Politics and History in the Tenth Century
The Work and World of Richer of Reims

This book focuses on church and politics in tenth-century France as seen through the works of a monk chronicler.

Jason Glenn (Author)

9780521038126, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 July 2007

356 pages, 10 b/w illus. 2 maps
22.7 x 15.1 x 2 cm, 0.533 kg

"This is a book worht reading...Glenn's general conclusions are persuasive, his methodology sensibly provocative." - Cullen J. Chandler, Lycoming College

This book stands at the intersection of recent work in historiography and the study of political culture in the early Middle Ages. It takes the autograph manuscript of a tenth-century monk, Richer, as a point of entry into the author's world, and asks how he and his contemporaries in the religious and intellectual community of Reims engaged in Frankish politics. By shifting focus from the events and actors that typically occupy centre stage in political theatre to the writing of history and its authors, it offers a sustained reflection on the relationship between politics and history. As a case study it aims, ultimately, to articulate possibilities for the study of early medieval politics and, at the same time, to provide a model for a type of historical inquiry in which the development of questions and the exploration of possibilities stand more prominent than the conclusions drawn from them.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Notes on the notes and other conventions
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Religious and Intellectual Landscapes: 1. Richer of Reims
2. Cantor and canon at the cathedral of Reims
3. Intellectual culture
4. Monk at Saint-Remigius
Conclusions
Part II. Political History: 5. A Frankish civil war, 987–991
6. Archbishop Gerbert of Reims, 981–988
7. Richer and his narrative
8. A tenth-century treasure
Conclusions
Part III. Historian and Community, Past and Present: 9. Flodoard of Reims
10. Carolingians and Robertians, 888–929
11. The contested see of Reims, 925–948
12. Kingship and community
Conclusions
Epilogue: a curious journey
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], History of religion [HRAX], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]