macedon - Slavs in Fredegar and Paul the Deacon: medieval gens or `scourge of God'?

Slavs in Fredegar and Paul the Deacon: medieval gens or `scourge of God'?

Tuesday, 10. July 2007, 06:35:16

FLORIN CURTA

This article presents a new interpretation of the accounts of Slavs given
by two early medieval Latin narrative sources. The ¢rst section discusses
Fredegar's Wendish account, while the second section considers Paul the
Deacon's view of the Slavs in his Historia Langobardorum. The instru-
mental use of the Slavs in the domestic a¡airs of the Frankish and
Lombard kingdoms constitutes the emphasis of the last section, in which
the author compares Fredegar's and Paul the Deacon's historiographical
perspectives.

It has long been noted that prior to the mid-"áòòs, the territories now
de¢ned as Eastern Europe" have only episodically retained the attention
of western historians. It was only under the impact of the Mongol
invasion that westerners began to conceptualize the existence of an east
European area.á At that time, however, much of what they knew about
that region's history prior to ñòò came primarily from Fredegar and Paul
the Deacon. Together with Einhard and the Frankish annals, these were
the most important sources of information about regions beyond the
eastern frontiers of the (Frankish) empire.â

The importance of Fredegar and Paul the Deacon as historical
sources for such groups as Avars or Slavs does not need further
emphasis. All modern studies of Eastern Europe rely heavily on these
two sources for reconstructing the early medieval history of the region.
In contrast, the image that both Fredegar and Paul the Deacon had of
the east, the fundamental concepts ^ such as `kings', `peoples' or
`nations' ^ by which they approached the alterity of Slavs and Avars, and
the cognitive framework in which they placed their construction of the
Other, have received comparatively less attention. Are Fredegar's `Wends'
or Paul's `Slavs' concepts based on the self-identi¢cation of the groups, on
the sense of `we' and `they' on which, according to current anthropolo-
gical views, is based the very distinction between ethnic groups?ã How
did they de¢ne `Slav-ness' in contrast with their own a¤liation to Franks
or Lombards, or to other gentes? What was for them a gens Winedorum
or a rex Sclavinorum? What were the sources for their image of the
`Slavs'?
My purpose in this article is to answer some of these questions. I
shall ¢rst examine problems of chronology and sources posed by both
Fredegar and Paul the Deacon, issues that may have implications in
explaining their accounts of the Slavs. I shall then focus on their
respective concepts of gens and regnum and contrast their attitudes
towards Slavs, looking at their instrumental use of the latter. By empha-
sizing the image of the Slavs in early medieval sources rather than the
truth-value of their accounts, I intend to bring into focus the cognitive
role of the ethnie in early medieval historiography.ä
Current historiographical views suggest that Christian historians of
the äòòs and åòòs, while transforming historiography into a form ¢tting
the new world of successor kingdoms, applied to history the causal cycle
of sin followed by punishment as a means of interpreting events.å

According to Jordanes, the emperor Valens was punished for having
converted the Goths to Arianism, while Isidore of Seville saw the Huns
as the instrument of punishment for straying nations. The Huns, instru-
ments of the divine punishment, were in Fredegar's mind when he
described the enslavement of theWends by the Avars `iam ab antiquito.'æ
In relation to each other, gentes are thus arranged in history according to
the divine plan. It would, however, be a gross mistake to interpret any
gens as being a mere agent of God's wrath or reward. Portrayals of gentes
are not stereotyped by de¢nition, as evidenced, for instance, by Paul the
Deacon's description of the Lapps.ð This complex relation between
factual records and interpretative accounts further in£uenced modern
historiographical views. Pelzel, the ¢rst author to claim Samo for Slavic
(Czech) history, simply transcribed Fredegar's Wendish account (IV. ãð
and åð).ñ So did Palacky, the ¢rst historian to deal `critically' with
Fredegar and Samo."ò Fredegar's account was taken at its face-value to
such an extent that its use of such phrases as regnum or rex Sclavinorum
led Labuda to claim Samo's `kingdom' to be the ¢rst Slavic state in
history."" Historians therefore strove to delineate on (modern) maps the
boundaries of Samo's state, while archaeologists rushed to unearth
castrum Wogastisburg, where the Wends had so bravely resisted and
eventually defeated the Franks."á The same is true for Paul the Deacon.
Despite considerable doubts raised by Paul's alternation of tales with
`historical reports'"â and his typical lack of chronological accuracy,
attempts were made to date the story of Paul's great-grandfather escaping
from the Avars, guided by a wolf and befriended by a Slavic woman, as a
supplementary indication of Slavic expansion into the Alpine area."ã
The nationalistic motivation behind these attitudes is beyond the
scope of this article."ä It is possible, however, that much of this historio-
graphic cul-de-sac derives, at least in Fredegar's case, from an excessive
concentration of the scholarly debate on issues of authorship and
language. Not surprisingly, Labuda's study, which is entirely dedicated to
Fredegar's Wendish account, deals more with the questions of authorship
and location than with the purpose of the chronicle or its conceptual
framework. I intend, therefore, to look at some of the relations that
may exist between narrative strategies and the interpretation of the
author's attitude towards gentes in general, with particular reference to
the Slavs.

Notes
" For Eastern Europe, as an historiographical concept, see R. Okey, `Central Europe/Eastern
Europe: Behind the De¢nitions', Past and Present "âæ ("ññá), pp. "òá^ââ, esp. p. "òå; J.W. Sedlar,
East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, "òòò^"äòò (Seattle and London, "ññã), pp. ix^x; J.
Kl/oczowski, East Central Europe in the Historiography of the Countries of the Region
(Lublin, "ññä).
á J. Fried, `Auf der Suche nach der Wirklichkeit. Die Mongolen und die europÌischen Erfahr-
ungswissenschaften im "â. Jahrhundert', Historische Zeitschrift áãâ ("ñðå), pp. áðæ^ââá.
â J. Reisinger and G. Sowa, [Das] Ethnikon [Sclavi in den lateinischen Quellen bis zum Jahr
ñòò], Glossar zur frÏhmittelalterlichen Geschichte im Îstlichen Europa, Beiheft Nr. å
(Stuttgart, "ññò), pp. "ð^áò.
ã F. Barth (ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: the Social Organisation of Culture and Di¡er-
ences (Bergen and London, "ñåñ); cf. M. Banks, Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions
(London and New York, "ññå).
ä The concept of ethnie is that of A.D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Oxford and
Cambridge, "ñðå), p. âá, and idem, `National Identities: Modern and Medieval?', in S. Forde, L.
Johnson and A.V. Murray (eds) Concepts of National Identity [in the Middle Ages] (Leeds,
"ññä), pp. á"^ãå, esp. p. áñ.
å E. Breisach, Historiography, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, ánd edn (Chicago, "ññã), p. ñã.
æ Fredegar IV. ãð, ed. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with
its Continuations (London, "ñåò), p. âñ. See D.A. Tirr, `The attitude [of the West towards the
Avars]', Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae áð ("ñæå), pp. """^á"
ð I. Whitaker, `Late Classical and Early Medieval Accounts of the Lapps (Sami)', Classica et
Mediaevalia âã ("ñðâ), pp. áðâ^âòâ, esp. pp. áñæ^ð.
ñ F.M. Pelzel, `Abhandlung Ïber Samo, KÎnig der Slaven' in Abhandlungen einer Privatge-
sellschaft der Wissenschaften in BÎhmen, vol. " (Prague, "ææä), pp. ááâ^å. See O. Kl|¨ma, `Samo:
[`natione Francos'?]', inW. Sundermann, J. Duchesne-Guillemin and F. Vahman (eds) A Green
Leaf. Papers in Honour of Professor Jes P. Asmussen (Leiden, "ñðð), pp. ãðñ^ñá, esp. p. ãñò.
"ò F. Palacky, `Ûber den Chronisten Fredegar und seine Nachrichten von Samo', JahrbÏcher des
bÎhmischen Museums fÏr Natur- und LÌnderkunde. Geschichte, Kunst und Literatur " ("ðáæ),
pp. âðæ^ã"â.
"" G. Labuda, Pierwsze [pan¨ stwo sl¨ owian¨ skie. Pan¨ stwo Samona] (Poznan¨, "ñãñ), p. áðå. Contra:
O. Pritsak, `The Slavs [and the Avars]', in Gli Slavi occidentali e meridionale nell'alto
Medioevo, vol. " (Spoleto, "ñðâ), pp. âäâ^ãâä, esp. p. âðð.
"á See W. Pohl, Die Awaren[. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa äåæ^ðáá n. Chr.] (Munich, "ñðð),
pp. áäå^æ. For a critique of these views, see H. Kunstmann, `Noch einmal [Samo und Wogas-
tisburg]', DieWelt der Slawen áð ("ñðâ), no. á, pp. âäã^åâ.
"â For Paul's treatment of legends, see W. Go¡art, [The] Narrators [of Barbarian History (A.D.
ääò^ðòò). Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon] (Princeton, "ñðð), p. ãáð.
"ã M. Kos, `K poroc ilom [Pavla Diakona o Slovencih'], Cí asopis za zgodovino in narodopisje áå
("ñâ"), pp. áòá^"å, esp. p. á"â. For the use of Paul's account for reconstructing the Slavic
expansion to Italy, see more recently O.R. Borodin, `Slaviane [v Italii i Istrii v VI^VIII vv.]',
Vizantiiskii Vremennik ãã ("ñðâ), pp. ãð^äñ.
"ä See, however, F. Curta, `The Changing Image of the Early Slavs in the Rumanian Historio-
graphy and Archaeological Literature. A Critical Survey', SÏdost-Forschungen äâ ("ññã),
pp. ááä^â"ò.
"å See B. Krusch, `Die Chronicae des sogenannten Fredegar', Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fÏr
Ìltere deutsche Geschichtskunde æ ("ððá), pp. áãæ^âä" and ãá"^ä"å; idem, `Chronicarum [quae
dicuntur Fredegarii scholastici libri IV cum continuationibus]' (introduction), in B. Krusch
(ed.) Fedegarii et aliorum chronica. Vitae sanctorum (Hanover, "ððð), pp. "^"ð. For a detailed
discussion of the multiple authorship thesis, seeW. Go¡art, `[The] Fredegar Problem [Recon-
sidered]', Speculum "ð ("ñåâ), pp. áòå^ã". For author C as the possible author of theWendish
account, see M. Manitius, Geschichte [der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, vol. "
(Munich, "ñ""), p. ááã.
"æ M. Baudot, `La question [du Pseudo-Fre¨ de¨ gaire]', Le Moyen Aè ge áñ ("ñáð), pp. "áñ^æò; cf.
Go¡art, `Fredegar Problem'; A. Kusternig, `Einleitung', in H. Wolfram (ed.) Quellen zur
Geschichte des æ. und ð, Jahrhunderts (Darmstadt, "ñðá), pp. â^ãâ, esp. p. "á. See also I.N.
Wood, `Fredegar's Fables', in A. Scharer and G. Scheibelreiter (eds) Historiographie im frÏhen
Mittelalter (Vienna and Munich, "ññã), pp. âäñ^åå, esp. p. âäñ.
"ð Fredegar IV. ãð, p. ãò
"ñ Krusch, `Chronicarum', pp. á^â; Manitius, Geschichte, p. ááã; see also F. BrunhÎlzl, Histoire
de la litte¨ rature latine du Moyen Aê ge, vol. " (Louvain-la-Neuve, "ññò), p. "âð.
áò Labuda, Pierwsze, pp. ñò^á; Go¡art, `Fredegar Problem', p. áâñ; Kusternig, `Einleitung', pp. ä
and "á.
á" K.H.J. Gardiner, `Notes on the chronology of Fredegar Book IV', Parergon áò ("ñæð), pp. ãò^
ã, esp. pp. ãò and ãã.
áá Fredegar IV. ãð, pp. âñ^ãò.