Annales De Saint-Bertin

The Annals of Saint-Bertin, a continuation of the Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks, are the principal historiographical source on the late Carolingian period and the beginnings of the future kingdom of France. Written from 830 to 882, they recount the vicissitudes of an empire in crisis, with the penance of Louis the Pious in 833, the civil war of 840-843 and the partition of Verdun, then retrace the first decades of the existence of the kingdom of Charles the Bald, punctuated by fratricidal conflicts and Norman attacks. The story is abruptly interrupted in December 882, when a Viking raid drives the last writer, the aged Hincmar of Reims, from his city, who goes to die in Epernay. It is an understatement to say that the Annals of Saint-Bertin offer the reader a history in action, both lively and stamped with the seal of the Carolingian Renaissance. In this first translation of the Annales into French since the beginning of the 19th century, readers, guided by a rich array of notes, will discover the willingly critical view that the Franks took of the transformations of their society at the dawn of feudalism.