Charlemagne as Pilgrim? Requests for Relics in the Descriptio Qualiter and the Voyage of Charlemagne
Anne Latowsky
The real Charlemagne never traveled to the East, yet by tenth century tradition of his journey Jerusalem and Constantinople had already taken shape.1 In coming centuries, this fictitious addition biography Carolingian king would appear in prose, verse, image, eventually comprise a major chapter such official Lives as 1165 canonization Vita Grandes Chroniques de France.2 Two most significant versions voyage east are Latin prose Descriptio qualiter,3 late eleventh-century document linked Saint-Denis, twelfth-century vernacular poem, Voyage à et (hereafter Voyage).4 Both these works are, essence, translatio narratives that recount, albeit quite distinctly, Charlemagne’s acquisition relics Passion east. qualiter is an ecclesiastical designed authenticate held at whereas humorous poetic send-up pious pretensions culture promoted it.
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