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 63The sources of the LHF have not all been identified; they appearto include many oral traditions of the Neustrians. 65 The Trojan origoin chapters 1–4, however, is a learned invention. It traces the Franksback to those Trojans led by Priam and Antenor who, after the fallof the city, made a fresh start in Pannonia. Characteristic of thenarrow ethnic range of the author’s interests is the fact that neitherthe Roman Empire nor any of the leading nations of antiquity playsmuch of a part in the early history of the Franks. A few clasheswith Rome serve the purpose of driving them to the furthest reachesof the Rhine, where they choose Faramund to be their first longhairedking (4).The sixth century (8–34) is covered by a summary of Gregory ofTours’s Historiae I–VI. The seventh century (35–47) is rich in dramaticlegendary episodes but uses no identifiable sources and appearsto be based largely on oral lore. The author was unacquainted withFredegar’s chronicle. For events of the turn of the seventh to theeighth century and to 727, he is a contemporary. This gives particularvalue to the final chapters, which are our chief source forMerovingian obsolescence 66 and the rise of the Carolingians. 67The LHF has nothing to say on ecclesiastical and hagiographicmatters and limits itself throughout to military and dynastic historypresented in an epicizing manner, with abundant use of direct speechand anecdotal form. Unlike the novelistic compositions in Fredegar,which integrate such incidents into complex plots and heroic biographies,the fabulae in the LHF stand by themselves, brought in atdifferent points of the narrative without further coordination witheach other. This suggests that they were taken directly from oraltradition, or in any case had not undergone much literary elaboration.The term Franci, as in Fredegar, is largely reserved for the nobilitybut, in this case, restricted further to the Neustrian nobility. Thereare, however, occasional reminders that Austrasians and Burgundiansare also Franks: after the death of Theuderic II in 613, “Burgundiansand Austrasians made peace with the other Franks” (“cum reliquisFrancis”, 40). The Austrasian nobility is referred to as “AustrasiiFranci superiores” (41).65Gerberding (1987), 155, 163.66Geary (1988), 179–220.67Gerberding (1987), 92–145.
64 JOAQUÍN MARTÍNEZ PIZARROThe author of the LHF has been described as a Merovingian legitimist,68 but he presents a remarkably balanced account of the riseof the Pippinids. Clearly, the king is a necessary presence and alsomust be a genuine descendant of Merovech, but perhaps no morethan that is required. The author’s sympathy with the nobility andhis constant invocation of the consilium Francorum would appear toindicate that strict limitations on royal power met with his approval.Aside from the coup of Grimoald in 656, which he condemns astreason and usurpation (42), he describes the rise of the palace mayorswith respect. Towards the end of the Liber, he begins to refer tothe office as a principatus; of Ebroin: “ipse principatum sagaciterrecepit” (45); of Pippin: “erat Pippino principe uxor nobilissima” (48),“Pippinus ...obtenitque principatum sub suprascriptos reges annis27 et dimidio” (51). Pippin II’s son Carolus (Charles Martel) is characterizedas a “virum elegantem, egregium atque utilem” (49).Coming after Gregory of Tours and Fredegar, with their vastpostimperial scope and their sense of the Franks as players amongother nations in a complex international scene, the LHF with itstotal concentration on one Frankish kingdom and its exclusive interestin politics and war marks an evolution towards a more narrowlyfocused historiography. Its success in its own time and later amongthe Carolingians confirms that the author was attuned to the contemporaryaudience of history and had produced what the timeswere calling for.Bede and the Anglo-SaxonsBede (673–735), a monk at Benedict Biscop’s great Northumbrianfoundation of Wearmouth-Jarrow, was a learned and prolific scripturalexegete. His commentaries on numerous books of the Old andNew Testaments contributed decisively to the study of the Bible inthe early Middle Ages. His historical works—a world chronicle, vitaeof St. Cuthbert in verse and prose, a history of the abbots ofWearmouth-Jarrow, and his five-book Ecclesiastical History of the EnglishNation (HE ) 69 —were written relatively late, most of them in the last68Gerberding (1987), 162.69Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896; repr.1969).
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64 JOAQUÍN MARTÍNEZ PIZARROThe author of the LHF has been described as a Merovingian legitimist,68 but he presents a remarkably balanced account of the riseof the Pippinids. Clearly, the king is a necessary presence and alsomust be a genuine descendant of Merovech, but perhaps no morethan that is required. The author’s sympathy with the nobility andhis constant invocation of the consilium Francorum would appear toindicate that strict limitations on royal power met with his approval.Aside from the coup of Grimoald in 656, which he condemns astreason and usurpation (42), he describes the rise of the palace mayorswith respect. Towards the end of the Liber, he begins to refer tothe office as a principatus; of Ebroin: “ipse principatum sagaciterrecepit” (45); of Pippin: “erat Pippino principe uxor nobilissima” (48),“Pippinus ...obtenitque principatum sub suprascriptos reges annis27 et dimidio” (51). Pippin II’s son Carolus (Charles Martel) is characterizedas a “virum elegantem, egregium atque utilem” (49).Coming after Gregory of Tours and Fredegar, with their vastpostimperial scope and their sense of the Franks as players amongother nations in a complex international scene, the LHF with itstotal concentration on one Frankish kingdom and its exclusive interestin politics and war marks an evolution towards a more narrowlyfocused historiography. Its success in its own time and later amongthe Carolingians confirms that the author was attuned to the contemporaryaudience of history and had produced what the timeswere calling for.Bede and the Anglo-SaxonsBede (673–735), a monk at Benedict Biscop’s great Northumbrianfoundation of Wearmouth-Jarrow, was a learned and prolific scripturalexegete. His commentaries on numerous books of the Old andNew Testaments contributed decisively to the study of the Bible inthe early Middle Ages. His historical works—a world chronicle, vitaeof St. Cuthbert in verse and prose, a history of the abbots ofWearmouth-Jarrow, and his five-book Ecclesiastical History of the EnglishNation (HE ) 69 —were written relatively late, most of them in the last68Gerberding (1987), 162.69Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896; repr.1969).
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