Sources

The original list of popes

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Not only is the papacy the longest continuously operating organization in western civilization, but, in true western fashion, there is a bureaucracy attached to it. Like all bureaucracies the papacy is fond of paperwork and lists, and since the third century has kept a list of every pope. Beginning in the renaissance it has been known as the Liber Pontificalis, the book of popes.

The quality of the entries has varied widely, everything from merely a name and regnal dates, to brief lives that include some background information and deeds performed while pope. Most of the lives were written during the lifetime of the pope, or immediately after their death. We are fortunate to have that sort of detail available for the eighth century, although the details vary considerably.

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Tonight’s entertainment, Roland

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The Song of Roland is a chanson de geste, a “song of deeds.” The chanson de gestes were a form of popular entertainment that have come down to us as long written poems. These poems started as oral story telling, in a tradition that is as old as language itself. At some point music was probably added, in the Greek tradition.

As the stories evolved, grew, and spread, the audiences probably began to ask for specific incidents in the story. “Tell us about when Roland blew his horn!”1.Tolkien copied the scene from Roland for the death of Boromir in the Lord of the Rings. “During dinner the duke wants you to sing of Ganelon’s trial for treason, to see who sweats.” The reason I mention this is because the stories that have come down to us are too long for a single evening or meal, and can be somewhat repetitive. When they were written down the scribe probably included every version he could find, which results in a story that is, while very much a coherent whole, could use some editing.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Tolkien copied the scene from Roland for the death of Boromir in the Lord of the Rings.

The Chronicle of Fredegar

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The version of this source that you can actually get your hands on is called “The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar, and Continuations.” Well. Let’s unpack that mouthful and see what we can learn.

Starting from the middle, the source is, in fact, a chronicle. That is to say, it is a written account of important events in the order of their occurrence. Is Fredegar the author? There is actually no reason to believe so, as the attribution to “Fredegar” only begins in the sixteenth century. There is a prologue of sorts, where the author addresses the reader, but he does not name himself. The “critical edition” from the late nineteenth century1.A German scholar named Krusch scoured Europe and found thirty different copies of the Chronicle, analyzed them, and put together a single version, with notes, explanations, etc. divides the work into four books. J.M. Wallace-Hedrill translated and published only the fourth book because the other three are derived and copied from sources that, he says, are otherwise available. Finally, most manuscripts of the chronicle end (in other words, the fourth book ends) in the year 642. But some manuscripts have a “continuation,” written by another person or two, that take the chronicle up through the year 768.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 A German scholar named Krusch scoured Europe and found thirty different copies of the Chronicle, analyzed them, and put together a single version, with notes, explanations, etc.

Frenemies in Christ

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In the middle of the eighth century two religious men became great rivals. They had so much in common, their ages, upbringing, learning, careers, teachers, and, most of all, their mentor and leader, one of the greatest churchmen of the middle ages, that it drove them apart, as it often does with ambitious men.

First we have to talk about Boniface. You’ll get more in another post, but it is sufficient to know that he was, in the words of Norman Cantor1.One of the few scholars to make truly accessible popular medieval history. “one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe, as the apostle of Germany, the reformer of the Frankish church, and the chief fomentor of the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian family.” Boniface traveled widely and hobnobbed with kings and popes. He was a very big deal.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 One of the few scholars to make truly accessible popular medieval history.

Einhard’s Biography Of Charlemagne

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Einhard initial
Initial from the Vita Karoli

The next source you should know about is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli, written not long after his death. But like all sources from this time (or any time), you have to approach it with caution.

A noble and learned man named Einhard, born around 770 of a noble family from the eastern part of the realm, wrote the biography in his retirement, about a decade after Charlemagne’s death. Einhard came to the king’s court in 791 after an extensive monastic education, a group of scholars that Charlemagne had been gathering around him. He was a tiny man with a busy mind – Lewis Thorpe, translator of a popular edition of , notes that the Bishop of Orleans compared him to a busy ant. Einhard was apparently one of the brightest stars in the firmament, and it fell to him to write the great man’s biography after his death in 814.

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