indulgences by stipulating that each individual should attend confession once a year: by mitigating the penance incurred, jbdulgences undoubtedly encouraged the application of the old tariff-based system on a much larger scale and to more ordinary types of sins."5 Bu! although indulgences were becoming a generalized practice, the principle behind them was yet to be justified. If they were granted in a way that disregarded the tariff system, how couii.i die necessary balance between sins and penance be satisfied in the eyes of God? It was ul: ely the next generation of Parisian canon-law scholars and theologians, in training at li&etmieof the Lateran Council, who took up the question: in 1215, Henry of Segusio and Hugh of Siiini Cher were between twenty and twenty-five years old. Their theory of the 'treasury of iru i i , most likely developed in the 1230s, took recourse to the conception of treasure as a comm. hi good, combining the remittance of penance with the virtue of the martyrs—a link (urea implicit in collection practices that made the granting of indulgences conditional upon the veneration of the relics of the saints. This idea was reinforced and further developed by Scholastic theologians in the middle of the century."" In 1248 or 1249, the German Albertus Magnus (c. 1200-80), who had recently left Paris to found the Dominican school of theology at Cologne, extended the 'treasury of the church' to include the merits of non-martyred saints."" Between ].253and 1255, ThomasAquinas('1224/25-74),an Italian Dominican and formerstudent of Albertus who was then teaching in Paris, compiled and clarified the work of his predecessors, thus impressing his authority upon subsequent theological discourse,"" Albertus and Thomas both [ >resented their arguments in commentaries on the Book of Sentences, a work of <:. 1150-58 in which Peter Lombard had classified the unresolved questions posed by the scriptures, and their texts a re thus a direct reflection of their theological teaching,1The Italian Giovanni da Fidanza, know n as Bonaventure (1217-74)—who had arrived in Paris as a youth, became a Master of rlheology in 1253, and was quickly appointed head of the Franciscan school—wrote a similar B ' itary, before leaving teaching to assume the direction of his order upon his election as Minister General in 1257. His text offered particularly refined expositions on the institutional CHAPTER I THE IMAGINARY OF TREASURE logic of indulgences and on their practical applications, notably in his explanation of why only the pope and the bishops were entitled to grant them'2": The distribution of the treasure of the Church is entrusted to bishops alone because the Church possesses this treasure through her marriage to Christ, her husband made Man. From this marriage were born sons and daughters, that is, perfect and imperfect human beings, for whose education Christ w ishes to set aside this wealth. And because the Law states that he who 'takes in the wife of his brother to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance' must also take his place when it comes to the wealth destined for the education of his children, as we find in Ruth 4, only those who are married to the church have the right to distribute this treasure. These are the bishops, who are her spouses and who have the power to engender sons and daughters, that is, perfect and imperfect human beings, and they include the supreme pontiff, who is the spouse and the guardian of the whole Church. This is why bishops, at the head of a lineage, can grant indulgences; and first among them the supreme pontiff, who is tasked with distributing all the spiritual treasure because he is responsible for the entire Church and all her children. This is why we are all his children and he is the father of us all.1-1 Here, Bonaventure legitimizes the right of prelates to use the 'treasure' of Christ's suffering, by comparing it to a familial inheritance. 'Married' to Christ, the Church is said to have received upon his death this treasure, which became the thesaurus ndesiae. Bishops, who are symbolically married to the Church at their consecration and thus take up the role of Christ/22 are charged with administering this treasure for the benefit of his children, that is, the faithful, who are the orphans of Christ. The decision to consider the spiritual wealth of Christ as material wealth allows the theologian to support his argument using the levitate rule mentioned in the Old Testament, a pragmatic way of resolving issues of succession.123 The treasure of merit therefore came to circulate according to the hierarchical logic of Christian spiritual kinship: merits made it possible for bishops to 'raise', within the church, through the granting of indulgences, the 'children' that they had 'the power to engender'. Indeed, the Christian's true social birth took place during the ritual of baptism, which erased the stain generated by the act of procreation, and through which one entered into the spiritual family.'" Sinners throughout their lives, the faithful needed constant support if their souls were to be saved, and for Bonaventure this important responsibility justified the Church's monopoly over the 'treasury of merit'. The Scholastic theory of treasure was thus a response to the dual preoccupation of the new Dominican and Franciscan mendicant orders, to which its authors belonged: to provide a comprehensive pastoral ministry in which penitential practice played an important role, and to establish the authority of the Church. In an earlier passage, Bonaventure wondered whether indulgences should only be distributed with a spiritual objective, or whether they could also be used to advance material undertakings. He defined a program for the application of 'merits' relative to the workings of ecclesiastical insti tu Hons: 42 Should indulgences be granted for spiritual or material profit? [...] Conclusion: indulgences must above all be granted for external acts. Consider this in terms of when, in \ ities and other human communities, the treasure of the public good is distributed and communicated externally for two reasons—and understand that the same applies on the spiritual plane. On the one hand, the treasure is distributed for the glory of the prince, as in royal courts and as Ahasuerus did in the first book of Esther (Esther 1:4); on the other hand, it is distributed for the purpose or needs of the community, so that when the community is attacked, grants and offerings are given to soldiers so that the) can go into battle- Thus the treasure of the Church should be distributed by those to whom it is entrusted for two reasons. First, for the glory and for the praises of the prince; and the praise and honor of God resides in his saints, who are honored by the construction of basilicas, the visitation of basilicas, and the commemoration of their virtues—all this is recommended by preachers and in sermons, and this is why it is right to grant indulgences for these services. Second, indulgences should be granted for I lit' common purpose that is the defense of the Holy Land, the defense of the faith, the promotion of learning, and so on. And as these are external acts, indulgences should be granted for these acts in particular.125 P.\ paring the treasure of 'merits' to royal treasure, Bonaventure confirms the Church's right to use it as an effective and legitimate means of performing its functions. In this way, he \ ali -> the discourse according to which indulgences should encourage and guide devotional activities in practice, and explicitly points to their role in the construction of churches and the defense of the Holy Land. But his desire to foreground the spiritual benefits of indulgences meant that he remained silent on how exactly they could influence the material world: he ijjpeaks of 'merits' as if they alone would suffice for all the functions that he recommends, witliM.it ever invoking the alms that necessarily played a mediating role. The 'treasury of merit' was thus the work of Scholastic theologians endeavoring to describe, through an ecclesiological model that justified the power of bishops, the complex reality of ttevol ional exchanges. Bu t their inability to legitimize unreservedly the material consequences pf indulgences meant that this theory had its limits.1* Indeed, while the practice on which it coniii■■■nted continued to intensify, the notion of the 'treasury of merit' did not spread into tli' ryday practices of the clergy and of worshippers in equal measure: the bishops, for example, almost never make reference to it in their letters of indulgence.127 Nevertheless, in hi', commentary on the first Roman Jubilee—in 1300, an important event in tire history pf indulgences because it not only promised a total remittance of penance but also that this offer n ould be renewed every Jubilee year—Cardinal Jean Lemoine explained that even if all the i hristians in the world were to make the pilgrimage to Rome, the ratio between the sum of indulgences granted and the immensity of the treasury of merit would remain very low, amounting to less than a drop of water in the ocean, or a grain of millet in relation to Mount Saint Bernard,128 In the bull of 1343 that announced the Jubilee of 1330, Clement VI became the Srst pope to mention the theory of this treasury, affirming that it was infinite like Christ's grace, 43 CHAPTER 1 THE IMAGINARY OF TREASURE and would increase even further if used wisely.121' Naturally, this image of a treasury that was wide open and without limit was employed by those who preached the doctrine of indulgences, while other sermonists, more concerned with drawing believers away from all kinds of sin or with enjoining them to do penance, avoided promoting the remission of punishments. If they did refer to it, it was primarily to recall that it only dispensed with temporal penance, for any sin had first to be absolved through repentance and confession.130 On the occasion of the Jubilee held in Rome in 1500, which once again offered a plenary ind ulgence, Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, a preacher at Strasbourg Cathedral, explained the nature and appropriate usage of indulgences by comparing them to gloves. Like gloves made from offcuts of woolen cloth, he argued, indulgences would be taken from the surplus left by the treasury of the merits of the saints, which itself would remain intact, But, like a glove, an indulgence would only protect the weak: the penance performed, by the ancients, though more difficult, remained superior. And just as a single hand cannot put a glove on itself, indulgences were only possible with the aid of the Church. Finally, though a glove protects, it also becomes worn with time, thus showing that believers should neither under- nor overestimate the efficacy of indulgences.1" In another register, The Treasure Chest, a devotional book written by the Franciscan Stephan Fridolin and printed with numerous woodcuts atNuremberg in 1491, encouraged, without once mentioning indulgences, its readers to benefit from the treasury of merit by immersing themselves in the narrative and the images of Christ's sufferings: in this case, individual prayer offered direct access to grace (figs. 8-9).1:12 If the theory of the treasury of merit developed by theologians in the 1230s largely remained the domain of scholars throughout the Middle Ages, periodically evoked or adapted by different actors depending on their needs, at the beginning of the sixteenth century it could be found throughout the Holy Roman Empire at the heart of polemics pitting partisans of the Reformation against those who remained loyal to the pope. Printing, a new technology that had greatly benefited the mass practice of indulgences by facilitating the reproduction not only of announcements but also of the documents given to believers who received indulgences,111 now served critics of the system.'* A wood engraving published around 1530 as a single leaf thus directly addressed the theme of treasure (fig. 10).lw It depicts a tau cross surrounded by the instruments of Christ's Passion: the whip and a bundle of birch rods are threaded through the crown of thorns, fixed at the join of the Cross, while the lance and the staff with the sponge Stand propped against a nail at either end of the Cross's horizontal arm. The dark clouds looming in the sky evoke Christ's death. A letter of indulgence bedecked with three seals and suspended on the Cross in place of the Savior's body presents the terms of the contract: 'In return for money, a bag full of indulgences'. Though there is probably no direct link, the way the document is displayed echoes the Charter of Christ, a devotional text that circulated in England from the fourteendi century, presenting itself as a charter issued by Christ himself during his ordeal—with his skin as parchment, his blood as ink, and one of the nails used as a quill—and proclaiming the redemption of humankind.1"' The suffering of Christ is thus positioned as the origin of grace, while the woodcut is also a comment on. its administration by the Church. The large chest placed beneath the Cross, reinforced with iron bands and bolted with three padlocks, is ruled over by a creature that the title designates as 'the papal beast with seven heads', with reference to the beast of Revelation that Saint John saw in his vision. The monster 44 nlin, t.\r Srhnttbi'hnltrr vrfcr Sclmtri rfcrwRh'ii HtichttLsnwde& lu-ils mmd twicer Scli^hrit (Nuremberg: Kobergel", 1441), Plib-t'Li; mnemonic kinds, iie4v-<-u?5n the luxurious lift1 of King Solomon and the Crucifixion of Christ CHAPTER 1 (Sbdja-mtAnbuafibcn bcwbngtist mantes lV7i( jobdmtugtfebcn bat tEmwt rtit'bfu meres geffct ff)ao bar fibm »ngddd?*r bdnbr lfben witfrifFpabftiergdfliibi jDfe «p Artrt nil gcfrilnt htUrvt iDte blAttcn b« gat: (tlidjm loot jDa* ibter bet aud? jcb*n bortrt iD cut be* gctflUg gwale »f5 mmom t\>it* tcfy tfttw lefbning lutein ft wrftlsffdjejung jDas tbicv was Aim patbet gdeidj Utbciit txs »ap(t m«bifd?e Hid; iDaaAud? binWdjtburdj urdnntp 2LlUa wao jm Mtcpgcn fey 2lud> fo feat 6ao ibw* peeen frits iOciit lEttanfjelf fitf) ^flvonbtmbafluiii flnbtstrmm *£is£ bApf&m vntcn febjunb iDcn^od^garniccifullrntr^m'n 2pi(t;/j.>rtIlmmiiocl;aiiHflrtdrt I&aim/opff r/petdjt/fliffe *d <&o Wbftn|i £ anb vnbUut Runigtad) rent vfi jtnfl C»as csaIIu b*t in fid) cajdjlutibtn Sastbiei- entpfwngam tfi&Hd?tntmt>cr» SDditbas iDoctot tiDArtirtbAtgffytibcn 5Daa bftpflum toblid? ttrtinb treble ben (Wit bem often be? £)cs«n munb itBoct jjibMswgatgctsu geonb. Znx*» Das $ibenhabH$ patxtier ('The seven-headed p.ipdl beast'), single leaf. Germany, r. 1530. Berlin, Itupfershchkabinott tho THE IMAGINARY OH TREASURE is made up of the head of a pope, crowned with the papal tiara and aligned with the vertical 1m ioss. He is framed by a fan of other heads; two cardinals, two bishops, and two gthei (It'rgymen, shown in hierarchical order. This cluster of heads has two pairs of clawed lLT, 11 t on the lid of the chest, and all of these elements converge on a chalice that stands at the center of the lid. The shafts of two banners bearing the papal arms, together with those of the lam e and the staff, also meet at this point: displayed as though they were trophies, the foac)s the insignia of the ecclesiastical hierarchy are associated with the instruments of the Passion, in a visual representation of the control that the institution exercised over the story of ml over the Eucharistic ritual. This is reinforced by the arrangement of the keys on the kn 11 in a way similar to that of the whip and birch rods (within the crown of thorns), all at fight angles. Emerging from the space under the chest is a devil, the double of the 'papal beast', sprtvi lii U* front feet and opening its mouth wide to reveal a tongue that recalls the flame Burning in the chalice slightly higher up in the image. The association between the chest and the ili \il evokes representations of greed, suggesting what one should make of the papacy—as do tii Is Regimni and Dinboli, or 'Kingdom of the Devil', clearly visible on either side of the chest. On the lower part of the page, a text by the poet Hans Sachs (1494-1576) elaborates upon this message. This image would have been all the more striking since its composition recalled the staging of the major campaigns of indulgences that had played a decisive role in triggering the crisis. Bee ng across the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Northern Europe from 1488 to 1490, and then from 1501 to 1503 to promote an indulgence conceived to finance the Crusades, the legate Raymond Peraudi perfected a spectacular liturgy that lent new efficacy to the tradition of fund i,ii mi ig tours. In each church where the indulgence was to be offered to worshippers, a huge red i was erected, along with banners bearing the papal arms (fig. 11).1,7 Peraudi had begun jus i r as a preacher of indulgences for the cathedral of Saintes, in the west of France, where 111": ho contributed to financing die reconstruction of the church were granted a plenary mi I; ii e modeled on the one offered in Rome during the Jubilee of 1475—the possibility of tran- 1 ring Roman indulgences in this way had been introduced by Pope Boniface IX in 1390. In 11 ii I Saintes, it was likely Peraudi, also a theoretician, who systematized arrangements that had until then been exceptional, specifying that this indulgence would also apply to the dead in purgatory, and that worshippers would be given a bill of confession that would enable pea he discharged from the entirety of their penance as often as they wished and by the cunt or of their choice. This new sort of indulgence was adopted for further major campaigns urg.ii ed by Peraudi and by other preachers,™ as was the liturgical configuration that he had put in pi.ice. h .-. while consecrating the chapel of the castle of Wittenberg in Saxony, Raymond ''' horized the granting on certain feast days of an indulgence whose sum of a hum I . I days would be multiplied by the number of relics conserved in the chapel: some pGO.Ollli days of indulgences were thus granted during a single ostentation in 1509. Such a f'£ul id no real legal value, henceforth applying to punishments to be served in purgatory, accoi ng to a timescale that was considered to be different from earthly time.13'1 This kind of P1IHI i. ulation was nevertheless current in devotional practices,14" as was the use of objects thougl 11 to promote the acquisition of divine grace.'41 An inventory of the relics at Wittenberg 47 THE IMAGINARY OF TREASURE 0n Mplae voniRom Kamnanvpolfeltg vperfcen ^ . CFfeittd; Art jaigung feet goclidpcn*^ \V brtiltgcrt gcfd;ty(ft,f / Bayer. Staata- Bibliothek München OtiAplns wit RiVii kirn Hum wnl srlitfuwik'H. Duitfi anmigimg del götlidrvn Iwiliyn ytrhnjtfl (Au^bur^: Ramnmger, 1521), f'ranliapieci:: disitibution of ihciulgeiice? from thL- purapetdVe üf tw reformers BttiiM'j.£i!i Silbern Sunt M\. £in utbcrit BiibC cmivi^app^u vfi TStiot (lint 0>atbie Bpi .vtbii Vnb 4]> rt:tt>ct:e gtisfcl y k »ö ' t ' wJj s s r rfes hüchlplmtinli^ii HaMgthuvtl* tier Stifft-KircJtcn allirr Haitian zu Wittntbui% (Wittenberg: Rrinhart, 1509). to[. hi: reliquaries (Lucas Cranaeft) CHAPTER 1 illustrated by Lucas Crarach the Elder and printed on the occasion of this ostentation also contributed to the bringing together of public ritual and private devotion, offering believers the possibility to reflect back on the? event through spectacular images (fig. 12).IJ2 In 1520, the total of the indulgences granted at Wittenberg increased to almost two million years, as the hundred days granted per relic was now a hundred years. But in the meantime one of the monks at Wittenberg, Martin Luther, also a theologian and preacher, had joined the critical tradition focusing on abuses linked to fund raising tours; in October 1517 he revived the debate over the legitimacy of indulgences by publishing his list of ninety-five 'theses', several of which addressed the Scholastic theory of the treasury of merit. He began by voicing regret that this treasure was often ignored: 'The treasures of the church, out of which the pope distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ'. He went on to consider the true nature of these treasures, neither worldly nor truly spiritual, affirming thai 'the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God', before attacking the avarice of prelates.""1 His text spread rapidly, and this diffusion was encouraged by a local political conflict, The cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, based about eighty kilometers away at Halle, had established an ostentation of relics similar to that at Wittenberg. In 1516, he organized a campaign of indulgences whose revenues were to be shared between consh-uction projects at the church of Saint Peter in Rome and the repayment of personal debts he had incurred to acquire from the Holy See several bishoprics as well as the archbishoprics of Mainz and Magdeburg. Yet, the assignment of the archbishopric of Magdeburg to a prince from the house of Hohenzollern clashed with the interests of the prince-elector based at Wittenberg, Frederick the Wise of the house of Wettin, who thus objected to any fundraiser of his rival's that circulated in his own territory. While Frederick the Wise soon came to support Luther, Albert of Brandenburg denounced the latter to Rome. It was in this context that Pope Leo X condemned the Ninety-five Theses in a bull of 1520, shortly after confirming the theory of indulgences in a decree issued in November 1518.* It took the challenge posed by Luther's questioning, in a tense political situation, for the ecclesiastical institution to truly take possession of the theory of the treasury of merit developed almost three centuries earlier. As early as the fourth century, the notion of the thesaurus ecclesiae was progressively used to determine and describe the practices surrounding the precious objects held by churches. In the Middle Ages, the term ecdcsla referred to an institution that extended to society as a whole,1*1 and the tfmamm Kcl.esi.ai1 eventually came to be understood, in the thirteenth century, as a 'common good' in the material as well as the spiritual sense. The seemingly opposed processes of accumulation and redistribution were considered together, with the redistribution of treasure deemed even more precious than its accumulation, which it ultimately legitimized. Incorporating semantically the mm of riches, to use Isidore of Seville's term, the notion of thesaurus prompted a reflection on the implications, both earthly and spiritual, of this wealth. It also made it possible to consider social exchanges—in particular gifts and offerings1*1—as a whole; in other words, not simply between humans but also involving Christ and the saints. The theoretical distinction between 'religion', 'economies', and 'politics' is a product of the eighteenth century, and did not yet apply in the Middle Ages. With this in mind, the concept of 'church treasure' enables modern scholars to describe medieval Christian society in its own 50 THE IMAGINARY OF TREASURE (,nlW and based on its 'material culture'; that is, through the interplay between actions and representations involving objects.147 In what follows I will consider some of the objects that could form part of this category of 'treasure', exploring dreir roles in relation to collective menu n i - wpU as their functions as marvels of nature. MOTES TO CHAPTER 1 1 Isidorus Episcopus Hispalensis, Etymologinriml she wlginttty I'jbri XX, book .1.6, eh. 18, 1 and 6, ed- by Wallace Martin Lindsay, 2 vols (Oxford: Oarendon, 1911), II (no pagination)) p. 329; trans, by Stephen A, Barney and other.*, The Etymologies of kid are of Seville (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). The Latin word thesaunts is in fact borrowed from the Creek &r]aavQ6c,j 'deposit or storeroom where one places supplies and precious objects', 3 term whose own origins ana un'ceftairi, 2 On thin notion see in particular lean-Claudf Bonne, 'Les omements de l'histoire (a prbpos de l'ivoire earolirigien de saint Remi)', Atiwlfc. Histotre, Sci&ties Sociahs, 51, no. 1 (1996), pp. 37-70, as well as other essays by the same author, 3 On these notions, see Dominique Iogna-Prat, 'Preparer L'au-dela, gerer i'icf-toae. Les elites ecclesiasfcidues, la richesse el J'economie do chrislianisme an Moyen Age (ptefSfWitives de travail)', in Le£ elites et In richesse m haul Moyen Ago-, ed. by jean-Pierre Devroey, Latirent Feller, and Regine Le Jan, 'Haul Moyen Age', 10 (TumhoLit: Brepols, 2011), pp. 59-70. 4 Sec also Lucas Burkart arid others, eds., Le trtear au Moyen Age. Discours, pratiques et 6bjeisl 'Micrologic Library', 32 (Florence: Sismel, 2010).. % Amt»n>,sius MedloUnensis, De officiH, ed- by Maurice Testard, Les devoirs, 2 vols (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1984-92), The prisoners are mentioned in book 2, ch. 70 (ii, p. 40). The sermon seems to haVfl been Integrated as a whole at book 2, ch, 136-43 (II, pp. 70-74), For this reuse, we pp. 187-88, notes 3 and 9. Ed. and trans, by Philip Schaif and Henry Wallace in Ambrose: Select Works and Letters, 'Nicene and Post-Nice ne Fathers', second series, 10 (1896; repr. New York: Cosirno Classics, 2007), pp, xxni-90 (pp. 63-64). 6 Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De officii*, book 2, ch. 137-39, ed. 11, pp. 71.-72; trans, p. 63. On the history of the category of 'sacred vessels' up to the thirteenth century, see Michel Lauwers, 'Des vases et des IieuX-iies ecclesie, hierarchy et spatially ation du sacre dans l'Occident medieval', in Le sacre dans tons ses etats. Categories du vocabulaire religfcux et wcie'teiie I'Antiquite a ttf>8 jmrs, ed, by Manuel de Souza, An nick .Peters-Custot, and Franco is-Xavier Romanacce, 'Travaux dli Centre de recherche en histoire Lie 1'University de Saint-Rtienne', 10 (Saint-fitienne: Publications de I'Universite de Saint-Etienne, 2013), pp. 259-79. 7 Cocile Lanery, 'La controversy des martyrs Sixte et LaurentdansleQ'iiff/n/sd'Ambroisede Milan (Deofficiis, 1,41,205-07)', Vita Latina, 175 (2006), pp. 58-68 (p. 60). 8 Such emergency relief funds are attested in Rome shortly after 150, at Ca rfhage around 200 a nd 250, and in Syria around 250. Se-e Cypnanus Carthaginensis, De opere el eieemosynis, ed., trans., and intr. by Michel Pokier, La bienfaisance vl lea anmdnes, 'Sources chi-e'tit-iines', 440 (Paris: Cert", 1999), pp. 53-56 of the introduction. 52 9 Dieter Metzler, •Ökono.mlßch'e Aspekte des Religionswandel in der SpaTantiko. Die Enteignung der heidnischen Tempel seit Konstan tin', Hephaistos, 3 (1981),pp. 27—10; Johannes Hahn,Stephen Emme-Land Ulrifh Götter, yds., From Temple to Church: Destrui-tfan and Renewal of Local Cultic Topography in Laie Antiquity, 'Religions in the Giaeco-Roman World', 1.63 (Leiden: Brill, 2008). "1(1 Maria Mund el] Mango and Susan A. Boyd, eds,, Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in Sixth-Ceiihtn/ Byzantium [Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1.992); lean-Pierre Caillet, lies Triors de sanctuaires, de lAntiquite ii I'Upoque remtane, 'University de Paris X-Nanierre, Centre de recherehos sur l'Antiquite tardive et le haut Moyen Age', 7 (Paris: Picard, 1996). 11 Peter Brown, Poverty and Leadership itt the biter Roman Zmpife (Hanover / London: University Press of New England, 2002). 12 On riches beyond the notion of treasure, see Valentina Toneatto, Les bantp-tiera du Seigneur. £v$que$ et mo.lnes face a la richesse d\r' - debut ix" siede) (Renne*: Presses Liniversitaires de Rennes, 2012). 13 Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarralioues in Psalmos, 3B, 12, ed, by Eligius Dekkers and Johannes FraiponL 3 vols, 'CCSL', 38*40 (Tumhout: Brepols, 1956), I, p. 414; trans, by Maria Boulding, Expositions' of She Psalms, 6 vols 'The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for thy 21* Century', Part 3, 15-20 (Hyde Park: New-City Press, 2000-04), II (2000), p. 184. See Anne-Marie La Bonnardiere, 'La predication d'Augustin sur les Psaumes a Carthage', Annumre de i'Ecnle pratique des liautes etudes. Ve Section, Sciences Religieuses, 88 (.1979), pp. 359-66, and 89 (1980), pp. 461-67. 14 Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarratioues in Psalmos, ed, pp, 414-15; trans, II (2000), p. 183, 15 Augustinus Hipponensis, Serrrlu 38, ed, by Cyrille Lamboy Smnones de Vetere Testamente (1-50), 'Sancti Augustinj Opera', 11,1, 'CCSL', 41 (Turnbout: Brepols, 1961), pp. 476-87 (p. 484); trans, and notes by Edmund Hill, Sermons, 11 vols The Worku i>t Saint Augufltfne: A Translalion for the 2lhl Century', Part 3, 1-11 (Hyde Park: NewCity Press, 1990-95), II(1990),pp. 208-16(p. 214), On the theme of heavenly treasure and alms, see also sermons fib's' 38 and 86. tfi Cyprijinus Carthaginensis, De opere et eleemosynfe, p. 94, note 3 and pp. 1.8,50, and 58; ed. and trans, by Koy J. Deferrari and others in Treatises, 'The Fathers of the Church', 36 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1958), pp. 225-56 (pp. 233-34 and 248), 17 Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarrationcs in Psalmos, 36,3 and 6, ed. L p. 373; trans. II, no. 16 (2000), p, 134. 18 Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarratbnua In Psalmos, 78, 6, ed. II, p. 1102; trans. IV, no. 18 (2002), p. 131. 19 CaesariuaArelatenßis, Sermones, ed. by Geimaifl Moi'ini NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 ■-•fČCSI,'. 1D3 (Ttimhout; Brepols, 1937-42; repr. 1953), aermmi 27, pp-118-22 (p. 120); trans, by MagdaMne Mui'llm, SI. Ciii-sltritis of Aries: SerraoiB, 3 vols, 'Fatliers [ of iht Church', 31, 47, and fiů (Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press, 1956-73; repr, 2004), I. pp. 13S-39 (p. 13S). 20 rhenc WXts are discussed by Eliana Magnaui, '"Uli tťísoť d.uis le cid". De la pastorale de I'aumörte aux rrisDrfi spirltuel5 (iv-ix'siede)', in terra»nu Moi/cn :■ pratiques et öbjats, pp. 51-68 (pp. 62-67). 2j sianns dicuis Stabulensls, Expositio super libriim , ed. by Robert B. C. Huygans, 'CCCM', 224 '{I,, nut; Brepols, 2008), p. 277, as well as pp, 160-61 6nd 3'?? en treasure. 22 CrisBna La Rtjcca, 'Tesori terrestri, tesuri eelesti', in Ihsori. Yormr (il acciiiiiiilßzioiw neun ricdii'im tu'll'iilto o,, i i 1. by Sauro Gelichi and Crietina La Rocca v'iella, 2004), pp. 123-41 (p. 135), and, for an over, i: . [earl-Pierre Devroey, Laurent Feller, and Regine Le Jan, eds„ Ll's úlíim t?t In ricltesst? nu iliml li/Utyni 'Haut Moyen Age', 10 (Tumhout: Brepols, 2(111). iv here the history of the notion of treasure Is not I dlscuised. Z3 See in particular Matthias Hardt, Gold nud Herrsi'lmft. Die 5ii;iil-t: wopttiscfm- Könige und Fürsten im ersten r ffl/írřinrseíjií, 'Europa im Mittelalter', 6 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 201)4), pp. 18-17. 3!4 See. t< i; evairiple, Dominic Jajiet, Treasure, Death and Display from Rome to the Middle Ages', in Treasure in II ItteMedk-Ml West, erJ. by Elisabeth M- Tyler (York: York Medieval Press, 2000), pp. 1-10. t. ■ - Mistrům of Nijmegen, March H0h,ch.4, ed. In Cnysiuhuia rtpm franconun, ed. by Alfred Boretius and Viktor Krause, 2 vols, 'MGH, Leges', Capit. ((Hanover: Hahn, ISB3-97), I, p. 131. in , Aijiiliilmin regainfrüiieunuri, I, p. 216- Ceor;y Francis Hill, Treasure Traui' in Ltnodnd Practice from ihr Harliesl Time to the I'rcienl Dm/ (1936; repr. Jendou: Aalen, 19SD), and, nn German law, ítalf Fiselu■!■ zu Cramburg, Das SchatzregaLDer.obrigkeitlich* ■•I . h auf das Eigentum tm Sehntzfiindeu in den i ft i Rechten,' Veröffentl ich üngen der Gesellsuhfl t't für Historische Hilfswissenschaften', 6 (Höhr-Civn*!Winsen: Numismatischer Verbs Gerd Martin Fornetk,200I), pp, 60-61. Eříinl i.irdus. Vita Karati Magni, ch, 33, ed, by Oswald Holdvr-fcgfceF, 'MGH, SS rer. Cerm.', 25 (Hanover / 1 ;: Kahn, 1.911), pp, 37-41 (p. 38); ed., hälfe;, sud l'v David Ga.ni, Tíí jo Lives of Charlemagne. Einhard mílar the Stammerer (London; Penguin, 200S), pp. (p. 42). According to Einhard,' Charlemagní did not have time to draw up fl real will {testamelita), ■v nines, 'Charlemagne's Will: Piety, Politics Imperial Succession', English Historical Review, 997), pp. 833-55, and, for the date, Steffen Id. 'Eine Hierarchie im Wandel. Die Ausbildung einer MebropolitLinnrdnun^ Im Prankynryich def^ 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts', in Hierarchie ei stratification $oeiuie dans '.'Occident medieval (400-1100), ed. by Dominique Ingna-Prat, Francois Bougdrd, and Regine Lejan, 'Haut Moyen Age', 6 (Tumhout; Brepols, 2ÖUÖ), pP. 161-84. 29 Deborah Mauskopf Dyljynnnis, 'Charlemagne's Silver Tables: The Ideology of an Imperial Capital', Early Medieval Europe, 12, no. 2 (2003), pp, 159-78, ,30 On the progressive establishment of this structure, see Ptitzold, 'Eine Hierarchie im Wandel'; Daniel Carlo Pangerl, Die Metropolilanverfassuiig des kaivliitgisehett f-raiikcmricha, 'MGH, Schriften', 63 (Hanöver: Halitisthe Buchhandlung 2Q11). 31 Paulus Diaeonus, Libeüus deepiseopta Me.iten$ibu$, ed., trans., and intr. by Damien Kempf, Liber de episcopb Mettensipüs, ^Dallas Medieval Tests and Translations', 19 (Leuven: Peeters, 2013), pp. 72-75. See also Iiur-:-, 'Charlemagne's Will', p. 853, and, cm the text, Damien Kempf,'Paul the. Dc'i\t\u\'$ Liber deepiwapis MeitemtbM and the Role of Metz in the Carolingtan Realm', [ourmil i)f'Medieval Hiatviy, 30, no. 3 (2004), pp. 279-99 (p. 287); Simon rülling. TiistitütiLfii versii? Iiidividuuiii, Dic^KSe versus Dynastie. Zu Motiven der Wahrnehmung von Vergangenheit in Paulus Diacunus' Uber de episcopis Metlensibus1, in Zwischen Wort undliild. Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen im Mittelalter, ed, by Harhnut ßleumer and others (Cologne / Wt-imar / Vl*ttha: BöhUu, 2010), pp. 203-38 (p. 229). 32 Michel Rubellin, 'Bieria et revenus ecclesiastiques, La doctrint? des $v$que$ carolingiens (milieu vur-milieu ix" siede)', in L'Hostie et le denier. Les'finances eccl^sia&ficfues, du haut Moyen Age a l'cpoque moderne, ed. by Marcel Paeaut and Olivier ratio (Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1991), pp. 25-36 (p. 28), On the financial mana^nientoFecCle.'iiatiticalturni^hiny^and buildings in the early Middle Ages, see Wolfgang Sehöll^r, Die rechtliche Organisation dvs Kirclicnbaus im Mittelalter vornehmlich des Katliedralbaua. Bautest - [ktulu:nwli.aft -Baufinauziening (Cologne / Vienna: Böhlau, 19ü9), pp.5-58. 33 Hardt, Gold und Hemdiaft, pp. 40-44; Rodolphe Keller, 'Pillages et butins dans la representation du pouvoir fi l'epoque caro.lingien.ne', Medievales, 62 (2012), pp. 135-52. 34 Mayke de Jong, 'Sacrum palatiuni aieccleaia. Lautoritt religieiLse royale sous les Carolingiena (790-840)', Aimalev. Hhiöirc, Sciences Sociales, 58, no- (2003), pp. 1243-70 (pp. 1243-44), 35 Only thirty or so examples of these coins, which would serve as the model for many others, are known. Uenid Kluge, 'Nomen iiuperatvris und Christiana Religio. Das Kaisertum Karls des Gr-uüen und Ludwigs des Frommen im Licht der numismatischen Quellen', In 793. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Große und Papst Leo III. in Paderborn, ed, by Christoph Stk-gtfinann aiul Matthias Wemhoff, exhibition 53 NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 catalogue, Städtische Galerie: am Abdinghof, Paderborn, 3 vols (Mainz: Zabem, 1999), III, pp. 82-90 (see also I, pp. 66-68); Johannes Fried, Qmkmagne, trans, by Peter Lewis (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016) [original version: Karl der Große, Gauall und Glaube. Eine Biographie, 2013], pp. 442^14. 36 The idea of 'religion' as a particular aspect of social lift' only dates from the eighteenth century. 37 Jong, 'Sacrum pahtiupi et ecete&fl', pp- 1255-56, and pp. 1247-51 on thy prtiximitv of tht: palace and the monasteries. 38 Innos, 'Charlemagne's Will', pp. 839 and 852. 39 Ansegisuß Fontartellens is, Collcclio cupitularium Anscgisi, ch. 1.1.7, ed, by Gerhard. Schmitz, Da? KapititlatienSämmliuifi des Ansegis, 'MCH, Capü. 'N. 1 (Hanover: Hahn, 1996), p. 501. See also Gerhard Schmitz,'... pro utileßrmitcr tenenda suni Igge. Bemerkungen zur Brauchbarkeit und /.vm Gebrauch der KiipitulariensammlLing des Ansegis', in Mönchluin - Kirche - Herrschaß 750-1000, ed. by Dieter R. Bauer and others (Silwingen; Thorbecke, 1998), pp. 213-29. 40 Regi.no Prumensis, De $}puidatip.m cattsis ff diseiptinis ccdesiqsticis, book 1, eh. 371, ed. by Friedrieh Wilhelm August Hermann Wasserschieben (1840; repr. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1964), pp. 1.70-71, See also Wilfried Hartmann, Das Sendhandbttch den fcegino von Prüm (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2004), pp. 7-8 and 470. 41 Council of Tours, 813, ch. 11, ed. in Concilia nevi'lwroUni, ed. by Albert Wenninghof'!, 'MGH, Leges, Concilia', 2, 1 (Hanover / Leipzig: Hahn, 1906), p. 288. On the event, see Rosamond McKitreriek^T/ii' Prankish Church and the Caroliiißiun Reforms, 789-1195 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1977), p. 12, 42 Cnpitulmv Missarum, Pavia, 832,ch,64,ed. mCapitulnrin fvguvi francoTwn, II, p. 64. Francois Bcnigätd, 'Treburs et mobilia Italiens du haut Moyen Ago', in Lijs Tresors de sanetuaires, dt' l'Aiüiquitc a l'epoqtie fömane, ed. by Jean-Pierre Grillet, 'Universite de Paris X-Nanterre, Centre de reeherdie^ sur l'Antiquite tardive et le haut Moyen Äge*. 7 (Paris: .Picard, 1996), pp. 161— 97; Claire Sonnefraud, 'Tnventaires de "tresors" et reforme earolingienne', in Charlemagne et Ids objets. Den tllesaurisaUoits carolingiennes m/.Y constructions mcmaficlks, ed. by Philippe Corde? (Bern: Peter Lang, 2012), pp. 29-55. 43 Council of Valence, 855, ch. 20, ed. in Die Konzilien der kamlingisdien Teilreiche 843-859, ed, by Wilfried Harrmann,'MGH, Lege^,Concilia',3(Hanov«r: Hahn, 1984), p: 362. 44 Cüpitidßre Mifisamm, frissons, April 22-26, 853, ch. 1, ed. in Die Konzilien der kaivliiigisehen Teilreiche 843-85$, p. 285. Martina Strohnann, Hinfotuirvan Heims ah Verwaltet von Bistum und Kirchenpnwim, 'Quellen und Horschungen zum Recht im Mittelaller', 6 (Sigmaringen: Thürbecke, 1991), p, 46- 46 Council of Fismes, April 2,88t, ch. 4, ed. in 1 TincmaruN Rhyme.nsis, Capiliila in Synodo apud S, Macratn, ed. by Jean-Paul Migne, 'PL', 123 (Paris: Migne, 1879), cols 1070-86 (col. 1073). 47 Angilbertus Centulensis, De ecclemia Ccntuk'nsi libclhts, ch- 3, ed, in Sorwefraüd, 'Inventalres de "tresors"', pp. 50-55. 48 Astronom us, Vita Ludavici imperatoris, ed. and trans, by Ernst Tremp, 'MGH, SS rer Germ-', 64 (Hanover: Hahn, 1995), pp. 279-555 (pp. 494-95); trans., intr., and notes by Thomas R X. Noble, Charlemagne mid Louis the Pious: Lives by Einhard, Nuth'r, Ermcildus, Thvgan, nnd the Astronomer (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), p. 286. 49 Ed.. in Die Konzilien der karoHiigischen Teilreiche 843-85-9, pp. 483-84. On this council, see Peter R, McKeoii, 'The Carolingian Councils of Savonnieres (859) and Tusey (860) and their Background: A Study in the Ecclesiastical ami Political History of the Ninth Century', Revue Benedictine, 84 (1974), pp. 75-110. 50 Ed. IhDieKoTuiHeiidcrkaröUitgischen Teilreiche 860-874, ed, by Wilfried Hartmann, 'MGH, Leges, Concilia', -I (Hanover: Hahn, 1998), p, 508- 51 See the texts cited, in Lepne, Vinvrntaire de lit propriäf, pp. 155-66. 52 Hint-mams Rhemensis, Ad presbyteros et diaconos ecclesine Lnudensis, ed. by Jean-Paül Migne, 'PL', 126 (Paris: Migne, 1879), cols 531-33 (col. 533). Strafcmäflfl, Hinkmar von Reims, p. 3U. 53 Ed, in Recueil des actes de Charles tl le Chaitue, roi de France, ed, by Georges Tessier, 3 vols, 'Charte? et diplomes relatifs ö ('hiötolre de France*, 15-17 (Paris; Imprimerie nationale, 1943-55), 11, no. 338, pp, 252-54 (p,253), 54 Ed., in Die Ktmzilkn derkfiivlhigüchi'n Ttilrviclte 860-874, pP. 570-71. 55 Thesti observations are based on extensive readings of Germania sacra. Die Kirche des Alten Reiches und ihre IiiMitutwnvn, new series, ed. by Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte, St) vols (LJtrrlin / .New York: DeCruyler, 1962-2007); Helene Millet, ed.. Fasti ecclwiae gall uvnM. Ri)nThnn' prtwipiigraphitptt' des t/vi-'quos, dignitairyß et chanoines de Prance de 1200 a 150Q, 14 vols (Turnhout: Brepolß, 1996-2015); Pius Engelbert and Kassius HaUinger, eds., Corpus consuetudinum niormsticarum, 15 vols (Siegburg: Schmitt, 1963-2010). 56 Johannes Beleih, Summa de eedesiasticis qfficiis,eh. 115h, ed- by Heribert Douteil, 'CCCM.', 41 A (Turnhout: Espols, 1976), pp. 217-18. 45 On Ihe probable role of Hinemar in these edicts, yee 57 Guillelmuj; Durantis, Ruliontile diviaorvm ofßcimvin, 54 NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 1 5h, 3( ,12, ed. by Anselme Davril and Timothy M ü odeaii^volö/CCCM', 140 (Turnhout; Brepuls, 1995-2(H.ii)),I,pp. 48-49. On their apparition see Philippe Corde?-, 'Le tieu du t.'xte l.e-s livres enehaínés au Mayen Äge'r Revue ř tfaUlb'h 17(2006), pp. 75-103 y Beate Johlen-Budnik and Andrea von Hülsen-Esch (Essen: Klartext, 2013), pp, 44-45. 94 For different points of view, see Stephan Bursche, ed., Ďäs Lüneburger Ratwilher, 'Bestandskatalog dos Kunstgewerbemuseums', 16 (Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulttirbesitz, 1990); Massimo Fornasari, // 'thesüw'data eil tu. il Montedipk'to e l'ecúitawiabcihigtinxĽ net secoli KV e XVI (Bologna: 11 Mulino, 1993); Valentin Croebner, Gefährliche Geschenke, Ritual, Politik und die Spruche der Korruption in der Eidgertosfrmschttfi im Späten Mittelalter und entí Beginn der Neuzeit; 'Konflikte und Kultur - Historische Perspektiven', 4 (Konstanz: Universitfits-Verlag Konstanz,2000). 95 On confraternities and the uses of these objects, see Catherine Vincent, Uň cottfruries mčdičvales dans lľ ľoyaume de France, xuľ'-xv siecle (Paris: Albin Michel, 1994), 96 See, for example, Catherine Arminjon and Francis Muel, JLe trcsur de Cošírrorť, in Plais'irs el imwiercs de table mix x/V et xY amies, exhibition catalogtie, Musée des Augustíns, Toulouse (Toulouse: Musŕe des AugwstinS, 1992), pp. 242-50; Sylvie Le Clech-Charton, 'Le tresor de ľhňpiial de "lonnerre. Usages et significations (xiv-xix1-" Steele)', Bulletin du Ca f t Ire ďštudw médiévales d'Auxurre., 14 (2010), pp. 129-45. 97 See, for example, Oliver Rackham, Treasures of Silver at Corpus C/irisli College, CtinduidgĽ (Cambridgtí: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 98 See primarily Peter Wiek, 'Das Strassburger Münster. Untersuchungen über die Mitwirkung des Stadtbürger t u ms am Bau der bischüflichiin Kathedralkirchen im Spätmittelalter', Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrhein*, 167 (1959), pp. 40-113. NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 100 I Boucheron, 'A qui apparttent la cathědrnle? I ;t la cite dans l'Ilalie medievale' [2000]; ■Kpr, In Ln espnees sociaux de Vitalie urbaine. xir-xv Steele- e.i by Patrick Bnuche.ron and Olivier Mattěoni, "'Puhl.. ■ itions de la Sorbonne- Reim press ions', R (Paris; I, ,. de la Sorbonne, 2005), pp. 285-30fi Fi.ramore recenLand general perspective,see (Crttjíi fitltroi I'-, Bruno Klein, and Stefan Bürger, eds., I . Baustelle, GrO^c Sakralbauten dee Mittelalters i, ■ f Weimar / Vienna: Bfthlau, 2013). The use i't the word 'treasure' in the titles of scholarly cornpilarions from the mid-thirteenth century is also i . .. this idea of making something available: see 131 igitte Row, Mondem en miniatures. Uiconograpluc tlu rL. Tresor' de Brunet ta Latini, 'Matériaux «nur I'histoire', 8 (Geneva: Droit, 2009); Mariacarla Gndi?hu:.ch-ßondio, 'Thesaurus- Sauitatis. Zur Tradition und Ei FoIk der Schat^nietapher in der Medizin', in L\t ty'--» na Mm/en Age. Di's'Ctiijrs; pratiques et objets, 103-28. ttenrici,is de Segusio, Summa super lilulrs Dccretaliuiu, V, til. I '. '\j Notes on ihe Tmifwry of Merits: Indulgences Aediival Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2006); Swan son, B$B in Late Medieval England: Piesports to ' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, nbert W, ShafTem, The Penitents' Treasitnf; See 'Mis pio ľ Mihi ■Promt. In Lite htdul: Pa rad i 2007». ■' in bilin Christendom, 1175-1375 (Scranton: wnivei iity ofScrantan Press, 2007). 105 Peter Brown, 'Vets hi naiösanCe du purgatoiľú. Arhpistie et penitence dans le chrlstianisme occidental de ľAntiquite tardive au Haut Moyen Äge', Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 52, no, 6 (1997), pp-1247-61 (p. 1255), See also Bernhard Poschmann, Der Ablaß im Lieht der Buß$e&chichte, 'Th«ophanaia. Beiträge zur Religious- und Kirchengeschichte des Altertums", 4 (Bonn; Hahnstein, 1948), 106 Philipp Endmann, 'Die Entstehung des Ablasses für den Ersten Kreuzzug', Concilium rtiedii ttiVI, 6 (2003), pp. 163-94 (p. 183). 107 For an overview of the different types of indulgences, see Taiihis, Geschichte des Ablasses, passim, 1.08 On rtílic processions before the practice oí fund raising touts eiiierged, see Edina Bozoky, 'Voyage de reliques et demonstration du pouvoir aus temps féodaux', in Vbyagw el voyagcurs au Moyea Age, ed. by Sneiete" des hiFtoríenf! mádiŕvistes de ľcnseignemenL superieur (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1996), pp. 267-80. For an analysis öf a judicial use of relics, see Prsrujois Bougard, 'hri rfliquc- au proces. Autour des Miracles de saint Colomban', in Le reglemcnt des confiits an iVku/fíi J&gé, ed, by Société des hietoriens médiévistes de ľenseignement Bupériéur (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2001) pp. 35-66. 109 On Laon, see Reinhold Kaiser, 'Quetes itinerantes avec reliques pour rinancer la construction des eglises (xii:-xu" siecles)', Le Moyen Age. Revue d'histoire et de Philologie, 101 (1.995), pp, 205-25 (p. 221). The moat complete list of fundraising tours involving relics thus far compiled can be found in Pierre Héliot and Marie-Laure Chastang, 'Quetes et voyages de relíqufS au profit deséglises fráŕiíaiséíi &U Moyen Age', Revue d'hiatohv eeclfciastique, 59 (1964), pp. 7Ö9-B22 and 60 (1965), pp. 5-32. Pierre-Andre Sigal, 'Les voyages de reliques aux onziéme et douzieme sieclos', in Voyage, quetv, pMerlhfífce dane la liftrmtutv el In civilisation mčdiéťates, ed. by Centre universitäre d'etudes et de recherches médiévales, 'Sénéfíance', 2 (Aix-en-Provence: CUERMA, 197b), pp. 75-104, is based on the same texts- 110 On the relations between relics and indulgences, see Nicholas Vincent, 'Some Pardoners' Tales: The Earliest English Indulgences', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 12 (2002), pp. 23-58 (pp- -HMO, 4^ and 50-53); nnd especially Kühne. Dstensiú ivliqiiiarma. 1.11 Guibertus de Novi^unto, De Sanctis el eoruiu pigneribus, ad. by Robert B. CHuygens, 'CCCM\ 127 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996). 112 For reflections on indulgences that predate the theory of the 'treasury of merit', see Salvätüfe Vacca, 'Aut pilnil homo, (nit Deii$ punit. Le indulgenze nella sloria della peniten?.a e delia teológia (secoli Xll-Xlll)', in 'Misericorditer relazmuus, Le indulgence fr^ tepria e prassi nel Duecento', pp. 21-55 (pp. 35-36 on Abelard). 113 Contrary to the generally accepted reading, I believe 57 N0TE5 TO CHAPTER I that üehales refers to the practice of collections rather than to the sale of relics, since the latter would require secrecy rather than public display, The ban on showing relics 'out of their shrines', probably meaning removed from their usual containers in churches, has traditionally been linked to the creation of reliquaries whose contents were visible through transparent panels, but this is clearly not the subject of the text. 114 Coiislittttiones Caneilii quarti Lnlemuensis; eh. 62, ed. by Antonius Garcia y Garcia, 'Monuments Iuris Canonici, Series A. Corpus GloSsatorUm', 2 (Vatican City: BibliotecaApostolica Vaticana, 1931), pp. [1)1-03. 115 See Martin Ohst, Pflichibeicltte. Untersuchungen zum Bußwesen im Hohen itnd Späten Mittelalter, 'Beiträge zur Historischen Theologie', 89 {Tübingen: Mohr, 1995), pp, 103-17, where the author situates indulgences and their theoretical legitimization in the context of compulsory confession. Above all, see the commentary on ch. 62 in Vincent, 'Rome Pardoners' Ta les', pp. 50-55. 116 Their successive contributions are summarized in Paulus, Geschichte des Ablasses. 117 Albertus Magnus, Conmienlarii in iVSenieutmrum, dist, 20, E, art 16, ed.by Auguste Borgnetin ft, AlbertI Magui opera omnia, 33 vols {Paris: Vives, 1894), XXV-XXX (1894), XXIX, p. 848. 118 Paulus, Geschichte des Ablasses im Mittelaller, II, p. tS3. 119 On the foundational role of the Book of Sentences in Scholastic theology, see Boureau, L'empire du livre, pp, 24-36 and 95. 120 Bonaventura was by no means the first to address this question: see Shaffern, The Penitents' Treasury, p. 103. 121 Bonaventura, Comiuetilnria in IV Ljhrüs senteutiarttin, disc, 20, pars 2, aft. 2, 3, ed, in Doctoris Seraphici S. Bonaventumc [...} Opm omnia, 10 vols (Quarracchi: CollegioSan Bonaventura, 1882-1902), l-IV (1882-89), IV, p, 534, 1.22 Originally a symbol of faith, Ihe mystical marriage between a bishop and Christ was the subject of a full legal analogy by the late twelfth century: see Jean Gaudemet, 'Note stir le symbol isme medieval, Le manage de I'eVSque', VAnme cammupie, 22 (1978), pp. 71-80. 123 According to this rule, a widow must marry the brother of her deceased husband in order to ensure that his family lint; is perpetuated by an heir (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, especially 25:5; Matthew 22:24; Mark 12:19). Sanaven tu re extended it to cover the property linked to such a transmission with reference to the fourth section of the book of Ruth, which discusses a plot of land that the man closest to the late husband of the widowed Ruth must acquire with her in order to provide for her children: this land would remain connected to the woman, fust as the treasure administered by the prelates would remain the property of the Church (Ruth 4, in particular 4:5). 58 124 Anita Guerreau-Ja labert, ' Spiritus titcnriitis. Lebaptüme dans la societe medievale', in La parents spirituelle, ed. by Francoiae Heritier-Auge and Elisabeth Copet-Rougier (Paris: Editions des archives contemporaines, 1995), pp. 133-203, 125 Bonaventura, Ccmnuentaria in IV Libras senlenlim'uni, dist, 20, pars 2, art, 1,4, ed. IV, pp. 536-37. 126 Some unusual conceptions of this theory have been listed by Paulus, Geschichte des Ablässe* im Mitteln!tar, II, pp. 154-58, 127 The reference to 'treasure' is rare in the collective letters of indulgence studied in Alexander Seibold, Samntelindnlgenien. Ablaß Urkunden i/t's Spiltmittel'niters lind der frühen Neuzeit, 'Archiv für Diplomatüs, Schriftgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde', 8 (Cologne / Weimar / Vienna: Bühlau, 2001), see pp. 29 and 32. 123 Jean Lemoine, De tubileo, cited in Paulus, Geschieht* des Ahlasses im Mittelalter, 11, p. 155. 129 Paulus, Geschichte m Ablasses Im Mittelalter, II, pp. .155-56. 130 This observation logically holds for the books that laypeople used to prepare themselves for confession, and for other edifying books: see Nikolaus Paulus, Geschichte des Ablasses am Auagang des Mittelalters [1923]; repr. with an introduction and bibliography by Thomas Untes (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2000), pp. 100-29 (especially pp. 121-22 and 126). The sermons that have been preserved in writing sometimes set out the main principles of the theory of the treasury in the form of short treatises, though it is not at all certain that these were directly read aloud. 131 Paulus, Geschichte des Ablet$$vs tun Ausgang des Mittelalters, pp, 118-20. 132 Stephan Fridolin, Der Schatzbehalter oder Schrein der Wrnt rtädttüjiikbr des hells unnd einiger Seliglieil (Nuremberg: Koberger, 1491). 133 Falk Eiserrminn, 'Der Ablaß als Medienereignls. Komnuinikat Ions wände I durch Einblattdrucke irrt 15. Jahrhundert- Mit einer Auswahlbibliographie', in Tradition and Innovation in an Er/t of Change / Tradition und Innovation im Übergang zur Frühen Neuzeit, ed, by Rudolf SuntmpanUJan R. Veenstra, "Medieval to Early Modern Culture / Kultureller Wandel vom Mittelalter zur Frühen Neuzeit', 1 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001), pp. 99-128. 134 Berndt Hamm, 'Die Reformation als Medienereignis', Jahrbuch für bib! Ische Theologie, II (1996), pp. 137-66. 1.35 Petra KrOse and others, Kälter Karl V. {1500-1558), Mächt und Ohnmacht Europas, exhibition catalogue, ßundesktmslhalle, Bonn; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Bonn: Skira, 2Ü00), no. 236, pp. 253-55. 136 Mary Caroline Spalding, The Middle EngHsji Cliarlcrs NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 I vfChrift. liryn Mawr College Monographs'. 15 (Bryn jinwr: l'.ivr. MawrCollege, 1914),pp.XLii-Li. I v I |ans Volz, 'Die Liturgie bei der AbJalwerkündlgung', Inhrbuch für Litttrgik und Hytimohgie, ll (1966), pp, 11 i Rapp, 'Un eon tern porain d'Alexandre VI i. . le cardinal Raymond Peraud (1435-1505.)', '■Qmipt^-ienduü de» stances de 1'Acadctoie des inscriptions el M/r* Ist ties, 138, no. 3 (1994), pp. 665-77. HS Bernd Mueller, 'Die letzten A.blaBkarnpagnen. Der Wider-,p Luthers gegen den Ablaß in seinem gesehr. bib.'hen Zusammenhang' [1989], repr. in Bemd Mueller, Die Reformation und das Mittelalter. V Wrknlmtori5Clie Aufitite? {Böttingen: Vandenhoeck& ru] . 91), pp. 53-72 and 295-307 (pp. 59 and 68). 139 Purgatory, where punishments corresponding to minor sins thai had not been absolved during a lifespan had tn be - nrried out, was officially defined by the papal I authoring, in 1254 based on an idea from the twelfth century- 11 like the indulgence, represented a gradual loosening of penitential practice. See Jacques Le Goff, / fie r, tit of Purgatory, trans, by Arthur Goldhammer ■ (Chicago / London: University of Chicago Press, 1984) |..-! il version: La naissdnee du Purgntoire, 1981), pp. 283-84. Hot Oh tallying practices see Arnold Angenendt and others, 'Gezahlte Prööuiiigkei^ Fr/Mmi^ (1995), pp. 1-71; on inventories of indulgences Sue in particular Nine Robijntje Miedema, Rcmpilgerfiihrcr Ll iit Spt'tinuUclallcr und Früher Neuieit. Die 'ludulgnüim I ■ecclcst'irum iii'bis Roulae' (deutsch / niederltincliscli). I Edition und Kommentar, 'Frühe Neuzeit', 72 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2003), especially pp. 377-97. ■41 Among .ither works by the same author on the 1 siace'and thy media through which it was I transmlttrd in the late Middle Ages, see Bemdt Hamm, I 'Die Natie- de« Heiligen im ausgehenden Mittelalter. I Ars moriendi, To ten memoria, Gregorsmesse', in Berndi Hamm, Klaus Herbers, and Heidrun Stein-Keckw, uds,, Sakralitäl zivischcn Antike und 'Neuzeit, 'Beiträge zur Kagiographie', 6 {Stuttgart: Steiner, I 2007), pp. 185-221.Oh the relation between images and I indulgences, see Philippe Corde?, 'Reliquien und ihre Bolder. Zur Ablass Vermittlung und Bildrepwduktion Im Spätmittelalter', in ßfhi und Körper im Mittelalter, ed. by Kristin Marek and others (Munich: Fink, 2006), ■ pp. 273-86. Hl 'Livia Cardenas, Friedrich der Weise und das Wittenberger p ffitltumshuch,MedialeReprd$entatkm zwischenMHlelaller u«'] il (Berlin: Lukas Verlag, 2002). 11 ■ •■• =!8, 62, and 65-66. Martin Luther, Disputätio ■ .pn? deehmitione virtulk indulgentlarum [1517], ed, in M» Luthers Werk. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 127 vols (Weimar: Bühlau, 1883-2009), I, pp. 233-38 {p. 236); f ?fn;i ^ TjmD% .!■ VVengert, Martin Luther's Ninety-1 '■" --rs: With Introduction, Commentary, and Study Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015), pp." 13-26 (pp. See D«vid Bagchi, 'Luther's Ninrly-Ftve Theses and the Contemporary Criticism of Indulgences', in Promissory Notes on the Treasury of Merits: Indulgences in Late Medieval Europe, pp. 331-55. For ii synthesis nf the practice of indulgences in the context of the Reformation, Harlnuit Killine, 'Ablassfrummigkeil und Ablasspriaxis um. 1.500', in Fintdsache Luther. Arclidotogen auf den Spuren des Reformatvrs, ed. by Harald Mel lor, exhibition catalogue, Lai'idesiniiHeum fur Vorgeschichte, 1 la He an derSaale (Stuttgart:Theiss, 2008), pp. 36-47. 14-4 Paulus, Cc-:,ditchie dr> Abhiw:- im Mittelalter, II, I 57 145 Anita Gtierreati-Jalabert, 'L'ecciesia m^dl^vale, une institution totale1, in Les tendmices achielles dr rtustoire du Moyen A$e en France et en Ailemogne, ed - by Jean-Claude Schmitt and Otto Gerhard Oexle (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2002), pp, 219-26. 146 On gifts in the Middle Ages, see Anita Guerreau-Jalabert, 'Caritas y don en la soelednd medieval occidental', Uispmria. Revtetti Espßftofy de Historia, 60, no, 204 (2000). pp. 27-62; Gadi Algazi, Valentin Groebner, and Bernhard Jossen, eds,, Negotiating the Gift: Pre-Müdem Figurations of Exchange (Göttingeri: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht/ 2003); Wendy Davies and Paul Foürace, eds.. The Languages of Gift in ike. Early Middle Ages (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2010). 147 For a reflection on practices, see Marie-Pierre Julien and Celine Rosselin, La culture materielle (Paris: La Dicouverte, 2005).