Perceptions of the Past in the Early Middle Ages

Rosamond Mckitterick

Description

Historical writing of the early middle ages tends to be regarded as little more than a possible source of facts, but Rosamond McKitterick establishes that early medieval historians conveyed in their texts a sophisticated set of multiple perceptions of the past. In these essays, McKitterick focuses on the Frankish realms in the eighth and ninth centuries and examines different methods and genres of historical writing in relation to the perceptions of time and chronology. She claims that there is an extraordinary concentration of new text production and older text reproduction in this period that has to be accounted for, and whose influence is still being investigated and established.

Three themes are addressed in Perceptions of the Past in the Early Middle Ages. McKitterick begins by discussing the Chronicon of Eusebius-Jerome as a way of examining the composition and reception of universal history in the ninth and early tenth centuries. She demonstrates that original manuscripts turn out in many cases to be compilations of sequential historical texts with a chronology extending back to the creation of the world or the origin of the Franks. In the second chapter, she explores the significance of Rome in Carolingian perceptions of the past and argues that its importance loomed large and was communicated in a great range of texts and material objects. In the third chapter, she looks at eighth- and ninth-century perceptions of the local past in the Frankish realm within the wider contexts of Christian and national history. She concludes that in the very rich, complex, and sometimes, contradictory early medieval perceptions of a past stretching back to the creation of the world, the Franks in the Carolingian period forged their own special place.

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• General officer
• Historiography
• General
• Europe
• Civilization

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268162153
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

p e r c e p t i o n s o f t h e p a s t i n t h e e a r l y m i d d l e a g e s

M e d i e va l I n s t i t u t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N o t r e D a m e

T h e C o n w a y L e c t u r e s i n M e d i e v a l S t u d i e s 2 0 0 4

The Medieval Institute gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Robert M. Conway and his support for the lecture series and publications resulting from it.

previous ti tles in this series:

Paul Strohm Politique: Languages of Statecraft between Chaucer and Shakespeare(2005)

Ulrich Horst, O. P. The Dominicans and the Pope: Papal Teaching Authority in the Medieval and Early Modern Thomist Tradition (2006)

P e r c e p t i o n s o f t h e Pa s t i n t h e E a r ly M i d d l e Ag e s

Rosamond McKitterick

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright ©2006University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana46556 All Rights Reserved www.undpress.nd.edu

Published in the United States of America

Reprintedin2009, 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging in-Publication Data

McKitterick, Rosamond. Perceptions of the past in the Early Middle Ages / Rosamond McKitterick. p. cm. — (The Conway lectures in medieval studies) Based on lectures the author delivered at the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame in Sept.2004. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-268-03500-6(pbk. : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-268-03500-8(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Historiography—Europe—History—To1500.2. History—Philosophy—History— To1500University of . I. II. Title.Notre Dame. Medieval Institute. d13.5.e85m43 2006 930.072'04—dc22

2006023893

∞The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Contents

List of Illustrations Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

one

two

Chronology and Empire

Genesis and “World Chronicles”7 Early Medieval Continuators of Eusebius-Jerome19 Carolingian “World Chronicles”: The Chronicle of741, Ado of Vienne, and Regino of Prüm22

The Franks and Rome

The Image of Rome in Carolingian Chronicles The Sacred Topography of Rome42

3

8

vii ix xi

1

7

35

vi

three

Contents

TheLiber Pontificalis46 Martyrologies and Relics51 The Sacred Past of Rome56

The Franks and Their History

Frankish Annals65 Hardrad’s Revolt68 Writing and Memory80 Local Annals81

Conclusion

Notes Bibliography Index

63

91

95 125 149

Illustrations

Figure 1. “Original” and “borrowed” text in an MGH edition: an example from theLiber historiae francorum, ed. Bruno Krusch, MGH Scriptores rerum merovingicarum2(Hannover,1888), p.250

Figure 2. Eusebius-Jerome,Chronicon. The page lay-out of the text from the ninth-century copy in Oxford, Merton College Library, Coxe315, fols.42v and43r

Figure 3.The Chronicle of741, MS Scaliger28, fols.134v–135r

Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek,

Figure 4.The Chronicle of741,Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm246, fol.4v

3

16

24

27

Figure 5. Bede,De temporum ratione, ca.66, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, M12sup. fol.179r37

Figure 6.Annales alemannici, Sankt Gallen, Stiftsarchiv, Zürcher Abteilung, Nr.1, fols.2v–3r

83

vii

viii

Illustrations

Figure7.Annales nazariani, Vat., pal. lat.966, fols.56v–57r

Figure 8. “Lorsch Annals,” Sankt Paul in Lavanttal, Stiftsarchiv, Cod.8/1, fol.1r

85

93

I am very grateful for permission to reproduce these manuscript pages to the following individuals and institutions: Doctor Julia Walworth and the master and fellows of Merton College, Oxford; Doctor André Bouwman and the Special Collections of Leiden Universiteitsbibliotheek; the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich; the Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame, and the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan; the Stiftsarchiv, Sankt Gallen; the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; and Professor Doctor Rudolf Freisitzer and the Stiftsarchiv, Sankt Paul in Lavanttal. Doctor André Bouwman of the Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden, also kindly granted permission to reproduce the page from MS Scaligar28, fols. 17v–18r, on the cover of this book, and I am particularly grateful to the Universi- teitsbibliotheek for waiving the reproduction fee.

Preface

This book is based on the Robert Conway Lectures I delivered in the Me- dieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, in September2004. It complements and extends some of the themes I began to explore inHistory and Memory in the Carolingian World(Cambridge,2004). My first thanks are due to Tom Noble for inviting me to give these lectures, to the University of Notre Dame Press for publishing them in this extended form, and to all those in the institute who made my ten-day sojourn on the campus of the University of Notre Dame so enjoyable, productive, and memorable. I am particularly indebted to Roberta Baranowski for all her organization and help, quite apart from intro- ducing me to the sacred rites of a Notre Dame football game. I am also grateful to Linda Major and Marina Smyth in the Theodore M. Hesburgh Library, who helped me to use the library’s excellent resources, not least the Biblioteca Am- brosiana microfilm collection, and who produced material from elsewhere as if by magic. Special thanks are also due to the faculty, research fellows, and research students of the institute, whose lively discussions (many conducted in walks around the lake), assistance with finding books and articles, and questions, were a constant stimulus. Earlier versions of sections of this book were also presented, in the months between the presentation at Notre Dame and completion of the book, at the Forschungsstelle für Geschichte des Mittelalters (now the Institut für Mittelalter-

i

x