Liturgical handbooks as tools for promoting bishops' ideological and political agendas : the example of Cambrai/Arras in the eleventh century

This paper examines the political and ideological implications of liturgical handbooks and their usage as tools for promoting episcopal agendas. By focussing on the ritual for imperial crowning, preserved in the pontifical Cologne, Erzbischofliche Didzesan- and Dombibliothek, 141, from the border diocese of Cambrai/Arras, that was drawn up in the middle of the eleventh century, the author argues that it is possible to interpret the structure and content of episcopal handbooks in the light of their compilers' multiple practical and theoretical objectives, and to regard them as very consciously compiled to reflect political and ideological messages. The article shows how the scripting of a unique interpretation of the ritual of imperial coronation entailing a considerable strengthening of the emperor's position within the ceremony in an episcopal handbook for local use was employed by the bishop to promote his political and ideological agenda, to valorise his episcopal authority, and to underscore the imperial identity of the diocese of Cambrai and its bishops in times of tension