Royal marriage, Frankish history and dynastic crisis in Regino of Prüm’s Chronicle
Abstract
Regino of Prüm’s Chronicle (907/908) is one of the most important works of contemporary history written in the era of the Carolingian Empire. In this article we consider Regino’s numerous stories about good and bad royal marriages drawn from the deep past of the Franks, and we show how the historian adapted his source material to late Carolingian sensibilities. We then argue that Regino’s interest in royal marriage can best be interpreted as a reflection of his anxiety about the marital status of the reigning East Frankish king Louis IV »the Child« (900-911). Regino dedicated his work to the king’s godfather and counsellor Adalbero of Augsburg, and he apparently hoped to influence the king and his inner circle in the urgent task of selecting an appropriate royal bride. Regino’s accounts of past rulers and their marital histories therefore give us an insight into how he perceived the political order of his own day and his fears about the future of the Carolingian dynasty.
Citation
Goldberg , E & MacLean , S 2019 , ' Royal marriage, Frankish history and dynastic crisis in Regino of Prüm’s Chronicle ' , Medieval Worlds. Comparative and Interdisciplinary Studies , vol. 10 , pp. 107-129 . https://doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s107
Publication
Medieval Worlds. Comparative and Interdisciplinary Studies
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2412-3196Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2019 the Author / Publisher. This is an Open Access article licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence.
Description
Funding: HERA JRP After Empire: Using and Not Using the Past in the Crisis of the Carolingian Empire.Collections
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