Dudo of Saint-Quentin's Historia Normannorum

Book excerpt: "When Dudo of Saint-Quentin's Historia Normannorum first appeared in or around 1015, written for the then Duke of Normandy, Richard II, Dudo created a text without precedent. By committing the lives and deeds of Richard II's ancestors to written memory for the first time since the foundation of Normandy under the Viking Rollo in 911, Dudo provided the Norman court at Rouen with both an official dynastic historiography and a treasured record of their collective past. The Historia Normannorum was conceived, from the outset, as an idiosyncratic text which purported to be both staunchly traditional and remarkably innovative. By means of a pioneering transdisciplinary combination of Historical Studies, Manuscript Studies, Literary Theory and Cultural Memory Studies, this book explores medieval historiography through a unique and highly innovative lens. The analysis showcases the Historia Normannorum's status as one of the most formative historical narratives of the Middle Ages, one which may even provide the earliest surviving example of an illustrated chronicle from the entire Latin West."--Back cover.