Projects

• A consideration of the narrative histories of the Merovingian period in combination with other textual evidence, with the intention to characterize history, its writing, and historical consciousness during this time, asking questions like: What models, both stated and unstated, did Gregory of Tours and other Merovingian historians use, and how? How did various writers, not just of history, use different referencing systems to situate themselves within historical time? And how might these referencing practices further our knowledge of how those composing historical narrative understood historical process, and how to represent it? In short, what can we say about historical consciousness within Merovingian society, and how is this consciousness translated into practices of historical writing? I hope to render intelligible a distinct Merovingian tradition of history writing, as well as articulate links between this historiographical tradition and Merovingian political structures, to allow for broader societal perspectives on the past during this time.

• An examination of cursing practices in Gregory of Tours’ history and hagiography, considering patterns of use, and rhetorical effects.