HISTORIOGRAPHY
. Medieval French historical writing can be divided into two periods. In the 6th through
11th centuries, histories were produced at centers of literacy for various reasons: to
continue old works, to imitate historical exemplars, to please a patron, or to assimilate
unusual events. Relatively few early works survive, and most are monastic and
idiosyncratic in method and content. After the mid11th century, increased literacy and
dependence on written texts brought about a revolution in historical writing. Histories
continued to be produced for the old reasons, but new circumstances gave rise to new
sorts of narratives written for new audiences by new types of historians in both Latin and
the vernacular. In this period, a culture historique, to use Bernard Guenée’s phrase,
emerged.
Although there were historians in France before the Franks arrived—e.g., Prosper of
Aquitaine (ca. 455) and Sulpicius Severus (d. 410)—French historical writing really
begins with Gregory of Tours (ca. 538–594). His Histories is a narrative attempt to come
to terms with the impact of the Franks on Christian, Gallo-Roman society. Gregory’s
other works were largely hagiographic, in keeping with his ecclesiastical focus.
The next Frankish histories, the chronicle of “Fredegar” (covering the years 584–642)
and the Liber historiae Francorum (covering 640–721) appeared after a century’s hiatus.
The former was composed in Burgundy, probably ca. 658–60; the latter was written ca.
726 in Neustria. Shortly thereafter, the two chronicles came to Austrasia, where they
were interwoven and continued to 751 for Charles Martel’s brother and nephew; this
compilation is the first “official” Frankish history.
Martel’s descendants learned the lesson that whoever sponsored history controlled its
contents. The Annales regni Francorum (covering 741–829) were probably kept at
Charlemagne’s court, while his descendants maintained the three continuations. The first
part (for 741–835) of the West Frankish continuation, the Annales Bertiniani, was not
official, but the second (for 835–61), written by Bishop Prudentius of Troyes, and the
third (for 862–82), by Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, were, as were the Annales
Xantenses (covering 790–873), which were partly composed at Aix-la-Chapelle by
Gerward, the palace librarian. The East Frankish continuation, the Annales de Fulda, was
official until 882. Also official were the Historiarum libri quatuor of Nithard (d. 844), a
layman who wrote at the request of Charles the Bald. The learned environment promoted
by the Carolingians contributed to the generation of unofficial histories as well. Frechulf
of Lisieux (fl. 825–52) and Ado of Vienne (d. 874) both produced universal chronicles
that were learned and extensive, and most Carolingian monasteries kept simple annals,
even if many just copied annals that came to hand.
Greater learning also led historians to rediscover biography. The classical biographical
tradition was imitated in Einhard’s Vita Caroli (ca. 830/33) and Paschasius Radbertus’s
Vita Adalardi (after 826) and Epitaphium Arsenii (ca. 850). Not all biographies were
classicizing, however; the De Carolo Magno of Notker the Stammerer (ca. 884/87), for
example, is a hodgepodge of fantastical and largely ecclesiastical anecdotes.
Charlemagne was celebrated in the Annales gestis Caroli magni imperatoris of the Poeta
Saxo (late 9th c.) and the Carmen de Karolo Magno (ca. 801) attributed to Angilbert of
Saint-Riquier (both in verse); Louis I appeared in biographies by Thegan (ca. 848), the
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