ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of chronography in the West from Jerome’s translation of Eusebius’s chronicle in the late fourth century to the ‘Fredegar compilation’ from early eighth-century Francia to demonstrate the breadth and variety in this genre of writing. The wide range of surviving chronological material from the fourth through seventh centuries indicates the dynamic nature of chronography in Late Antiquity and the early medieval world. The chronicle contained a range of chronological systems, the most important of which was years from Abraham, supplemented by regnal years, consular years, and Olympiads. Eusebius also recorded the foundation of various cities, such as Rome and Carthage, but avoided using what were essentially local chronologies. Cassiodorus created his chronicle in 519 to mark the consulship of Theodoric’s son-in-law, Eutharic and Emperor Justin I. The chronicle is essentially a consular list, as described by Cassiodorus in the preface, but with additions to cover world history.
