HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
ETHNIC AND NATIONAL HISTORY CA. 500‒1000 53of the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, a short treatise onchronology and the stars, and another (now lost) on the interpretationof the psalms. These other works are of considerable relevanceto the understanding of the Historiae, which combine the narrativeof secular affairs with innumerable miracles and hagiographic sketchesand with descriptions of omens and natural “signs”.In both his historical and hagiographic writings, Gregory deploreshis shortcomings as a stylist and even lists the grammatical mistakesof which he is guilty; he then counters that his simple languagereaches a wider public because it is easily understood (cf. generalpreface to the Historiae, preface to Glory of the Confessors, preface toMiracles of St. Martin). In a much-cited afterword to the Historiae, heexhorts future bishops of Tours to keep the text of his works unchanged,whatever may be wrong with its Latinity. These passages have oftenbeen read as conventional modesty topoi and as the expression ofa realistic self-appraisal on Gregory’s part, since scholars tended toagree that his Latin represented a dramatic drop in standards comparedto that of other authors of his age (Caesarius of Arles andVenantius Fortunatus, for instance). Recent students of his work havefound these issues less straightforward and raised the question whethermodern editors, by preferring the more “Merovingian” manuscriptsof the Historiae, have not distorted our sense of the Latin Gregoryactually wrote. 33 An equally important question is whether Gregory’sendorsement of a simpler language is not part of a Christian polemicagainst standards of Latinity associated with pagan and secularliterature. 34The Historiae opens with a general prologue followed by ten booksof historical narrative of which I, II, III, and V also have individualprefaces. Between the end of Book X and his invocation to hissuccessors to respect the integrity of the text, Gregory has insertedan account of the bishops of Tours in the form of a series of verybrief biographies. This may well be the earliest instance of what wasto become the genre of gesta episcoporum. 35 The ten books with theirprefaces are clearly conceived as a single work, but Heinzelmannhas argued persuasively that the first four, which cover an enormous33Vollmann (1983), cols. 124–28; See also Auerbach (1946); du Plessis (1968).34The best discussion remains Beumann (1964).35Sot (1981), 16 and 33.
54 JOAQUÍN MARTÍNEZ PIZARROrange of time from Creation to 575, show signs of having been composedseparately, as a self-contained narrative intended for publication.36 Among other traces of earlier composition, the computationof the age of the world at the end of Book IV, which matches theone at the end of X, and Gregory’s frequent addresses to the publicin I–IV seem to indicate that his initial project did not includethe events of his own time. Books V–X, which cover a mere fifteento sixteen years of Merovingian history, with Gregory himself in aleading role, involve a sharp narrowing of the geographic and chronologicalscope of the Historiae and possibly a decision on Gregory’spart not to make the longer work public in his lifetime. The tenbooks have been carefully edited to form a new continuous unit inspite of the transition from history of the past to history of the presentat the beginning of Book V. 37Among the chief sources of the Historiae are Jerome’s translationand continuation of Eusebius’s chronicle, the chronicle and Martinianwritings of Sulpicius Severus, the historians of the late empire RenatusProfuturus Frigiredus and Sulpicius Alexander, from whose otherwiselost histories Gregory quotes at length in Book II, and, most importantly,Orosius’s History Against the Pagans. Gregory also makes use ofa broad range of Merovingian hagiography and, for the contemporarybooks, especially IX and X, of various charters and documents,some of which he incorporates into his text (e.g., the text of theTreaty of Andelot [IX,20], Saint Radegund’s letter of foundation forher Convent of the Holy Cross at Poitiers [IX,41]). Occasional quotationsfrom Vergil (e.g., VIII,22; IX,6) and from Sallust’s frequentlycited opinions on the writing of history (e.g., IV,13; VII,2) are thoughtnot to imply familiar knowledge of these pagan authors but to betaken from florilegia to raise the tone of the narrative.Gregory’s credibility as a historian has generally been judged high, 38but recent scholars have made sharp attacks on his coverage of theArian kingdoms, distorted by Catholic zeal, 39 his portrayal of Clovisand particularly of the Frankish king’s conversion, 40 his account ofthe invasion of Gaul by the Huns in 451, which assigns to the Franks36Heinzelmann (1994), 96–102.37An outline is provided in Appendix 2.38Vollmann (1983), cols. 915–16.39Moorhead (1995).40Wood (1985).
- Page 11 and 12: 2 DEBORAH MAUSKOPF DELIYANNISMuch o
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- Page 27 and 28: 18 MICHAEL I. ALLENone, emphasized
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54 JOAQUÍN MARTÍNEZ PIZARROrange of time from Creation to 575, show signs of having been composedseparately, as a self-contained narrative intended for publication.36 Among other traces of earlier composition, the computationof the age of the world at the end of Book IV, which matches theone at the end of X, and Gregory’s frequent addresses to the publicin I–IV seem to indicate that his initial project did not includethe events of his own time. Books V–X, which cover a mere fifteento sixteen years of Merovingian history, with Gregory himself in aleading role, involve a sharp narrowing of the geographic and chronologicalscope of the Historiae and possibly a decision on Gregory’spart not to make the longer work public in his lifetime. The tenbooks have been carefully edited to form a new continuous unit inspite of the transition from history of the past to history of the presentat the beginning of Book V. 37Among the chief sources of the Historiae are Jerome’s translationand continuation of Eusebius’s chronicle, the chronicle and Martinianwritings of Sulpicius Severus, the historians of the late empire RenatusProfuturus Frigiredus and Sulpicius Alexander, from whose otherwiselost histories Gregory quotes at length in Book II, and, most importantly,Orosius’s History Against the Pagans. Gregory also makes use ofa broad range of Merovingian hagiography and, for the contemporarybooks, especially IX and X, of various charters and documents,some of which he incorporates into his text (e.g., the text of theTreaty of Andelot [IX,20], Saint Radegund’s letter of foundation forher Convent of the Holy Cross at Poitiers [IX,41]). Occasional quotationsfrom Vergil (e.g., VIII,22; IX,6) and from Sallust’s frequentlycited opinions on the writing of history (e.g., IV,13; VII,2) are thoughtnot to imply familiar knowledge of these pagan authors but to betaken from florilegia to raise the tone of the narrative.Gregory’s credibility as a historian has generally been judged high, 38but recent scholars have made sharp attacks on his coverage of theArian kingdoms, distorted by Catholic zeal, 39 his portrayal of Clovisand particularly of the Frankish king’s conversion, 40 his account ofthe invasion of Gaul by the Huns in 451, which assigns to the Franks36Heinzelmann (1994), 96–102.37An outline is provided in Appendix 2.38Vollmann (1983), cols. 915–16.39Moorhead (1995).40Wood (1985).
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