BOOK: Yaniv FOX, The Merovingians in Historiographical Tradition. From the Sixth to the Sixteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023). ISBN: 9781009285018

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ABOUT THE BOOK

The Merovingian centuries were a foundational period in the historical consciousness of western Europe. The memory of the first dynasty of Frankish kings, their origin myths, accomplishments, and failures were used by generations of chroniclers, propagandists, and historians to justify a wide range of social and political agendas. The process of curating and editing the source material gave rise to a recognizable 'Merovingian narrative' with three distinct phases: meteoric ascent, stasis, and decline. Already in the seventh-century Chronicle of Fredegar, this tripartite model was invoked by a Merovingian queen to prophesy the fate of her descendants. This expert commentary sets out to understand how the story of the Merovingians was shaped through a process of continuous historiographical adaptation. It examines authors from across a millennium of historical writing and analyzes their influences and objectives, charting the often-unexpected ways in which their narratives were received and developed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yaniv Fox is Associate Professor of History at Bar-Ilan University. He is the organizer of the 2021–2022 Israel Institute for Advanced Studies research group 'Purity and Pollution in Late Antique and Early Medieval Culture and Society' and the author of Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Frankish Elites (2014).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Trojans, sea-monsters, and long-haired kings: from Priam to Childeric

2. Capud victuriarum vestrarum Chlodovechus

3. Taedit me memorare: the middle Merovingians

4. Omni ecclesiastica dignitate nobilitavit: 'Good King Dagobert'

5. Regibus solo nomine regnantibus: the Late Merovingians

Conclusions

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