Dhuoda’s Life
Dhuoda’s parentage is unknown, but her education and her connections indicate that her family was wealthy. She married Bernard, Duke of Septimania, at Aachen on 24 June 824, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Another source specifies the date of the 29th of June, 824. Bernard was the son of William of Gellone, Charlemagne’s cousin, who was later named the patron saint of knights.
Dhuoda’s first son, William of Septimania, was born on the 29th of November, 826, and the second, Bernard Plantapilosa, on the 22nd of March, 841. In the interim, the couple probably lived apart most of the time: she in Uzes in the Rhone Valley of Southern France, and he at court in Aachen. Dhuoda herself mentions very little of him during this time. According to Dhuoda, she spent this time struggling to maintain her husband’s authority in their land and on the border of Francia. She fulfilled the administrative and military responsibilities of Frankish Septimania of Louis the Pious’ behalf. One scholar has suggested that a daughter was born in 844, as one chronicler reports the marriage of William’s sister.
What little we know of her life comes from her book, the Liber Manualis, or Manual, which Dhuoda wrote for her elder son, William, between 841 and 843. It is known to have been sent to William in 843. It was a work written when Dhuoda had been separated from both her husband and her two sons, the victim of the conflicting ambitions of Charlemagne’s descendants. William had been sent as a hostage to the court of Charles the Bald in order to secure the loyalty of his father; Bernard was taken from her before his baptism and was sent to Aquitaine in order to keep him safe.
- Listen to an audio overview of Dhuoda’s life and work:
Dhuoda’s World
Emperor Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, died in 840. His three sons (Lothair, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald) fought over the partition of the empire. Eventually they divided Europe at the Treaty of Verdun. Louis would hold onto authority over the eastern Franks, Charles established himself in the west, and Lothar received territory that cut north to south from the Low Countries to Italy.
Listen to this Podcast by Kevin MacLeod on the Carolingian Period during which Dhuoda lived:
Dhuoda wrote that the Carolingian house’s enmity had started over ten years before when the emperor’s sons started to rebel against their father’s authority. The struggle for power embroiled the nobility with the heirs, including her husband, who held a great amount of power as the ruler of Septimania. Because of this power, Dhuoda and Bernard’s son, William, was held hostage at the court of Charles the Bald, while their other son Bernard lived with his father in Aquitaine.
Eventually politics caught up with her family. Her husband, Bernard, was condemned for rebellion and executed in 844. Of her sons, William was killed in 850, Bernard in 885.
Dhuoda’s Work
Dhuoda’s work is the only one written by a woman to survive from the Carolingian period. Her work is important in that it offers insight into the education of women, the raising of children, the order of society, the importance of fathers, and how Christianity impacted the lives of the Frankish nobility.
Here’s a video from Khan Academy describing the lives of Frankish women in the Carolingian Dynasty:
Pierre Riché, the 1975 French translator of Dhuoda’s work, said that Dhuoda’s intellectual background was representative of the education that was offered to women during the reign of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious.
Dhuoda stresses often the importance of obeying fathers, even above kings. The Frankish society was extremely patriarchal. She says: “Now I must do my best to guide you in how you should fear, love, and be faithful to your lord and father, Bernard, in all things, both when you are with him and when you are apart from him.” (Book 3)
Dhuoda often references works by thinkers including Alcuin of York, Gregory of Tours, and Augustine of Hippo, among many others.
Liber Manualis
The Liber Manualis consists of seventy-three chapters, as well as an introduction, invocation, and prologue. The book is full of practical moral directives aimed to help guide her sons through life. It is an invaluable document both for the general history of the Frankish era, but also for the history of education and the standards of education which could be attained by women even within the prescriptive bounds of early medieval society. It contains numerous quotations from and allusions to the Bible, and some references to secular writers, though some of the references are incorrect and the Latin is not overly polished.
Dhuoda wrote the Liber Manualis for her son William, whom she entreated to share the work with his younger brother when he became older. It is intended to be a moral compass and a guide to how a young Christian man should behave at the time.
The Liber Manualis was divided by the 1975 editor into the following books:
-
- Prologue – the author and her reasons for writing
- Book 1 – loving God
- Book 2 – the mystery of Trinity
- Book 3 – social order and secular success
- Book 4 – moral life
- Book 5 – God’s chastisement of those he loves
- Book 6 – the usefulness of the beatitudes
- Book 7 – the deaths of the body and of the spirit
- Book 8 – how to pray and for whom
- Book 9 – interpreting numbers
- Book 10 – summary of the work’s major points, more on the author
- Book 11 – the usefulness of reciting the Psalms[3]
The work is known from a manuscript of the seventeenth century in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and from fragments of a manuscript of the Carolingian epoch, found in the library of Nîmes.
Excerpts
Dhuoda’s Instructions and Prayer for Her Sons
Short Excerpt from HANDBOOK FOR William A Carolingian Woman’s Counsel for Her Son
by Dhuoda Translated and with an introduction by Carol Neel University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln NE, 1991. Book available on Amazon. (Excerpt previously available through Gutenberg in the Public Domain.)
The little book before you branches out in three directions. Read it through and, by the end, you will understand what I mean. I would like it to be called three things at once, as befits its contents-rule, model, and handbook. These terms all mirror each other. The rule comes from me, the model is for you, and the handbook is as much from me as for you–composed by me, received by you.
For manus, “hand,” as in “manual” or “handbook,” means many things–sometimes the power of God, sometimes the might of the Son, and sometimes even the Son himself. It means the power of God when the Apostle says, Be ye humbled under the mighty hand of God. Or it means the power of the Son when Daniel says, His power is an everlasting power. Or again sometimes it means the Son himself, as the Psalmist says, Put forth your hand from on high, that is your Son from highest heaven. All these things and similar expressions signify holy action and power, for “hand” means action carried out. As Scripture says, the hand of the Lord was upon me, that is his redemption leading believers to perfection. Again, the hand of the Lord was strengthening me, and again, for the hand of the Lord was with him.
As for the suffix –al, with which “manual” ends, it has many meanings too. But in this instance I will use it in three senses, as the Fathers did. I will use it as destination, perfection, and end. For it is like the word for “wings,” ales, which refers to the cock, the messenger of the morning who brings an end to the night and heralds the daytime hours. For what meaning does this word “manual” have unless it signifies the end of ignorance? The messenger to which it refers foreknows the light of things to come. It is as if he says, the night is passed, and the day is at hand. This cock is Christ, who said, If I am the day and you the hours, follow me.
From the beginning of this book to the end, both in form and in content, in the meter and rhythm of the poetry as well as in the prose passages here–know that everything, through it all, in it all, is intended entirely for you, for the health of your soul and body. I wish that you eagerly take this work in your own hand and fulfill its precepts, after my hand has addressed it to you. I wish you to hold it, turn its pages and read it, so that you may fulfill it in worthy action. For this little model-book, called a handbook, is a lesson from me and a task for you. As someone said, I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. What further can I say, my son, except that-thinking on your past good deeds–I have in this work fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course? And how is what I say of worth unless in him who said, It is consummated? For whatever I have accomplished in this volume, from its beginning on, according to the Hebrew speech and to Greek letters and to the Latin language, I have completed in him who is called God.
In the name of Holy Trinity.
In the name of Holy Trinity, here begins the handbook of Dhuoda, which she sent to her son William.
I am well aware, that most women rejoice that they are with their children in this world, but I, Dhuoda, am far away from you, my son William. For this reason I am anxious and filled with longing to do something for you. So I send you this little work written down in my name, that you may read it for your education, as a kind of mirror. And I rejoice that, even if I am apart from you in body, the little book before you may remind you, when you read it, of what you should do on my behalf.
Epigraph for the following work.
God, highest creator of light, and author
Of the heaven and the stars, eternal king, holy one,
In your mercy complete this task begun by me.
Though I am ignorant, I seek understanding of you,
So that I may know what pleases you
And, now and in the future, follow the right path.
One and triune in all the universe,
You grant your servants prosperity through the ages.
You assign just rewards to these men’s worthy actions,
And heavenly honor to those who worship you.
As much as I am able, on bended knee
I give thanks to you, my maker.
I beseech you to bestow your aid upon me,
Raising me to heaven on your right side.
For I believe that there, in your kingdom,
Your servants may forever remain in peace.
Although I am unworthy, weak, and an exile,
Made of earth, drawn to the lowest depths,
I nevertheless have a friend, my lady-companion,
Who is sure to set your people free from sin.
You, center who hold the turning of the heaven,
Who enfold in your hand the land and the sea,
To you I entrust my son William:
May you ordain that he be prosperous in all things.
May he stay his course at every hour and minute;
May he love you, his creator, above all.
With your sons may he be worthy
To ascend to heaven with swift and happy step.
In you may his mind always keep watchful,
Attentive; may he always live joyously.
When he is wounded, may he never fall into anger
Nor lose his way from among your servants.
Merry, may he rejoice in a happy path
And may he arrive above shining in virtue;
May he always seek from you what he ought.
You who grant without recompense, give him understanding,
That he may know to believe in you, to love you,
And to praise you who are holy with redoubled thanks.
May your expansive grace come to him,
Peace and security in body and in mind.
May he flourish with his children in this world,
But may he have the other world’s gifts as well.
May he read and reread this volume from time to time,
And may the words of the saints shape his thought.
May he draw understanding from you–
How, when, and to whom he should give aid.
And may he pursue the fourfold virtues assiduously,
So that he remain capable of many things.
Generous and wise, just and brave,
May he never abandon moderation.
He will never have another like me,
Unworthy though I am, but still his mother,
Who always–in every hour and minute–
Prays to you devotedly: have mercy upon him.
Many storms of troubles beset me
As I struggle for him with my feeble strength.
To you, who are the source of all bounty,
I entrust him, in all that he does giving thanks to you.
Although there may be discord in the kingdom and the fatherland,
You alone remain unchanging.
Whether worthy men seek fitting ends or not,
All depends on your judgment.
Yours is the kingdom and yours the power,
Yours the universal governance of the earth,
And to you alone all things are subject.
You who reign always, have mercy on my children.
May he and his brother–my two sons born to this existence–
Live long, I pray you, and may they always love you.
Reader, if you desire to know the key,
Look at the beginning of each verse.
Then, passing through swiftly, you may see
What it is that I have written.
I, mother of two boys,
Ask that you pray to the gracious creator
That he raise these children’s father up to heaven
And join me with them in God’s kingdom.
Begin reading at the first letter of the first verse and continue to the first letter of the last. So my poem ends. With Christ’s help I now undertake the work I have begun for my children.
Additional Quotes from Dhuoda’s Work
- You will find in it [the handbook] a mirror in which you can without hesitation contemplate the health of your soul, so that you may be pleasing not only in this world, but to him who formed you out of dust. (Prologue)
- Among the human race, to attain perfection requires the application of great and constant effort. We must apply to various evils the remedies that are their antidotes. (Book 4)
- We know that poverty and want are found not only among the least of men but also frequently, for many reasons, among the great, So it is that a rich man too may be in need. Why? Because his soul is wretchedly needy. And then there is the poor man who gathers riches with great ease. Or the rich man who envies the poor man, or the poor man who wishes to become rich, just as an unlettered man wishing to become learned may desire this completely but never accomplish it. (Book 4)
- Pray for the past, if you have been neglectful, that you may finally forget this; for present evils, that you may always escape them; for the future, that you may beware those evils and that they not continue to pursue you there. (Book 8)
- Because the recitation of the Psalms has such and so many powers, my son William, I urge and direct that you recite them constantly, for yourself, for your father, for all the living, for those persons who have stood lovingly by you, for all the faithful who are dead, and for those whose commemoration is written down here or who you command be added. And do not hesitate to recite the Psalms that you choose for the remedy of my soul, so that when my last day and the end of my life come for me, I may be found worthy to be raised up to heaven on the right with those good folk whose actions have been worthy, not on the left with the impious. Return frequently to this little book. Farewell, noble boy, and always be strong in Christ. (Book 11)
Danièle Cybulskie from Medievalists.net reads from Dhuoda’s work on her podcast: