Terminological Interference - the Case of Gottschalk of Orbais

The proposed project will be based upon the analysis of the factors internal and external to Gottschalks language, within the literary, theological, but also socio-political context, and with the aim of demonstrating the intricate correlation between the purely theological and extra-theological employment of his language. This will be effectuated through discerning theoretical and practical significance of Gottschalks texts, as well as exploring their internal and external structure and cohesion. The aim of this research project is to detect, by performing the analysis of Gottschalks language predominantly by tracing its precursors, classical influences and development trends on the one hand, and by comparing it with his supporters and opponents texts on the other, to what extent was the 9th-century theological discourse affluent with politico-ideological connotations, but also to establish the proceeding patterns according to which theological discourse was (re)constructed and the degree to which it corresponded to politico-ideological discourse of the Carolingian period. The first segment of the research will focus upon the linguistic and semantic analysis of Gottschalks theological discourse, while the second will deal with socio-political aspect of Gottschalks theology, through the interpretation and use of Gottschalks language, seen as the link between theological and ideological thought, within particular contexts and set of circumstances it originated in. The obtained results from consequently conducted twofold analysis would unveil, on the example of Gottschalk, the elements of Carolingian politico-ideological discourse as contained/originated in theological language, its sources and premises, as well as the employment of theological language in extra-theological aims with the objective of portraying the development of specific literary elements as well as the interpretations of theological doctrine in politico-ideological sense and purposes.

The project on Gottschalk of Orbais was centered upon the analysis and contextualization of his writings, of both prose and poetic nature, which were positioned in a comparative perspective with the texts of his contemporaries of the middle of the 9th-century Francia. This research has been undertaken on the differentiated interpretations of the notion of hierarchy, in the scope of political and historical situation of ca. 850 860. Namely, it was important to see how Gottschalk a heretic on the one side, and the representatives of the official church on the other, understood this and related concepts. One of the goals of the project work was to show, through a comparative prism, how the theological language/discourse was often conveyed through political and ideological one, as well as how the intellectual climate of those times was reflected in the authors literary attitudes. The accent of this research lies in the examination of particularly chosen semantic fields (e.g. haeresis, hierarchia, oboedientia, authoritas) and of rhetorical strategies, metaphors, discourses seen through the lenses of history, theology and philology. The results obtained in the course of the project on Gottschalk of Orbais have been disseminated in the form of conference presentations, articles and form the basis for future research.