Gemalter Kranz – Versammelte Heiligkeit : Zur Sammeldichtung De triumphis Christi des Flodoard von Reims

Smolak, Kurt (2025) Gemalter Kranz – Versammelte Heiligkeit : Zur Sammeldichtung De triumphis Christi des Flodoard von Reims. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 65 (2). pp. 153-185. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

Working from the biblical concept of a linear history of salvation aiming at a final order that would separate good and evil, Christianity – continuing Jewish apocalyptic tradition and shaped by the persecutions of the early centuries – developed a concept of holiness as the ‘triumphant’ struggle of Christ’s ‘soldiers’ against ‘evil’ forces, analogous to Christ’s triumph over death. In keeping with its universal orientation, the Christian understanding of individual holiness tends to group ‘holy’ persons into a collective according to varied criteria. Numerous examples of this can be found in the visual arts and literature from Late Antiquity onwards. Of these, the present study analyzes the ‘collective epic’ De triumphis Christi eiusque sanctorum by Flodoard of Reims (first half of the tenth century) using selected passages with attention to the following features: (1) comparison of collective holiness in mosaic art and poetry; (2) Flodoard’s triumphi and the Latin epic tradition’s treatment of verse forms, narratology, and purpose; (3) connections to Latin biblical epic and collective hagiographic poetry: Sedulius, Aldhelm, Prudentius’ Peristephanon / De coronis.

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