early as his sojourn at Dijon, probably at the instance of Abbot Jarento and Archbishop Hugh, he had begun a Latin chronicle of the world's history from the birth of Christ down to his own times (Chronicon Virdunense seu Flaviniacense). The first book, which extends to the year 1002, is little more than a loosely planned compilation, and its importance is entirely due to the fragments of older lost works which it contains. The second covers the years from 1002 to 1112 and is valuable especially for the history of Lorraine, and also for the ecclesiastical history of France. With wide erudition Hugh collected a great mass of materials, and where his facts became too unwieldy he abandoned the annalistic form for full and detailed narrative. In this manner he brings out in relief the "Acta Gregorii VII" (papal biography of Gregory VII); "Series Abbatum Flaviniacensium" (on his predecessors as abbot of Flavigny); "Vita beati Richardi, abbatis S. Vitori" and "Vita S. Magdalvei" (two hagiographies). His account of the papal election of Victor III is a masterpiece for his period. In general, however, he cannot be said to control his materials. Making no attempt at arrangement, he quotes original documents, his own experiences, or the testimony of others, to whose tales he often gives more credit than they deserve. References Sources A complete edition of Hugh's Chronicle is given by Georg Heinrich Pertz in the Monumenta Germaniae historica, VIII, 288–502, and in J.P. Migne's Patrologia Latina, CLIV, 21–404. Patrick Healy: The chronicle of Hugh of Flavigny: reform and the investiture contest in the late eleventh century. Aldershot: Ashgate, c 2006. ; . 1060s births 12th-century deaths People from Verdun French Benedictines 11th-century French historians 12th-century French historians 11th-century Latin writers 12th-century Latin writers