Do you want your son to become a priest? Do you dream of a daughter in a monk's habit? Nothing easier. Just give them appropriate names.
Widukind of Korbei, the author of a priceless chronicle that sheds light on the origins of the Polish state, had little to say about his career. The fact that he would become a clergyman was already determined when he was baptized as an infant. German medievalist Gerd Althoff explains that Saxon dukes gave the name of Widukind only to children destined to the clergy . This was no exception. In the early Middle Ages, there was a whole set of special "church" names with which the future of individual members of ruling and noble families was determined.
Brunon, Hugh, Adalberon…
Among the Angevins, that was the name of Gwidon. In other French families, including Adalberon and Hugon. Althoff, however, paid special attention to the Brunons and their role in the Ottonian dynasty and among the German elite. This name itself seemed to herald a bright future in the structures of the Church.
Pope Gregory V (actually:Bruno of Carinthia) in the company of Emperor Otto III (source:public domain).
Bruno née Billung was from 962 Bishop of Verdun. Bruno, son of King Henry I, Archbishop of Cologne. Yet another Bruno, the son of the Duke of Carinthia, not only took over the bishopric of Würzburg, but also became pope (pontificate from 996 to 999) and a saint of the Catholic Church.
Polish historian Grzegorz Pac also has no doubts that "the choice of a spiritual career for a child was often accompanied by giving a special name" . In his opinion, this practice also applied to daughters. In German dynasties, Gizele and Hildegards were delegated to the functions of abbots. It is possible that the peculiar tradition also reached Poland.
The article was based on, inter alia, the book "Women in the Piast Dynasty" by Grzegorz Pac.
A monastery for a teenager ... because it has the right name?
Władysław Herman and Judyta Salicka named one of their daughters Agnieszka - never before in the Piast family. The choice cannot be considered accidental. Judith's mother was the German Empress and Queen Agnes Poitou. Referring to it, the Polish ruler not only emphasized that he was connected with the most important family ruling on the continent, but also probably gave his daughter a prominent job.
As a teenager, Agnieszka Władysławówna became a priest in Kwedlinburg - in one of the most important female monasteries on the continent. Previously, at least two other abbesses took power in this monastery, having the name "inherited" from the empresses. It is difficult to say whether it was a conscious movement, but by giving his daughter such and no other name, Władysław Herman definitely raised her rank in the German Church. If she had not been Agnieszka, she would never have received such great honors. And certainly not around the age of 15…
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Another version of the article will also be published in the next issue of the magazine "Newsweek Historia" (7/2015).