History and Memory in the Carolingian World [Paperback]

This 2004 book looks at the writing and reading of history during the early middle ages.In the eighth and ninth centuries a remarkable quantity of very varied forms and new types of history was written in the Frankish realms of Western Europe. The Franks also preserved the classical and Judaeo-Christian histories from earlier centuries. The Frankish books reflect a highly sophisticated and many-layered understanding of the past as well as a very creative use of history. These history texts also played an extraordinarily influential role in the formation of political ideologies and senses of identity within Europe.In the eighth and ninth centuries a remarkable quantity of very varied forms and new types of history was written in the Frankish realms of Western Europe. The Franks also preserved the classical and Judaeo-Christian histories from earlier centuries. The Frankish books reflect a highly sophisticated and many-layered understanding of the past as well as a very creative use of history. These history texts also played an extraordinarily influential role in the formation of political ideologies and senses of identity within Europe.This study reveals the remarkable quantity of varied forms and new types of history written in the Frankish realms of Western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. The Franks also preserved the classical and Judaeo-Christian histories from earlier centuries. Their books reflect a highly sophisticated and many-layered understanding of the past as well as a very creative use of history. Rosamond McKitterick illuminates the extraordinarily influential role of these history texts in the formation of political ideologies and senses of identity within Europe.1. Introduction: history and memory in the Carolingian world; 2. Carolingian history books; 3. Paul the Deacon's Historia langobardorum and the Franks; 4. The Carolingians on their past; 5. Politics and history; 6. Kingship and the writing of history; 7. Social memory, commemoral.