The Maccabees as Exemplars in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

Abstract

When the court chaplain Wipo produced his Gesta Chuonradi in 1046 as an instruction in kingship for the young Henry III, he prefaced it with an indictment of contemporary writers’ laziness in failing to chronicle the deeds of their great men, although convenient models had been provided by pagan authors and Old Testament historians. The latter, in describing David’s single combats, Solomon’s counsel, Gideon’s magnanimity, and the battles of the Maccabees, had created a remarkable series of biographies illustrative of the different ways in which a man could serve the common weal. Their achievement deserved imitation. The main drift of Wipo’s argument is unfortunately too broad a theme for discussion here. What concerns us is simply that for him the Maccabees were the archetypes of heroic warriors, and that he expected his audience to be as familiar with their exploits as he was himself.