Medieval Christian Historiography
Medieval Christian Historiography
Writing history was
popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages. They wrote
about the history of Jesus Christ, Church and of their patrons, the
dynastic history of the local rules. In the Early Middle Ages, historical
writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year
by year but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes.
The example of this type of writings are Angle-Saxon Chronicles which were
the work of several different writers. Some writers in the period
constructed a more
narrative form of history including Gregory of Tours and more successfully
Bede who wrote both secular and ecclesiastical history and is known for writing
Ecclesiastical History of the English People. With the shift of
Greco-Roman culture, the Christian way of life had a tremendous effect on
Western historiography. From the third century onward, both Greek and
Roman historiography started declining in quality, integrity and dignity.
The rise of Christianity had a direct share that pushed Greco-Roman
history. The
Christian doctrine became a new dimension. Christianity rejected two of
the leading ideas of eco-Roman historiography- the optimistic idea of human
nature and the substantiality idea of eternal entities. According to Christian
doctrine, it is inevitable that man should act in the dark without knowing what
will come of his actions. The wisdom displaced in his action is not his but it
is the wisdom of God. On the other hand, the metaphysical doctrine of substance
in Greco-Roman philosophy was challenged by Christian doctrine of creation.
According to this doctrine, nothing is eternal except God and all things have
been created by God.
The Christian ideas had a threefold effect
on the way in which history was concerned- historical process was the output of
God’s purpose not man’s purpose. In one sense, man was only the agent
throughout history. God was the sole agent. The existence and nature of those
agents worked as vehicles of God’s purposes. This was the profound revolution
in historical thinking and third one was the universalism of the Christian
attitude. The Christian did not believe in Roman particularistic history. The
historians of medieval era used four dominant things in historiography-
universalism, providential, apocalyptic and periodization. The medieval
historiography that devoted itself to the working out of these conception was
the continuation of Roman historiography but the method remains unchanged that
was facts on tradition. The great task of medieval historiography was the task
of discovering and expounding the divine plan. The history of medieval period
was divided into three stages- pre-Christian age, the Christian age and the
reign of Holy Ghost, that was to begin in future.
Some prominent historians during Medieval
Christian era were Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Augustine and the
Venerable Bede. Eusebius’s main focus on writing history was universal and
based on chronology. His Ecclesiastical Historical is an
interpretative history of the church in ten books. All events of Eusebius’s
history refer back to the birth of Christ either directly or indirectly. St.
Augustine, the greatest figure in the early Christian church to whom
Christianity had come as a profound emotional satisfaction. His groundbreaking
text City ofGod in twenty-two books, is one the greatest
books of the world. City of Godcontinued the Eusebian tradition of
ecclesiastical historical. In the hand of Augustine, history became
teleological. The Venerable Bede was another renowned historians of medieval
period. He encompassed every department of human thought. He wrote on theology,
chronology, grammar, mathematics and science but his fame depends on historical
work- Ecclesiastical History written in five books. It tells us much about the
developments within the church inEngland.
The movement that played vital role in
medieval history was the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne was empire
builder. He brought the best scholars of the day to his court to restore the
schools of France. An ambitious general education scheme was launched.
Every monastery and every abbey had to have a school. This school was at Palace
school which Charlemagne started in palace at Aix-la-Chapple, the Carolingian
capital. This revival of schools and learning under Charlemagne is known as the
Carolingian renaissance. This was important for historiography. Einhard and
Nithard were the most important historians of Carolingian renaissance. Einhard
wrote The Life of Charlegmagne. Nithard wrote Four Books of
History which was the most remarkable history of ninth century for the
value of information.