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The Heroic AgeIssue 6Spring 2003 |
The Otherworld
Yet Real-Time Exploits of Gregory the Great
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Abstract: This article examines the idea of the otherworldly in medievalexperience from the perspective of Gregory the Great's mission to the English. The paper reviews the history of travel literature in the medieval world, how Britain's remoteness and no known history placed it into the realm of the otherworldly, St. Augustine of Canterbury's fears regarding leaving his known world and traveling into the unknown, and some comparisons of both Gregory's and Augustine's viewpoints regarding the otherworldly. In the end, the mission to the English quickly brought Britain out of the otherworldly realm and into the realm of the known in early medieval history.
The boundary lines between reality and fantasy in late antiquity and the early medieval period were often blurred and indeed indistinct in the minds of people in this time period. For most people, who led their lives within a limited geographical area, the next city was often the limit of the imagination. Travel to the Holy Land, the source and inspiration of the Christian religion, was rare and considered the boundary of the known world. If the Holy Land was unknown and exotic territory, how were other lands that were known only through legend or historical record regarded? And how did these remote vistas affect concepts of topos, otherworldly, and even celestial ideas?
For the world of late sixth-century Rome and of Gregory the Great,
where Rome was already considered one of those legendary places
in both the ancient and the Christian worlds, a slightly different
viewpoint regarding the unknown and otherworldly had developed.
Not only was the Holy Land considered an exotic locale, but vistas
even farther south such as Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as east
beyond Constantinople, held the attention of the Roman bishop
and peoples. Finally, the vast northern lands and their barbarians
were a direct threat to the safety and security of Rome during
this time period. And, there was Britain, that farthest outpost
of Roman success, vaguely remembered yet distant in both time
and space. First, let's review the existing travel literature
that has survived from this time period, and then examine the
particular circumstances surrounding Pope Gregory's mission to
the English.
The history of travel
literature in the early Middle Ages is one of pilgrimage literature.[1] Description in these accounts
was more concerned with the divine and human interaction, rather
than the natural and ecological focus that would appear in later
medieval literature. Travel to the Holy Land and the recording
of said trips began the trend of pilgrimage literature which
had its culmination in the Canterbury Tales. What were
the distinctive characteristics of these early diaries? For comparison
purposes, we have Meropius's journey to India with Aedesius and
Frumentius in 330 A.D.; the Letter of Jerome's disciple Paula
to Marcella from the late fourth century; Egeria's Peregrinatio
from the late fourth century [2];
the Epitome of Bishop Eucharius; the anonymous Breviarus;
Procopius's six books on the churches of Justinian [3];
Anthony of Piacenza's pilgrimage in 570 A.D.; and archdiaconus
Theodosius's account. Finally, there is Adamnan's account of
Arculf's pilgrimage in the late seventh century. All of these
accounts frame the late sixth century of Gregory the Great's
mission to Britain.
Between the mid-fourth and the late-seventh century, a gradual
change in perception occurred. In the earlier pilgrimage diaries,
the writer stands and remembers history, and the past is described
in the future tense. In other words, both the First and Second
Coming of Christ were so closely connected that pilgrims could
only stand at the historical points and marvel, could only relate
what they had seen in real time, since the past as well as the
future were so closely intertwined in that location that it was
beyond description. By the late seventh century, a shift towards
the present tense had occurred. Now the pilgrim stands and touches.
The long-awaited Second Coming had dimmed in the mind of the
pilgrim, and though the past was visible, both time and space
had separated the past from the present so much that description
included the landscape as well as the historical perspective.
Where does Gregory the Great's mission to the English fit into
this concept of the Otherworld? First of all, early medieval
travel literature focused on a known history, to a known geographical
location, to make it real, or at least exotic. Britain had no
known history by the late sixth century, no known topos or landscape
either familiar or descriptive enough to give it reality. No
history, no reality. Just as Christ's time on earth began to
grow distant in the memories of the pilgrims to the Holy Land,
so Rome's conquest of Britain was long forgotten in the minds
of sixth-century Roman citizens.
Going to the farthest reaches of known history and time encouraged
the idea that one got closer to the Celestial Paradise in both
place and time. An example is the Hereford Map, where Paradise
is located at the extreme east of the known world. Britain was
sufficiently known from the Roman past, yet unknown in recent
memory, to blur the lines between fact and fiction. The play
on the words "Angles" and "Angels" by Gregory
illustrates this idea of distance with the English boys in the
Roman slave market, as if these blond-haired boys, due to their
place of origin and color of their hair, were closer to God physically
than the Roman people.
Another perspective from which to view the Roman mission to the
English is the perspective of familiarity. Travel literature
up until the seventh century was mainly focused on the Holy Land.
While travel to a foreign country has always involved some amount
of fear and trepidation, at least the Holy Land was familiar
in the minds of the travellers, from Biblical literature and
daily piety. The Roman mission to Britain, however, meant not
only travelling to the end of the known world, but also to a
land alienated by distance, culture, language, and especially
little to no historical relevance to those whose mission it was
to go there.
So now let's examine the mission itself.[4]
First of all, the leader of this missionary journey was Augustine,
who had become praepostius of Gregory's monastery of St.
Andrew in 596. The position of praepostius was a monastic
position which was usually obtained after many years of training.
It would eventually be known as the prior, assistant to the abbot.
Little is known about Augustine, except that he was a pupil of
Felix, bishop of Messana. Pope Leo III described Augustine as
holding the office of syncllus, or companion in the cell
or private room of Gregory. So, it is obvious that Augustine
was not only well-respected and trusted by Gregory with his monastic
holdings, but in fact was a good friend and even monastic cellmate.
Unlike Gregory, who had been a papal ambassador to the imperial
court in Constantinople for seven years, Augustine had probably
never gone far beyond the environs of the city of Rome. Now he
was being asked to go to the ends of the earth, to a people little-known
and little-remembered, and bring them the word of God. For Augustine
and his brothers, the first portion of the trip involved taking
a ship from Rome to Provence, where their first point of contact
was in Aix. The bishop Protasius and the provincial governor
Airgius greeted them there. There are many indications that they
stayed in the illustrious abbey of Lerins, whose abbot was well-known
to Gregory. It was during this visit that the missionaries first
heard about the savage and barbaric Anglo-Saxon people. They
were so frightened by these stories, that they seriously contemplated
returning to Rome and aborting the mission. In fact, they all
agreed that this was the safer course, so they sent Augustine
back to Rome to inform Gregory of their decision.
The Wonder Books of the ancient world often described unknown
lands and peoples in savage and barbaric terms, and these descriptions
would have been well-known to the educated monks from Rome. The
Epistles of Pope Gregory provide some documentation regarding
Augustine's return to Rome and his report to Gregory. Gregory
emphatically reminded Augustine that the wife of the king of
the Anglo-Saxons was already Christian, and that she was being
allowed to practice her faith. Gregory also encouraged Augustine
by writing a letter to be read to the other missionaries, telling
them "let neither the toil of the journey nor the tongues
of evil-speaking men deter you." In addition, Gregory appointed
Augustine as abbot of the missionary group, since it was obvious
that the others considered him their leader. Finally, Gregory
wrote over six letters of introduction and safe passage for the
group to use as they traveled north towards Britain, in order
to illustrate that friends were along the way, as well as provide
to them support groups and encouragement in their travels.
This episode illustrates the very real fear concerning this mission
to those involved. It is not often recorded in Christian literature,
when missionaries balk from proselytizing heathen peoples because
of fear engendered by gossip or unfamiliar landscape. Yet here
is an example of missionary fear rarely recorded in medieval
literature.
Augustine's concept of the Otherworld and the unfamiliar, in
this account, can be drastically contrasted with Gregory's concept
of the Otherworld and the unfamiliar. Gregory, after seeing the
English slave boys in the Roman marketplace, was ready to give
up his position as papal deacon and run off to convert the English
nation immediately. In fact, the legend recounts how Gregory
did indeed leave Rome on a mission to the English nation, but
the Roman masses were so incensed and fearful of losing Gregory
as a spiritual and political leader that they demanded Pope Benedict
immediately go after and forcibly bring Gregory back to Rome,
which he did. Compare this response to the unknown with Augustine's
experience, which basically looks like the cowardly lion from
the Wizard of Oz compared to Gregory's response. Augustine appears
to be just looking for an excuse to abort the mission, even if
it is only supported by gossip and hearsay.
However, Gregory's pep talk to Augustine seems to have done the
job of settling his nervousness and fear. Or perhaps it was all
the letters of introduction and the promotion. In any case, what
is fascinating about this entire mission is that we have not
one, not two, but three examples of recorded reactions to concepts
of the Otherworld in the English missionary experience. The first,
obviously, is Gregory the Great's enthusiastic and uncontained
excitement regarding the conversion of the English. Here is the
response of a traveled, experienced politician who sees both
political and ecclesiastical gain from such an excursion; who
in fact wants to go on the mission himself, and has no fears
or qualms whatsoever in traveling to the ends of his known world.
The second is Augustine's fear and apprehension concerning the
mission. Here is the response of a little traveled, Roman monk
who has been assigned a job that will take him away from everything
that he has ever known, across lands that he has never seen and
only known through gossip or court reports, to a country supposedly
inhabited by barbarians and savages without culture, manners,
or knowledge of Christianity. And finally, we come to King Ethelbert
himself, King of the Kentish nation to whom Augustine was directed
to preach. Here was a man who had consented to marry a Frankish
princess for political reasons. His new bride's religion was
Christianity, his new relative's religion was Christianity, and
it was part of her marriage agreement that she be allowed to
bring a priest of her religion with her to Kent. The time was
indeed ripe for a Christian mission to the southeast corner of
Britain. However, here was a man who had never left the island
of his birth, whose experience involved war and politics and
clan dissensions, and whose knowledge of the world outside of
his immediate sphere of influence was little to none. Suddenly,
strange men from a land mentioned only by his counselors and
his wife as great and powerful wish to meet with him, in order
to tell him about their religion. It is interesting to note Ethelbert's
response in the existing literature. Ethelbert asks Augustine
and his companions to remain on the island where they have landed
in Britain, until he decides what to do with them. After consulting
with his advisors, Ethelbert decides that he will meet Augustine
and his companions out in the open air, in case they practiced
any magical art, so that they couldn't deceive him or get the
better of him inside of a building. The meeting between Ethelbert
and Augustine is described as cordial and ceremonial. Augustine
approached the king in great pageantry, bearing a large silver
cross and a portrait of Christ on a panel. They sang chants and
prayed loudly as they approached Ethelbert, who had them stop
and sit down once they drew near to him. Ethelbert then commanded
Augustine to preach to him and all of the people there. Once
finished, Ethelbert indicates that he will consider Augustine's
words and will provide a place for him in his city until he decides
what should be done.
What is fascinating about this account, is that we know about
Augustine's fear and apprehension prior to this episode, so that,
we have here a meeting between two men and two peoples, both
of whom come from the ends of the known earth for each of them,
both of whom are cautious about what to expect from each other,
and both of whom have a certain amount of fear and trepidation
about meeting with each other. And bringing the two together,
and guiding the lives and indeed futures of both men, is Gregory,
whose unabashed enthusiasm and fearlessness concerning the outcome
of the meeting of these two is in total reversal to their apprehension.
The Otherworld has become them, and they are us, in this meeting
between two totally opposite and physically distant peoples.
To conclude, I would like to point out that the 6th century mission
to the English was the beginning of a new political and religious
endeavor by the Roman Church -- the active conversion of peoples
by direct contact and physical leaving of the Italian peninsula.
Prior to this time period, the preservation of Rome as a city
from barbarians, and the political dissensions on the Italian
peninsula itself, meant that the papacy gave little priority
to religious conversion or religious missions to pagan peoples.
With Gregory, however, we see the beginnings of the consolidation
of power and authority that would eventually guide the Roman
bishopric towards its preeminence in the Christian hierarchy.
The concept of the Otherworld, with both its fearful and curious
aspects, provided the impetus for this vision, and led to the
world as it was then known becoming a much more familiar place,
or as the Disney song emphasizes, "a small world after all."
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