Editing Robert II of France (section)

====Chosen by the Lord====
The definition of royalty in the time of Robert II is difficult to appreciate nowadays. The king only has precedence over the princes of the Frankish kingdom. Some like [[Odo II of Blois]] (in 1023), although respect is in order, make it clear to him that they wish to govern as they please without his consent. A prince respects the sovereign but he does not feel his subordinate. At the same time, however, the king tends to impose himself as ''Primus inter pares'', the first of the princes. Moreover, the texts dating from the first part of the 11th century largely evoke loyalty to the king from the princes.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|p=33}}

One day in 1027, a "rain of blood" fell on the Duchy of Aquitaine. The phenomenon worried enough contemporaries for [[William V, Duke of Aquitaine|William V of Aquitaine]] to explain it as a divine sign. The Duke then decided to send messengers to meet Robert II so that the latter asks the best scholars of his court for an explanation and advice. Gauzlin, Abbot of [[Fleury Abbey|Fleury]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges|Archbishop of Bourges]], and [[Fulbert of Chartres]] take the matter in hand. Gauzlin answers that "the blood always announces a misfortune which will befall the Church and the population, but that after will come divine mercy". As for Fulbert, better documented, he analyzes the old ''historiæ'' (the works which relate the past facts):

{{blockquote|author=Fulbert of Chartres, ''Lettre au roi Robert'', 1027.{{efn|In fact, it is a sandstorm coming from the [[Sahara]], an unusual fact at the time therefore of divine origin.{{sfn|Werner|1990|p=274}}}}|"I found [[Livy|Titus Livius]], [[Valerius Maximus|Valerius]], [[Orosius]] and several others relating this event; in the circumstances I contented myself with producing the testimony of Gregory, Bishop of Tours, because of his religious authority."}}

Fulbert concludes from [[Gregory of Tours]] (''Histoire des Francs'', VII), that only the ungodly and fornicators "will die for eternity in their blood, if they have not amended themselves beforehand". Friend of Bishop Fulbert, William V of Aquitaine could have addressed him directly. Now, aware that Robert II is the Lord's chosen one, it is from him, responsible for the entire kingdom, that we must seek advice. He is in the best position to know the mysteries of the world and the will of God. In the 11th century, even the most powerful men respect the order established by God, that is to say to pray to his sovereign".{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=199–200}}{{sfn|Werner|1990|pp=274–275}}

The history of royal magical powers was dealt with by [[Marc Bloch]] in his work ''The Thaumaturge Kings'' (1924). During the early Middle Ages, the power to work miracles was strictly reserved for God, saints and relics. In the Merovingian times, was the mention of pious [[Guntram]], mentioned by Gregory of Tours (6th century) and considered the first Frankish king healer. During the reign of Henry I, in the middle of the 11th century, we begin to tell Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire that Robert II had the gift of healing the wounds of certain diseases affecting them. Helgaud of Fleury writes in his ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'':

{{blockquote|author=Helgaud of Fleury, ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'', ca. 1033.{{sfn|de Fleury|1824|pp=407–408}}|"[...] This man of God had no horror of them [lepers], for he had read in the Holy Scriptures that often our Lord Jesus had received hospitality in the figure of a leper. He went to them, approached them with eagerness, gave them the money with his own hand, kissed their hands with his mouth [...]. Moreover, divine virtue conferred on this holy man such grace for the healing of bodies that by touching the sick with the place of their wounds with his pious hand, and imprinting thereon the sign of the cross, he removed all pain from the disease."}}

Indeed, Robert II is the first sovereign of his line to be credited with [[Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgical]] talent. Perhaps this was a propaganda with the purpose of a symbolic compensation for the weakness of royal power; not being able to impose itself by force (for example in the episode with [[Odo II of Blois]] in 1023), the monarchy had to find an alternative to impose its primacy. Nevertheless, this first thaumaturgy is recognized as "generalist", that is to say that the king was not specialized in such or such disease as will be the case for his successors with the [[scrofula]].{{sfn|Werner|1990|p=304}}{{sfn|Menant|1999|pp=833–834}} Not much is known about Robert II's magical actions except that he would have cured [[lepers]] in the South during his journey from 1018 to 1020. The King of the Franks is not the only one to use this kind of practice, his contemporary [[Edward the Confessor]] does the same in England. According to popular tradition, the king's blood conveys a capacity to work miracles, a gift which is reinforced by the royal coronation. Finally, according to Jacques Le Goff, no document proves that the French sovereigns regularly practiced touching scrofula before [[Louis IX of France|Saint Louis]].<ref>Colette Beaune, ''Thaumaturgie'' (in French). ''Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge'', PUF, Paris, 2002, pp. 1375–1376.</ref> In 1031 Robert II also came on pilgrimage to the Abbey of Saint-Géraud d'Aurillac to visit the relics of [[Gerald of Aurillac|Saint Gerald]] and the cradle of [[Pope Sylvester II|Gerbert]], of which he had been a disciple.