The Poeta Saxo at Paderborn: episcopal authority and Carolingian rule in late ninth-century Saxony

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This paper argues that the Poeta Saxo's epic poem about Charlemagne was composed at the bishopric of Paderborn as part of a wider literary programme that included both the Translatio sancti Liborii and the Vita sancti Liborii. Near the close of the ninth century, when Paderborn's renown and resources were at their lowest ebb, these three works articulated an image of episcopal authority, touted the pre-eminence of Paderborn, and made a bid for royal patronage.