HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

BIOGRAPHY 1000‒1350 355The Biographical TraditionThe medieval biographer worked within a continuing tradition thatstressed the citation of historical and literary precedents, the identificationof sources, the use of stereotypical topoi, and the exemplaryrole of his or her subject. Many biographies begin with a prologuein which the author provides a clear summary of the didactic roleof biography and the author’s methods, echoing the remarks foundin other literary genres and based on such classical rhetorical modelsas Sallust’s Bellum Catalinae. 5 The fullest prologue may include thefollowing elements: 1) a dedication to the patron who had requestedor urged the author to undertake its publication; 2) reference to theauthor’s personal acquaintance with the subject or with reliable andtrustworthy eyewitnesses who could vouch for the accuracy of theaccount; 3) the citation of biblical, classical, or hagiographical precedentson whom the life has been modeled; 4) if the subject is a saint,a summary of the many pious roles the saint may play in the schemeof salvation; 5) rhetorical protestations by the author of his own lackof skill (also found in other forms of historical writing); and 6) asummary of the structure of the life. The chapter divisions, althoughsometimes noted by the original author, were often rearranged bysubsequent copyists and editors, who might prefer either a chronologicaland topical division. For example, one biography of BishopLouis of Toulouse (1274–97), scion of the Angevin dynasty, containsseveral options. Although the author himself announces in the prologuethat the work contains nine chapters, the first redaction neverthelesscontains ten chapters, and the second redaction thirteen.The first version is organized around the following subjects: his nobleancestry (descended from the tree of Jesse!); the hidden and propheticmeaning of his name; and his childhood, exile, education, virtues,pastoral life as a bishop, death, miracles and canonization. 6 Othersare didactically structured around the saint’s virtues, providing anecdotalaccounts of those acts, visions, miracles, and so forth whichillustrate these virtues. For example, the Vita maior of Duchess Hedwigof Silesia (†1243) by Simon of Trebnitz, master in theology and5Grandsden (1992), 125–51.6“De vita S. Ludovici episcopi Tolosani”, ed. A. Heysse, Archivum franciscanumhistoricum 40 (1947), 121.