Historiography in the Middle Ages /

Twelve chapters (including "Legendary History: Historia and Fabula) offer a survey of the kinds of historical writing produced during the long Middle Ages. The writings themselves, not modern scholarship, are the focal point. The common format of the contributions summarizes the writings falling within each period or topic or theme, plus deliberation on the degree to which that chapter's material comprises a distinct genre of (historical) writing, rather than standing as a mere aggregation of topically related texts. The historiography of medieval Europe falls into a few basic paradigms: the world history model, following Jerome, Augustine, Orosius, and Isidore of Seville; biographical-hagiographic, with gospel accounts of Christ and early saints' lives as trail blazers; annalistic, which embraces urban and dynastic chronicles; and national or ethnic, a development with numerous roots and models. Different chapters exemplify these categories and their many representatives. The volume is perhaps more reference book than monograph, but reflections about genre, intellectual antecedents, and the links between historiography and political demands are astute and much appreciated. A further plus is the use of much recent scholarship from continental Europe. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. T. Rosenthal SUNY at Stony Brook