Apostolicis propinquior caetibus: The Apocryphal Acts and the Meaning of Apostolicity in the Carolingian Age

Abstract

To inquire into the relevance of the apostles in whichever period of the history of the Christian Church may seem redundant. The interest in the doctores and praedicatores of the Church throughout the ages is a constant movement, where the apostles were seen as role models in various and varying contexts. In the age of the Carolingian reforms, which roughly coincides with the second half of the eighth and the ninth century, the apostles as founders and teachers of the Church constituted a central role model for those involved in the attempts at reform. The relevance of the apostles in this particular period shows itself not only in religious texts and traditions, but also and perhaps even more markedly in the closely related, even inseparable domains of politics and intellectual culture. This is revealed not just by the appearance and growth of manuscripts transmitting the apocryphal Acts of all twelve apostles to the Latin speaking world (Virtutes apostolorum), but also by the reception of these narratives in sources that pertain to the intellectual, political, and religious flourishing of this age. The article discusses three case studies to demonstrate this.