Date: 10 October 2024, Thursday
Time: 16.30
Avenue: AZ-31 Seminar Room
Title: Liber Historiae Francorum: Its Content, Importance and Turkish Translation
Speaker: Erdinç Ofli, PhD Candidate, Bilkent University, Department of History
Abstract: The Liber Historiae Francorum (LHF), written c. 727, is one of the most valuable sources for the last period of the Merovingian dynasty. This anonymous work has an important place in terms of continuity in Frankish historiography, as it makes extensive use of Gregory of Tours’ Decem Libri Historiarum but also contains additional information. Another aspect that makes the LHF important for historians is that it provides a relatively objective account of the Merovingians, who were portrayed in an extremely negative light in later Carolingian historiography, since the LHF was written while the Merovingians were still in power. Similarly, the Merovingian-centred nature of the text allows us to have different perspective on the period compared to relatively biased later accounts of the important families/individuals that rose to power in the kingdom during the internal conflicts of the late 7th and early 8th centuries. In addition, the subsequent literary significance of LHF is shown by the diversity of the manuscripts containing the text, as well as the fact that it survives in various recensions or “versions”, and the fact that the LHF served as a source for a number of later works. It was therefore essential in the process of translating the text to convey all these structural and historical elements to the reader.