HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
DYNASTIC HISTORY 233selves. The Ninety-five Comital Reigns of Austria lists the counts of Austriabeginning with the first count, who reigned 810 years after the flood,but it begins with universal history, and the five books into whichthe text is divided are also each dedicated to one of the five senses. 75In other words, alternative ways of thinking about the history of afamily and alternative forms of organization, particularly those whichcast the history of a dynasty in the context of larger structures, intellectualor political, continually would have presented themselves.Nonetheless, it seems clear that once a dynastic history had beenproduced, other histories produced in the area or in contiguity werelikely to adopt the form. In other words, existing texts served asmodels for other similar works. Dudo of Saint-Quentin’s Normanhistory directed Norman history into a dynastic form for the nextcentury and a half. It also may have influenced the Angevin tradition,for the author of the Gesta consulum Andegavorum seems to haveknown Dudo’s work or that of William of Jumièges, the only likelysource for his contention that Rollo had married a daughter ofCharles the Simple named Gisela and been granted all of Normandyand Brittany besides. 76 The counts of Anjou were intermittent enemiesof the dukes of Normandy, but this does not mean that theywould not imitate the form Norman history took; in fact, it mightincrease the likelihood of such imitation. It is tempting to see thegenealogical form of the Grandes chroniques as arising from the Normanexample as well; from 1204 the kings of France were also dukes ofNormandy, and manuscripts of the Norman histories were presentin Parisian libraries from at least the twelfth century. 77 Similarly, theearly genealogies of the Flemish counts seem to have given rise to ahost of genealogical histories, not only Noble Flanders but also Lambertof Saint-Omer’s and Lambert of Wattrelos’s genealogies of their ownfamilies and the History of the Counts of Guines and Lords of Ardres.75See Österreichische Chronik von den 95 Herrschaften, ed. J. Seemüller (Hannover andLeipzig, 1909), 6 ff. on the seven ages; 25 on the names of Austria; 25–26 on thefirst count.76Halphen and Poupardin, Chroniques des comtes d’Anjou et des seigneurs d’Amboise,35; Dudo, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum, ed. Lair, 166, 168, 169.77Manuscript C2 of William of Jumièges was at Saint-Victor (The Gesta Normannorumducum of William of Jumièges, ed. Van Houts, 1:xcix); Manuscript E2 was composedat Saint-Denis (Gesta Normannorum, ed. Van Houts, civ).
234 LEAH SHOPKOWThe Author-Subject Relationship in Dynastic HistoriesThe choice of how to structure a history, of course, may not havebeen made by the subjects of the history; even the decision to writea history may have been made by someone else; finally, the familythat was the ostensible subject of the history may not have been theintended recipients thereof. There is considerable evidence that manyof the surviving genealogical and dynastic histories were composedat monasteries associated with the dynasty and that the choice ofwhat to write and how to write it, and even whether to write it atall, lay with the clerical authors of such histories rather than withthe patrons; these histories reflect the needs of the institution ratherthan those of the patrons. For example, the dynastic materials inthe history of Frenswegen were intended to serve the foundation,not the family of the counts of Bentheim, 78 while, to use a monumentalrather than historical example, the Bamberg family memorial at HolyCross was created after the lineage died out; it was intended toremind the new patrons of the monastery, the Hapsburgs, of theirresponsibility to the monastery. 79That the writer sometimes had other patrons or potential patronsto please than the subjects of the history becomes clearer in light ofdynastic histories which are not dedicated to their subjects. Dudo ofSaint-Quentin included numerous dedicatory poems to membersof the comital family—Ralph d’Ivry, Richard I’s half-brother; Robertof Rouen, Richard I’s son, and Richard I himself—but the extantcopies with a dedicatory letter contain a dedication to Adalberon ofLaon. 80 Jean of Marmoutier dedicated his Historia Gaufredi ducisNormannorum et comitis Andegavorum not to Geoffrey’s son, Henry II ofEngland, but to William the bishop of Le Mans. 81Even when a work indubitably was given to its subject, that doesnot mean that the subject commissioned it. The Scheyer genealogyof the Wittelsbachs was a monastic history created to shore up thelegitimacy of the Wittelsbachs, after 1180 the dukes of Bavaria, as78Johanek (1992), 202.79Moeglin (1995), 527–28.80I have argued in Shopkow (forthcoming) that Dudo intended his work to dodouble duty, to serve his Norman masters but also to procure his advancement athome in Vermandois and that this accounts for several oddities of the text.81Halphen and Poupardin, Chroniques des comtes d’Anjou et des seigneurs d’Amboise, 172.
- Page 191 and 192: 182 NORBERT KERSKENformulated by Is
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- Page 227 and 228: 218 LEAH SHOPKOWAnother explanation
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234 LEAH SHOPKOWThe Author-Subject Relationship in Dynastic HistoriesThe choice of how to structure a history, of course, may not havebeen made by the subjects of the history; even the decision to writea history may have been made by someone else; finally, the familythat was the ostensible subject of the history may not have been theintended recipients thereof. There is considerable evidence that manyof the surviving genealogical and dynastic histories were composedat monasteries associated with the dynasty and that the choice ofwhat to write and how to write it, and even whether to write it atall, lay with the clerical authors of such histories rather than withthe patrons; these histories reflect the needs of the institution ratherthan those of the patrons. For example, the dynastic materials inthe history of Frenswegen were intended to serve the foundation,not the family of the counts of Bentheim, 78 while, to use a monumentalrather than historical example, the Bamberg family memorial at HolyCross was created after the lineage died out; it was intended toremind the new patrons of the monastery, the Hapsburgs, of theirresponsibility to the monastery. 79That the writer sometimes had other patrons or potential patronsto please than the subjects of the history becomes clearer in light ofdynastic histories which are not dedicated to their subjects. Dudo ofSaint-Quentin included numerous dedicatory poems to membersof the comital family—Ralph d’Ivry, Richard I’s half-brother; Robertof Rouen, Richard I’s son, and Richard I himself—but the extantcopies with a dedicatory letter contain a dedication to Adalberon ofLaon. 80 Jean of Marmoutier dedicated his Historia Gaufredi ducisNormannorum et comitis Andegavorum not to Geoffrey’s son, Henry II ofEngland, but to William the bishop of Le Mans. 81Even when a work indubitably was given to its subject, that doesnot mean that the subject commissioned it. The Scheyer genealogyof the Wittelsbachs was a monastic history created to shore up thelegitimacy of the Wittelsbachs, after 1180 the dukes of Bavaria, as78Johanek (1992), 202.79Moeglin (1995), 527–28.80I have argued in Shopkow (forthcoming) that Dudo intended his work to dodouble duty, to serve his Norman masters but also to procure his advancement athome in Vermandois and that this accounts for several oddities of the text.81Halphen and Poupardin, Chroniques des comtes d’Anjou et des seigneurs d’Amboise, 172.