Fluid Historiography: The Annales Petaviani and the (Re)Writing of History in the Eighth Century
Sören Kaschke
AbstractThe Annales Petaviani neatly illustrate complications when researching Frankish ‘minor’ annals. Transmitted in three manuscripts, each with a slightly different text, the nature of core text has been hotly disputed. Some sections are clearly derivative, others appear to be independent and yet show parallels further annals, without there being scholarly consensus on most likely explanation for those parallels.The article discusses examples from all demonstrating various practices historiographers. It argues compilation, continuation adaptation Its textual fluidity, shared other does not indicate lack scribal proficiency but is trait early Carolingian historiography keen correctio, prioritising transmission ‘verified content’ over faithful preservation ‘immutable works’. Hence, older texts were regularly updated meet changing interests their audiences, blurring lines between copying compiling process.
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