New Historians of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance
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A01=Peter Damian-Grint
Ambroise
Author_Peter Damian-Grint
Authorial presentation
Category=DNL
Category=NHAH
Category=NHB
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
French literature
Geffrei Gaimar
Historical writing
New historians
Twelfth century
Vernacular history
Wace
Product details
- ISBN 9780851157603
- Weight: 620g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 23 Dec 1999
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Examination of the striking new style of writing history in the twelfth century, by men such as Gaimar, Wace and Ambroise.
The mid-twelfth century saw the sudden appearance of a remarkable group of writers: the "new historians", authors such as Geffrei Gaimar, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Wace, Jordan Fantosme and Ambroise, who were the earliest historicalwriters to use French. Each had his own style and authorial persona; yet together, despite their considerable differences, they pioneered a common form of historical writing which is quite distinct from the styles of previous vernacular writers.
This book studies some of the more characteristic elements of the common style used by the vernacular historians. Their detached and "self-conscious" authorial presentation is particularly notable: it is seen both in the prologues and epilogues to their works, where they present their source materials as reliable, themselves as serious scholars, and their works as worthy of belief, and constantly throughout the text as the historians direct audience response to their work. The author shows how this "historical" style fits into both the vernacular and the Latin literature current in the period: the vernacular historians borrowed elements from both the learnedand the popular traditions to produce their own successful and vigorous hybrid, one which was still producing new shoots as late as the fifteenth century and which was widely copied and imitated by both writers of courtly romanceand by writers of prose history.
Dr PETER DAMIAN-GRINT teaches at Brasenose College, Oxford.
