Beatus of Liébana
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Saint Beatus of Liébana (c. 730 - c. 800) was a monk and theologian from the Kingdom of Asturias, in northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa mountains of the region of Liébana, in what is now Cantabria. His feast day is February 19th, which leaves him rather over-shadowed by that of Saint Patrick on the same day. He created an important Christian cultural and religious focal point during the 8th century. He corresponded with Alcuin, and took part in the Adoptionist controversy, criticizing the views of Felix of Urgel and Elipandus of Toledo. He is best remembered today as the author of the Commentary on the Apocalypse, written in 776, then revised in 784 and again in 786. This commentary was popular during the Middle Ages and survives in at least 34 manuscripts (usually called a beatus) from the 10th through the 16th centuries. At least 26 of those manuscripts contain illuminations. Though Beatus may have written his commentaries as a response to the Adoptionist heresy in Spain of the late 700s, many believe that the book's popularity in monasteries stemmed from the presence in Spain of Islam, which the Christian religious believed to represent the Antichrist. Not all of the manuscripts are complete, and some exist only in fragmentary form. Twenty-six of these manuscripts are lavishly decorated in the Mozarabic, Romanesque, or Gothic style of illumination.
The Commentary also contains one of the oldest Christian world-maps, thought to represent the description given by Isidore of Seville in his Etymologies. Although the original manuscript and map have disappeared, copies of the map survive in several of the extant manuscripts. For more information on Beatus of Liébana or on the Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts, see the studies carried out by John Williams, Mireille Mentre, José Camón Aznar, Wilhelm Neuss, Joaquín Yarza Luaces, among others. Recent doctoral dissertations on the subject have been written by David Seth Raizman and Kevin Ray Poole.
To understand the important effect that this book had, one must understand the historical context, as well as the book's content and later interpretations of it.
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[edit] History of the Kingdom of Asturias
[edit] Romans et Barbarians
In 379 the Emperor Gratian chose a "Spanish" general, Theodosius (or Theodosius I), called Theodosius the Great, as Emperor of the East. Theodosius, after having eliminated a usurper in the Western Empire in 388, reigned over the entire Roman empire.
He converted to Christianity in 380, and made it the official religion. He forbade the Arian heresy, pagan cults, and Manichaeism.
The unity of the Roman empire was short-lived: at Theodosius' death, the empire was divided between his two sons.
In December, 406, at a time when the Huns had invaded what is now Germany, the Rhine froze over. On the 31st of December, tens of thousands of people of the Germanic tribes, fleeing the Huns, crossed the ice into Gaul, entering the Roman Empire. The Suebi settled in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain; the Vandals and the Alans went south as far as Andalusia.
During this time, Alaric, chief of the Visigoths, seized Rome in 410. His successor, Ataulf, married Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius. But, pursued by the Roman government based now in Ravenna, Ataulf went on to Spain. From this time on, the wars between barbarian tribes intensified on the Iberian peninsula.
But at the same time, these tribes were becoming Romanized, and some of them, like the Visigoths and the Franks, joined with Roman imperial troops to stop Attila the Hun in 451 near Orleans (the battle of Chalons or the "Battle of the Catalaunian Fields"). Theodoric died in the battle.
Soon afterwards, Euric, the king of the Visigoths, conquered all Spain and became the first independent sovereign of this tribe. The Roman empire no longer existed. Faithful to Arianism, Euric forced the Suebian king of the Asturias to convert.
[edit] Spanish Arianism and the return to Christianity
In 325, a bishop of Cordoba asked Emperor Constantine to convoke the first ecumenical council at [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicea] in order to condemn these subordinationist theses (Christ subordinate to God the Father). This proves that there must already have been a strong Arian presence in Spain before the Barbarians arrived.
The Visigoths, also Arians, anchored the heresy even more strongly in the Iberian peninsula. Although they represented less than five percent of the population, the remainder of which was Christian, the Visigoth kings made Arianism the state religion of Spain. The Mass (liturgy) was said in their Gothic language. The Arian archbishop of their capital, Toledo, was Primate of Spain.
The Catholic clergy took refuge in the countryside. They built oratories, hermitages, and monasteries in the backcountry. The people stayed mostly faithful to Christianity, the urban population thinned, and the towns began to be isolated.
In the last quarter of the 6th century, the Visigoth king Liuvigild married Theodosia, the Catholic sister of Isidore of Seville. Leovigild tried to reconcile the Visigoths with the Hispano-Romans, and accepted the Nicene Creed on the nature of Christ. One of his sons married a Catholic granddaughter of Clovis. Another son, Reccared I, converted to Christianity in 587 and officially abjured Arianism during the Council of Toledo of 589, bringing with him the queen, the court, and the heretical Visigoth bishops.
The archbishop of Toledo remained Primate of Spain, and the Church was now upheld by the sovereigns. They named the bishops, who in turn exercised a certain control over the kingdom's administration.
But the Visigoths had to face epidemics, famines, and the incursions of the Franks. Wars of succession ravaged the country. One pretender to the throne of Toledo escaped to Ceuta (Morocco), and asked the troops of the Maghreb to help him conquer his rival Roderic. Thus, in 711, Tariq ibn-Ziyad crossed the strait whose name now comes from his (Gibraltar means "the Rock of Tariq").
[edit] Expansion of Islam and Catholic resistance
The 7000 men of Tariq were not Arabs but Berbers, whose lands had been occupied for a short time by the Arabs, who were happy to send them to Spain. This enmity between the two peoples was to make the occupation of Spain more fragile.
Within three years, the Iberian peninsula was occupied, with the exception of part of the Cantabrian cordillera (future kingdom of the Asturias) in the northwest, where high mountains formed a sort of natural fortress. Very early on, rebellious Catholics came there from Toledo and elsewhere, fleeing the Muslim conquest. There, Pelayo of Asturias was elected chief of the rebels and began to attack Berber garrisons.
Tranquilly settled in Cordoba, or busy with raids in the south of France, the Muslim forces paid little heed to the rebellion at the beginning. Nevertheless, an expedition was sent to the Asturias. Pelayo, feigning retreat, drew Berbers and Arabs into the gorges of Covadonga, cut them to pieces, and ended up killing most of them near Liebana. The kingdom of the Asturias began to grow around Oviedo, then around Previa, a few kilometers northwest of Oviedo, where Pelayo became king.
[edit] Arabs and Mozarabs
While the Asturias grew stronger and became more and more populous and powerful, Christians living under the Muslims found themselves in the same situation as under the yoke of the Visigoths. Subject to special taxes because of their religion, they had no right to build new churches or convents. As before, many took refuge in the countryside. New hermitages appeared in forsaken spots. Christians living in Muslim territory could practice their religion only if they pledged allegiance to a Moorish chief.
In 788 the Visigoth king Bermudo I transferred his capital back to Oviedo, and in spite of the sack of that city in 794, the Reconquest of Spain began.
It is in this historical context, and in a region where refugees had brought a very rich, artistic culture with them, that Beatus (in Spanish, Beato), a monk in a Liebana valley monastery, wrote his commentary on the Book of Revelations.
[edit] The Commentary on the Apocalypse (In Apocalypsin)
[edit] Description
It is a work of erudition but without great originality, made up principally of compilations. Beatus includes long extracts from the texts of the Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the Church, especially Augustine of Hippo (Saint Augustine), Ambrose of Milan (Saint Ambrose), Irenaeus of Lyons (Saint Irenaeus), and Isidore of Seville (Saint Isidore). He adds to this the commentary on the Book of Daniel by Jerome of Stridon (Saint Jerome).
The organization of the book is considered clumsy by some critics, and the text is sometimes redundant or contradictory. Far from being the product of a strong, profound thinker, the Commentary is a rather timid work, showing little spirit of innovation, self-effacing before tradition. How could such a book, written in 776 and rewritten ten years later, have such an impact for ten centuries?
If the role of Beatus himself is rather small, the book includes on the other hand a complete Latin translation of the Book of Revelations, which in part explains its fame.
[edit] External links
[edit] Divers
´´Cancionero de Liébana´´ 1977 ("Collection of verse of Liebana", 1977). Republished in 2006. Writen by the Spanish poet from Cantabria Matilde Camus.
