The Representation of Sacred Royalty in the codices of Charles the Bald and the Furtherance of Romanness in the Late Carolingian Age

The themes of Romanness and sacred royalty are here investigated by examining the visual and verbal rhetoric that characterizes the decorative and versifying programmes of some of the most lavish liturgical codices dedicated to King Charles the Bald. In particular, the study calls attention to the possible identification of John Scottus Eriugena as the author of the verses in the Bible of San Paolo fuori le mura. Besides showing how Eriugena enriched the traditional theme of sacred royalty with sapiential, philosophical, and cosmological motifs, the study highlights the Irish thinker's centrality in the strategy to promote the image of Charles in supporting the Frankish king's candidacy for the imperial crown. As part of this strategy, the gift of the San Paolo Bible to the pope, possibly on the occasion of Charles the Bald's coronation in Rome in 875, entailed the success of the rhetoric of Romanness and sacred royalty promoted by late Carolingian culture into the same religious and historical centre that inspired those rhetorical themes.