Primacy of Saint-Denis

Primacy in working on his work. Illustration from the Grandes Chroniques de France , 14th century. (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Primacy presented to King Philip III. the Roman aux rois which he completed . Illustration from the Grandes Chroniques de France , 14th century. (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Primat († after 1277) was a French translator and chronicler in the 13th century. His work, the Roman aux rois ( novel of the kings ), forms the basis of the Grandes Chroniques de France .

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Primacy was a Benedictine monk in the Abbey of Saint-Denis . Around 1250, the abbot Matthew trusted him on behalf of King Louis IX. , the translation of several royal lives written in Latin into French . The underlying motive was to establish a quasi-official historiography in French. It is likely that Primat himself compiled the anthology of the Latin works he intended to translate. These were:

• Historia Francorum of Aimoin de Fleury
• Gesta Dagoberti of Hilduin of Saint-Denis
• Vita Karoli Magni of Einhard
• Historia Caroli Magni of the pseudo-Turpin
• Vita Hludowici Imperatoris of Astronomus
• Vita Ludovici VI des Suger of Saint-Denis
• Gesta Philippi Augusti des Rigord and Wilhelm Brito

He added commentary phrases to the translation of these works with experts from the Gesta normannorum ducum des Wilhelm von Jumièges . The complete work represents a continuous narrative up to the year 1223, i.e. until the death of King Philip II , and was given the title Roman aux rois . An important characteristic of this work is the almost modern historical-scientific approach of Primat in his work, which was based primarily on source research. Among other things, he carried out a systematic numbering of kings and was the first to periodize the history of kings in three dynasties (Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians). After completing his work in 1274, Primat could give it to King Philip III. present. This original version is now in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève .

The Latin version ( gesture des rois ) compiled by Primat in parallel was expanded to include the unfinished Gesta Ludovici VII des Suger , the Gesta Ludovici VIII of an anonymous and the Gesta Ludovici IX et Philippi III of Wilhelm von Nangis by 1286 . Of these, however, only the report of the facts about King Louis IX, which was translated into French, reached around 1300. in the Saint Genevière version. It is unclear to what extent Primat was involved in these expansions.

The novel aux rois became a popular read of its time. At the end of the 14th century, the narrative of the work under the direction of Richard Lescot until the year 1350, until the death of King Philip VI. , expanded. This extension has now been given the title Grandes Chroniques de France .

In addition to the Roman aux rois , primacy is also a chronicle in Latin, which the reign of Louis IX. from 1250 and Philip III. until 1282, attributed. The original has been lost, but there is a French translation made by Jean de Vignay at the beginning of the 14th century . However, evidence of Primat's authorship on this work is considered not to have been provided in the more recent specialist literature.

literature

• Jacques Le Goff : Saint Louis (Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1996)

Remarks

1. ↑ The Dominican Vinzenz von Beauvais in his Speculum historiale carried out an initial numbering of the French kings only shortly before primacy . A uniform numbering in historiography was not established until the end of the 15th century.
2. ↑ Vignay's translation of the primacy chronicle can be found in Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France , Vol. XXIII (Paris, 1894)
3. ↑ see Gabrielle M. Spiegel: The chronicle tradition of Saint-Denis (Brookline and Leiden, 1978)