5684. Robert Browning, Sr. to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 36–38.
[Paris]
[?January 1866] [1]
My dear Robert
I feel ashamed at continuing to trouble you about Marozia; & the only apology I can offer, is, that, she was a plague to every body– I have already collected as many materials respecting her as a man can carry; [2] copying down from every source of information to which I could obtain access, every particular concerning her– But still, many obstacles have been thrown in my way– The Books I have been able to consult, were mostly written by Catholics—who have always felt very tender when—handling the sore subject;—but where the Jesuits have been the first publishers, every Circumstance seems intentionally distorted– Yet there are among the most strenuous advocates of the Pope’s supremacy, many horrible admissions made—which I really wonder they had the boldness to publish—especially when I consider, that there have been instances of historians being consigned to the Bastil[l]e, merely, for denying that Pharamond [3] was the first King of France——
The arrangements of the Public libraries in Paris are, in general, very bad– The Great Library in Rue Richelieu, [4] is with regard to its catalogue—14 years in arrears,—& I have sometimes had a book denied to me, from which I have been copying, but a few days before– I have however collected a sufficient quantity of information—from which a writer of moderate ability could compose an interesting & popular Narrative– Indeed with the assistance which my extracts would afford him—he would have little more to do than transcribe—as I have been at great pains to remove several difficulties—& especially that, concerning the identity of Marozia’s first husband. [5] ——whereby I have not only cleared up, but have removed a striking absurdity, into which even some of the best writers have fallen. In England I could have obtained much more valuable information—especially as the modern historians are, in that respect, more valuable than those of former times:—& English writers could have been under no apprehension, of bringing themselves into trouble by suppressing or misrepresenting the truth–
There are many interesting narratives connected with the History of Marozia– The remarkable trial of the dead body of Formosus [6] —The election of John X [7] —the defeat of the Saracens at the Goragliano [sic, for Garigliano] [8] —the murder of John X [9] —the election of John XI [10] —the revolt of Alberic [11] against his Mother—whom he imprisons for life—and several others which I pass over– I have also compared the biographies of the leading persons connected with the Marozian history—especially Guy, [12] Berenger, [13] Arnaul, [14] Charles le Gros[,] [15] John X—&c—not to mention Genealogies, tables—Chronology, &c—which I would gladly arrange if it could be of any service to any body—— I should like to see, not an elaborate history of these (which it would require the Pen of Carlyle to execute) but an interesting popular narrative: including the great events which happened, from the death of Charlemagne to the expulsion of Hughes from Rome [16] —where the Biography of Marozia ends—briefly mentioning those facts, with which the reader must be made acquainted—or he never can have a clear idea, of the subject.
The narrative (if I may call it so) takes up but about 30 years– Yet in that short space of time—what wonderful events occurred– In that period are included—The rise of modern Europe—The foundation of the Roman Hierarchy—the ascendancy & tyranny of the Nobility—& the murder of several popes—As this period is allowed, by every historian, to have been the darkest period of the dark ages—we have, as might be expected, a continual record of the most atrocious crimes—many of them committed by females, & those of the highest rank: Luitprand [17] is censured for debasing the female character, but, to judge from the specimens he gives us—he does but do them justice—As for the men it is ridiculous to see subsequent historians extolling them the most deserving & holiest of characters; & at the same time shewing by their actions that they have justly incurred the execration of mankind. If what I have been about for the last five years, can be of use to any one that can do justice to the subject they are heartily welcome to it–
Yr affectionate father R Browning
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Conjectural date suggested by RB. Sr.’s first sentence, which implies a relatively short interval since letter 5664.
3. Legendary fifth-century king of the Salian Franks, said to be the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. In Henry V, II, 2, 37–42, he is mentioned as the originator of Salic law.
4. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, named, during the reigns of Napoleon I and Napoleon III, Bibliothèque Impériale.
5. Alberic I, Duke of Spoleto (d. 925).
6. Formosus (816?–896), Bishop of Porto, later pope (891–896). His body was disinterred and put on trial by Pope Stephen VII, sometimes VI, (d. 897), pope (896–897), for the crime of transferring his See from Porto to Rome. The corpse was found guilty and subsequently mutilated, dragged through the streets, and dumped in the Tiber. RB describes these events in The Ring and the Book, X, 24–150. As Stephan Hawlin has discovered, the poet’s main source for this passage was his father’s research (see “A New Source for The Ring and the Book, Book X,” BSN, 23, December 1996, 27–34, and The Poetical Works of Robert Browning, Vol. 9, ed. Stephan Hawlin and Tim Burnett, Oxford, 2004, pp. 369–381).
7. Pope John X (860?–928), Archbishop of Ravenna, was made pope in 914 through the influence of Marozia’s mother, Theodora.
8. In December 915, on the banks of the Garigliano river (9 miles E.N.E. of Gaeta), John X led an army of Christian forces “against the Saracens, over whom he gained a great victory” (EB).
9. In 928 John X was removed from the papal throne by Marozia and her second husband, Guy (see note 12 below), and thrown “into prison, where, either through murder—suffocated by a pillow, men said—or, it may be, through the misery of his soul, he died” (Eleanor Shipley Duckett, Death and Life in the Tenth Century, Ann Arbor, 1988, pp. 55–56).
10. Pope John XI (906–936), pope (931–936), son of Marozia and possibly Pope Sergius III, pope (904–911).
11. In 932 Alberic II (d. 954), son of Marozia and her first husband, Alberic I, denounced his mother and her third husband, Hugh (see note 16 below) to the aristocracy of Rome. Hugh was banished from the city, and Marozia lost all her power and influence (see Duckett, pp. 57–58).
12. Guy, Margrave of Tuscany (d. 932?), Marozia’s second husband.
13. Sic, for Berengar. Berengar I (d. 924) was Holy Roman Emperor from 915 until his death. His grandson Berengar II (d. 966) was King of Italy from 950 to 961.
14. i.e., Arnulf (ca. 850–99), Holy Roman Emperor from 896 until his death.
15. Charles II, known as “Charles the Fat” (832–888), Holy Roman Emperor from 881 to 887.
16. From 814 to 932. Hugh (or Hugues) of Arles, Marozia’s third husband, was King of Italy from 926 to 947.
17. Sic, for Liutprand, or Liudprand (ca. 922–972), Bishop of Cremona and historian, whose Antapodosis includes the period of Italian history chronicled by RB, Sr. Liutprand served as a page in Hugh’s court and later as chancellor in the court of Berengar II.
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