Abbo Cernuus

Abbo Cernuus ("the Crooked"), Abbo Parisiensis, or Abbo of Saint-Germain was a Neustrian Benedictine monk and poet of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. He was born about the middle of the ninth century.

Abbo was present at the Siege of Paris by the Vikings in 885–886. He was the only eyewitness who wrote a description of it, in Latin verse, with an account of subsequent events to 896, the so-called De bellis Parisiacæ urbis or Bella Parisiacæ Urbis (Wars of the City of Paris). Abbo also left some sermons for the instructions of clerics in Paris and Poitiers (Patrologia Latina, CXXII).

De bellis Parisiacae urbis

The Wars of the City of Paris was written in the 890s between c. 890 and then later that decade with an extension up to 896. The purpose of the work was both scholarly and hortative, warning future generations of the Viking menace.^[1] Its literary style (sometimes called the "hermeneutic style") is typical of its period and place, though it is studded with "obscure Grecisms."^[1] It has usually received negative criticism from historians, or even been viewed as a contemporary parody of the hermeneutic style.^[1]

A detailed and political work, it has been underused by historians of the late Carolingians.^[2] It may have been written at the bequest or insistence of Odo of France, who appears as the hero and "future king" (rex futurus) in the poem.^[3] The poet views Odo through an 890s lens. He praises Odo as "the noblest" of the city of Paris, more so than Askericus or Joscelin.^[3] Abbo also presents the Emperor Charles III in a positive light, whom he refers to as basileus Francorum.^[4] The poem stresses the magnitude and diversity of the united Frankish empire. Significantly, he places no blame on the emperor for the siege of Paris nor for the subsequent harrying of Burgundy, which he actually considered to be appropriate for the Burgundians' refusal to aid the city.^[5] Abbo even warns the Neustrians not to use "the purple to keep warm", a reference to overreliance on imperial protection.^[6]

Abbo is a source for the collapse of Carolingian hegemony in 887–888. He regarded Odo as the legitimate successor of Charles the Fat in West Francia after Charles' death (888) and does not seem to have regarded the deposition of East Francia as binding on West Francia.^[3] Abbo also regards the empire as Frankish and he himself, though a Neustrian and Parisian, as Frankish as well. He does not present a united West Francia as a more basic political unit than the empire and is therefore seen by some historians as refuting the hypothesis that regional identities led to the breakup of the empire within Abbo's lifetime.^[7]

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} MacLean, 55.
2. ^ MacLean, 56.
3. ^ ^{a b c} MacLean, 57.
4. ^ MacLean, 58.
5. ^ MacLean, 60.
6. ^ MacLean, 59.
7. ^ MacLean, 64.

Primary sources

• Abbo, Bella Parisiacae Urbis
  • ed. and tr. Nirmal Dass, Viking Attacks on Paris: The "Bella Parisiacae Urbis" of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations 7. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.[1]
  • ed. and tr. Anton Pauels, Abbo von Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Bella Parisiacae Urbis, Buch I. Frankfurt, 1984. With German translation.
  • ed. Henri Waquet, Abbon. Le siège de Paris par les Normands. Poème du IXe siècle. Paris, 1942 (first edition), 1964 (second edition, with French translation). This edition omits the Third Book.
  • ed. Paul von Winterfeld, Abbonis Bella Parisiacae Urbis. MGH Poetae Latini aevi Carolini IV. Berlin 1899. 72-122.

Secondary sources

• Adams, Anthony and Arthur George Rigg. "A verse translation of Abbo of St. Germain's Bella Parisiacae urbis." Journal of Medieval Latin, 14 (2004):1–68.
• MacLean, Simon. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire. Cambridge University Press: 2003.

Further reading

• Lendinara, Patrizia. "The Third Book of the Bella Parisiacae Urbis by Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and its Old English gloss." Anglo-Saxon England 15 (1986): 73-89.

External links

• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes

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