Chapter 3 - Taedit me memorare: The Middle Merovingians

Summary

The third chapter is divided into two sections – Frechulf of Lisieux’s Histories and Ado of Vienne’s Chronicon. Both men composed ambitious works, in which Frankish history played an ancillary role. In Frechulf, the Franks make a fleeting appearance in the final chapters of his Histories, which cut off unexpectedly in the seventh century. The motivations for this choice seemingly have more to do with Frechulf’s overarching structure of Christian history than with any judgement of the Merovingians. Frechulf was reticent on the subject of the Franks, to which he devoted less space than to other early medieval gentes. This is surprising, considering that Frechulf chose to end his Histories with the displacement of Romans and Goths by Franks and Lombards, signifying that they were important elements of his authorial program. The second section of the chapter focuses on Ado of Vienne’s Chronicon, arguing that Ado highlighted the discordant aspects of Merovingian history in the period 511–638. By doing so, Ado a presented a pessimistic appraisal of the entirety of the dynasty’s tenure, not only its so-called rois fainéants.