Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno (review)

Abstract

Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno. By Richard Hodges. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1997. Pp. xix, 231. $49.95.) San Vincenzo al Volturno was 'one of the great monastic complexes patronized by Charlemagne. Initially founded in the eighth century by Beneventan monks from Farfa, San Vincenzo was reconceptualized and rebuilt on a grand scale by Abbot Joshua, a Frank, in the early ninth, and reached its apex shortly thereafter. Ransacked and substantially destroyed in an Arab attack in 881, the abbey was partially rebuilt in the eleventh century, and then demolished and rebuilt anew, fortified, on the opposite side of the Volturno River in the first years of the twelfth. It was also in the mid-twelfth century that Abbot John wrote the Chronicon Volturnense, recounting the history of the abbey from its beginnings to his own day. Our understanding of this important monastery and its meaning for the broader history of the early Middle Ages is greatly increased by Richard Hodges' stimulating study, the result of several decades of intensive excavation of the site. The starting point for his work has been to reassess Pirenne's famous thesis on the origins of the Middle Ages through the archaeological data. Hodges' archaeological experience is extensive, and thus he is able to place the findings from San Vincenzo within a much broader framework of cultural, social, and economic meaning that sheds light on a number of significant issues, including the question of the continuity and discontinuity of the late Roman world. The book is divided into ten chapters. In the first, Hodges discusses the previous treatments of San Vincenzo and the history of its excavation. His own work has two aims: to uncover the extent of the ninth-century monastery, and to identify vestiges of the early medieval villages in the area. Interest in the site goes back to the late nineteenth century, and earlier excavations by the Benedictine Pantoni for the purpose of rebuilding the monastery had uncovered the twelfth-century church with ninth-century fragments. The ninth-century crypt of Abbot Epyphanius was located some distance away, but Pantoni made no attempt to explain why it was set apart from the rest of the abbey, assuming that this was the original arrangement. It was only later that Hodges realized that the crypt in fact stood on the original site of the ninth-century monastery itself, and that the excavation would tell a much more complex story. After a discussion of the chronicle evidence in Chapter 2, Hodges goes on in Chapters 3 through 9 to analyze the archaeology of the site, from the Samnite and Republican Roman remains of the pre-Christian Rochetta plain through the Lombard foundation and Frankish augmentation of San Vincenzo, the Arab devastation, and the later reconstruction of the abbey. The remains of San Vincenzo are very rich, providing a wealth of material for art and architectural historians alike. Among the most valuable evidence is the uncovering of the workshops that produced this art as well as copious piles of raw and waste materials. In conjunction with the substantial remains of the crypt, abbatial palace and guest quarters, refectory, church and chapel, the site reveals a large and lively monastic community. San Vincenzo reached its height in the first half of the ninth century, when it became a focus of Carolingian policy in Benevento. It became what Hodges calls one of the ideological nodes of the Carolingian regime. In recent years the variety and complexity of monastic contributions to the definition of Carolingian culture has become increasingly apparent, and in this context San Vincenzo played a particular role in establishing the royal presence and the clear hierarchy of authority resulting from Charlemagne's conquest of Benevento. The original monastery of the eighth century, built into a late Roman villa, was modest. With the election of Abbot Joshua the abbey was reconceived, incorporating and reworking the older buildings into a monumental space with definite distinctions of monastic and secular spaces, a distinguished guests' palace reflecting the high status of San Vincenzo's patrons, and an emphasis on the aristocratic, indeed regal grandeur of the abbot. …