Arnulf of Metz ( 582 – ) was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia. He later retired to the Abbey of Remiremont. In French he is also known as Arnoul or Arnoulf. In English he is known as Arnold.

Genealogy

The Vita Sancti Arnulfi (c. 657), written shortly after Arnulf's death, states that he was of Frankish ancestry, from "sufficiently elevated and noble parentage, and very rich in worldly goods". Tenth- and eleventh-century texts like Genealogiae Breves Regum Francorum often claim that Arnoald was Arnulf's father, but this is considered a fabrication. Medieval Frankish historians Patrick Geary and Richard Gerberding observe that the lack of contemporary written texts makes it impossible to trace Arnulf's ancestry.

Arnulf of Metz is traditionally considered the earliest named ancestor of Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty. This belief originates from two sources written after Arnulf's death. Paul the Deacon's Liber de episcopis Mettensibus (c. 784) presents Arnulf as Charlemagne's third great-grandfather, while Annales Mettenses Priores (805) depicts him as only a "close relative." Because these two accounts are inconsistent and written a century after Arnulf's death, some scholars say that the familial connection between Arnulf and Charlemagne was an invention by Charlemagne.

Life

Arnulf was born to an important Frankish family near Nancy in Lorraine around 582. The family owned vast domains between the Moselle and Meuse rivers. As an adolescent, he was called to the Merovingian court of king Theudebert II (595–612) of Austrasia, where he was educated by Gondulf of Provence. Chlodulf of Metz was their eldest son, but more important was their second son Ansegisel, who married Begga, daughter of Pepin I of Landen. Arnulf is thus the male-line grandfather of Pepin of Herstal, great-grandfather of Charles Martel and great-great-great-grandfather of Charlemagne.

Around 611, Arnulf and his friend Romaricus, likewise an officer of the court, planned to make a pilgrimage to the Abbey of Lérins. He continued to serve as the king's steward and courtier.

During his career he was attracted to religious life, and around 628 he retired to a hermitage at a mountain site in his domains in the Vosges to become a monk. His friend Romaric, whose parents had been killed by Brunhilda, had preceded him to the mountains around 613; there Romaric and Amatus established Remiremont Abbey. After the death of Chlothachar in 629, Arnulf settled near Habendum, where he died some time between 643 and 647. He was buried at Remiremont.

The Legend of the Fire

At the moment Arnulf resigned as bishop, a fire broke out in the cellars of the royal palace and threatened to spread throughout the city of Metz. Arnulf, full of courage and feeling unity with the townspeople, stood before the fire and said, "If God wants me to be consumed, I am in His hands." He then made the sign of the cross, at which point the fire immediately receded.

The Legend of the Beer Mug

It was July 642 and very hot when the parishioners of Metz went to Remiremont to recover the remains of their former bishop. They had little to drink and the terrain was inhospitable. At the point when the exhausted procession was about to leave Champigneulles, one of the parishioners, Duc Notto, prayed "By his powerful intercession the Blessed Arnold will bring us what we lack." Immediately the small remnant of beer at the bottom of a pot multiplied in such amounts that the pilgrims' thirst was quenched and they had enough to enjoy the next evening when they arrived in Metz. For this reason he is known as the patron saint of Brewers.

See also

  • The Pippinids, who traced their descent from Arnulf
  • Tonantius Ferreolus (senator)

Notes

References

  • Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, edited, revised and supplemented by Thurston and Attwater. Christian Classics, Westminster, Maryland.
  • Bouchard, Constance. “The Carolingian Creation of a Model of Patrilineage.” In Paradigms and Methods in Early Medieval Studies, edited by Celia Martin Chazelle and Felice Lifshitz, 1st ed., 135–52. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
  • Christian Settipani – La Préhistoire des Capétiens, Première Partie.
  • Fouracre, Paul, and Richard A. Gerberding, trans. “Vita Domnae Geretrude (The Life of Saint Geretrude).” In Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720, 301–30. Manchester Medieval Sources Series. Manchester ; New York
  • Geary, Patrick. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Gerberding, Richard A. The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 1987.
  • McNamara, Jo Ann, John E. Halborg, and E. Gordon Whatley, eds. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1992.
  • Saint ARNOUL – ancêtre de Charlemagne et des Européens, edited by Imp. Louis Hellenbrand. Le Comité d'Historicité Européene de la Lorraine, Metz, France, 1989.