The Medieval Chronicle: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Medieval Chronicle. Driebergen/Utrecht 13-16 July 1996

In the summer of 1996 the first international conference was held on the medieval chronicle, a genre which until then had received but scant attention from historians or specialists in literary history or art history. There are several reasons why the chronicle is particularly suited as the topic of an international conference. In the first place there is its ubiquity: all over Europe and throughout the Middle Ages chronicles were written, both in Latin and in the vernacular, and not only in Europe but also in the countries neighbouring on it, like those of the Arabic world. Secondly, all chronicles raise such questions as by whom, for whom, or for what purpose were they written, how do they reconstruct the past, what determined the choice of verse or prose, or what kind of literary influences are discernable in them. Finally, many chronicles have been beautifully illuminated, and the relation between text and image leads to a wholly different set of questions.
It is the aim of the present volume to provide a representative survey of the on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods and cultural backgrounds.

Preface. Gabrielle M. SPIEGEL: Theory into Practice: Reading Medieval Chronicles. Edward Donald KENNEDY: Romancing the Past: A Medieval English Perspective. Peter AINSWORTH: Heralds, Heraldry and the Colour Blue in the Chronicles of Jean Froissart. Annelies AMBERGER: Die Wandmalereien von Montegiordano in Rom: Anmerkungen zu einer Weltchronik in Protagonistenbildern. Arnoud-Jan A. BIJSTERVELD: Patrons and Gifts in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Chronicles from the Diocese of Liege. An Introduction. Godfried CROENEN: Princely and Noble Genealogies, Twelfth to Fourteenth Century: Form and Function. Jacqueline de RUITER: Karl Magnus' kronike, Karlamagnus saga and Karel ende Elegast: Genre - Form - Function. David N. DUMVILLE: A Millennium of Gaelic Chronicling. Simeon EVSTATIEV: Der Koran als Voraussetzung fur die Entstehung der mittelalterlichen islamischen Chronik. Elizabeth FREEMAN: The Many Functions of Cistercian Histories, using Aelred of Rievaulx's Relatio de Standardo as a Case Study. Uta GOERLITZ: The Chronicle in the Age of Humanism: Chronological Structures and the Reckoning of Time between Tradition and Innovation. Ryszard GRZESIK: Legitimierungsfunktion der ungarisch-polnischen Chronik. Pauline HEAD: Perpetual History in the Old English Menologium. Zofia KOWALSKA: Die polnische Familienchronik und ihre Bedeutung fur die Geschlechter- und Landesgeschichte. Sophie MARNETTE: Narrateur et point de vue dans les chroniques medievales: une approche linguistique. Sarah L. MITCHELL: 'We englisse men': Construction and Advocacy of an English Cause in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. Peter NOBLE: Villehardouin, Robert de Clari and Henri de Valenciennes: Their Different Approaches to the Fourth Crusade. Ambrogio M. PIAZZONI: Geschichte studieren: warum und wie? Die Antwort des Chronicon Hugos von St. Viktor. Christiane RAYNAUD: La reine dans les Grandes Chroniques de France. Ulla SANDER OLSEN: The Late Medieval Chronicle of Marie van Oss, Abbess of the Birgittine Monastery Maria Troon in Dendermonde, 1466-1507. Georg SCHEIBELREITER: Fredegar - Chronist einer Epoche. Laszlo VESZPREMY: Historical Past and Political Present in the Latin Chronicles of Hungary (12th-13th Centuries). John WARD: Memorializing Dispute Resolution in the Twelfth Century: Annal, History and Chronicle at Vezelay. Jurgen WOLF: 'swaz dan gesche, der scrive daz': Die Gegenwart als Problem der Texttradierung.