Reading Orosius in the Carolingian World

This project seeks to re-evaluate the impact that Orosius’ Histories against the Pagans made upon the religious culture of the Carolingian period. Orosius’ much-copied work, which was written c. 417, is often seen as shaping the development of Christian historiography in the Middle Ages. Moving away from a strictly historiographical focus, I examine Orosius’ reception primarily in the contexts of biblical and liturgical exegesis. The use of Orosius in Carolingian commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew and in the work of Amalarius of Metz comprise two extensive and detailed case studies, which locate Orosius’ reception at the centre of the sacred history of Christianity and shed new light on Orosius’ medieval afterlife.

Publications from this project

The Order of History: Liturgical Time and the Rhythms of the Past in Amalarius of Metz’s De ordine Antiphonarii, in: Writing the Early Medieval West. Studies in Honour of Rosamond McKitterick, ed. Elina Screen/Charles West (Cambridge, in Druck)

Empire, Exegesis and Eschatology: the Reception of Orosius’ Histories against the Pagans in Carolingian Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, in: Cultures of Eschatology, ed. Veronika Wieser/Vincent Eltschinger/Johann Heiss (in Vorbereitung)