2018 RSJ/CCCU Article Prize Winner: The Princely Woman and the Emperor: Imagery of Female Rule in Benzo of Alba’s Ad Heinricum IV

One of the functions of a panegyric was to interpret and define roles, and across the Ad Heinricum IV (written c.1085/1086), Benzo of Alba developed distinctive images of rulership. He depicted Henry IV of Germany not simply as a Christian emperor ruling within the traditions of earlier Roman emperors, but also as a second Christ. Benzo also presented Adelaide of Turin, ruler of the mark of Turin and Henry’s mother-in-law, as a princely woman. This new category of quasi-regal ruling woman emerged in the eleventh century in response to broader social and political changes. In his letters to Adelaide, Benzo emphasised her princely status and importance to the imperial cause. Using masculine titles, the classical figure of Egeria, and especially the Virgin Mary, Benzo depicted Adelaide as a quasi-regal ruler, advisor, and mediator. Benzo also drew a series of parallels between Adelaide and Henry using similar imagery, titles, and paired figures, such that Adelaide was Egeria to Henry’s Numa Pompilius, and a second Virgin Mary to Henry’s second Christ. Benzo thus created a remarkable image of Adelaide not simply as a ruler, but almost as a female counterpart to the emperor. Yet elsewhere in the Ad Heinricum, Benzo was more circumspect. He stressed that Adelaide was subordinate to Henry, and used more ambivalent imagery to describe her (even comparing Adelaide with Eve). By this means, Benzo’s image of Adelaide as a powerful princely woman was carefully calibrated to preserve both Henry’s pre-eminent imperial status and the traditional gender hierarchy.