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The ''Libri Carolini'' ("Charles' books"), ''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum'' ("The work of King Charles against the Synod"), also called ''Charlemagne's Books'' or simply the ''Carolines'', are the work in four books composed on the command of Charlemagne, around 790, to refute the supposed conclusions of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea (787), particularly as regards its acts and decrees in the matter of sacred images. They are "much the fullest statement of the Western attitude to representational art that has been left to us by the Middle Ages".〔Dodwell, 32〕 The ''Libri Carolini'' were never promulgated at the time, and remained all but unknown until they were first printed in 1549, by Jean du Tillet, Bishop of Meaux, under the name of ''Eriphele''. They seem not to be the version which was sent to Pope Adrian I, who responded with a ''grandis et verbosa epistola'' (dignified and wordy letter).〔Gibbon, Edward. ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. 5''. Kessinger Publishing. 2004. ISBN 1-4191-2419-6. p 37.〕 They contain 120 objections against the Second Council of Nicaea, and are couched in harsh, reproachful terms, including the following: ''dementiam'' ("folly"), ''priscae Gentilitatis obsoletum errorem'' ("an old and outmoded pagan misunderstanding"), ''argumenta insanissima et absurdissima'' ("most insane and absurd reasoning"), ''derisione dignas naenias'' ("screeds worthy of derision"), etc.〔 The modern edition of this text, by Ann Freeman and Paul Meyvaert (Hannover 1998), is called ''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum'' ("''The work of King Charles against the Synod''"), and is based on the manuscript in the Vatican Library, which is now generally accepted as a Carolingian working manuscript "hastily finished up", when it became clear that the work was now redundant.〔(JSTOR ) Review by John J. Contreni of:''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum (Libri Carolini)'' by Ann Freeman; Paul Meyvaert, ''Speculum'', Vol. 76, No. 2 (April 2001), pp. 453-455〕 When the work resurfaced during the Protestant Reformation, it caused a good deal of excitement and confusion, and is for example referred to approvingly but misleadingly by John Calvin in later editions of his ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' (Book 1, Ch 11, section 14), who takes the text at face value.〔(Calvin's ''Institutes'' )〕 ==Authorship== The work begins, "In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ beginneth the work of the most illustrious and glorious man Charles, by the will of God, king of the Franks, Gauls, Germany, etc., against the Synod which in Greek parts firmly and proudly decreed in favour of adoring (''adorandis'') images," followed immediately by what is called "Charlemagne's Preface". However, it is unlikely that Charlemagne wrote any of the books himself,〔 although the views expressed were influenced by him. He apparently did not accept that art had any advantages over books, a view not held by many of his advisers. The preferred candidate as author of most modern scholars, following Anne Freeman, is Bishop Theodulf of Orleans,〔(Dales, Richard C. )''The Intellectual Life of Western Europe in the Middle Ages'', note 3 on p. 88, BRILL, 1992 ISBN 90-04-09622-1 - summarizes recent scholarship. See also Dodwell, 32〕 a Spanish Visigoth in origin, of which traces can be detected in the Latin and the liturgical references in the work. The Vatican manuscript has an author, considered to be Theodulf, and a corrector. It is very likely that several clerics at the court contributed to discussions formulating a work to be issued in the Emperor's name, but it seems likely that Theodulf composed the text we have.〔Dales,89〕 In the past, some have attributed the writings to Angilram, Bishop of Metz or others of the bishops of France, alleging that Pope Adrian having sent Charlemagne the Acts of the Council in 790, he gave them to the French bishops for examination, and that the ''Libri Carolini'' was the answer they returned. There is also evidence that the author was Alcuin; besides the English tradition that he had written such a book, there is also the remarkable similarity of his commentary on St. John (4, 5, et seqq.) to a passage in ''Liber IV.'', cap. vi., of the ''Libri Carolini''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Libri Carolini」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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