Location:In Liège (Krush, Van der Essen) or in Maastricht (Balau) - Date:Written around 718 when the relics of Saint Lambert were translated (Balau, Kurth, Van der Essen). According to Krush (and also Werner, 1980), the work was later written, after 727, the date of death of Hubertus, or even after 751 under the rule of Peppin III. - Commission: /

3843 words

Lambert’s life was written down after the translation of his relics in order to promote his cult and, in this way, to increase the prestige of bishopric of Liège/Maastricht.

First biography of Saint Lambert. Lambert originated from an aristocratic family of the Maastricht region. He was educated by bishop Theodardus of Maastricht and resided at the royal court for a while. After the murder of his mentor (shortly after 669), he was appointed bishop of Maastricht by Childeric II. With Childeric’s death (675), Lambert was banished and he lived in exile for seven years in the abbey of Stavelot. When Ebroin, the mayor of the palace of Neustria, was killed (682), Lambert could return to his seat under Pippin II. During his life, he played an important role as a missionary of Toxandria. Finally, he himself fell victim to murder in his villa in Liège (705/6) due to family disputes. It was in Liège that in 714 a church was dedicated to him and where his remains were sheltered. When the bishop’s seat was moved to Liège, it became closely attached to the cult of Saint Lambert. This first vita of Lambertus is not written as a linear story, but is a mosaic of several fragments of the bishop’s life. It contains information about the childhood, episcopacy and exile of the saint and thus provides us with details about as well his secular as his spiritual life. The work has been drawn up to serve as a ‘lectio’ for liturgical use (Kupper, 1984) and was heavily influenced by the ‘vita Fursei’ (Werner, 1980).

Gregorius Magnus, Dialogi
Vita Eligii episcopi Noviomagensis
Vita Fursei
Vita Servatii

Vita secunda Lamberti
Vita quarta lamberti
Vita prima Huberti Leodiensis

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Latin 12598 (Link) (Link)
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Latin, 5360 (Link)
Rouen, Bibliothèque Municipale, U 2
Trier, Stadtbibliothek, 388 (966)
Vaticano, Bibliotheca Apostolica, Palat. lat. 216
Vaticano, Bibliotheca Apostolica, Palat. lat. 846

DEMARTEAU (J.) (ed.), Vie la plus ancienne de saint Lambert (Liège, 1890) 39-64
KRUSCH (B.), in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 6 (Hannover-Leipzig, 1913) 253-384 (Link)

BALAU (S.), Les sources de l'histoire de Liège au Moyen Age, Étude critique (Brussel 1903) 33-38
Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina 4677
DE COENE (K.), ET AL. (eds.), Liber Floridus 1121. The world in a book. (Tielt, 2011)
Index scriptorum operumque Latino-Belgicorum Medii Aevi 1 (Bruxelles, 1973) 25-27
KRUSCH (B.), in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 6 (Hannover-Leipzig, 1913) 299-352
KUPPER (J.-L.), 'S. Lambert: de l'histoire à la légende', Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 79 (1984) 5-49
Lexikon des Mittelalters, 5 cols 1627-1628
SAUCIER (C.), 'Sacrament and Sacrifice: Conflating Corpus Christi and Martyrdom in Medieval Liège', Speculum, 87 (2012) 682-723
SCHEIBELREITER (G.), 'Der Tod Landberts von Maastricht', in: N. Fryde, D. Reitz (eds.), Bischofsmord im Mittelalter. Murder of bishops (Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte, 191) (Göttingen, 2003) 51-82
VAN DER ESSEN (L.), Etude critique et littéraire sur les Vitae des saints mérovingiens de l'ancienne Belgique, Université de Louvain. (Recueil de travaux d'histoire et de philologie, 1e série, 17) (Leuven/Paris, 1907) 23-29
WERNER (M.), Der Lütticher Raum in frühkarolingischer Zeit. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte einer karolingischen Stammlandschaft, Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschicht, 62 (Göttingen, 1980) 241-275