Leon Pürstinger

Writing and Rewriting Frankish History in Late Carolingian Reims and Early Capetian Saint-Bertin – Studies on the Transmission of a Carolingian Historiographical Compendium

This talk deals with the post-Carolingian transmission of a 9^th century history book from Reims, which was copied at the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Bertin at the end of the Early Middle Ages. It is a comprehensive historiographical compendium whose narrative reaches from the foundation of Rome to the Carolingian regnum Francorum around the year 900. In addition to the oldest transmitted text of the Annales Bertiniani, the history book contains a heavily reworked version of Gregory of Tours' Decem libri historiarum. This remarkable version was interpolated with another Frankish chronicle, the Liber historiae Francorum. On the basis of a detailed palaeographical, codicological and narrative analysis, valuable insights were gained on the copying process in Saint-Bertin and on the lost original compilation. The presentation demonstrates the origins and functions of the compendium as well as its close links to political events and actors of the late 9^th century. This history book was produced to present a specific version of the Frankish past, with the Carolingians as the legitimate ruling dynasty and the bishopric of Reims as its spiritual centre.

If you are interested, please contact Leon Pürstingerfor the Zoom link.