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 I|46 pages

“Hagiography” and historical representation

chapter 1|23 pages

Beyond Positivism and Genre

“Hagiographical” texts as historical narrative

chapter 2|21 pages

Still Useless after All these Years

The concept of “hagiography” in the twenty-first century

part II|65 pages

Historiographic discourse and saintly relics

chapter 3|8 pages

The “Privilege of St. Romanus”

Provincial independence and hagiographical legends at Rouen

chapter 4|10 pages

The Acta Archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium

A monastery or cathedral product?

chapter 5|12 pages

Eight Men in

Rouennais traditions of archiepiscopal sanctity

chapter 6|8 pages

St. Romanus of Rouen

Frankish missionary in Viking Normandy

chapter 7|15 pages

The Politics of Historiography

The memory of bishops in eleventh-century Rouen

chapter 8|10 pages

The Cults of the Holy Bishops of Rouen from 396 to 996

The role of oral traditions and popular actions

part III|47 pages

Historiographic discourse and saintly relics

chapter 9|10 pages

The “Exodus of Holy Bodies” Reconsidered

The translation of the relics of St. Gildardus of Rouen to Soissons

chapter 10|18 pages

The Migration of Neustrian Relics in the Viking Age

The myth of voluntary exodus, the reality of coercion, and theft

chapter 11|17 pages

Apostolicity Theses in Gaul

The Histories of Gregory and the “hagiography” of Bayeux

part IV|64 pages

Dudo of St. Quentin and the Gesta Normannorum

chapter 13|7 pages

Viking Normandy

Dudo of St. Quentin’s Gesta Normannorum

chapter 15|17 pages

Carolingian Normandy

An essay on continuity, using neglected sources

chapter 16|19 pages

Translating “Feudal” Vocabulary

Dudo of St. Quentin

part V|35 pages

Women and gender

chapter 17|12 pages

The Encomium Emmae Reginae

A “political pamphlet” of the eleventh century?

chapter 18|21 pages

Sifting for Fictions

Women in Dudo of St. Quentin’s androcentric Gesta Normannorum