HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

DYNASTIC HISTORY 239of the elite, simply telling their family stories was enough, otherwisewe would have many more of them than we do. What was importantenough to cross that threshold? And if the contents of a dynastichistory were not memories but were the result of careful clericalresearch, again what impulse gave rise to the history and gave itthis shape? In fact, as Jean-Marie Moeglin has warned, genealogiescould always have been different than they are; 103 indeed, in caseswhere dynasties produced more than one genealogy or dynastic history,that point often is demonstrated very clearly. This suggests thatthe criteria for inclusion or exclusion is likely to be not simply whowas remembered but the context for the “remembering”. In otherwords, we need talk about the “social logic” or different sorts ofsocial logic for dynastic history. 104Functions of Dynastic HistoryThe concerns of a family well may have lain behind certain kindsof dynastic documents, particularly family trees and rudimentarygenealogies. The family tree delineated those who might have a claimon property, but other questions also might arise from relationship.For instance, a tree might be used or even drawn up in disputesover marriage. 105 In other words, the functions of these histories arevarious and particular. Therefore, I have selected a few texts to illustratethe possibilities, rather than to attempt any comprehensive, andnecessarily faulty, generalization. 106The Flemish genealogical tradition offers an interesting case to useas we consider the question of social logic in dynastic histories, asit is one of the earliest and undergoes considerable development withtime. The first history in the series, the genealogy of Arnulf ofFlanders by Witger, 107 traces the descent of Arnulf of Flanders fromCharlemagne, something that later will become typical of noblegenealogies. 108 In the first of the two parts, the text provides a genealogyof the Frankish kings and emperors, specially notes Judith, the103Moeglin (1995), 524–25.104On social logic, see Spiegel (1990).105See Maleczek (1988).106See also Genicot (1975), 35–44, on this subject.107Genealogiae comitum Flandriae, ed. Bethmann, 302–04.108See Folz (1950), 375–80, for some examples from Germany.