The city of Deventer seen across the River IJssel, photo taken by Mippe and distributed by photobucket
Yesterday I had planned to visit the city of Deventer, which is about a two-hour train ride from my hometown, but unforeseen circumstances prevented me from hopping on the train. I was a bit disappointed, as I would really have liked to see the large Lebuinus Church, which has some remains of an older church in its basement or crypt.
However, I am sure I will get to Deventer one of these days and in the meantime, I will continue with the story about Radbod’s life. Radbod had by now, the year is 899, been chosen as Bishop of Utrecht and had moved from Tours to Deventer, a town on the River IJssel.
The Vita Radbodi, a book that was written around 960 and which describes Radbod’s life, concentrates mostly on the part that Radbod was a bishop. Unfortunately, Vitas can’t be read as a proper historical and chronological account of someone’s life. The people who have Vitas written about them have all become saints, so the writer of a Vita was particularly keen on pointing out the virtues and good works of the person he was describing.
This is also the case with Radbod’s Vita. For example, when the old Bishop of Utrecht died, the clergy and people of the See of Utrecht had to chose a new bishop, and they easily came to the decision to chose Radbod, because ‘his works were good and he was worthy of God to become their father.’ King Arnulf had also heard of Radbod’s good deeds and besides that, ‘God let the king know that Radbod was the right man for the job’.
Old Fresco of Bishop Radbod, this picture is in the public domain
I have no doubt that Radbod was a good guy, but his appointment as bishop was most likely in large part due to him being from noble descent, with very good connections to the Frankish nobility and royal family.
According to his Vita, Radbod thought he wasn’t worthy of becoming a bishop. As before, this is something the writer of the Vita had to mention, because otherwise his subject might not have been worthy of becoming a saint. As seen in the first 50 years of his life Radbod loved studying, and it must have been clear to him that he had to give that up when he accepted his new job.
Nevertheless, Radbod became the new Bishop of Utrecht and moved to Deventer, where he found his see in turmoil due to Viking attacks and the fact that part of the see fell under the rule of the kings of West Francia, while another part fell under the rule of the kings of East Francia. This was not an easy situation for Radbod to work with, but more about that next time.
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