Biography

He was born at Épernay

Épernay

Épernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France. Épernay is located some 130 km north-east of Paris on the main line of the Eastern railway to Strasbourg...

, and educated at Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

 in the cathedral school which had been established by Archbishop Fulcon (822-900).

As canon of Reims, and favourite of the archbishops Herivaeus (d. 922) and Seulfus (d. 925), he occupied while still young an important position at the archiepiscopal court, but was twice deprived of his benefices by Herbert II, Count of Vermandois

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois

Herbert II , Count of Vermandois and Count of Troyes, was the son of Herbert I of Vermandois.-Life:He inherited the domain of his father and in 907, added to it the Saint de Soissons abbey. His marriage with Hildebrand of France brought him the County of Meaux. In 918, he was also named Count of...

, on account of his steady opposition to the election of the count's infant son to the archbishopric. Upon the final triumph of Archbishop Artold during the 948 Universal Synod of Ingelheim

Universal Synod of Ingelheim

The Universal Synod of Ingelheim began on June 7, 948 in the then church of Saint Remigius in Ingelheim.Being summoned by Pope Agapet II. its primary goal was to resolve a long running Schism concerning the archiepiscopal see of Reims. The synod was presided by Marinus of Bomarzo, then the Roman...

, Flodoard became for a time his chief adviser, but withdrew to a monastery in 952, and spent the remaining years of his life in literary and devotional work.

His history of the cathedral church at Reims (Historia Remensis Ecclesiae) is one of the most remarkable productions of the 10th century. Flodoard had been given charge of the episcopal archives, and constructed his history out of the original texts, which he generally reproduces in full; the documents for the period of Hincmar being especially valuable.

The Annales which Flodoard wrote year by year from 919 to 966 are doubly important, by reason of the author's honesty and the central position of Reims in European affairs in his time.

Flodoard's poetical works are of hardly less historical interest. The long poem celebrating the triumph of Christ and His saints was called forth by the favour shown him by Pope Leo VII

Pope Leo VII

Pope Leo VII , Pope from January 3, 936 until his death in 939, was preceded by Pope John XI , and followed by Pope Stephen VIII . Leo VII's election to the papacy was secured by Alberic II of Spoleto, the monarch in Rome. Alberic wanted to choose the pope so that the papacy would continue to...

, during whose pontificate he visited Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, and he devotes fourteen books to the history of the popes.

Flodoard's works were published in full by JP Migne

Jacques Paul Migne

Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal and studied...

 (Patrologia Latina

Patrologia Latina

The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....

, vol. 135); a modern edition of the Annales is the one edited by Philippe Lauer (Paris, 1906). For bibliography see Auguste Molinier

Auguste Molinier

August Molinier was a French historian.He was born at Toulouse. He was a pupil at the École des Chartes, which he left in 1873, and also at the École des Hautes Études; and he obtained appointments in the public libraries at the Mazarine , at Fontainebleau , and at Sainte-Geneviève, of which he...

, Sources de l'histoire de France (No. 932).

Editions and translations

• Annales
  • Philippe Lauer (ed.), Les Annales de Flodoard. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905. Available from Internet Archive and Google Books (in Latin with a French introduction, and French footnotes)
  • Pertz, Georg Heinrich (ed.). Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Saxonici. MGH Scriptores 3. Hanover, 1839. 363-408. Available online from Digital MGH
  • PL 135 (Documenta Catholica Omnia)
  • Steven Fanning and Bernard S. Bachrach
    Bernard Bachrach
    Bernard S. Bachrach is an American historian and a professor of history at the University of Minnesota. He specialises in the Early Middle Ages, mainly on the topics of Medieval warfare, Medieval Jewry, and early Angevin history...
    
     (trs.), The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 919-966. Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures 9. Broadview Press, 2004. ISBN 1-55111-650-2.
  • Guizot, M (tr.). Siège de Paris par les Normands, poème d'Abbon [etc.]. Collection des Mémoires relatifs a l'Histoire de France. Paris, 1824. 69-162. Available from Gallica

• Historia Remensis ecclesiae
  • Martina Stratmann (ed.). Die Geschichte der Reimser Kirche Flodoardus Remensis. MGH Scriptores 36. Hanover, 1998. Available from the Digital MGH
  • Heller, J. and G. Waitz (eds.). MGH Scriptores 13. Supplementa tomorum I-XII, pars I. 405-599. Available from the Digital MGH
  • PL 135 (Documenta Catholica Omnia)
  • Lejeune, M. (tr.). Flodoardi Historia remensis ecclesiæ. Histoire de l'église de Reims. Reims, 1854-5. Available from Google Books.
  • Guizot, M (tr.). Histoire de l'Église de Rheims. Collection des Mémoires relatifs a l'Histoire de France. Paris, 1824. Available from Gallica

• Three poems known collectively as De Triumphis Christi: De triumphis Christi sanctorumque Palaestinae, De triumphis Christi Antiochiae gestis, De triumphis Christi apud Italiam
  • PL 135 (Documenta Catholica Omnia)

Further reading

• Jacobsen, Peter Christian. Flodoard von Reims. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 10. Leiden: Brill, 1978. ISBN 90-04-05407-3

External links

• PL 135 (Documenta Catholica Omnia)
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)