Historiography, Medieval Chronicles

Widukind of Corvey, a Saxon chronicler and historian of the 10th century (about 925-975) wrote the chronicle of Res gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres (The Saxon Facts or Three Book of History), in which he portrayed the history of the Saxons from mythic origins and conquest of the new territory until your present. Widukind focuses mainly on the time of the reign of Henry I of Pentecost and Ota I the Great and his reports often represent the only available source of information for some of the events at that time. Although he focuses mainly on Saxon realities, we can find in his chronicle also references to Bohemia. Historical figures Widukind describe all things truthfully and reasonably reliably, but geographic events and historically farther distant ones are mostly fictional.

Julian the Apostate in Johannes Antiochenus.
Uncorrected draft of a paper forthcoming in A. Marcone (ed.), L'imperatore Giuliano.  Realtà storica e rappresentazione. Firenze: Le Monnier, 2015. This paper anticipates a few conclusions of the book "Antieroe dai molti volti: Giuliano l'Apostata nel Medioevo bizantino", published in 2014.

O período 'âmirî, estendeu-se entre os anos de 371 / 981 e 399 / 1009 2 , tendo ficado assim conhecido devido ao facto de três membros da família árabe dos Banû 'Âmir 3 , ante a menoridade, e depois a passividade, do califa Hishâm II 4 , terem sido eles os verdadeiros detentores do poder na Córdova califal de então 5. Desses três homens, o mais famoso e que também exerceu o poder durante mais tempo, chamava-se Abû 'Âmir Muhammad ibn Abî 'Âmir al-Ma'afirî 6 , e foi ele o carismático iniciador daquela linhagem de primeiros-ministros (hujjâb) do Califado Omíada de Córdova, e que passou à posteridade mais conhecido com o título de al-Mansûr 7. Após a sua morte, em 1002, continuou, não obstante, a preponderância política dos Banû 'Âmir em Córdova, ainda durante os consulados dos seus dois filhos e sucessores, 'Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar 8 e 'Abd al-Rahmân al-Ma'mun 9 mais conhecido como Sanchuelo 10 , respectivamente entre 1002-1008 e 1008-1009. Devido a vários factores 11 , entre os quais foi de primordial importância o factor militar, pode dizer-se que o período 'âmirî constituíu a apoteose final do Califado Omíada, enquanto época de proeminência política, económica, militar e diplomática não apenas entre os vários reinos e senhorios cristãos emergentes no xadrês peninsular 12 , mas também no espaço norte-africano e mediterrânico 13 .

People have been asking me for years about getting a hold of a copy of 'The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana' (which went out of print in 1995) and after much nagging and manoeuvring on my part OUP is finally offering it in a 'print-on-demand' format. It is also available as part of the classical texts in their new Oxford Scholarly Editions Online (http://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/view/10.1093/actrade/9780198147879.book.1/actrade-9780198147879-book-1?rskey=alojlB&result=1), which is, alas, only available through a subscription (but check your library; they may have access).

Empire of Magic offers a genesis and genealogy for medieval romance and the King Arthur legend through the history of Europe's encounters with the East in crusades, travel, missionizing, and empire formation.

The book argues that romance arose in the 12th century as a cultural response to the trauma and horror of taboo acts—in particular the cannibalism committed by crusaders on the bodies of Muslim enemies in Syria during the First Crusade. From such encounters with the East sprang the fantastical episodes featuring King Arthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicle, The History of the Kings of England, a work where history and fantasy collide and merge, each into the other, inventing crucial new examples and models for romances to come.

After locating the rise of romance and Arthurian legend in the contact zones of East and West, Empire of Magic demonstrates the adaptability of romance and its key role in the genesis of an English national identity. Discussing Jews, women, children, and sexuality in works like the romance of Richard Lionheart, stories of the saintly Constance, Arthurian chivralic literature, the legend of Prester John, and travel narratives, the book shows how fantasy enabled audiences to work through issues of communal identity, race, color, class and alternative sexualities in socially sanctioned and safe modes of cultural discussion in which pleasure, not anxiety, was paramount.

Romance also engaged with the threat of modernity in the late medieval period, as economic, social, and technological transformations occurred and awareness grew of a vastly enlarged world beyond Europe, one encompassing India, China, and Africa. Finally, the author suggests that romance locates England and Europe within an empire of magic and knowledge that surveys the world and makes it intelligible—usable—for the future.

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franco-allemand de master recherche en sciences sociales Mention histoire-spécialité histoire et civilisations Le Livre des chroniques de Hartmann Schedel L'Empire et l'histoire universelle à l'aube de la modernité Mémoire de master 2 par Nicolas Hautemanière Préparé sous la direction de Pierre Monnet Année universitaire 2014/2015 Soutenu le 12 juin 2015 à l'EHESS En préambule à ce mémoire, je tiens à exprimer toute ma reconnaissance à M. Pierre Monnet, à qui il revient d'avoir inspiré le sujet tout autant que les méthodes et les problématiques de ce travail, tout en en soutenant la réalisation par ses encouragements et ses suggestions. Qu'il en soit chaleureusement remercié. Mes remerciements vont également à MM. Bernd Schneidmüller et Nikolas Jaspert qui, à l'Université d'Heidelberg, m'ont permis de découvrir d'autres traditions de recherche et de suivre de nouvelles pistes pour l'écriture de ce mémoire. Ils s'adressent aussi à toutes les institutions qui m'ont soutenu au cours de ces deux années de master, et en particulier à l'Institut français d'histoire en Allemagne et à la Bayerische Staatsbibliothek de Munich, sans lesquels les manuscrits ici étudiés seraient demeurés inaccessibles. Je souhaite enfin témoigner de ma reconnaissance à Sébastien Lett, pour le patient travail de relecture auquel il a bien voulu de se prêter. C. Croisade et suprématie allemande en Europe .

Who decides to write a historical text in the Middle Ages, and why? When does a scriptor become an auctor? Memory is an irrepressible part of the human essence, and anyone who holds a pen in his hands may need to write down information on the present and past. But at the same moment in which he retrieves and transcribes information, he also starts changing everything, because by writing he expresses an essential part of himself. The copyist, especially if he is a professional, selects and summarizes news, and adapts them to his own interests and his own world. It happens many times in ‘scriptures’ traditionally considered ‘literary works’. But the medieval scriptores not always aspired to become auctores: they ascended to the next level only if they demonstrated a sufficient degree of self-awareness.

This article explores the significance of writing history for a late medieval Antwerp patrician family. In recent historiography, these families (in this case Van Halmale)  have not received the attention they deserve, in part because their social status is difficult to pin down. Although members of the family Van Halmale had knightly titles and performed deeds of arms on the battlefield and during tournaments, their noble status was not undisputed. Both a chronicle and a tournament diary written by different members of the Van Halmale family reflect the aspirations of a dominant social category in the late medieval towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Holland. Their writings reflect how these men perceived themselves and how they wanted their contemporaries and peers to perceive them. In that sense the writing of history was indeed a means for nobles (and would-be-nobles) to justify (or to claim) their privileged position. Their works helped them to express their identity as powerful aldermen, firmly rooted in an urban environment but with open minds for the world of princes and (inter)national politics.

El objetivo fundamental del trabajo es comprender mejor las construcciones historiográficas que se elaboraron en la Hispania del siglo VIII mediante el contraste con las fuentes orientales. Con ello se pretende también explorar la circulación de ideas y noticias en el Mediterráneo de los siglos VII y VIII, ahondar en la forma en que los contemporáneos percibieron e interpretaron los sucesos dramáticos de su época y contribuir a la visión general sobre la historiografía cristiana medieval. 

Para ello, analizaremos las noticias sobre los hechos orientales del siglo VII en la Crónica Bizantino-arábiga (c.743-744) y la Crónica Mozárabe del 754. En particular, el ascenso de Heraclio al trono imperial (608-610), el rol de este emperador en el final de la última guerra romano-persa (603-628), la “aparición” de los árabes y su victoria sobre las fuerzas bizantinas (634-636). Indagaremos sobre sus fuentes comparándolas con los principales testimonios “orientales” que podrían haber utilizado. Finalmente, intentaremos comprender las interpretaciones que los cronistas dieron a estos hechos, y valorarlas más allá de su medio local, en el contexto del Mediterráneo de los siglos VII y VIII d.C. 

Nuestra hipótesis es que no se pueden comprender estas crónicas hispanas, ni la imagen del “crucial siglo VII” que contienen, sin considerar las fuentes orientales de las que estas dependen. Las semejanzas en el relato probablemente corresponden a la utilización de fuentes comunes y las diferencias se deben a las perspectivas de sus autores, pero también a la utilización de algunas fuentes distintas. Las crónicas hispanas del siglo VIII sólo se entienden en el contexto de un Mundo Mediterráneo en donde, pese a las conquistas árabes, las personas, las noticias y el conocimiento todavía transitan de un extremo al otro.

Мотиви  за  българската  история  в  Chrоnologia  magna  и    Satyrica  historia  на
Паулинус от Венеция (резюме)
Стиляна Баталова
В  настоящата  публикация  се  издават  за  пръв  път откъсите,  касаещи  българската история в две от историческите компилации на францисканския писател Паулинус от Венеция.  Chronologia  Magna  sive  Compendium  е  представена  по  lat.  4939  от Националната  библиотека  в  Париж  (14  в.),  а  Satyrica  historia  по  рък.  445  от Ягиелонската библиотека в Краков (15 в.). От направения преглед става ясно, че в тези две съчинения се съдържат немалко сведения за българите от основаването на Първата българска държава през 681 г. до сключването на династичен брак между българска принцеса  и  латинския  император  Анри  в  1212  г.  Всички  мотиви  от  българската история, които Паулинус е подбрал и включил, са значими и напълно отговарят на целта,  обявена  в  предговора  към  Satyrica  historia,  който  сам  по  себе  си  представя историческото  кредо  на  писателя.  Те  не  са  просто  свод  от  случили  се  върхове  и падения,  а  са  част  от  такава  добре  проучена  информация,  която  ще  послужи  за поучение  и  ще  предпази  бъдещите  поколения  въз  основа  на  добития  опит  от изминалата история на Римските войни и на другите царства.  Ако интерпретираме сведенията в тази светлина, бихме могли да кажем, че след появата им на европейска сцена (681 г.), българите имат ролята на защитници на християнска Европа (717 г.) и на оръжие Божие (811 г., 1205 г.). Представено е влизането им в християнското семейство на  европейските  народи  (865  г.)  и  твърдостта  и  светостта  на  българския  княз-покръстител, който отстоява новоприетата вяра. Наред с това българите са участници в събития пряко касаещи Византия (705 г.), но попадат и в други роли – на потърпевши от експанзията на още непокръстените унгарци (907 г., 970 г., 1003 г.). Българските земи  се  споменават  също  във  връзка  с  преминаването  на  Валтер  Голтака  (1096). Сведенията,  които Паулинус  дава са преработки от по-ранни източници,  които той добре е познавал. В настоящата публикация те бяха идентифицирани с голяма точност. Грешките в датировките, които епископът на Поцуоли допуска, нерядко се дължат на съотнасянето с по-значими събитията  или личности,  около които се  изгражда  цяла глава от разказа или рубрика в компилациите му. Друг път анахронизмите се дължи нa собствените му извори. Проследяването на контекста, в който е представен един или
друг  мотив  за  българската  история,  позволи  да  се  идентифицират  източниците  на материала и да се проследи методът на съставителство на Паулинус. Не на последно място анализът на съдържанието на мотивите помогна да се установи, че в Chronica per extensum descripta от венецианския дож Андреа Дандоло са използвани по Satyrica historia,  но  може  би  и  с  консултация  по  Chronologia  magna,  всички  мотиви  за българската история и земи без хронологическата бележка за смъртта на Никифор  I
Геник и преминаването на Валтер Голтака през България в 1096 г. С изданието на фрагментите, взети от компилациите на Паулинус се внесе яснота за онези пасажи от хрониката на Андреа Дандоло, за които Д. Ангелов е отбелязал, че имат връзка с по-ранната хронография, но източниците им трябва още да се търсят.
Note: Pae 2010, left column, line 12 - Tercio must be read Decimo!

Motifs of Bulgarian history in Chronologia Magna and Satirica Historia by Paulinus of Venice
Stilyana Batalova
This  paper  contains  the  first  publication of printed  excerpts  related  to  Bulgarian history from two historical compilations by Paulinus of Venice.  Chronologia Magna sive Compendium is presented according to lat. 4939, National library, Paris (14th c.) and Satyrica historia  – according to Ms 445, Jagiellonian  library, Cracow (15th c.). As the study and analysis of these manuscripts demonstrate, the compendia contain many accounts related to Bulgarian history – from the formation of the Bulgarian state in 681 up to the dynastic marriage of the Latin emperor of Constantinople Henry in 1213.  All of the motifs from Bulgarian history, which Paulinus selected and included, are significant and fully aligned with the aims, which he had set himself in the prologue to Satyrica historia. These motifs are not merely a compilation of successes and failures, but are to form a body of well researched information, which will serve to edify posterity, based on the historical experience of the Roman and other kingdoms.  Interpreting the evidence in Paulinus’ accounts in light of his stated  approach,  it  appears that  after their  appearance  on  the European  stage  (681)  the Bulgarians played the role of the defenders of Christian Europe (717) and the armament of God  (811 г., 1205 г.). Their joining the Christian family of the European people is also recounted (865) through the example of the determination and beatitude of the Bulgarian ruler who defended the new faith even against his own son. Additionally, the Bulgarians are described  as  participants in  events related  to Byzantine  history (705), as  well as  being adversely affected by the expansion of the unconverted Hungarians (907, 970, 1003).  The accounts  related  by Paulinus  are re-workings  of  earlier  sources  he  was  apparently  well acquainted with. It can be argued that the present publication identified those sources with significant accuracy. The mistakes in the dating that occur in Paulinus’ compilations are often attributable  to  him  connecting  events  to  to  significant  historical  episodes  or  historical personalities, around which he builds a whole chapter or rubric of the narration. Sometimes the anachronisms are due to the sources he used. The study of the context, in which motifs related to Bulgarian history are placed allowed me to identify the sources of the material and the method of compilation employed by Paulinus of Venice. Last but not least, the analysis of the content of the motifs allowed me to establish that Dandolo mainly used information from the Historia satyrica, but perhaps also consulted with the Chronologia magna. He included in his chronicle  almost  all  the  motifs  from  the  works  of  Paulinus,  with  the  exception  of  the chronological note on the death of Nicephorus I Genik and the episode on Walter Senzavohir. Thus,  the  publication  of  the  fragments  from  the  Historia  satyrica  and  Chronologia  magna clarified the origin of those passages in the chronicle of Andrea Dandolo about which D. Angelov wrote that they are connected to earlier historiographical sources but their origins are in need of further investigation.

After the dissolution of the Sovjet Union, Scandinavian contacts across the Baltic  have increased. This has meant a lot academically. Several conferences have dealt with medieval contacts between Scandinavia and our eastern neighbours, and we can now hope for a wider knowledge about this topic. Here, I want to show how a totally fictitious person has been imported from the East in order to explain a purely Scandinavian conflict. This person is Sigrid “the Strongminded”, said to have been the wife/widow of the Swedish king Erik the Victorious, who died c. 995. In preserved Old Norse  literature, she first appears towards the end of the 12th century, i.e. almost 200 years after she is supposed to have existed. Traditionally her first appearance has been attributed to the Icelandic monk Oddr Snorrason, but Sveinbjörn Rafnsson has convincingly argued that it was Oddr’s contemporary, Gunnlaugr Leifsson, who introduced her to Icelandic history. Later, we meet Sigrid in Fagrskinna and, above all, in Heimskringla, where Snorre Sturlason gives a very detailed description of her, inciting her second husband, Sven Tveskägg, to attack Olav Tryggvason, thereby causing Olav’s death. Already Lauritz Weibull dispatched Sigrid into the realm of myths, but the question is why this motif was used and whence it came. Here, it is suggested that the Icelandic monk Gunnlaugr felt it necessary to exonerate Olav Tryggvason from all guilt in the disputes with Sven Tveskägg, and, as a “dea ex machina” he invented Sigrid, modelling her on the Russian Princess Olga.

This contribution analyses the narrative strategies used by order historians in the period of Observant reforms and argues that modern historians should be much more aware of the deliberate dichotomies in reform narratives and of the partisan way in which Observant chroniclers tried to promote and vindicate Observant reform. Observant authors employed rhetorical instruments to sharpen the narrative dichotomy of decline and reform and presented their protagonists as martyrs for Observant reform. Moreover, they wanted to demonstrate that only Observant religious were useful to society.

Edizione critica, traduzione e commento a cura di Federica Favero.
La «Chronica pontificum Mediolanensium» del domenicano Galvano Fiamma, dedicata nell’ottobre 1339 a Giovanni Visconti, ripercorre le vicende dei primi arcivescovi milanesi dal primo evangelizzatore della città Barnaba ad Ambrogio. Il volume offre la prima edizione critica, accompagnata dalla traduzione e da un commento, dell’opera che, fondata su numerose fonti che spaziano dalla tradizione patristica alla produzione strettamente milanese, si colloca al culmine della concezione fiammesca della storia della Chiesa di Milano.

The court of Alfonso the Magnanimous was an important center for the renewal of the culture in the fifteenth century. Through a combination of the Catalan tradition with Italian Humanism, authors in his éntourage completely revolutionized the concept of literature and historiography, by presenting Alfonso as an ancient emperor far more powerful than any modern one. In this context the physician and historian Gaspar Pelegrí was the link between catalan tradition and humanistic (latin) innovation. Here are pulished 33 documents, which demonstrate his catalan origins.

An examination of one strand of the early crusade chronicle traditions, as well as an attempt to drive a stake through the heart of the idea that author of the Gesta Francorum was a knight, making his text more reliable than others. Also, the Gesta Francorum as it exists now is a revised version of a text that no longer survives -- based on a comparison of the Gesta, Tudebode, and the Historia Belli Sacri, from Monte Cassino. As for Tudebode, he was not an author and never claimed to be, but was someone who glossed an early version of the Gesta Francorum, including a couple of details in the margin about himself.

The ninth century was a fundamental period for the history of Naples. Newly un-tethered from Constantinople and trying to forge a stable state, the Campanian city faced a complex political landscape in southern Italy. The Frankish conquest of the Lombard kingdom and the weakening of the Byzantine empire, which allowed the Muslims to seize Sicily, reshaped the South into a region dominated by several competing protagonists. Naples resisted conquest at the hands of the neighbouring Lombards of Benevento, while simultaneously maintaining peaceful relationships with the two empires and the Saracens. The goal of this article is to examine how Neapolitan authors portrayed Byzantines, Franks, Lombards, and Muslims and what they knew about them.

Subsequent to the birth of the first historical works in the peripheral parts of Europe after the turn of the first millennium, the initial decades of the 13th century witnessed a wave of vigorous interest in the accounts and tales of the origo gentis; historians of the youngest monarchies of Western Christendom like Denmark, Poland, Bohemia or Hungary created systematic and coherent narratives merging the now-obscure national lore with antique tradition. From time to time, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s brilliant Historia regum Britanniae also arises as a likely model for the gestas of Saxo Grammaticus, Vincentius Kadłubek and the mysterious Master P, the anonymous clerk of Bela III, king of Hungary. Besides their similar treatment with literary sources, Geoffrey and the above historians all employed the same motifs to establish a mythology that has been forming their peoples’ identity fundamentally for centuries. In this paper I focus on the potential direct and indirect influences of the Historia on the nameless chronicler’s entirely fictional construction of the Hungarian conquest in the Carpathian basin in his Gesta Hungarorum, keeping in mind that most parallels root in the widespread Latin narratives of antique subjects (Historia de preliis, the De Excidio Troiae of Dares Phrygius and the anonymous Excidium Troiae), which were common readings in medieval higher education. Although it is obvious that Geoffrey’s account of Brutus’ fight for freedom and Árpád’s consecutive battles against local leaders in Anonymus are both based on the Excidium Troiae’s version of the Virgilian conquest of Aeneas in Italia, I am convinced that the summit of Geoffrey’s Historia, Arthur’s pentecostal crown-wearing in Caerleon, had a more direct impact on the Gesta Hungarorum and its central scene of Árpád’s feast amongst the Roman ruins near the seat of Bela III, the anonymous historian’s former patron.

This paper considers the unique copy of John Hardyng's chronicle extant in Princeton University MS Garrett 142. It argues that the scribe responsible for copying the text had a Lancastrian bias and that he adapted the Yorkist version of Hardyng's Chronicle to take into account Henry VI's brief readeption in 1470-71. A possible connection between the manuscript and the Rokeby Family of Yorkshire is also discussed.

La citation de textes épigraphiques est un procédé d'écriture fréquent de la littérature grecque dès la fin de l'époque hellénistique ; il est notamment employé par Polybe et Diodore de Sicile. Dans la littérature latine tardo-républicaine et impériale, ce procédé s'étend à la plupart des genres littérairest. Mais dans la littérature grecque comme dans la littérature latine d'époque impériale, ce sont les ouvrages de type historique ou géographique qui livrent le plus de citations épigraphiques, comme en témoignent Strabon, Denys d'Halicarnasse, Tite Live ou Flavius Josèphe2. Durant I'Antiquité tardive, la citation épigraphique demeure I'apanage des historiens (Ammien Marcellin ou les auteurs del'Histoire Auguste), et on la retrouve tout naturellement chez les chronographes et les chroniqueurs byzantins. Les inscriptions sont ainsi recopiées et transmises au fil du temps. Malalas cite, par exemple, un passage du < très savant Philochoros >> dans lequel se trouve enchâssée une inscription, et, à leur tour, des inscriptions données par Malalas sont mentionnées par ses successeurs, telles les inscriptions nos 3, 13 et 19: qui se retrouvent littéralement citées dans la Chronique pascale. D'autre part, c'est aussi durant I'Antiquité tardive que I'inscription s'élève au statut de véritable texte, du moins quand on lui reconnaît quelque qualité littéraire : à 1'époque byzantine, bon nombre de véritables inscriptions sont l. L'ancienne étude d'4. SrerN, Rôr??lsche Inschriften in der antiken Literatur, Prague 1931, est toujours fondamentale. La synthèse, plus récente, de R. CsEver-1rcx, Épigraphie et littérature à Rome, Epigrafia e antichità 3,Faenza 79'72, ne concerne que la littérature latine. Il faut également signaler quelques études approfondies, spécifiques à certains auteurs : W. DENNrsoN, "The epigraphical sources of Monographies 24), P aris 2006. NATURE ET FONCTION DES CITAIIONS É'PIGRAPHIQUES Cetelocus colrunrÉ ops tÉtvtolcN'rces ÉptcnepHIQUES op' rt C runoluQufl Temps bibtiques et mYthologiques 99 IOO SANDRINEAGUSTA-BOULAROT Après avoir dénommé les planètes, Seth fut donc I'inventeur du premier alphabet de l'humanité qui serait apparu, selon la Chronique, avec la deuxième génération humaine. Malalas distinguJles sept voyelles, qui ont une coffespondance avec les planètes et les luminairei, et les lettres hébraTques, qui correspondraient aux consonnes. 2. Inscription funéraire de Pikos-Zeus, sur sa tombe, en Crète. Mention de Diodore. La tombe se trouve encore sur l'île à l'époque du chroniqueur (Jean Malalas, I 13, p. 13-14,1.47-49) Sur le point de mourir, Pikos-Zeus ordonna d'ensevelir sa dépouille dans l'île de Crète. Ses enfants tui édifièrent un temple et déposèrent sa dépouille dans un monument (èv pvripcrtr)'

Between 1069, the year of his arrival at St. Martin in Mainz, where he spent the rest of his life in voluntary enclosure in a cell, and his death in 1082, the Irish monk Marianus Scottus dedicated countless hours to assembling the most sophisticated and comprehensive work on historical chronology that had ever been produced by a Latin writer up to that time. The fruits of his labors became a massive world chronicle, completed in 1076, whose most famous innovation consisted in a far-reaching correction to the Christian, or “common,” era, which had been introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the sixth century. Having compared the data of the Easter computus with the chronological parameters traditionally associated with the passion of Christ—the fifteenth day of the moon on Friday, 25 March—Marianus found that the only year in which the numbers could be made to fit was AD 12 rather than the traditionally accepted AD 34. As a result, he decided to predate the life of Jesus by twenty-two years, assigning his birth to the year corresponding to 22 BC. This gave rise to a new “corrected” era (henceforth designated as years SE = secundum Evangelium), which he used alongside its Dionysiac equivalent.

What was the real story behind Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti’s condemnation, attributed to Cacciaguida in Paradiso, xvi, 136–147? The major Florentine chronicles of Dante’s era (Compagni) and thenceforth (Villani, Stefani) paint a picture of an innocent Buondelmonte, barbarously assassinated thanks to the homicidal rage of his peers – the magnates. However, the harsh treatment of Buondelmonte in the Commedia is the result of the character Cacciaguida (and therefore Dante) adhering to the noble/magnate ethos found in many contemporary sources (for example the chronicle by the pseudo-Brunetto Latini). Indeed, only at a later date would the Popolo’s ethos, expressed in the works of Compagni, Villani and Stefani, become the ‘definitive’ version.

To better understand the development of Caedmon’s story between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries, it is necessary to examine its versions in the chronicles of Bede, Ranulf Higden, and John Trevisa.  Such examination reveals three important points.  First, the story is clearly valued by historical chroniclers of England for its cultural, linguistic, and spiritual import. This value is revealed in the details of Caedmon’s story given in each chronicle and by the remarks upon those details made by the Bede, Ranulf, and Trevisa. Its transmission is not only a literal form of translation between languages, but it is also of a form of translation between cultures.  Furthermore, the story is clearly used rhetorically by the men recounting it in connection to the overarching goals of their historical projects as well as their specific concerns with the possibility of divine inspiration.  Finally, as the story undergoes change in transmission and translation, it comes to emphasize much more intensely the miraculous nature of Caedmon’s experience.  This trajectory has particular relevance for understanding John Trevisa and his desire to establish his authority as a translator for a vernacular English audience in the fourteenth century.

“Translating Caedmon’s Miracle in the Chronicles of the Venerable Bede, Ranulf Higden, and John Trevisa,” Translating the Past: Essays on Medieval Literature in Honor of Marijane Osborn, ed. Jane Beal and Mark Bradshaw Busbee (Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 2012), 61-80. Print.

NB: This chapter is posted with the permission of ACMRS.

A CHRONICA PATRIAE Egy 14. századi osztrák krónika és a magyar történelem* A Chronica •patriae ('A haza krónikája') 1 elnevezésű, középfelnémet nyelven íródott 14. századi krónikakompozíció a késő középkori osztrák örökös tartományok egyik legjelentősebb, és más szerzőkre is hatással bíró történeti munkája volt. A 14-15. századi osztrák történeti gondolkodásra tett jelentősége olyan nagy volt, hogy az itáliai humanista Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, a későbbi II. Pius pápa gúnyosan -bár nem minden alapot nélkülözve -megjegyzi, az osztrákok majdnem úgy tisztelik a krónikát, mint a Szentírást. 2 Nem igazán hízelgő szavak ezek: "A minap egy úgynevezett osztrák történet került a kezembe, ami német nyelven íródott; ez egy bolondos kis könyv, tele hazugsággal, szerzője pedig egy olyan ember, akiről nem lehet eldönteni, hogy a hazugság, vagy az őrültség vezérli" ? A humanizmus súlyos bírálata annyira megtette a hatását, hogy a 19.

The manuscript Avranches, Bibliothèque patrimoniale, 159 is an extraordinary piece of evidence for the writing of universal chronicles in twelfth century Normandy. It contains the “working-copy” of the chronicle of Robert of Torigni (1106-1186), abbot of Mont Saint-Michel, an update and continuation of the universal chronicle of Sigibert of Gembloux (1030-1112). The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the visual and textual features that make Avranches 159 Robert of Torigni’s Liber Chronicorum. With his chronography, Robert of Torigni aimed to join the authoritative Eusebius-Jeromian tradition of chronicle-writing. Whilst maintaining the visual unity of the manuscript, Robert altered its chronographic structure to include the Anglo-Saxon and the Anglo-Norman past as the realization of the divine plan. As contextualized in the visual totality of Avranches 159, Robert of Torigni’s chronography appears as a sophisticated textual project that aimed to integrate Henry II’s dynastic past into universal history to enhance the legitimacy of the English king.

U Kala's Mahayazawingyi is arguably the most important Burmese historical chronicle, yet no scholar has yet studied the text in depth. 

A set of tools is needed to transform chronicle manuscripts into a scholarly translation in a timely and accurate fashion. In addition to software and databases to aid the translator, workflows are also proposed. 

Although the focus will be on U Kala’s Burmese historical chronicle, the approach will not be regionally limited to Burma as previous work on Burmese history has been. In its essence the thesis work will be cross-culturally comparative emphasizing the empirical diversity of manuscript cultures (Burmese, Tai, Lanna, Pali) that exist in mainland Southeast Asia. 

A special emphasis will be placed on historical geography and the production of maps to visualize this dimension of manuscripts. Towards this goal the development of tools to analyze this dimension of manuscripts is essential, namely historical Geographical Information System (GIS) tools to be elaborated on in great length below.

In this article an attempt has been made to explore the political motivations behind the dynastic connections between Denmark and Russia in the early twelfth century. So far this has not been done, although it can hardly be accidental that the two half brothers, sons of King Erik († 1103), Knud Lavard († 1131) and Erik Emune († 1137) in succession married two daughters, Ingeborg and Malmfred, of Mstislav Vladimirovich, first prince in Novgorod, later in Kiev.
Both Knud and Erik grew up while their uncle Niels was king, and both became involved in a contest for the succession together with King Niels' son, Magnus.
Married since c. 1117 to Ingeborg Mstislavna, Knud Lavard was well-connected to both Kiev and Novgorod, where his brother-in-law was reigning prince from 1117 to 1136. As earl in the southern border region Knud Lavard had in the late 1120s managed to acquire a power base among the neighbouring Slavonic peoples. In order to counter this the King c. 1128 arranged a marriage between Magnus and the Polish Princess, Richiza, daughter of Boleslaw III. A joint Danish-Polish campaign against one of Knud's Slavonic allies was the immediate result.
The first stage in the contest ended, when Magnus killed an unarmed Knud 7 January 1131. A week later, Ingeborg gave birth to Knud's son, the later Valdemar I the Great († 1181). Valdemar was named after his great-grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh. According to the Knytlinga Saga Valdemar was not only born at his Russian grandfather's court but also spent his childhood in Russia, possibly with his uncle in Novgorod. Knytlinga's account has generally been ignored but an analysis of the sources supports its accuracy.
After the murder of Knud, Erik Emune staged an uprising against the King, which after three years of civil war ended in Erik's victory and the deaths of both the King and Magnus. In the course of the war Erik Emune restored the Danish-Russian alliance by marrying Ingeborg's sister, Malmfred, widow of the Norwegian King Sigurd († 1130). This probably secured Erik Novgorodian support, and the imprisonment in 1134 of Novgorodians in Denmark, recorded in the First Novgorod Chronicles, must have been a countermove by King Niels.
The confrontation between the two systems of alliances did not end with Erik's victory. After the deaths of her husband and her father-in-law, Magnus' widow, Richiza, must have returned to her father, where she soon married Prince Volodar Glebovich of Minsk. Volodar Glebovich was a member of the Polotsk dynasty, which in the 1120-30s fought for its very existence against Vladimir Monomakh and Mstislav Vladimirovich. Already in 1119 Vladimir Monomakh had taken Minsk from Volodar's father, and in 1129 Mstislav forced the remainder of the Polotsk dynasty into exile in Constantinople, dividing their residences among his relatives. After Mstislav's death in 1132, however, the Kievan state quickly disintegrated, and the Polotsk dynasty could stage a political come-back. In marrying Volodar Glebovich, then probably in exile in Poland, Richiza entered into an alliance directed against the coalition between Erik Emune and the Monomakhovids, still ruling Novgorod.
The political rationale behind this alliance must have been to provide her young son, Knud Magnusen, with an alternative powerbase to the one Ingeborg's young son, Valdemar Knudsen, had in the alliance with the Monomakhovides in Novgorod, when they, in the next generation, were to contest the succession to the Danish throne.
The disintegration of the Kievan State after 1132 and the expulsion of Vsevolod Mstislavich from Novgorod in 1136, followed by the deaths of Erik Emune in 1137 and Boleslaw III in 1138 removed the political foundation of these alliances. All three states were notably weakened and from now on little could be gained from forming alliances on this scale. Russian princes now seldom sought spouses outside Russia, while the Danes from now on mainly entered into Scandinavian alliances. This is probably the reason for the divorce between Richiza and Volodar. The alliance made little political sense, at least as far as Knud Magnusen's pretensions to the Danish throne were concerned. Richiza's third marriage with the Swedish king, Sverker († 1155), must by now have offered Knud far better possibilities.
This aspect of the dynastic alliances has been overlooked, because a majority of modern historians accepted Nikolaj von Baumgarten's erroneous belief that Richiza's second husband was the semi-mythical Novgorodian prince, Vladimir Vsevolodich, i.e. Ingeborg's and Malmfred's nephew. Scandinavian sources, which alone know of this marriage, agree, however, in naming him Valada, Valadhr, Valadar, which is inconsistent with a Vladimir. Baumgarten, however, thought the names Volodar and Vladimir interchangeable and assumed that Richiza's second husband had to be dead before she could have entered her third marriage with the Swedish king, Sverker († 1155). We know, however, from two independent sources that the second husband was still alive long after Sverker had died.
It may surprise that Danish-Russian dynastic relations could be so close well into the 12th century, long after the Great Church Schism had split the Greek and Roman Churches. The presence of a number of Scandinavian saints in a contemporary Russian twelfth century prayer proves, however, that the schism did not yet extend to Northern Europe. That only happened in the late twelfth century. For this, cf. John H. Lind: The Martyria of Odense and a Twelfth Century Russian Prayer. To the Question of Bohemian Influence on Russian Religious Literature, Slavonic and East European Review 68:1 (1990), pp. 1-21.
In Appendix A the view of a number of Russian and some Scandinavian historians that the Danish king, Sven Estridsen, after the defeat of Harald Hårderåde in 1066, married his widow, the Russian princess, Elisabeth Jaroslavna, is disproved. According to Adam of Bremen, the widow in question was the mother of King Olav Kyrre. She was not the Russian princess but the Norwegian Tora. In Appendix B it is shown that the assumption that the Danes raided Finland c. 1170 is based on 1) the misconception that Richiza had married Vladimir Vsevolodich of Novgorod, rather than of Volodar Glebovich of Minsk; 2) a failure to observe that Saxo described the same event as a raid to Venden c. 1177/8.