| This dissertation is concerned with how much and what sort of power one individual---Gottschalk of Orbais (806--868)---exercised in the Carolingian Empire. Although he was a figure without high rank, Gottschalk wielded considerable influence among his contemporaries and caused many controversies during his tumultuous career as a monk, missionary and theologian. This study argues that Gottschalk's ability to make others act in his interest was based on his strategies of self-representation. He crafted different identities for himself in changing circumstances in order to win the support of patrons and supporters; the most compelling and controversial of these "masks" was his identification with Saint Augustine and his teachings on predestination. The approach used to understand how Gottschalk navigated the Carolingian political landscape offers possibilities for investigating the political careers of other individuals, regardless of their position in the hierarchy. This dissertation also presents the first full-length investigation of Gottschalk's life and thought in English, and the most comprehensive evaluation of Gottschalk's role in ninth-century history to date. It reveals Gottschalk's key role in the reception of Augustine's thought, as well as the processes by which he and other theologians transformed their political opponents into heretics. This study also sheds light on an underground Carolingian intellectual culture, in which monks and scholars read Gottschalk's forbidden texts and engaged in the wider doctrinal debates of the day in ways previously unexamined by scholars. |
