HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

242 LEAH SHOPKOWtwo versions, with several continuations. 117 The important politicalissue at the end of the earliest versions was the succession of RobertI “the Frisian” to Flanders; while the majority version is neutral, atleast one version takes a dim view of Robert’s character and rights.While this genealogy may seem to affirm the continuity of the family(Robert I was usurping Flanders from his nephew), it does documenta political change important to the southern lords (includingthe people of Saint-Omer), who, according to Flandria generosa, hadnot supported Robert. That this tradition should be alive at Saint-Bertin, where Robert’s defeated rival was buried, is hardly surprising.118 The continuations of this genealogy similarly appear at timesof crisis: one hand chronicles the succession crisis of 1127–28; anotherpicks up until the succession of Baldwin V of Hainaut (Baldwin VIIIof Flanders) upon the death of Philip of Alsace; a third carries onthrough the sad aftermath of Bouvines; while another later hand carrieson to the succession of Guy after the long reigns of BaldwinXI’s daughters. In other words, the hands change at political juncturesin the history of Flanders. These genealogies and their continuationsand reworkings do not always seem to represent the politicalinterests of the family. Lambert of Saint-Omer stresses Robert II’s“tyranny” toward the clergy. The story ends happily, more or less,with the count penitent (although compelled by the fear of an interdict)and then quickly dead.This history, then, does not seem to arise from the comital family’ssense of itself. Although the lineage of the counts of Flanderswas a true blood lineage (albeit sometimes through the female line)—not always the case in other places—the genealogies take into theirstride the abrupt changes of family branch that punctuated Flemishhistory. What concerned them, when they gave more than the baresuccession, was political events and connections. The counts of Flanderswere extremely effective rulers; their administration was more complexand professional than the French administration of the period,for example. To a great degree, the history of their family was thehistory of Flanders. In short, in this case, the genealogies are a kindof institutional history.117Genealogiae comitum Flandriae, ed. Bethmann, 305–06, with continuations 306–08.118Nicholas (1992), 52; Genealogiae comitum Flandriae, ed. Bethmann, 322.