ABSTRACT
Writing Normandy brings together eighteen articles by historian Felice Lifshitz, some of which are published here for the first time.
The articles examine the various ways in which local and regional narratives about the past were created and revised in Normandy during the central Middle Ages. These narratives are analyzed through a combination of both cultural studies and manuscript studies in order to assess how they functioned, who they benefitted, and the various contexts in which they were transmitted. The essays pay particular attention to the narratives built around venerated saints and secular rulers, and in doing so bring together narratives that have traditionally been discussed separately by scholars.
The book will appeal to scholars and students of cultural history and medieval history, as well as those interested in manuscript studies. (CS1095)
Part 1: "Hagiography" and Historical Representation 1. Beyond Positivism and Genre: "Hagiographical" Texts as Historical Narrative 2. Still Useless After All These Years: The Concept of "Hagiography" in the Twenty-First Century Part 2: Historiographic Discourse and Saintly Relics: The Archbishops and Rouen 3. The "Privilege of Saint Romanus:" Provincial Independence and Hagiographical Legends at Rouen 4. The Acta Archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium: A Monastery or Cathedral Product? 5. Eight Men In: Rouennais Traditions of Archiepiscopal Sanctity 6. St. Romanus of Rouen: Frankish Missionary in Viking Normandy 7. The Politics of Historiography: The Memory of Bishops in Eleventh-Century Rouen 8. The Cults of the Holy Bishops of Rouen from 396 to 996: the Role of Oral Traditions and Popular Actions Part 3: Historiographic Discourse and Saintly Relics: Beyond Rouen 9. The "Exodus of Holy Bodies" Reconsidered: The Translation of the Relics of St. Gildard of Rouen to Soissons 10. The Migration of Neustrian Relics in the Viking Age: The Myth of Voluntary Exodus, the Reality of Coercion and Theft 11. Apostolicity Theses in Gaul: The Histories of Gregory and the "Hagiography" of Bayeux Part 4: Dudo of St. Quentin and the Gesta Normannorum 12. Dudo's Historical Narrative and the Norman Succession of 996 13. Viking Normandy: Dudo of St. Quentin’s Gesta Normannorum 14. Dudo of St. Quentin 15. Carolingian Normandy: An Essay on Continuity, Using Neglected Sources 16. Translating Feudal Vocabulary: Dudo of St. Quentin Part 5: Women and Gender 17. The Encomium Emmae Reginae: A Political Pamphlet of the Eleventh Century? 18. Sifting for Fictions: Women in Dudo of St. Quentin’s Androcentric Gesta Normannorum
