History and Memory in the Carolingian World

Abstract

The writing and reading of history in the early Middle Ages form the key themes of this 2004 book. The primary focus is on the remarkable manifestations of historical writing in relation to historical memory in the Frankish kingdoms of the eighth and ninth centuries. It considers the audiences for history in the Frankish kingdoms, the recording of memory in new genres including narrative histories, cartularies and Libri memoriales, and thus particular perceptions of the Frankish and Christian past. It analyses both original manuscript material and key historical texts from the Carolingian period, a remarkably creative period in the history of European culture. Presentations of the past developed in this period were crucial in forming an historical understanding of the Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian past and, in subsequent centuries, of early medieval Europe. They also played an extraordinarily influential role in the formation of political ideologies and senses of identity within Europe.

Charlemagne and the Lombard Kingdom That Was: the Lombard Past in Post-Conquest Italian Historiography

“…' 3 This relatively large sample of historical narratives contrasts with the rather limited surviving output of similar works in the previous 3 centuries. 4 Even though this newfound inclination for history was supported by a context of mounting interest in this literary genre in the Carolingian world and a deep interest in regional, 'ethnic' past, 5 it was arguably also prompted by the papal abuse of the Lombard past in its propaganda. In order to link these two contexts, I will focus fi rst on the construction of papal propaganda, and how the papal court used its diplomatic exchanges with the Carolingian court, preserved in the Codex Carolinus, as well as the historical material assembled in the Liber Pontifi calis, to cast the Lombards as the enemies.…”

Authorial Intention in Medieval Historiography

“…The traditional, and still generally accepted, explanation for the origin of annals is that they developed from entries in Easter tables, 19 although this hypothesis has recently come under attack. 20 The generic features of annalsthey are usually anonymous and the author is typically a nonpresencepose a challenge to our attempts to understand why they were written and how they were used, but some general observations may be advanced. Matthew Innes and Rosamond McKitterick have noted that Carolingian-era annals served to create 'an institutional memory,' and this conclusion can be expanded to encompass annals more generally, whether the institution that produced them was a monastery, a city, or a royal court.…”

Godescalc’s Career and the Problems of ‘Influence’

“…lat. Until an important recent study by Rosamond McKitterick, 50 most scholars had accepted that, with Burchard of Würzburg, Fulrad had been Pippin's ambassador to Pope Zacharias in 750, charged with asking whether the pope would approve the installation of Pippin and his descendants as the new royal Frankish dynasty, replacing the Merovingian family. 47 The manuscript has facing figural miniatures, as used in both the Godescalc Evangelistary and Egino Codex.…”