Late Antique Historiography

History

Title(s):
  • History
  • Historiola
    (Historiola, Little history)
  • Res gestae Langobardorum
    (Res gestae Langobardorum, Actions done by the Langobards)
Author:
Period covered:
At least 580-588, possibly 568-590.
Language:
Latin
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (general)
Remarks:
The history focused on events in the region of Trent, probably in relation to Lombard rule there. Often called a chronicle, it must have been a narrative work. The term historiola could be taken to indicate the briefness of the work. Traditional judgements on its importance for the History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon are too optimistic: see Van Hoof and Van Nuffelen (2020).
Edition - Translation:
  • P. Van Nuffelen, L. Van Hoof (2020) The fragmentary Latin histories of Late Antiquity (A.D. 300-650): Edition, translation and commentary. Cambridge.
Fragments:
  • Paul the Deacon, History of the Langobards 3.29, 4.27, 4.40
  • Excerpt in Württembergische Bibliothek H.B. VI 113, f. 92 r. [Bethmann - Waitz 1878: 25]
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • L. Bethmann, G. Waitz (1878) Pauli diaconi Historia langobardorum (Monumenta Germaniae historica: Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum saec. VI-IX). Hannover.
  • R. Cervani (1986) 'La fonte tridentina della "Historia Langobardorum" di Paolo Diacono'. Atti dell’Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati 236: 97–103.
  • K. Gardiner (1983) 'Paul the Deacon and Secundus of Trento'. In: History and historians in Late Antiquity, ed. B. Croke - A. Emmett. Sydney: 147-153.
  • B. Garstad (2016) 'Authari in Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, Secundus of Trent, and the Alexander Tradition in Early Lombard Italy'. Journal of Late Antiquity 9: 218–266.
  • W. Goffart (1988) The narrators of barbarian history (A.D. 550-800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede and Paul the Deacon. Princeton.
  • R. Jacobi (1877) Die Quellen der Langobardengeschichte des Paulus Diaconus: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte deutscher Historiographie. Halle.
  • T. Mommsen (1880) 'Die Quellen der Langobardengeschichte des Paulus Diaconus'. Neues Archiv 5: 51–103.
  • W. Pohl (2007) 'Heresy in Secundus and Paul the Deacon'. In: The crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the failed quest for unity in the sixth-century Mediterranean, ed. C. Martin Chazelle - C. Cubitt. Turnhout: 243–264.
  • E. Quaresima (1952) 'Il frammento di Secondo di Trenton'. Studi trentini 31: 72–76.
  • L. Bethmann, G. Waitz (1878) Pauli diaconi Historia langobardorum (Monumenta Germaniae historica: Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum saec. VI-IX). Hannover.
  • G. Waitz (1880) 'Zur Frage nach den Quellen der Historia Langobardorum'. Neues Archiv 5: 415–424.