From Clovis to Charlemagne: Frankish History and Historians: (Variorum Collected Studies)

This book is a collection of papers on Frankish historiography in the Merovingian and early Carolingian periods, from the late sixth to early ninth centuries, and studies numerous individual texts, evaluating their witness to the events they describe. It also includes hitherto unpublished items on the so-called Chronicle of Fredegar, in both its original and eighth-century versions, and also an entirely new article on the Merovingian dynastic crisis of 613, along with a general introduction and a bibliography of its author’s writing. Particular attention is focused on the element of deception, deliberate or otherwise, in the narrative accounts of some of the Frankish histories and chronicles and on the way they were written in order to promote specific interpretations of certain individuals and events, or in some cases to conceal their very existence. Certain central episodes such as the imperial coronation of Charlemagne are examined to detect the ways in which they were interpreted and presented in contemporary texts. From Clovis to Charlemagne: Frankish History and Historians will appeal to academics and students interested in the history of early medieval France, the processes of historical composition in that period, the study of manuscripts relating to it and the wider questions about historical understanding and the interpretation of evidence.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Evolution of Early Frankish Historiography from Gregory of tours to Einhard Chapter 1 Gregory of Tours and Spain in Alexander Callendar Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 498-515 Chapter 2 The Continuator of Marius of Avenches, ‘Fredegar’, and the Merovingian dynastic crisis of 613 Previously unpublished Chapter 3 Deception and Misrepresentation in Eighth Century Frankish Historiography: Two Case Studies in Jörg Jarnut, Ulrich Nonn & Michael Richter (ed.), Karl Martel in zeiner Zeit (Sigmaringen: Beihefte der Francia 37, 1994), pp. 227-247 Chapter 4 Pippin III as Mayor of the Palace: The Evidence in Matthias Becher & Jörg Jarnut (ed.), Der Dynastiewechsel von 751: Vorgeschichte, Legitimationntrategie und Erinnerung (Munster, 2005), pp. 75-91 Chapter 5 The Lorsch Annals and Charlemagne’s imperial coronation in Joanna Story (ed.), Charlemagne: Empire and Society (Manchester U.P, 2005), pp. 52-70 Chapter 6 The Frankish Past and the Carolingian Present in the Age of Charlemagne in Peter Godman, Jörg Jarnut & Peter Johanek (ed.), Am Vorabend der Kaiserkrönung (Berlin, 2002), pp. 301-322 Chapter 7 Charlemagne and His Critics, 814-829 in Régine LeJan (ed.), La royauté et les élites dans l’Europe carolingienne (Lille, 1998), pp. 193-211 Chapter 8 The Reviser Revisited: Another Look at the Alternative Version of the Annales Regni Francorum in Alexander Callendar Murray (ed.), After Rome’s Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History (Toronto: University Press, 1998), pp. 191-211 Chapter 9 In the Footsteps of Fredegar: the Based, Dillingen and Munich Fragments Previously unpublished, deriving from a lecture to the Early Medieval Seminar in the Institute for Historical Research, in the University of London in 2005. Chapter 10 A Gift for Charles the Bald? MS Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 473 Previously unpublished, deriving from a presentation to a seminar in Vienna Publications of Roger Collins

About the Author :
Roger Collins is an historian and author. He studied at the University of Oxford (The Queen's and St Cross Colleges) under Peter Brown and Michael Wallace-Hadrill. He was a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Edinburgh from 1994 to 1998. Since then, he has been an honorary fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. Initially, his books concerned Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, but his studies of the Basques and of the papacy have extended to the present day. He has also written a memoir, Chased by Bulldogs. A Historian’s Tale (2025).