4 - Time, History and Class through narratives

Summary

Abstract

This chapter sets out the importance of history-making for the aristocracy. Its main hypothesis is that the shaping of time and the making of history are vital elements for the ideological reproduction of the aristocracy. It argues that the different genres of narrative converge to form a sense of historicity, one that organizes and crystallizes the aristocratic experience. The main primary sources used are the works of Bede, the Historia Regum, and a selection of vernacular poems.

Keywords: history-making; medieval historiography

The time is out of joint; O curs’d spite,

That ever I was born to set it right!

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

Man does not live by bread alone

Deuteronomy 8: 2-3

Introduction

It has been a few decades since a French medievalist pointed out that history cannot be understood only through analysis of cold tables and numbers. Drawing from the biblical paraphrase that starts this chapter, Jacques Le Goff highlights the importance of connecting the material realities to the mentalities. Previous chapters of the current book have addressed the economic relations that were certainly a key factor in the (re)production of the aristocracy, its hard materiality, or, simply put, its daily bread. Nonetheless, the ideological elements that produced the aristocracy's cohesion (or lack of it) are also vital to a full understanding of this social class. The current chapter will address the sense of belonging through narratives.

The question of narratives and the sense of belonging in Anglo-Saxon England have been addressed in many ways by the historiography: religious identity (mainly paganism and Christianism); ethnic identity (British and Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings); local and regional identities; gender roles and identities, often through the lens of the history of women.

The main purpose of this chapter is to discuss the existence of a class identity in Northumbria in the long eighth century. The main hypothesis of this chapter is that different types of narratives converge to produce history in that society. The history that is built (encompassing storytelling, narratives, and many other genres of communication and texts) is connected to the ruling power in that society. The History built cannot be other than the History of the aristocracy. In this sense, the chapter will try to demonstrate how History-making is also connected to the ‘Space of Experience’ and ‘Horizon of Expectation’, being a part of the ideological reproduction of the Northumbrian aristocracy.