Historians from the Cluster of Excellence discuss case studies from antiquity, the middle ages, and the modern period
Who decides what tradition is and what is handed down? What factors are decisive in the struggle for interpretive sovereignty? History shows many examples of competition over traditions. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence examined three such examples in terms of tradition and competition, acceptance and enforceability: the establishment of tyrannicide as a founding myth of democracy in ancient Greece; the inscription of Mozarabic martyrs in the canonized martyr tradition of early Christianity in medieval Spain; and the dispute between pope and cardinal over the dogma of infallibility in the 19th century. These issues were discussed by historians Prof. Dr. Peter Funke and Prof. Dr. Wolfram Drews, as well as church historian Prof. Dr. Hubert Wolf. Their introductory statements can be seen in the video here (in German only). Historian Prof. Dr. Ricarda Vulpius moderated the evening, which formed part of the discussion series “Tradition(s): Interdisciplinary and Transepochal” on 24 May 2022.
Tradition and competition in antiquity: ancient historian Prof. Dr. Peter Funke described how the tyrannicide of Hipparchus in 514 BC was able to establish itself as a traditional founding myth of democracy in ancient Greece – although the murder committed by Harmodios and Aristogeiton had primarily private motives.
At that time, the Greek world comprised more than 800 states and tribes, which, though linked by a common language and religious ideas, were politically diverse. “The communities, each of which saw itself as autonomous, were in competition with each other. Traditions served to legitimize this plural world of states, with myth and history equally valid as historical facts”, said Funke. The murder of the tyrant Hipparchus, whose brother and successor Hippias was toppled only four years later (in 510 BC) by the Athenians with the support of Sparta, marked the beginning of the democratization of Athens and became a key tradition.
Stylizing the two murderers as freedom fighters did much to shape the historical image of Athens. Kleisthenesʼ new constitution, which saw all citizens as being equal before the law, was quickly accompanied by a mystification and ideologization of the tyrannicide: “Despite reports by the historian Thucydides, for example, who saw the motive for the murder as lying primarily in a homoerotic relationship and as therefore being of a private nature, as well as Sparta’s decisive intervention in the overthrow, this narrative was passed on unchanged. The ideology of a liberation from tyranny through one’s own efforts prevailed, this ideology becoming the central figure in the Athenians’ traditional image of history”, explained Funke.
That the tyrannicide was not forgotten was also ensured by a statue group of Harmodios and Aristogeiton, which was erected on the Agora only a few years later and then replaced by a new statue group of the tyrannicide immediately after it was stolen by the Persians in 480 BC. A sacrificial cult arose for Harmodios and Aristogeiton at their graves on the Kerameikos, and their descendants were given special rights of honour. “Tradition was thus able to assert itself against all other interpretations and maintain its normative power for political action”, according to Funke. (apo/vvm)
The formation of a Christian tradition under Islamic rule
“Tradition is what is constructed as such and what is accepted as being part of tradition”, argued medievalist Prof. Dr. Wolfram Drews at the beginning of his contribution. Using Christian monastic foundations and attempts to establish a cult around Christian martyrs under Islamic rule in medieval Spain as examples, Drews showed the competitive relationships of traditions – both within and between religions.
Competition was evident within Western Christianity, for example, when new institutionalized orders increasingly emerged from the 11th to the 13th century, often starting with itinerant preachers who gathered around themselves numerous followers of both sexes. “The orders competed with each other for members and donations, and, in doing so, drew on different traditions”, said Drews. The Cistercians, for example, prescribed a particularly strict way of life, which they propagated as a return to the original strictness of the Benedictine Rule, in accordance with the tradition of St Benedict. “The mendicant order of the Carmelites, on the other hand, claimed to have been founded by the Old Testament prophet Elijah and thus to be the oldest order of all”. This reference to invented traditions was intended to secure acceptance.
Competition between religions occurred in 9th-century Spain under Islamic rule. “The propagandists of the movement of the so-called Mozarabic martyrs wanted to anchor the supposed witnesses of faith in the tradition of early Christian martyrdom. The so-called martyrs rebelled against Islamic rule, while the Christian majority in al-Andalus largely accepted Islam as a monotheistic religion closely related to Christianity; most Christians rather felt threatened by extremists”, said Drews.
The formation of tradition along early Christian lines, however, caught on within the group of Mozarabic martyrs, although they themselves, unlike the martyrs of late antiquity, were neither persecuted, and nor did they perform miracles, as their opponents from the majority society argued: “The fact that the tradition of the supposed movement of martyrs was nevertheless able to establish itself is due above all to its propagandists and to the written codification of their arguments and to the inclusion of their names in lists of saints along late antique lines. It is also through practices such as relic veneration that a new tradition can be inscribed in an established canon”.
By being inscribed in a canonized tradition, a particular interpretation of events can prevail over competing interpretations in the long term; material evidence of the veneration of the Andalusian martyrs, such as the painting “Martyrdom of Eulogius”, however, exists almost only from the modern era: “The martyrs were made into martyrs after the fact, when no-one had any contemporary recollection of events”, concluded Drews. (apo/vvm)
Struggles between traditions over papal infallibility
Is Pope Pius IX’s dogma of infallibility in accordance with church tradition? This question was the subject of a dispute between Pope Pius IX and Cardinal Guidi at the First Vatican Council in 1870, as Cardinal Tizzani recorded in his diary about the private audience. The church historian Prof. Dr. Hubert Wolf described the events at the discussion evening “Tradition and Competition”, using this example to show the struggles for interpretation over lines of tradition in the Catholic Church.
“According to Cardinal Guidi, the Pope cannot define doctrines of faith single-handedly. Before he proclaims a dogma, he must, following tradition, first seek the advice of the bishops who stand for the tradition of the Church”, Wolf explained. Guidi appealed to classical dogmatics in the person of Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor of the Church. “Pope Pius IX, on the other hand, puts himself in the place of tradition”.
Interestingly, neither refer to Holy Scripture as a source, but only to tradition. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) had stipulated that only what was equally attested in Scripture and Tradition could be elevated to dogma. “With this understanding of tradition”, according to Wolf, “Catholicism set itself apart from Protestantism’s principle of sola scriptura”.
This had far-reaching consequences: “The 19th century saw the beginning of the Catholic idea of a stream of tradition that makes innovations in the Church possible through constant updating of the 2,000-year-old text of Holy Scripture – in marked contrast to Protestantism, which it accused of having a fundamentalist understanding of tradition because of its pure reference to Scripture”.
“Both Pius IX and Guidi thus use tradition to make their arguments, and thereby legitimize their quite different behaviour”, said Wolf. “Two different understandings of tradition enter into direct competition here”. (apo/vvm)
