Liber Historiae Francorum
Liber Historiae Francorum (English: "The Book of the History of the Franks") is a chronicle written anonymously during the 8th century. The first sections served as a secondary source for early
The Liber Historiae Francorum uses a lot of material from the earlier
Author, date, and agenda
Richard Gerberding, a modern editor of the text, vindicates the coherence and accuracy of its account while giving reasons
Liber Historiae Francorum is customarily dated to the year 727 because of a reference to the end of the sixth year of
As for that agenda, Fouracre and Gerberding show that the book supports the kings of the Merovingian dynasty only insofar as they rule with the consultation of the major nobles. The nobles, in turn, are supported only insofar as they do not aspire above their station.[5]
It is one of a corpus of new books of history written in the 8th century, and copied and widely distributed in the 9th century, which offered their readers (and listeners) a pure and comprehensive background that set the Franks only distantly in the context of the Roman Empire (the Roman Empire is virtually ignored) and more immediately in the Christian
Book contents
From the outset, the book promises to present the origins and deeds of the Frankish kings and people. It states that the Franks originated from a group of Trojan refugees, similar to the Italian refugees of the Aeneid, finding themselves on the north coast of the Black Sea, before making their way across the Danubian Plain to the Rhineland. To accomplish this, the book relies heavily on the Gallo-Roman bishop and historian Gregory of Tours, who died in 594, whose history it adapts and augments.[6]
The last 19 chapters, numbered 35 through 53 in Bruno Krusch's edition, present an independent account of events in the Frankish lands in the 7th and early 8th centuries.
This part of the work begins with
Chlothar's reign was lengthy by contemporary standards, but saw the continuing erosion of royal power by the nobility against a backdrop of feuding
Chapter 43 relates the attempted usurpation of Austrasia by the Pippinid mayor Grimoald the Elder in summary form. It ends with Grimoald's death by torture under Clovis II who ruled Neustria. Chapter 44 comments on Clovis:
At the same time, he brought ruin to the kingdom of the Franks with disastrous calamities. This Clovis, moreover, had every kind of filthy habit. He was a seducer and a debaser of women, a glutton, and a drunk. About his death and end, nothing of historical worth may be said. Many writers condemn his end because they do not know the extent of his evil. Thus in uncertainty concerning it, they refer from one to another.[7]
The rest of this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter stretch between Clovis's death, usually dated to the late 650s, and the accession of Theuderic III, usually dated to 673, a four-year reign of "the boy king Chlotar".
Chapters 45ff, as Ursinus the Abbot had done, provide a hostile account of mayor Ebroin of Neustria. In contrast to the description of Clovis II quoted above, the author has nothing but praise for Childebert III, "a famous man", whom he describes as "the glorious lord of good memory, Childebert, the just king."[8] The closing chapters mainly cover Charles Martel.
Liber Historiae Francorum became a primary source for the
References
- ^ Bruno Krusch (1888) discounts the credibility of Liber Historiae Francorum.
- ^ Gerberding 1987, p. 146.
- ^ Gerberding 1987.
- ^ McKitterick 2005.
- ^ Fouracre & Gerberding 1996.
- ^ Based on the text's additions to Gregory of Tours, Gerberding supports the reassignment of the site of Clovis' famous victory over the Visigoths from Vouillé to Voulon.
- ^ Bachrach 1973, p. 102.
- ^ Krusch 1888, pp. 323–324[, dead link], .
Sources
- )
- Gerberding, Richard Arthur (1987), The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber historiae Francorum, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-019822940-7
- Fouracre, Paul; Gerberding, Richard Arthur (1996), Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-071904790-9
- Krusch, Bruno, ed. (1888), "Liber historiae Francorum", Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (in Latin), vol. II, Hannover: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, pp. 241–328
- ISBN 978-052182717-1
- Latin edition on dmgh website https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_ss_rer_merov_2/index.htm#page/(215)/mode/1up
Further reading
- Dörler, Philipp (2013), "The Liber Historiae Francorum – a model for a new Frankish self-confidence", Network and Neighbours, 1 (1): 23–43, archived from the original on 2014-08-26
- Kurth, Godfroid (1919), "Étude critique sur le Liber Historiae Francorum", Études franques. Volume 1 (in French), Paris: Honoré Champion, pp. 31–65