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Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Latin 7906: An Unnoticed Very Early Fragment of the ‘Liber Historiae Francorum’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
Manuscript Paris, B.N. lat. 7906 could contain the oldest known copy of part of the eighth-century Frankish chronicle, the Liber Historiae Francorum (LHF). The manuscript was an exciting discovery because of its antiquity, and at the same time a challenging one because it does not neatly fit with other known early manuscripts of the work. From folio 81 to 88v, B.N. lat. 7906 contains the first part of the LHF, breaking off abruptly in the course of chapter 17. The break comes in mid-sentence and falls at the end of the last line of a verso. The complete LHF contains 53 chapters, and obviously here, in mid-sentence in chapter 17, is not the place the scribe intended to end his copy. The author took the majority of his first 34 chapters from the Historia of Gregory of Tours. These are chapters of the LHF which are not as valuable historically as the work's later sections, which contain more original material from the author himself. Since the Paris manuscript stops in chapter 17, and since it does not contain any historical information not already known from other early manuscripts of the work, it does not add to the LHF's value as a historical source. It does, however, call into question the now universally held contention that the Liber Historiae Francorum was written in two neatly defined recensions, each with its own known date of composition.
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- Copyright © 1987 by Fordham University
References
1 Kurth, Godefroid, ‘Etude critique sur le Liber Historiae Francorum,’ Etudes Franques 1 (Paris 1919) 33–38; Wattenbach, W. and Levison, W., Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter I 1 (Weimar 1952) 115; Ewig, Eugen, ‘Zum christlichen Königsgedanken im Frühmittelalter,’ in Mayer, Theodor (ed.), Das Königtum: Seine geistigen und rechtlichen Grundlagen (Vorträge und Forschungen 3; Lindau–Konstanz 1956) 42–43; and Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations (London 1960) xxv.Google Scholar
2 MGH, SSRM 2.215–328.Google Scholar
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4 Lowe, E. A., Codices Latini Antiquiores (CLA), Supplement (Oxford 1974) 22, entry 1744.Google Scholar
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7 In the following discussion of palaeographical matters I am deeply indebted to Malcolm Parkes of Keble College, Oxford, and to David Ganz of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, both of whom kindly inspected photostats of the manuscripts and gave me their opinions, along with valuable references.Google Scholar
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9 MGH, SSRM 2.220f.Google Scholar
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17 Again my thanks to David Ganz.Google Scholar
18 Bischoff, B., Lorsch im Spiegel seiner Handschriften (Munich 1974) 26. The other three MSS he lists are: Vat. Pal. Lat. 211 (fol. 69), Vienna 2147, and Vienna 1556.Google Scholar
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22 A few examples. He omits: vel audacia (LHF 2, ed. 243 line 4); In illis diebus (LHF 8, ed. 250 line 9); and et molestus coepit … istius saccolum suum (LHF 11, ed. 255 lines 19–22). In LHF 7, the edition (248 line 21) has dum ab eo and the MS had dare ab eo, which makes no sense. In LHF 8, where the edition (251 line 6) has indeque, the MS has innudens, which makes no sense. And in LHF 10, where the edition (253 line 12) has franciscam eius, the MS has franciscam omnes, which again has no sense.Google Scholar
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26 MGH, SSRM 2.219.Google Scholar
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29 My many thanks to Professors Thomas Noble of the University of Virginia and David Ganz of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who kindly read this article in typescript, to its great benefit.Google Scholar