History, Scripture, and Authority in the Carolingian Empire

Type:

Book

Author:

Graeme Ward

Published:

2022

Publisher:

British Academy

This book offers a detailed analysis of the work of the ninth-century historian Frechulf of Lisieux. Completed c. 830, Frechulf’s Histories comprise a vast account of the world from its creation through to the seventh century. Despite the richness of the source, it has long been overlooked by modern scholars. Two factors account for this neglect: Frechulf’s narrative stops over two centuries short of his time of writing, and was largely a compilation of earlier, late antique histories and chronicles. It is, however, the lack of ostensibly ‘contemporary’ or ‘original’ material that makes the text so typical, not only of Carolingian historiography but also of ninth-century theological literature more broadly. In examining Frechulf's historiographical compendium, this book challenges a dominant paradigm within medieval studies of understanding history-writing primarily as an extension of politics and power. By focusing instead on the transmission and reception of patristic knowledge, the compilation of authoritative texts, and the relationship between the study of history and scriptural exegesis, it reveals Frechulf's Histories to be an unexpectedly rich artefact of Carolingian intellectual culture.

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