Daniel F.

CALLAHAN

ADEMAR OF CHABANN ES AND HIS INSERTIONS INTO

BEDE'S EXPOSITIO ACTUUM APOSTOLO RUM•

IN1RODUCTION

Chapter one of Heinrich Fichtenau's Living in the Tenth Century:

Mentalities and Social Orders considers the question of establishing
order in a world becoming increasingly turbulentl. The principal
agency was the Christian Church with its complex organization more
and more dependent, as Fichtenau stresses, on categories drawn from
the New Testament, especially the Acts of the Apostles2. One wit-
nesses in this period a growing interest in the search for apostolic
roots in order to strengthen claims to regional primacy in such dio-
ceses as Rheims, Trier and Lyons3. Fichtenau, however, quite
correctly indicates that it was in Aquitaine in the last half of the tenth
and early eleventh centuries that claims to apostolic origins were most
commonly and most incessantly put forward, especially in such places
as Périgueux, Clermont and above all Limoges, where the cult of St.
Martial experienced extraordinary growth4.
The monks of the monastery of Saint-Martia l of Limoges had
concocted in the late tenth or early eleventh century a lengthy Vita of
their patron saint (BHL 5552) which made him one of Christ's
disciples, one who held the towel at the washing of the feet on
Maundy Thursday, who was present at the Ascension and Pentecost,
who accompanied his relative and friend St. Peter to Rome, and who
received Aquitaine as his apostolate5. It was his disciple and successor
as bishop of Limoges, Aurelian, who purportedly recorded the many

•The original draft of this article was presented at a meeting of the Delaware
Valley Medieval Association at Millersville University on October 10, 1992. The re-
search was funded by a summer grant from the University of Delaware.
1 H. F!CHrENAU, Living in the Tenth
Century: Mentalities and Social Orders, transi.
P. GEARY, Chicago, 1991. part one entitled Ordo, esp. chap. 1: Order as Rank Order.
2 Ibid., p. 12.
3 Ibid., p. 13.

41bid., p. 13-15.
s Vita prolixior (BHL 5552: ed. L. SuRIUS, De probatis Sanctorum Vitis, t. 6, Co-
logne, 1618, p. 365-374).

Analecta Bollandiana, 111 (1993), p. 385-400

386 D. F. CALLAHAN

miracles and events of St. Martial's life in a Vita comparable to St.

Luke's Acts of the Apostles6.
The historical origins of St. Martial and his cult are very different
from what is presented in the Aurelian Vita. He seems, at least
according to Gregory of Tours in both The History of the Franks and
The Book of the Glory of the Con/essors, to have been a mid-third-
century missionary who along with others such as St. Denis, St. Tro-
phime and St. Sernin had been sent by the pope to GauF. Martial
converted Limoges, became its first bishop and was eventually buried
there.
During the Merovingian period the cult grew, with many pil-
grims visiting his remains 8 • In the early ninth century a Vita (BHL
5551) was written which demonstrated the Carolingian preoccupation
with St. Peter and made Martial a close disciple of the first pope9.
The clerics who resided at the tomb adopted the Benedictine Rule
toward the middle of this century, and the house in the ensuing pe-
riod became an important center for learning and the recipient of
many gifts of land in various sections of southem Franceio.
It was not until the 1020's, however, in conjunction with the
building of a new basilica church that the monks began to push to its
logical conclusion the material contained in the Aurelian Vita, namely
that St. Martial was not simply a disciple of St. Peter or even of Christ,
but that he merited the title of apostlel 1. By the latter part of the de-
cade the impresario for this campaign was Ademar of Chabannes12.
He was a professed monk of Saint-Cybard of Angoulême but one
6 0n the Vita prolixior, also called the Aurelian Vita, see D. F. CALLAHAN, The
Sermons of Ademar of Chabannes and the Cult of St. Martial of Limoges, in Revue
Bénédictine, p. 251-295, here p. 253-254. See also R. LANDES - C. PAUPERT, Naissance
d'apôtre. La Vie de saint Martial de Limoges: un apocryphe de l'an Mil(= Mémoires
premiües), Turnhout, 1991.
7 Greg. Tur., Historia Francorum I, 30 (M.G.H., Ser. Rer. Mer., t. 1,1,2, p. 22-23)

and Liber in gloria confessorum 21 (M.G.H., Ser. Rer. Mer., t. 1,2, p. 764-765).
8 C. DE LASTEYRIE, L'Abbaye de Saint-Martial de Limoges, Paris, 1901, p. 31-37.

9 Ch.-F. BELLET, L'ancienne Vie de saint Martial et la prose rythmée, Paris, 1897,

p.43-50.
1°CALLAHAN, Sermons of Ademar... (see note 6), p. 253-254.
11 Ibid., p. 255-256.
12Qn the life of Ademar see esp. R. L. WOLFF, How the News was brought /rom
Byzantium to Angoul2me, or, The Pursuit of a Hare in an Ox Cart, in Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies, 4 (1978), p. 139-189 and R. LANDES, The Making of a Medieval
Historian: Ademar of Chabannes and Aquitaine at the Turn of the Millenium, Ph. D.
dissertation, Princeton University, 1984.
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 387

who had lived for a number of years at Saint-Martial where several of

his uncles had been monks of prominence. It was Ademar who left
behind much of the information on the development of the campaign
in many manuscripts now found primarily in the Bibliothèqu e
Nationale in Paris but also in libraries in Berlin, Rome, Leyden and
Princeton, New Jersey13.
What these manuscripts provide is a record of fraud as spectacular
as any surviving from one individual from the Middle Ages. The
campaign of lies had to be redoubled after the monks' plan for the
creation of a new apostle had been challenged in 1029 by a certain
Benedict, a visiting monk from the mountain-top house of the Pied-
mont San Michele della Chiusa14. Ademar vividly recounts the en-
counter in a long rambling letter which clearly reveals the sting of his
articulate Italian opponent's rebukesis. In the confrontation between
the two in the new basilica where St. Martial's remains rested, Ademar
claimed that besides Aurelian others wrote that the first bishop of
Limoges was an apostle and that he was so recorded in responsories
and hymns16. Benedict responded, "Neither you nor he (namely, any
earlier individual) nor I are believed. Books are believed. Let the
books be brought"17. Since those authorities did not exist, what Ade-
mar had to do in the ensuing years was to concoct his own support.
The Aurelian Vita (BHL 5552) was amplified to make Martial not
simply the missionary to Aquitaine but the apostle to all Gaul1s. Ade-
mar forged a letter from Pope John XIX bearing witness to Martial's
apostolicity19. He inserted references to the apostle Martial into his

13 L. DELISLE, Notice sur les manuscrits originaux

d'Adémar de Chabannes, in No-
tices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, 25 (1896), p. 241-358.
4
1 0n Chiusa and its connections with Aquitaine see C. LAURANSON-RosAz, L'Au-
vergne et ses marges (Velay, Gévaudan) du vm• aux!' siècle, Le Puy-en-Velay, 1987,
esp. p. 291-306.
is Ademar, Epistola de aposto/atu Martialis (PL 141, col. 89-112).
16/bid., col. 93 B.
11 Ibid., col. 93 C.
18CALLAHAN, Sermons of Ademar ... (see note 6), p. 258-263.
19L. SALTET, Une prétendue lettre de Jean XIX sur saint
Martial fabriquée par
Adémar de Chabannes, in Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique, 27 (1926), p. 117-139 and
R. LANDES, A Libellusfrom St. Martial of Limoges Written in the Time of Ademar of Cha-
bannes (989-1034), in Scriptorium, 37 (1983), p. 178-204.
388 D. F. CALLAHAN

copy of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretal le,tters 20 . He prepared an edict,

supposedly from his metropolitan, Archbishop Aimo of Bourges,
supporting Martial as an apostle21. His sermons are filled with
references to the apostle Martial and to the many ancient Fathers, both
Eastern and Western, who accept Martial as an apostle and the vera-
city of the Aurelian Vita22.
He crowned his efforts by concocting the long proceedings of a
council of Limoges of 1031 which supposedly devoted many hours
to hearing support from the bishops and whole church of Aquitaine
for the apostolicity of Martial and whose first session concludes with a
dramatic ceremony of anathema against the opponents of the new
apostle23. The account of the proceedings of this council fills the final
folios of Ms. Paris, B. N., Lat. 2469, which also contains over forty-
five sermons anticipating the arguments of the churchmen at the
council. In a number of places in these sermons and in the purported
conciliar proceedings there are references to the support of the English
for the apostleship of Martial24. The people of England supposedly
accept more than twelve apostles because they consider Gregory the
Great as an apostle25. Related to this idea is that from the earliest
period of the English church Martial was known as an apostle in
England because Gregory himself so recognized the missionary to
Gaul26. Still another recurring idea, which was most full y developed
in the account of the council of Limoges of 1031, was that certain
very old English volumes referred to Martial as an apostle27.

20 H. SCHNEIDER, Ademar von Chabannes und Pseudoisidor -der "Mythomane" und

der Erzfiilscher, in Fiilschungen im Mittelalter, vol. 2: Gefiilsche Rechtstexte der be-

strafte Fiilscher, in M.GH. Schriften, 33, Hanover, 1988, p. 129-150.
21 L. SALTET, Les faux d'Adémar de Chabannes: Prétendues décisions sur Saint Mar-
tial au concile de Bourges du 1" novembre 1031, in Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique,
27 (1926), p. 145-160.
22CALLAHAN, Sermons of Ademar ... (see note 6), p. 274, n. 4.
23 Conc. Lemov. II (ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 507-548). On this council see D. F.
CALLAHAN, Ademar of Chabannes, Apocalypticism and the Peace Council of Limoges of
1031, in Revue Bénédictine, 101 (1991), p. 32-49.
24 See e.g. ms. Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 95v_96r, found in PL 141, col. 122 D; for
the council, Conc. Lemov. II (ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 515-517).
25 PL 141, col. 122 C-123 A.
26/bid., col. 123 A; also ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 95'.
21 Conc. Lemov. II (ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 515 D). See also Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664,
f. 95' and 98' and Commemoratio abbatum S. Martialis, in Chroniques de Saint-Martial de
Limoges, ed. H. DUPLÈS-AGIER, Paris, 1874, p. 8.
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 389

At one particular moment in the proceedings Ademar has Abbot

Odolricus of Saint-Martial state that he had sent emissaries to Britain
to check to see if indeed in many volumes and litanies Martial was
recorded as an apostle2s. They were supposedly told by some monks
of Canterbury that from the time of Gregory the Great Martial was ·
held there as apostle. Abbot Odolricus refers to a book in golden
letters sent by Canute to Duke William the Great which also listed
Martial in the ranks of the apostles29. Francis Wormald many years
ago noted that at least in one litany in England, however in an
eleventh-century manuscript, Martial was listed among the apostles,
but that this probably resulted from the cordial relations between
Canute and the duke of Aquitaine3o.
Yet Ademar sought to supply more evidence of English backing,
and what more weighty authority from England could be found to
support the apostolicity of Martial than the words of the Venerable
Bede? Ademar's admiration for Bede was very great and he refers to
the Northumbrian's writings in a number of places in his manu-
scripts31. In his chronicle he inserts into his copy of the Royal Annals
the intellectual pedigree underlying the Carolingian Renaissance. He
tells us:
To the very emperor Rhabanus Magnentius (Maurus), monk and most
learned teacher of Alcuin, offered a very marvelous book on the theology of
the Roly Cross. For Bede taught Simplicius, and Simplicius Rhabanus, who
was received from transmarine shores by the Lord Emperor Charles and
made a bishop in Francia, taught Alcuin. And Alcuin imbued Smaragdus.
Smaragdus, however, taught Theodulf, the bishop of Orléans. Theodulf
Elias Scotigenus, the bishop of Angoulême; Elias, however, Heiricus. Hei-
ricus left Remigius and Ucbaldus the Bald, monks, the heirs of philosophy.
(Ademar of Chabannes, Chronique III, 5: ed. J. CHAVANON, Paris, 1897, p.
115-116)32.

The accuracy of this listing leaves something to be desired !

Bede's importance for Ademar is also evident in the fact that he
twice copied the Northumbrian's commentary on the Book of the

zsconc. Lemov. II (ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 521 A-522 C).

29/bid., col. 521 D~522
C. See also PL 141, col. 122 D.
30p_ WoRMALD, The English Saints in the Litany in Arundel MS 60, in AB, 64 (1946),
p. 84-86.
31 E.g. Ademar, Ep. de apostai. Mart. (PL 141, col. 98 A and 99 D); Cane. Lemov.
II (ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 512 E, 516 D and 518 E).
32 For a valuable comment on this material see M.G.H., Poet. Lat., t. 3, p.422, n. 2.
390 D. F. CALLAHAN

Apocalypse, first in the manuscript today in Leyden and later imme-

diately after his transcription of Bede's commentary on the Acts of the
Apocalypse in the ms. Berlin, Deutsche Staatbibl., Lat. 166433. The
commentary on the Book of the Apocalypse was of extraordinary
importance for the monk of Angoulême who was so filled with an
awareness of the proximity of the Last Judgment3 4 • But it will be his
insertions into the commentary on the Acts of the Apostles that will
be examined in the remainder of the article, additions that make up
what I consider the most elegant piece of forgery done by this inve-
terate falsifier, insertions that do not seem to have been noted by any
earlier scholars.
The standard edition of this commentary was done in the 1930's
by the eminent M. L. W. Laistner35. In the introduction to the text
Laistner noted that this work was completed soon after 709, making it
one of Bede's earlier scriptural commentaries36. Like his other wri-
tings in this genre, as George Hardin Brown has noted, this work
tends to progress verse by verse, so that the overall theme or view of a
large segment may be lost or obscured37. Yet this is precisely one of
the features of the work that allowed notes to be more readily inserted
and allowed Ademar to practice his craft more convincingly. Laistner
also lists the many manuscripts he consulted in preparing his edition.
Although he records the ms. Berlin, D. S., Lat. 1664, he indicates that
he did not see it38 . If he had, he would have been surprised to

33 Mss Leiden, Cod. Lat. Voss., oct. 15, f. 63•-79• and Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f.
17•-37'.
34 0n Ademar and apocalyptic fears see D. CALLAHAN, Ademar and Apocalypti-
cism ... (see note 23); lD., The Problem of the "Filioque" and the Letter /rom the Pilgrim
Monks of the Mount of Olives to Pope Leo III and Charlemagne. ls the Letter Another
Forgery by Ademar of Chabannes?, in Revue Bénédictine, 102 (1992), p. 75-134; Io.
Ademar of Chabannes, Millenial Fears and the Development of Western Anti-Judaism,
forthcoming in The Journal of Ecc/esiastical History; ID. The Manichaeans and the Anti-
christ in the Writings of Ademar of Chabannes: "The Terrors of the Years 1000» and the
Origins of Popular Heresy in the Medieval West, forthcoming; lD., When Heaven Came
Down to Earth: The Family of St. Martial of Limoges and the "Terrors of the Year 1000",
forthcoming.
3 s Bedae Venerabilis, Expositio Actuum Apostolorum.
Ed. M. L. W. LAISTNER
(=The Mediaeval Academy of America, Publication 35), Cambridge Mass., 1939, p. 2-90.
The Laistner text edition has been reprinted in the Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina,
vol. 121, Turnhout, 1983, p. 3-163.
36Cf. the Cambridge edition (see note 35), p. XIII-XVII.
37G. BROWN, Bede the Venerable, Boston, 1987, p. 44-46.
38 Cf. the Cambridge edition (see note 35), p. XXVIII-XXIX. Laistner identifies this
ms. by its former number, Berlin 93. This ms. is examined by V. RosE in Die Hand-
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 391

discover how significantly this copy <;liffered from the many that he
actually used.

ADEMAR'S INSERTIONS

This article will not examine the many marginal notations but
focus exclusively on the most important insertions in the body of the
work. There are at least fourteen substantial inserts (that is, a line or
more in length), with six in the first chapter alone, the large number
not surprising when one recalls that chapter one treats Christ's actions
before the Ascension, the Ascension itself and the replacement of
Judas as an apostle by Matthias.
1. A good example of Ademar's modus operandi is found in an
insertion into the commentary on verse eight of the initial chapter. In
his final instructions Christ tells his disciples that they will be
witnesses to him in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even
to the ends of the earth. Bede comments that the disciples will bring
the fame of the Gospel not only to Jerusalem, but all parts of Judea
and then to the neighboring people of Samaria et ad extremum novis-
simos quoque per circuitum mundi terminos39. This last phrase
triggers Ademar who here inserts, "For the approach of the disciples
as witnesses of Christ illumined India and Gaul at that time"40:
Superveniens, inquit, in vos spiritus sanctus nequaquam regnum lsrahel
sive regnum dei in lsrahel, ut putatis, adferet, sed vobis virtutem de me
testificandi praebebit; tantumque regni illius tempora longe sunt, ut prius
non solum hanc Hierosolymorum urbem, verum ornnes Iudaeae fines, dehinc
autem et proximae gentis Samariae et ad extremum novissimos quoque per
circuitum mundi terminos evangelii fama percurrat. Nam Indiam et Galliam
discipulorum testium Christi accessus inluminavit tempore ipso. (Ms.
Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 2v).

schriften der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, 12.: Verzeichnis der lateinischen Hand-
schriften /, 1893, p. 197-203. Michael Frassetto and I are editing Ademar's sermons in
this manuscript and in the ms. Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469 for publication in the Opera Ade-
mari for the Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina.
39Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. I, 8 (Cambridge edition, p. 8, 17-18; Turnhout re-
print, p. 8, 80-81).
40 Ademar's insertions will be presented here and subsequently in italics. The monk
of Angoulême often writes of Martial going to the ends of the earth, e.g. mss Berlin,
D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 69', 70', 80•, 95' and 102v, and Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 2', 4•, 27' and
76•. In ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 77• he specifically contrasts Bartolomew ih India
and Martial in Gau!.
392 D. F. CALLAHAN

2. Not surprisingly, the selection of Matthias as an apostle to

replace Judas would draw Ademar's attention. Verse fifteen of Acts
reads, "In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (there
was à gathering of about 120 persons known by name) ... "41. Ade-
mar here interjects, even before Bede's comment42, "Note that many
disciples outside of the first eleven saw the Ascension of the Lord and
received the arriva! of the Roly Spirit"43:
Nota quod plures discipuli extra XI primas viderunt ascensionem Domini
et habuerunt adventum Sancti Spiritus. Hi centum viginti ab uno usque ad
quindecim paulatim et per incrementa surgentes quindecim graduum nume-
rum efficiunt, qui propter utriusque legis perfectionem in psalterio mystice
continetur et in quo vas electionis apud Petrum Hierosolymis commoratur ...
(Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 3').

3. In the following verse Peter continues, "Brothers, that text had

to be fulfilled which the Roly Spirit foretold through the mouth of
David concerning Judas who acted as guide to those who arrested
Jesus"44. Bede goes on to discuss the perfection of the number
twelve45, to which Ademar adds, "Although not only the twelve
preached to the whole world, but also others who themselves bore the
office of apostleship, with the grace of the Lord bequeathing, and
attained to all the provinces of the orb":
In undenario numero Petrus apostolus remanere metuit; 'orime enim
peccatum undenarium est, quia dum perversa agit praecepta decalogi
transit' 1 • Unde quia nulla nostra iustitia perse innocens est, 'tabernaculum'
quod arcam domini continet intus 'undecim velis cilicinis desuper'I obve-
latur, numerumque apostolorum duodenarium redintegrat, ut per duas se-
narii2 partes - ter enim quaterni decus dipondius - gratiam quam verbo
praedicabant aeterno 3 numero servarent, ut qui mundo quadriformi fidem
sanctae trinitatis praedicaturi erant, domino dicente, 'ite docete omnes

41 Act. 1,15. Ali English translations of the Acts are drawn from The Acts of the
Apostles, trad. J. MUNCK, in The Anchor Bible, ed. W. F. ALBRIGHT - D. N. FREEDMAN,
New York, 1967.
42Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. 1, 15 (Cambridge edition, p. 11, 7-12; Turnhout
reprint, p. 11, 164-170).
43 Ademar returns often in the sermons to the theme of more than eleven witnessing
these events, e.g. mss Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 49', 50' and 56v, and Berlin, D.S., Lat., f.
73v,
44 Act. 1,16. The reference to the Psalms is explained in verse 20 where Ps. 69
(68), 26 and 109 (108), 8 are cited.
45Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. 1, 16 (Cambridge edition, p. 11, 15-24; Turnhout
reprint, p. 11, 171-12, 184).
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 393

gentes baptizantes eos in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti'4, iam

operis perfectionem numeri quoque sacramento firmarent. Licet non soli
XII toto mundo predicaverint, sed etiam alii qui cum ipsiferant apostolatus
officium Domini gratia largiente per quasque orbis provintias indepti sunt.
Iuxta altiorem autem intellectum damnum ecclesiae, quod in falsis fratribus
patitur ... (Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 3r).
N.B.: 1 GREG. MAGN., Mor. 33, 15, 27 (= CCL 143B, p. 1650); 2 septenarii
cod.; 3 +et cum cod.; 4 Matth. 28,19.
4. Peter then continues to preach about the necessity of replacing
Judas who as a reward for his iniquity used the pieces of silver to buy
a field where he poured forth his blood and perished. Peter cites two
quotations from the Book of Psalms which foresaw these events. The
latter, Ps. 109 (108),8 States, "Another shall have his work of over-
seeing (eius episcopatum)"46. Ademar here inserts, again before
Bede's comments47, "let it be noted that the psalmist calls apostolatum
episcopatum ":
Notandum quia apostolatum psalmista episcopatum appellat. Plani qui-
dem sunt isti versiculi et palam beato Petro interpretante expositi. .. (Ms.
Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 3r).

The monk of Angoulême does this to stress the looseness in the use
of terms in the early Church, a means of preparing his readers for a
stretching of the word "apostle".
S. At the conclusion of Bede's comment to this verse, 1, 20, a
long consideration of the just punishment of Judas and the appro-
priateness of the elevation of Matthias to the apostleship, an action
which restored the apostolic perfection4s, Ademar adds his own note,
"lt is necessary, therefore, that they be from those men who have been
gathered with us at all times by which the Lord Jesus entered and
exited among us. Let it be noted that beyond the twelve many other
men were with the Lord in the flesh, who saw his deeds and were
instructed by him. They became with us witnesses of his resurrection.
Let it be known that who are witnesses of the Resurrection of the
Lord were from those who were with the Lord in the flesh and have
the grace of apostleship":

46 Act. 1,20.
4 7 Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. 1, 20 (Cambridge edition, p. 12, 23 sq.; Turnhout
reprint p. 13, 211 sq.)
48/bid. (Cambridge cdition, p. 13, 1-19; Turnhout reprint, p. 13, 222-14, 241).
394 D. F. CALLAHAN

... Haec enim quae dixi non solum Hebraica veritas et emendatior sep-
tuaginta interpretum editio, verum aperta quoque ratio comprobat, cum in
eodem centesimo octavo psalmo exceptis his versiculis triginta sint male-
dictiones in Iudam Scariothen inlatae iuxta numerum argenteorum quibus
dominum vendere non timuit; quarum prima haec est 'constitue super eum
peccatorem' (v. 6) extrema vero haec, 'et operiantur sicut diploïde confu-
sione sua' (v. 29). Oportet ergo ex his viris qui nobiscum sunt congregati in
omni tempore quo intravit et exivit inter nos Dominus Jesus. Nota quod ex-
ceptis XII, alii plures viri cum domino in carne fuerunt qui eius Jacta
viderunt et ab eo instructi sunt. Testes resurrectionis eius nobiscum fieri.
Nota quia qui testes resurrectionis domini ex eis qui cum domino in carne
fuerant extiterunt, apostolatus gratiam habuerunt. (Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat.
1664, f. 3v).

This particular theme is one Ademar repeated again and again in the
sermons49.
6. The twenty-sixth, and last, verse of chapter one states, "And
they drew lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and thereafter he was
numbered with the eleven apostles". Bede in his commentary traces
the custom of the drawing of lots in the Old Testamentso. Matthias
was selected before Pentecost, after which determination would be
consensus through the Spirit and by the imposition of hands, and not
the drawing of lots. Ademar here inserts, "And he was numbered
with the eleven apostles and joined with the first more worthy
apostles, he who was an apostle from the lesser apostles. For Barsa-
bas, afterwards called Judas, was named, as Jerome said, an apostle by
the apostles, although he was not from the twelve. [He was] from
their number who had accepted provinces for preaching, although he
was not from the twelve, nevertheless they are rightfully honored by
the name of apostle.":
... Quod si qui necessitate aliqua compulsi deum putent sortibus exemplo
apostolorum esse consulendum, videant hoc ipsos apostolos non nisi collecto
fratrum coetu et precibus ad deum fusis egisse. Et annumeratus est cum XI
apostolis, et nota quod cum primis iunctus est dignioribus qui apostolus de
minoribus apostolis erat. Nam idem Barsabas postea vocatus Judas, nomi-
natus est ut Hieronimus ait ab apostolis apostolus licet non esset de XII. De
eorum numero qui provintias in sortem predicationis acceperunt, licet non

49 The ideas are drawn from the first two chapters

of the Vita prolixior (ed. SuRrus,
t. 6, p. 365) and repeated and amplified in the sermons, e.g. Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 2sv,
54v_55r and 93v.
soBed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. 1, 26 (Cambridge edition, p. 13, l. 26 - p. 14, l. 17;
Turnhout reprint, p. 14, 248-15, 270).
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 395

essent de XII, tamen apostoli nomine iure honorati sunt. (Ms. Berlin, D.S.,
Lat. 1664, f. 3v).

Rere again the eleventh-century monk is stretching the meaning of the

word "apostle" and also seeking patristic authority to support him.
7. Act. 2,3, on Pentecost, reads, "There appeared to them tongues,
like tongues of flame, distributed so that a tongue settled upon each of
them". After a brief statement by Bede5I, Ademar inserts, "And let it
be noted that the grace of the Roly Spirit was shed not over only the
twelve but also over the other disciples over each of whom it settled ...
And all were filled by the Roly Spirit. Above, indeed, it states that
120 were in the dining room"52:
Quod sedisse supra apostolos dicitur regiae est potestatis indicium vel
cette quia requies eius indicatur in sanctis. Et nota quod gratia Spiritus
Sancti non super solos XII, sed etiam super alios discipulos effusa est, supra
quos singulos sedit... Et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto. Superius vero
dictum est quia CXX in ipso erant coenaculo. (ibid., f. 4r).
In this fashion Ademar widens his scope considerably.
8. The monk of Angoulême continues the theme in his insertion
into Bede's comments on verse seventeen of the same chapter. This
verse, part of Peter's Pentecostal sermon, cites the prophet Joel (2,28)
in order to explain the speaking in tongues. "And it shall happen in
the last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit upon àll flesh, so
that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, so that your young
men shall see visions, so that your old men shall dream dreams". Into
Bede's note on the idea that your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
Ademar inserts, "Others were with the first twelve apostles, workers in
preaching with them, as Stephen and Philip the Levites and others
who went to the nations in the office of apostleship"53 .
. . . Quae sit enim omnis caro propheta consequentur exposuit, 'et prophe-
tabunt', inquiens, 'filii vestri et filiae vestrae', et ceteral. Quod autem
supra dicitur stare Petrum cum XI et locutum esse Judeis, nota quia XII
apostoli velut primi predicationem exorsi sunt. Caeterum alii qui cum eis
erant in predicatione eis extiterunt cooperatores, sicut Stephanus et Phi-
lippus levitae et nonnulli alii qui transmigraverunt ad gentes in officium

s1 Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. II, 3 (Cambridge edition, p. 16, 2-3; Turnhout re-
print, p. 16, 52-54).
s2The image is repeated in ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 1oov.
S3Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostai. II, 17 (Cambridge edition, p. 18, 4-6; Turnhout
reprint, p. 19, 120-121).
396 D. F. CALLAHAN

apostolatus. Et 'dabo prodigia in caelo sursum et signa in terra deorsum' 2 ...

(Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 4r).
N.B.: t Joel 2,28; 2 Joel 2,30.

9-11. The next three insertions are found in Bede's treatment of

Act. 8,13-14, verses which are concerned with the baptism of Simon
Magus by Philip the Deacon in Samaria. Bede's comment on verse
thirteen be gins, "Vel beati Philippi. .. "54, to which Ademar adds, "Who
was not one of the twelve apostles, but of the seven deacons"55:
Vel beati Philippi, qui unus erat non.de XII apostolis, sed de septem diaco-
nibus huius, verbi et virtute devictus veraciter domino credidit. .. (ibid.,f. 7r).
On verse fourteen, which indicates that Peter and John were sent from
J erusalem to assist Philip, Bede writes: "Let it be noted that Philip,
who evangelized, Samaria, was one of the seven; if he were an
apostle ... "56 and Ademar continues, "This is consecrated to the priest-
hood with the office of preaching"57. Bede resumes " ... he certainly
could impose hands that they would receive the Roly Spirit. 'For this
belongs to bishops alone"5s. Here Ademar interjects, "Bishops who
were from those disciples who .had followed the Lord in the flesh
were then apostles"59,
Notandum autem quod Philippus qui Samariae evangelizabat unus de
septem fuerit; si enim apostolus esset, hoc est sacerdotio consecratus cum
officia predicationis, ipse utique manum imponere potuisset ut acciperent
spiritum sanctum. 'Hoc enim salis pontificibus debetur'l. Pontifices qui de
illis discipulis qui dominum in carne secuti fuerant extiterant apostoli tune
erant. Nam presbyteris sive extra episcopum seu praesente episcopo cum
baptizant chrismate baptizatos ungere licet ... (ibid., f. 7r).
N.B.: 1 Citation from Innocent I, Letter to Decentius (PL 20, col. 554B).

12. The events following the conversion of St: Paul supply the
material for the next insertion. To verse 9,25, which states, "But the
disciples took him [Paul] by night and lowered him over the city wall
54 Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. VIII, 13 (Cambridge edition, p. 36, 29 sq.; Turn-
hout reprint, p. 39, 8 sq.).
55Elsewhere in Ademar's writings he repeats this material, e.g. mss Paris, B.N.,
Lat. 2469, f. 94v_95r and Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 1or-v.
56 Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. VIII, 14 (Cambridge edition, p. 37, 9-10; Turn-
hout reprint, p. 39, 20-21).
5? See also ms. Paris, BN., Lat. 2469, f. 3', 44v, 46v and 62v for the same idea.
58Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. VIII, 14 (Cambridge edition, p. 37, 10-12; Turn-
hout reprint, p. 39, 21-23).
59 See also ms. Paris, B .N., Lat. 2469, f. 46v for the same idea.
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 397

in a basket", Bede comments, "That is, disciples of Christ; for in

Greek the 'eius' is not added but only disciples is found, as generally
they are understood to be of Christ or of the Church"6o. Here Ademar
inserts, "For who now are called Christians then were called
disciples" 61 :
id est, discipuli Christi; in Graeco enim non est additum 'eius', sed tan-
tummodo discipuli, ut generaliter Christi vel ecclesiae intellegantur. Qui
enim nunc dicuntur christiani, tune adhuc vocabantur discipuli. Nondum
enim Paulus discipulos fecisse legitur. .. (Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. Sr).

Here again is an example of his trying to show the imprecision in the

use of terminology in the early Church.
13. The tenth chapter, which treats the baptism of the centurion
Cornelius, contains the next insertion. It is a comment on St. Peter's
vision of a great cloth descending from heaven which had on it all
kinds of unclean animais. A voice from heaven came to Peter three
times telling him to kill and eat, for what was unclean is now ritually
pure. Bede explaining why the voice spoke three times states, "Since
through the four parts of the orb of the earth the mystery of the Holy
Trinity must be preached by the twelve apostles ... "62, Ademar then
appends, " ... although certain others outside of the twelve apostles
ministered the office of apostleship throughout distinct provinces of
the earth"63 :
Quia per quattuor partes orbis terrarum mysterium sanctae trinitatis a
duodecim apostolis praedicandum erat, licet quidam extra XII apostoli alii
apostolatus officium per provintias orbis ceteras ministraverant. Ideo
quattuor lineae tertia vice de caelo demissae sunt ... (ibid., f. 9r).

14. Having brought his readers to this point, what was only
needed now was to insert the name of Martial into Bede's commen-
tary. This Ade.mar achieved in his final addition, that is to the last
verse of Act. 28,31. This verse states, "So he [Paul] preached the
kingdom of God, and taught the Lord Jesus Christ, publicly and

60 Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. IX, 25 (Cambridge edition, p. 42, 11-13; Turnhout
reprint, p. 45, 35-37).
61 In a sermon in Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 28•, the same idea is presented in the
context of the imprecision in terminology in the early Church.
62Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol. X,. 16 (Cambridge edition, p. 48, 4-6; Turnhout
reprint, p. 51, 84-86).
63 See also Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 8 lr for a devel-0pment of the idea of 72
apostles for 72 gentes.
398 D. F. CALLAHAN

without hindrance". What triggered Ademar was likely Bede's com-

ment, " ... as he [St. Paul] said to the Romans, 'Now 1 shall go to Je-
rusalem to minister to the saints' (Rom.15,25) and a little later,
'Therefore, when I have finished this, 1 will corne by you into Spain.'
(Rom. 15,28)"64. It was the reference to Spain that served as Ademar's
eue. "For it is certain that there was sent with the office of apostleship
into Gaul at the very time of Claudius, when Peter came to Rome, a
certain individual from the disciples from the tribe of Benjamin, one
Martial, whose name nevertheless was not expressed by the evange-
lists, although he made all Aquitaine illustrious by the gospel of
Christ":
... sicut ipse Romanis ait: 'nunc igitur proficiscar in Hierusalem minis-
trare sanctis'; et paulo post: 'hoc igitur cum consummavero proficiscar per
vos in Hispaniam'. Nam in Galliam certum est in ipso tempore Claudii ad-
veniente Petro Romam, missus esse in officium apostolatus quendam de
discipulis ex tribu Beniamin Martialem, cuius tamen nomen in evangelistis
non expremitur, quia omnem Aquitaniam claram fecit evangelio Christi.
Postea vero, id est ultimo Neronis anno, retentus ab eo martyrio coronatus
est ... (Ms. Berlin, D.S., Lat. 1664, f. 15v).

CONCLUSION

To have Bede support the apostolicity of Martial quite clearly

would give much strength to the campaign. The means, moreover,
whereby this support was given would not have been as blatantly
obvious to Benedict of Chiusa or other opponents of the apostolicity
as the papal letter or the falsifying of the proceedings of the council of
Limoges of 1031 because the insertions are carefully inserted with
much craft and there is but one reference to St. Martial. To the mo-
dern historian, however, they once again underline the caution and
scepticism one must have in approaching any of Ademar's writings.
His is a warped window on a world of rapid change.
In an article published recently in the Revue Bénédictine on
another likely Ademar forgery, the letter from the pilgrim monks of
the Mount of Olives to Pope Leo III and Charlemagne on the issue of

64Bed. Ven., Expos. Act. Apostol.XXVIII, 31 (Cambridge edition, p. 90, 9-15; Turn-
hout reprint, p. 99, 78-85). I will return to Ademar's interest in Paul's joumey to Jeru-
salem in a forthcoming article.
 ADEMAR OF CHABANNES 399

the Filioque, I cited the following passage from Marc Bloch's Feudal
Society in raising the question of intentionality:
« ... that so many spurious productions should have been executed in these
times and that so many pious and indisputably highminded persons should
have had a hand in such dealings, although they were expressly condernned
by the law and morality of the age - the psychological implications of these
things are well worth pondering. By a curious paradox, through the very fact
of their respect for the past, people came to reconstruct it as they consi-
dered it ought to have been.>> (M. BLOCH, Feudal Society, transl. L. A. MA-
NYON, Chicago, 1961, p. 92).

The same cavalier attitude toward truth has sometimes also been
charged to another important eleventh-century monastic historian, Ro-
dulfus Glaber. Geo.rges Duby in The Three Orders has commented
on the lack of reliability of the writings of G laber in the reconstruction
of the past in this fashion:
«He was an excellent observer - to my mind the best we have - of a
world in which the old order, from top to bottom, was tottering dangerously.
To be candid, his reputation is bad; besides his overripe Latin, positivist
history has held against him his tendency to distort the 'truth'. Quite
recently, R. H. Bautier has rightly shown how he manipulated the inf01;ma-
tion he had received concerning the Orleans heresy. Of course he distorted.
That is precisely what interests me in his case. He is worth looking at be-
cause he gathered rumors from various sources and combined them into a
powerful protrait of the whole.» (G. DUBY, The Three Orders: Feudal So-
cietylmagined, transl. A. GoLDHAMMER, Chicago, 1980, p. 192)65.
1 think a very similar argument can be made for the writings of
Ademar. Of course he falsifies. It seems very likely that no matter
how much he protests his innocence and asks God to be the judge of
his intentions he knew that Martial was not a first-century missio-
nary66. Ademar knew enough about the early history of the Church

65The reference to R. H. BAUTIER is to L'hérésie d'Orléans et le mouvement

intellectuel au début du x1• siècle: documents et hypothèses, in Actes du 95• congrès
national des sociétés savantes, Reims, 1970, p. 63-88.
66Jn a number of places in his writings Ademar proclaims his good intentions in
promoting the apostolicity of St. Martial. One of the best examples appears in the letter
against Benedict of Chiusa (Ademar, Ep. de apostai. Mart. [PL 141, col. 106 C-107 C]) in
which he declares that if be a false witness to St. Martial, God may strike him dead. His
innocence is attested by his continuing to live! The episode also includes references to
standing before Christ in the presence of St. Martial at the Last Judgment and asking for
eternal damnation if his witness to Martial's apostolicity is false. The last idea also
appears in a sermon in Paris, B.N., Lat. 2469, f. 74v_75v when Ademar states that Christ
will be Ùle judge of Ùle intentions in our hearts on Judgment Day. He further proclaims in
400 D. F. CALLAHAN

in Gaul, and especially in Limoges, to cause the reader to be highly

dubious about these protestations67 • He was very much aware that the
Carolingian Vita was very different from that attributed to Aurelian68 .
One of the features that makes the over 1000 folios of Ademar so
fascinating is how large a percentage of them was given over to
orchestrating the campaign and responding to the charges of his chief
critics. Moreover, he often used their very charges to produce the do-
cuments necessary to meet the challenges. He was an artist, a master
of the monastic scriptorium, who used his many skills in liturgical,
historical and homiletic writing to produce an immense canvas in the
service of his patron saint.
That he ultimately was not fully successful is well known. But as
H. Fichtenau has pointed out, the effort itself was quite breathtaking69.
Should Ademar and his fellow monks have succeded, they would
have created Limoges as the primary see of Gaul, and the monastery
of Saint-Martial the likely head of a great congregation of monasteries
comparable to that of Cluny. That they failed is acknowledged in the
medieval tag for Limoges - Limoges the mother of lies.

University of Delaware, Newark Daniel F. CALLAHAN

Résumé. Dans sa tentative de prouver, vers 1030, l'apostolicité de S. Mar-

tial de Limoges, Adhémar de Chabannes a pratiqué un certain nombre d'in-
sertions dans l'Expositio Actuum Apostolorum de Bède, visant à démontrer la
conscience qu'avait ce dernier des activités de S. Martial au J•r siècle et à
assurer de la sorte son immense autorité.

this piece that he is correcting the writings which call Martial a confessor and his aposto-
licity in order to proclaim truth.
67 One way of gauging this knowledge is to examine his references to those other
third-century bishops, Denis and Sernin, who are listed by Gregory of Tours as being sent
as missionaries to Gau! with St. Martial. He refers to them in the letter'against Benedict
of Chiusa (Ademar, Ep. de apostol. Mart. [PL 141, col. 99 C-D]), but a much more
telling scrutiny appears in his account of the Council of Limoges of 1031 (Conc. Lemov.
Il [ed. MANS!, t. 19, col. 518-519]) where he raises questions about the apostolic origins
of the pair. He demonstrates through use of source material and references to chronology
that their missionary activity was in the third century. What yet is to be determined is the
extent of his knowledge of the writings of Gregory of Tours.
68 It is clear from references in the letter, esp. col. 95, that Ademar was very much
aware of at least the essential contents of the Carolingian Vita (BHL 5551) and of the
discrepancies with the Vita prolixior (BHL 5552).
69FICHTENAU, Living ... _(see note 1), p. 15.