History and politics in late Carolingian and Ottonian Europe: The Chronicle of Regino of Prüm and Adalbert of Magdeburg

by Simon MacLean (Translator)

Abbot Regino of Prüm (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His Chronicle is the essential account of the empire’s collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time.

Regino’s lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is aimed at professional researchers, non-specialists and undergraduates alike. A substantial introduction provides both basic orientation and an original scholarly interpretation of the text, while readers are helped along by a detailed footnote commentary. Alongside other Carolingian texts translated in this series, the book will open up the later ninth and earlier tenth centuries to undergraduates and others engaged in the study of this increasingly popular period.

Genres: Medieval History, Nonfiction, History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2009

About the author

Simon MacLean is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews. His publications include Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire (2003).

Reviews

[AB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lothar, on the other hand, who was both eldest by birth and called emperor, was allotted the middle kingdom in between the others, which has until the present day been called 'Lothar's kingdom' after him. He also received the whole of Provence and the entire kingdom of Italy including the town of Rome itself, which even now is venerated by all the Holy Church with a certain special status because of the presence of the apostles Peter and Paul, and which formerly was called the mistress of the lands of the earth because of the undefeated power of the name of Rome.