Gens perfidaorpopulus Christianus? Saxon (in)fidelity in Frankish historical writing

Quasi una gens: Saxony and the Frankish world, c. 772–888

“…In the decades that followed, many historians have responded to his article (as above), and new lines of debate and analysis have opened. Drawing on the work of the “Vienna school”, which developed the concept of ethnogenesis (the process by which ethnicity was constructed) in contrast to earlier, essentialist views of ethnicity, Matthias Springer, Matthias Becher, and Robert Flierman have produced important reassessments of the ethnic identity and political history of the Saxons (Becher, , , , ; Flierman, , , forthcoming ; Springer, , , , ; for key works of the Vienna school, see especially Geary, ; Pohl & Heydemann, ; Pohl & Reimitz, ; Wenskus, ; Wolfram, ). In the field of religion, Hedwig Röckelein has illuminated the Christianization of the region, with particular attention paid to the role of relics in society, and Theo Kölzer has refined our view of Carolingian involvement in fledgling Saxon foundations through the diplomatic analysis of imperial charters (Kölzer, , , ; Röckelein, , , , , , , , , ).…”

“…In the field of religion, Hedwig Röckelein has illuminated the Christianization of the region, with particular attention paid to the role of relics in society, and Theo Kölzer has refined our view of Carolingian involvement in fledgling Saxon foundations through the diplomatic analysis of imperial charters (Kölzer, , , ; Röckelein, , , , , , , , , ). The last 20‐odd years have also marked the emergence of interest in Carolingian Saxony by English‐language historians such as Ian Wood, Eric Goldberg, Eric Knibbs, and Robert Flierman, among others (see here especially Appleby, ; Bachrach & Bachrach, ; Carroll, ; Flierman, , , forthcoming ; Goldberg, ; Hen, ; Karras, ; Knibbs, ; Mayr‐Harting, ; Palmer, , , ; Rembold, , , forthcoming , ; Shuler, ; van Egmond, ; Wood, , , , ). Finally, it is worth noting that the role that published conference proceedings and exhibition catalogues have played in the field, especially those resulting from an 1999 exhibition and associated conferences organized by the Diözesanmuseum Paderborn, and likewise from a conference held in the same year by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress in San Marino (Green & Siegmund, ; Hässler, Jarnut, & Wemhoff, ; Stiegemann & Wemhoff, ).…”

“…As Charlemagne's biographer, Einhard, wrote,

This war, which had been drawn out over so many years, was concluded on the condition—proposed by the king, and accepted by the Saxons—that they, having cast aside demonic worship and abandoned the ceremonies of their fathers, were to receive the sacraments of Christian faith and religion, and then, having been united to the Franks, they were to become unus populus (one people) with them (Einhard, c. 7, in Holder‐Egger, , p. 10).

Einhard's last clause deserves some attention. He reports that the Saxons were to become one people with the Franks, using a Latin term ( populus ) which recalled membership in the Christian church, the populus Dei , and in so doing pointed to the forced conversions of the conquered people (Flierman, ). His account exercised a lasting influence on Saxon historiography.…”

The Resources of the Past in Early Medieval Europe, éd. Clemens Gantner, Rosamond McKitterick et Sven Meeder

“…Giorgia Vocino souligne que c'est au moment où les Carolingiens deviennent maîtres du royaume lombard, et redonnent à Milan le rang d'une capitale, qu'est rédigée une nouvelle Vie de saint Ambroise (BHL 377d) fortement historiographique : en augmentant la biographie de Paulin (BHL 377) de passages de l' Historia tripartita et d'extraits des lettres d'Ambroise lui-même, l'hagiographe transforme la légende pleine de miracles en miroir contextualisé pour évêques carolingiens mêlés aux affaires du monde 5 . Robert Flierman replace la construction du topos qui assimile les Saxons à un peuple incapable de fides dans une histoire de l'écriture de l'histoire des guerres carolingiennes contre les Saxons : le topos serait la réponse des annalistes des années 770-820, confrontés à la difficulté d'écrire, comme l'exige le genre, l'histoire d'un triomphe inéluctable et définitif de la foi et des Francs sur les Saxons païens, tout en constatant à l'évidence que ce triomphe n'avait jamais rien eu d'irrévocable 6 . L'utilité politique directe de ces relectures du passé est prouvée par l'exemple qu'étudie Erik Goosmann.…”