Comparing scholarship from Baker, Nicholson, and Meyer
Saint Alban was a British man living sometime prior to the year 430 AD. Very little is known about him, however, at some point he harbored a Christian priest who had fled the persecutions in the continental Roman Empire. Alban, or Albanus in the Latin, hid this priest, and the authorities arrested and executed him in place of the Christian. A memorial for his martyrdom was in place as early as the aforementioned date. Throughout the Middle Ages, Alban’s story became increasingly mystical. This paper follows one elaboration of Alban’s story. This elaboration is the translation of Alban’s relics to Germany. Scholarship has infrequently touched upon this aspect of Alban’s story, and a comprehensive understanding is nonexistent in modern research. In fact, historians have not explained the abundance of medieval Albans in Germany since Jesuits Nicolaus Serarius and Herman Crombach in the 1600s. Therefore, this paper will foster a better understanding of Alban’s story in Germany, and thence create space for clearer questioning and research avenues in the future.
Saint Alban was widely unknown after his martyrdom in the early third century[1] until Saint Germanus came to visit England. Saint Germanus (known for his ability to discern holiness and holy sites), discovered the shrine of Saint Alban and learned about his martyrdom from the locals. He decided to take some of the relics back with him to Ravenna. One may attribute Saint Alban’s initial mystery and lack of influence in England to a variety of factors. Christianity, for example, arrived in England much later than its initial spread in the first and second century anno domini. When Christianity had taken root, England was still religiously diverse, and the Pelagian heresy spawned. Saint Germanus purportedly travelled to England to combat this very heresy. He likely utilized the martyred Alban to cultivate original and orthodox Christian doctrine in the region.
After Germnaus’ death, the relics, whatever they may have been, were taken by the Empress Placidia to Rome. These remained in Rome for at least 500 years without any historical reference to them.[2] The Italian peninsula was a hub for saintly objects. Alban’s relics, far away from their homeland, were likely ignored in storage. Between the years 980 and 989, however, Theophania, the mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Otho III, visited Pope Gregory V in Rome. She received, as a gift, various relics, among which was a reliquary containing Alban’s remains.[3] Two important legends arose from this translation. Firstly, a tract printed in Cologne in 1502 reads, “De Incliti et Gloriosi Proto-Martyris Anglie Albani, quern in Germania et Gallia Albinum vacant, Conversione Passione Translatione et Miraculorum Coruscatione.”[4] This tract records that the horse, carrying the relics, stumbled and fell off a cliff, near Octodurus in Alpibus, the present day Martigny in Switzerland. The fall harmed neither Alban’s relics nor reliquary. A nearby church subsequently celebrated this event with an annual festival.[5] Secondly, continuing on the way to Cologne, the caravan carrying the relics traveled through Mayence, where veneration to another Saint Alban already existed. The church here had been established by Charlemagne to venerate the martyrdom of Saint Alban of Naxos, Greece.[6] Furthermore, there exists a small church in Cologne dedicated to this same Alban. Theophania deposited the relics in the Church of Saint Pantaleon where they remain to this day.
This translation presents some complication when tracking Saint Alban. Firstly, there is the Alban of England, then the relics of Alban that existed in Rome and traveled to Cologne, and then, thirdly, Charlemagne’s Alban. The bishop Willegisus of Cologne understood this challenge and advocated to change the name of Alban of England to Albinus. Hence why there is an Albinus of Cologne, who is the same as Alban of England. Nicolaus Serarius, a Jesuit in Cologne, composed an history, the “Moguntiarum Rerum libri quinque, 1604,” which further explores this distinction.[7] Hermannus Crombach soon later wrote the Ursula Vindicata in 1647 which included an explanation for the connection between the Alban in England and Cologne after British monks had denied the relationship. This denial caused the Abbot of Saint Pantaleon to examine the relics, and, furthermore, caused the relics to be described in detail for the first time. He reported that there were bones of the upper half of the torso, claiming also that the lower half of Alban remained in England.
Henry Nicholson, the rector of Saint Albans, excellently provides this history in his speech to the Architectural and Archaeological Society in 1850. He relies on Serarius, Crombach, historical records from the Church of Saint Pantaleon, and an “Oegidius Galenius, who published a work in 1645, De Coloniae Agrippinae Magnitudine.” This author provided a transcript of a document entitled Diploma Elevationis Sancti Albani, issued by the Abbot Theodorus in the year 1330, and dated in Vigilia Pentecostes.[8]
Unfortunately, this paper is unable to examine these texts. The Acta Sanctorum, the massive catholic textual database for all canonized saint’s lives records Crombach’s account of the Translatio Albani, the story of how Alban’s relics arrived in Cologne. The Acta Sanctorum entry for Saint Alban also utilizes Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. This presents Germanus’ translatio of the relics from England to Rome, however, Bede states that Germanus only took a pile of blood-stained dust from Alban’s tomb, nothing more. Scholars have discussed and researched this aspect of Alban’s life in greater detail. In fact, Wilhelm Meyer laid the groundwork for modern research on Alban’s earliest references. He studies three texts, T, E, and P, showing them to be closely related. Importantly, these texts are the main sources for the first major hagiographical expositions on Saint Alban, offered by Gildas and Bede. The argument stands that T was the earliest text, dating between 515 and 545.[9] E appears to be an intermediary text between T and P, the text likely used as a source for Bede.[10] These original texts contain less fluff than the later expounders Gildas, Bede, and even later monastic author William[11] and Matthew Paris. These texts are essential for understanding the evolution of Alban’s hagiography, however, for the purposes of this paper they make plain one important fact. These texts all describe the relics that Germanus took as dust. Bede words it as, “massam pulveris secam portataras abstulit.”[12] Meyer phrases it as, “um Etwas blutiger Erde mit sich zu nehmen.”[13] In fact, as to the specifics of the relics, no detail is made by German authors until the 1180s and then the 1300s, as mentioned. Abbot Theodorus of Cologne describes the relics as consisting of the upper half of the body, wrapped in a cloth. In 1502, the relics of Saint Albanus (Albinus) had produced enough influence upon the community that a new reliquary was created to better house the relics. Furthermore, the De Incliti et Gloriosi Proto-Martyris Anglie Albani, quem in Germania et Gallia Albinum vocant, Conversione Passione Translatione et Miraculorum Coruscatione, was written for King Henry VII of England to show that Saint Albanus was well taken care of in Cologne.[14] Interestingly, there has been some speculation that Alban’s relics in Cologne arrived due to the dissolution of the British monasteries under King Henry VIII. For instance, Saint Alban’s Abbey in England was dissolved in 1539, and it is plausible that some relics were smuggled to the continent. In the 1950s a hip bone was sent from Cologne to England, and then in 2002 a scapula was also sent, showing a retrieval of some of Saint Alban’s relics back to England.
Reflecting upon this, one should wonder about the legitimacy of the relics in Germany. Taking a step further, one may wonder about the legitimacy of Alban as a real person. Modern scholars have all hinted at this possibility. Wilhelm Levison makes an interesting comparison between the ancient Roman city of Verulamium, near to where the modern Saint Albans now exists, and the German city of Bonn. His proposed symmetry is merely poetic, showing that the two cities developed with striking similarities. There may be more substance to this connection, however, in a broader sense. The Northwest Rhine-Westphalia maintained close connections with churches in England throughout the Middle Ages. Cologne, in particular, was a hotspot for saint relics and miracles.[15] The reputation of Cologne allowed for relics from all over Europe to accumulate there. Thus, it was not unusual for Alban’s relics to reside there. The English accepted this by the time of King Henry VIII.
Despite the connection, German historians produced works relatively isolated from their British counterparts. Miracles associated with Alban in England were different than those in Germany, and, moreover, historians had no need to make reference to historians overseas since histories were often region specific. No historian or hagiographer after Matthew Paris sought to relate Alban’s original story. Narratives after this point explained the connection between Cologne and Saint Albans or the miracle workings of Alban’s relics in their respective locations. Historians Henry Nicholson and, to some extent, Wilhelm Meyer, are the main initial authorities that bring to the light the medieval historians in Germany that reference Saint Alban. Nicholson and Meyer wrote over one hundred years ago. Lily Hawker-Yates, more recently, alludes to the complexity of the medieval history of Saint Alban, saying,
“It was not only Ely [a British church] who claimed to have the bones of St Alban; the church of St Pantaleon in Köln also believed that the relics had been brought there in the tenth century from Rome by the Empress Theophano. Meanwhile the king of Denmark asserted that the relics had been stolen from Ely by King Svein Estridsson in 1070 and taken to a church in Odense, Denmark, which was then dedicated to St Alban. By the mid-twelfth century all four sites were claiming they had the relics. St Albans Abbey on the other hand did not have any other relics with which to attract pilgrims.”[16]
Eric Baker in 1937 offers the best study of Alban in Cologne. Baker even posits that Alban is merely an invented figure in Germany, saying, “The English St. Alban was already well known through the writings of Bede, and it is not impossible that his cult had been widely diffused by the English missionaries in central and western Germany. His name differed by one letter only from that of the Roman martyr, so that it would not be difficult to identify the two by an ingenious manipulation of the story of St. German’s visit to Britain.”[17] Baker concludes that the Alban in England became conflated with the Albinus in Mainz. He, therefore, believes that Alban’s relics in Germany are not those of the Alban in England. Baker transcribes an appendix written in 1502 by John Hertford which lengthily provides the explanation for the translation of Alban’s full relics to Cologne. Baker introduces the transcription with, “In narrating the visit of St. German to the martyr’s tomb Lydgate [the original author] had not failed to relate, quite correctly, that he had carried off with him to France a portion of ‘the powder rubified with bloode,’ the ‘massam pulveris’ of Bede. The editor of 1534 was, therefore, resolved to explode the whole story of the translation of the relics to Italy, and to reply point by point to the Cologne treatise of 1502.”[18] This explosion criticizes the German narrative that Theophania had received the relics, saying
“They say also that the body is yet incorrupt
From the thyes upwarde, they have in possession
Whiche saiynge me semeth of trouthe be interrupte
Onles they wyll graunt any unsemyng division
Of a corporal! body to be cut in pertision
Yet I can not knowe what parte they shulde have.”[19]
Baker largely continues with an examination of the variety of art associated with Alban all throughout northwestern Germany. To further elaborate on his opinion that Alban in Cologne is a conflation with the Albinus of Mainz, he offers a parallel to Saint Leonard, where monks had purposefully concocted a Saint Leotard in place of Saint Leonard.[20]
Baker presents a solid case, and his work is consistently referenced as the major opinion for Saint Alban in Germany. He shows how wide-reaching the cult of Saint Alban was in Germany, and he argues that this cult of Saint Alban is distinctly misrepresentative of the original Alban. Wilhelm Meyer believed that Germanus only brought blood-stained earth to the continent, and that he likely deposited the earth in Auxerre, saying “auch eine Basilika hat er in seiner Heimath dem h. Albanus geweiht und dort wohl jene blutige Erde untergebracht.”[21] Nicholson tells us that the story of Germanus taking relics to Ravenna comes from the authors of the Vita Germani and that the story of their travel to Cologne come from Crombach, Serarius, and Galienus who relied on earlier manuscripts. Baker, however, relates that the relics arrived in Ravenna and then later to Rome and Cologne borne only initially by the writing of a twelfth-century writer.[22] Baker does not doubt that the bones came from Rome, however, since Rome’s catacombs were full of bodies mistakenly believed to have been martyrs. Baker, further, notes that the practice of removing bones as relics was extremely uncommon before the seventh century. Rather, it would only have been acceptable for Saint Germanus to take a small sample like a cloth or dust. It is believable that Germanus took some sort of relic, however, the likelihood that this relic was the upper half of Alban’s body is very low. Alban’s relics were later translated within England as Levison records; however, it is unclear what the remains were exactly. Regardless, Baker substantively dismisses the story that the Alban of England travelled from England to Auxerre, to Ravenna, to Rome, and then, finally, to Cologne.
Despite this dismissal, the Church of Saint Pantaleon has relinquished several relics, as mentioned, back to England within the last century. This shows ecclesial recognition of the connection between Saint Albans and Cologne. Perhaps these relics arrived during the dissolution of churches in England and were misconstrued by church rectors during the continental revolutions of the Enlightenment period. This is unlikely; however, it is noteworthy that the Church (including the authoritative Acta Sanctorum) has not dismissed the complex story of Alban’s translation to Cologne. Perhaps, one day, the Cathedral at Saint Albans may conduct a DNA test upon the relics. At the very least, the reunification of the relics further mystifies Alban’s complex history.
Several modern authors have focused on the possible etymology of Alban’s name, relating it to Albion, an ancient name for the geographical region of England, or albus, the Latin word meaning “white.” Some even posit that Alban’s name reflects his status as a British man rather than his nomen. This, however, would not adequately explain the Albans of Angers, Mainz, or Naxos who existed on continental Europe and who all have saint days near to Alban of England. It may be possible that Saint Germanus invented Alban as a much-needed martyr for a conflicted Late Antique Christian society in Britain. What many academics have missed, however, is the expansion of Saint Alban’s cult in mainland Europe. Scholarship that focuses on Alban in England would benefit from understanding how he was venerated in Germany. The evolution of continental Alban, as shown only by Nicholson and Baker, is now relatively outdated and largely neglected by modern researchers who have shifted their focus to the etymology and the original texts sourced by Bede and Gildas. Baker’s research deserves more work. In fact, scholarship on Alban may benefit greatly from a more robust and substantive analysis of German historians. The texts of Crombach, Serarius, and Galienus rely on manuscripts that are primarily undocumented. Baker, for example, refers to the earliest text only as coming from an author with fine miniscule hand in the twelfth century.[23] An English account of the Acta Sanctorum entry on Alban will also assist modern research.
Saint Alban’s cult exists throughout all of Europe, yet, despite this wide regional spread, he remains mysterious. Scholars consistently dance around the idea that Alban is a fictive saint. Perhaps the reality of his existence will remain unproven, however, there is plenty of room available for more research, specifically with regards to his presence in Cologne, and for commentary on the Acta Sanctorum.
Citations
[1] Henry Nicholson gives the date of 303 AD during the time of the persecution under Diocletian.
[2] Henry Nicholson, “St Albans,” Architectural and Archaeological Society, (1850), 200.
[3] Ibid 199.
[4] Ibid 201.
[5] This story is only reported by Nicholson, 199.
[6] This may also be the Saint Albinus of Angers.
[7] Nicholson cites this, as well as other authors, however, there is no available manuscript.
[8] Nicholson, “St Albans,” 200.
[9] Wilhelm Levison, “Saint Alban and Saint Albans,” A Quarterly Review of Archaelogy, (Gloucester England, 1941), 349.
[10] Richard Sharpe has more recently disagreed with Meyer, arguing that the E text is the oldest. See: Ian Wood, “Germanus, Alban and Auxerre,” Bulletin du centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre BUCEMA (2009).
[11] Levison, “Saint Alban and Saint Albans,” 354.
[12] Wilhelm Meyer, “Die Legende des h. Albanus in Texten vor Beda.” Subsidia Hagiographica. Société des Bollandistes, (1905), 61.
[13] Meyer, “Die Legende des h. Albanus in Texten vor Beda.” 14.
[14] Nicholson, “St Albans,” 201.
[15] Refer to Robert Bartlett, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation, Princeton University Press, (2013).
[16] Lily Hawker-Yates, “Barrows in the Cultural Imagination of later Medieval England,” (PhD diss., Canterbury Christ Church University, 2019), 211.
[17] Eric Baker, “The Cult of St Alban at Cologne,” The Archaeological Journal, (1938), 217.
[18] Baker, “The Cult of St Alban at Cologne,” 236.
[19] Ibid. 237.
[20] Ibid. in appendix III, 256.
[21] Meyer, “Die Legende des h. Albanus in Texten vor Beda.” 14.
[22] Baker, “The Cult of St Alban at Cologne,” 211.
[23] Baker, “The Cult of St Alban at Cologne,” 211.
