Handbook for William
Becca Dvorak
HON-H 211
10/1/14
10/6/14
Intro
Dhuoda and her Handbook:
o Dhuoda, Frankish noblewoman (ix.1)
o Written in middle of 9th century
o Written for her oldest son to share with the younger
o Taken from her when oldest was 14
o Emperor Louis the Pious
o Lothar, Louis the German, Charles the Bald fought for their father’s
territories
o Rebelled against their father’s authority (x.2)
o Husband Bernard, Count of Septimania
o “Virtual vice-emperor” (x.7)
o This text “stands as a memorial to the failure of Dhuoda’s hopes” (xi.10)
o Purpose was to teach her children how to be successful by God’s standards
and the world’s (xi.11)
Book 1: Loving God
On Loving God:
o Should be loved and praised by every human creature on the earth (7.1)
o Burning desire (8.9)
On Seeking God:
o “we take our existence from his approval, we live, we move, and are” (8.9)
o “he has the power to do all good” (8.16)
On God’s Greatness:
o humbled himself to become man (8.21)
o knows our sins (9.26)
On God’s Sublimity:
o too great to understand (9.29)
More on the same topic. On God:
o God = “Deus” (9.33)
o Everlasting power that cannot be destroyed (12.49)
Moral Interpretation:
o Allow yourself to be filled with God (12.56)
Cautionary words on the same topic:
o Be in this world, but not of this world (13.59)
o Learn from other men of the church (13.59)
Book 3: Social Order and Secular Success
On the reverence you should show your father throughout your life:
o Fear, love, be faithful to your father, Bernard (21.1)
o “your lord and father” (21.1)
On the same topic, on reverence for your father:
o a father has more “access to another person at the height of power” than
anyone else (23.27)
On the examples of the early Fathers:
o examples from Bible (23.28)
o obedience to God and mindfulness of commands of a devoted father leads to
successful men (25.38)
Direction on your comportment toward your lord:
o serve King Charles because God and your father chose him (25.42)
On taking counsel:
o take advice of those who behave loyally in body and soul (27.49)
o “There are no riches where stupidity reigns” (27.56)
More on the same topic. On counselors:
o it is difficult to know good council (29.79)
Special direction on the same topic:
o find good men (30.85)
Regarding your lord’s family:
o fear, love, honor, and cherish them (31.102)
Regarding the magnates:
o learn from your elders (33.114)
That you will accommodate yourself to great and to lesser men:
o God condemns the powerful and exalts the humble (34.116)
On respect for priests:
o Should be revered because the intercede for our sins (38.145)
Book 4: Moral Life
Special direction on various aspects of moral betterment:
o Do not envy (43.3)
o In the world, not of the world (43.2)
On the same topic:
o Give thanks without ceasing (45.20)
On the same topic. Useful direction:
o Be humble, not prideful (47.36)
On arming yourself with the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit:
o Love God and study the scriptures (48.51)
On the same topic. Setting opposites against each other:
o Maintain purity in body and spirit; flee from lust and temptation (51.83)
That you be patient in mind and body:
o Be gentle to overcome anger (54.117)
To overcome your faults with ease, read the eight beatitudes aloud, and keep them
always in your heart:
o Perform your worldly service to God (55.119)
That you help the poor as you are able:
o Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (62.209)
Book 5: God’s Chastisement
On being tested in various troubles:
o Don’t worry about the problems of this world (65.1)
o Apostles (65.1), secular works (65.3), other books of the Bible
(68.29); Spiritual Lessons; God
On making amends, if you go astray:
o Acknowledge your wrongdoing publicly and to yourself and make it right in
the eyes of God (69.36)
o Other books of the Bible (69.38) Psalms (70.43); Spiritual lessons,
social conduct; God
On various temptations, if they befall you:
o Be courageous and prepared (70.45)
o Other books of the Bible (70.45); Spiritual lessons; God
If there is difficulty:
o Be patient and call upon the Lord (70.50)
o Other books of the Bible (70.45); Spiritual lessons; God
On persecution:
o Be patient and suffer it in Christ (70.52)
o Other books of the Bible (70.45); Spiritual lessons; God
In hardship:
o Look to God (70.53)
o Other books of the Bible (70.45); Spiritual lessons; God
In deprivation:
o Call out to God to help your body and soul
o Other books of the Bible (70.45); Spiritual lessons; God
In illness:
o Don’t pity yourself (71.58)
o Other books of the Bible (71.58), cultural norms (72.63); Spiritual
lessons, humility; God, William himself
That you give glory to God in all circumstances:
o Glorify God, not yourself (72.76)
o Other books of the Bible (72.76); Spiritual lesson, humility; God
Book 7: The Deaths of the Body and Spirit
On the same topic. Special direction of great usefulness:
o Be reborn every day (79.2)
I wish that you be strong in your first birth:
o We are sinners (79.3)
I direct you to be steadfast in your second birth:
o Make believers of all men (80.7)
On the first and second death:
o Death of body and death of soul (80.12)
I call you to consider the first death:
o Inescapable (80.12)
Struggle to escape the second death:
o Grow in Christ to have eternal life with Him (81.19)
Book 8: How to Pray and for Whom
I direct you to grow strong through reading and prayer:
o Read and pray to seek out God (83.1)
On the past, present, and the future:
o To improve, to overcome, to be aware of evils (83.5)
I suggest how you may pray for all the ranks of the clergy:
o “As best you can” (83.5)
For bishops and priests:
o That they pour out good prayers for others (84.5)
For kings and others of the highest rank:
o Uphold universal Church’s firm belief in Christ (84.5)
For your own lord:
o Pray for peace and happiness for him (84.6)
I direct you to pray constantly for your father:
o Also ask various ranks of the clergy to pray for him (84.6)
On the same topic, for all the following:
o Those who oppose you and insult you (84.7)
o Travellers (84.8)
End with the words, “and for all the holy people of God”:
o After many other things (85.10)
That you pray for all the faithful who have died:
o To be with the saints (85.10)
For those who were truly good:
o Give thanks (85.11)
For those who were not truly good:
o Propitiation (85.12)
Here you will find something appropriate to offer those who were unworthy:
o God knows the hearts of everyone (85.14)
Pray for the dead relations of your father:
o They passed on their inheritance and legacy to Bernard (87.25)
For the late lord Theoderic:
o Would have been your foster-father (88.28)
And again, pray for all the dead, that they rest in peace:
o Rest in peace (88.31)
On the same topic, especially for you:
o Bless God and be found worthy of eternal life (89.31)