Medieval ecclesiastic historiography
Medieval ecclesiastic historiography encompasses the historiographic production by the Clergymen of the European Middle Ages, who created their own style of developing history and passing it on to posterity.
[4][5] Despite its problems, the ecclesiastic historiography of the Middle Ages had its importance in the development of History as an academic discipline, according to the French historian Bernard Guenée.
[8] Eusebius was the main recognizer of the importance of documents for the development of history while adopting several aspects of Jewish influence in his works.
[2] Through the analysis of the prologues of medieval history books, it is possible to understand how the work was produced, for what purpose it was developed, to whom it was intended, and what methods were applied in its making.
[2] The key objective of the Clergymen was to transmit historical knowledge to posterity, but only events worthy of remembrance were to appear in the works produced, and they usually dealt with subjects such as biographies or wars.
[2] Therefore, it would be up to the historian to create someone's glory or infamy, and for this very reason, several works of history started to be "commissioned" by nobles in the same period (so that their names would not be forgotten).
The main source for many works was the Bible, which had been recommended by Cassiodorus to all libraries in the sixth century, in addition to Eusebius of Caesarea's Church History.
[17] When it was not possible to use direct testimonies, historians looked for support for their books in popular beliefs, ancient traditions, and songs that circulated in the medieval world.
[19] Among the buildings most sought after by medieval historians were the tombs of important men, for these could reveal information of the most diverse nature, from their genealogy to their biography itself.
[19] The falsification of documents was a recurring attitude in medieval history and,[5] for a long time, it hurt historians, especially those who did not have a very acute critical sense.
[note 5] The moment history manages to gain its autonomy from the other sciences,[22] its genres (known as historical genres) emerge: annals and chronicles are known for providing brief descriptions of events and related facts by year,[22] while history sees style and rhetoric being highly valued (there is still a tendency to look to historians of antiquity such as Suetonius and Salustius).
[22] One of the genres with the greatest popular appeal was the "romance" history of the Crusades,[23] whose books recounted the adventures of the knights of Christianity in the distant lands of the Middle East.
[26] The Franciscan order, on the other hand, followed a similar line to the Dominicans and sought only "beautiful stories" for preaching in front of people of "less culture".
[3] The legacy of ecclesiastic historiography is summed up in the following quote by the French historian Bernard Guenée: It is during the Middle Ages that the techniques that we are proud to possess today began to be developed.
