Historia Francorum Senonensis

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The Historia Francorum Senonensis ("History of the Franks of Sens") is a short anonymous Latin chronicle of the Frankish kings from 688 down to 1015. It was written at Sens before 1034 and is hostile towards the Capetian dynasty that had taken the throne of West Francia in 987. [1] It was a popular and widely used text, and its anti-Capetian view is largely responsible for the questions raised by many later authors concerning the dynasty's legitimacy. [2]

Contents

The Historia is found in a single manuscript, now in the Vatican Library, BAV, regin. lat. 733A. [1] This manuscript was probably copied in England in the twelfth century. Although it is the only full copy of the work on its own, much of the text of the Historia can be extracted from other works that borrowed liberally from it. [2] At the Abbey of Fleury it was a source for the continuation of Aimon's Gesta Francorum and for the Historia Ecclesiastica of Hugh of Fleury. [1] It was also mined by William of Jumièges for his Gesta Normannorum ducum , by Orderic Vitalis for his Historia Ecclesiastica and by the anonymous author of the Chronicon Sancti Petri Vivi . [1]

The Historia has much in common with other historical works from Sens from the same era, such as the Chronicon Sancti Petri Vivi and the Chronicon of Odorannus. All may have made use of a lost set of annals from Sens, the Annales Senonenses, for the years up to 956. The anonymous author of the Historia may also have consulted the now lost Gesta Remensium episcoporum (Deeds of the Bishops of Reims). [3]

Ferdinand Lot has written on the historical value of the Historia Francorum Senonensis, [4] but the chronicle is most useful to historians for the light it sheds on a minority political view. In the view of the Historia, following the death of Louis V in 987 the legitimate monarch was his uncle, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine. The election of Hugh Capet was thus a rebellion against Charles. [5]

Joachim Ehlers argues that the anti-Capetian bias of the work is not the result of pro-Carolingian legitimism but is connected the dispute between the archdiocese of Sens and the archdiocese of Reims over their roles in the coronation of the West Frankish kings. The Historia provides clear evidence of a political conception of the state as distinct from the dynasty or person of the monarch. [6]

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Related Research Articles

The Capetian dynasty, also known as the "House of France", is a dynasty of European origin, and a branch of the Robertians and the Karlings. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favor of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon are still reigning over Spain and Luxembourg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Capet</span> King of the Franks from 987 to 996

Hugh Capet was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was descended from Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy through his mother and paternal grandmother, respectively, and was also a nephew of Otto the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neustria</span> Western part of the kingdom of the Franks

Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. The population was therefore originally largely Romanised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert II of France</span> King of the Franks from 996 to 1031

Robert II, called the Pious or the Wise, was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters. His solid education, provided by Gerbert of Aurillac in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious questions of which he quickly became the guarantor. Continuing the political work of his father, after becoming sole ruler in 996, he managed to maintain the alliance with the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou and thus was able to contain the ambitions of Count Odo II of Blois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert I of France</span> King of West Francia from 922 to 923

Robert I was the elected King of West Francia from 922 to 923. Before his election to the throne he was Count of Poitiers, Count of Paris and Marquis of Neustria and Orléans. He succeeded the overthrown Carolingian king Charles the Simple, who in 898 had succeeded Robert's brother, king Odo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis V of France</span> King of West Francia from 979 to 987

Louis V, also known as Louis the Do-Nothing, was a king of West Francia from 979 to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last Carolingian monarch in West Francia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lothair of France</span> King of West Francia from 954 to 986

Lothair, sometimes called Lothair II, III or IV, was the penultimate Carolingian king of West Francia, reigning from 10 September 954 until his death in 986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide of Aquitaine</span> Queen consort of the Franks

Adbelahide, Adele, Adela or Adelaide of Aquitaine, was Queen of France by marriage to Hugh Capet, King of the Franks. Adelaide and Hugh were the founders of the Capetian dynasty of France, which would rule France until the 18th and 19th centuries. As queen consort, Adelaide had some extent of influence over her husband's governance of France. Adelaide is typically only briefly mentioned in connection to her husband, Hugh, and her son Robert II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine</span>

Charles was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adalbero of Reims</span>

Adalbero was the archbishop of Reims, chancellor of Kings Lothair and Louis V of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Soissons (923)</span> Part of the Carolingian Civil War

The Battle of Soissons was fought on 15 June 923 between an alliance of Frankish insurgent nobles led by Robert I, elected king in an assembly the year prior, and an army composed of Lotharingians, Normans, and Carolingian forces under King Charles III's command. The battle took place at Soissons, near Aisne. Robert was killed, but his army won the war. Charles was imprisoned by Herbert II of Vermandois and held captive until his death in 929. Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy, Robert's son-in-law, succeeded him as ruler of West Francia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnulf (archbishop of Reims)</span> French archbishop of Reims (died 1021)

Arnulf was the illegitimate son of King Lothair of France. He became archbishop of Reims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Francia</span> State in Western Europe from 843 to 987; predecessor to the Kingdom of France

In medieval historiography, West Francia or the Kingdom of the West Franks constitutes the initial stage of the Kingdom of France and extends from the year 843, from the Treaty of Verdun, to 987, the beginning of the Capetian dynasty. It was created from the division of the Carolingian Empire following the death of Louis the Pious, with its neighbor East Francia eventually evolving into the Kingdom of Germany.

Louis of Lower Lorraine, Frankish royalty and a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was a younger son of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, through his second wife, Adelaide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walaric</span>

Saint Walaric, modern French Valery, was a Frankish monk turned hermit who founded the abbey of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. His cult was recognized in Normandy and England.

Hugh of Fleury was a French Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical writer. He is known only by his works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma of France</span> Queen of West Francia

Emma of France was a Frankish queen. The daughter of Robert I of France, she was a descendant of the powerful aristocratic Robertian family; her younger half-brother was Hugh the Great, the duke of the Franks and count of Paris.

The Robertians are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries. The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet.

The Chronicle of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif of Sens is an anonymous Latin chronicle written at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens between about 1100 and 1125 with continuations added into the 13th century. The original work was attributed to a monk named Clarius by Dom Victor Cottron in 1650, but this is not now accepted. It is, however, sometimes still labeled the Chronique dite de Clarius. The Chronicle is mainly a history of the abbey and of the city of Sens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco-German war of 978–980</span> European war over territory

The Franco-German war of 978–980 was fought over possession of Lotharingia and over personal honour. In the summer of 978, King Lothair of West Francia (France) launched a surprise attack on Aachen, almost capturing the Emperor Otto II, king of East Francia (Germany) and of Italy. By autumn Lothair had returned to West Francia, while Otto had convoked a diet and assembled an army. To avenge his honour, Otto invaded West Francia. Unable to take Paris after a brief siege, he returned to Lotharingia. During his retreat, after the bulk of his army had crossed the river Aisne, the West Franks caught up to his baggage train and slaughtered it. In 980, the kings made peace. Lothair renounced his claim to Lotharingia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Régis Rech, "Historia Francorum Senonensis", in Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle (Brill, online 2016), accessed 21 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 Fraser McNair, "A Post-Carolingian Voice of Dissent: The Historia Francorum Senonensis", Journal of Medieval Latin 28 (2018): 15–47.
  3. Auguste Molinier, "1373. Historia Francorum Senonensis", in Les Sources de l'histoire de France – Des origines aux guerres d'Italie (1494), II. Époque féodale, les Capétiens jusqu'en 1180 (Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1902), pp. 90–91.
  4. Ferdinand Lot, Les derniers Carolingiens: Lothaire, Louis V, Charles de Lorraine (954–991) (Paris: Émile Bouillon, 1891), app. vii, pp. 338–45.
  5. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, "Rewriting History in the Chanson de Hugues Capet", Olifant 15.1 (1990): 36: rebellavit contra Karolum Hugo dux Francorum ("Hugh, the duke of the Franks, rebelled against Charles").
  6. Joachim Ehlers, "Die historia francorum senonensis und der Aufstieg des Hauses Capet", Journal of Medieval History 4.1 (1978): 1–25.

Further reading