Continuationes

The Continuationes (lat for "continuations".) Form the so-called continuations of Fredegar - Chronic . They were written in the Merovingian Empire in the 8th century and comprise 54 chapters. In time they extend until 768, the year Pippin the Younger died , and end with the coronation of Charlemagne and his brother Karlmann . The sources include the Liber Historiae Francorum (Chapters 43–53) and oral traditions. The main focus is on the deeds of the early Carolingians .

The authors are two scribes who wrote the chronicle on behalf of dux Childebrand and his son Nibelung (cf. Cont. 34), who in turn were relatives of the early Carolingians: Childebrand was a half-brother of Karl Martell and thus an uncle of Pippin the Younger. Due to the commissioned work and the content - certain events that were rather unpleasant for the Carolingians, such as the so-called " Grimoald's coup " are simply suppressed - one can definitely speak of a Carolingian house chronicle.

expenditure

• Bruno Krusch (ed.): Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 2: Fredegarii et aliorum Chronica. Vitae sanctorum. Hanover 1888, pp. 1–193 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
• Herbert Haupt (transl.): Chronicarum quae dicuntur Fredegarii continuationes. The continuations of the chronicles of the so-called Fredegar . In: Andreas Kusternig, Herbert Haupt (Hrsg.): Sources for the history of the 7th and 8th centuries (selected sources for the German history of the Middle Ages 4a) . Darmstadt 1982, p. 272ff.

Secondary literature

• Georg Scheibelreiter : From Myth to History. Reflections on the Forms of Preservation of the Past in the Early Middle Ages . In: Historiography in the early Middle Ages . Edited by Anton Scharer , Georg Scheibelreiter. Vienna-Munich 1994, pp. 26-41.
• John M. Wallace-Hadrill: The Long Haired Kings and Other Studies in Frankish History . New York 1962.