The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius and the Gallic Chronicle of 452

ARCA Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs #27

by Steven Muhlberger

The fifth century AD has always been a period of intense interest for historians. At the beginning, the Roman Empire looked as impentrable as it had done for centuries, but by 500AD the world had changed beyond recognition. The western emperor had been deposed and the imperial government had lost control of most of Europe. From now on, inhabitants of western Europe lived in a post-Roman world. The writers of Latin histories in the fifth century were not concerned with the minutiae of politcs, or military affairs, they were Christians who saw the development of the world purely as God's plan for humanity. The connection between present and past was best shown through the new type of historical work, the Christian chronicle, the narrative structure of which was based around extensive lists, with minimal written detail. The three chroniclers whose work is discussed here were amongst the earliest to take up this new literary form, and each wrote a continuation of Jerome's chroncile, itself a translation of Eusebius' Christian world chronicle.

Paperback

First published December 12, 1990

Reviews

[John Cairns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although he extols Prosper, who met the requirements of the time and later by being brief and more able to be continued from, showing god's working in the world, he's really more interested in Hydatius whom he can use to substantiate his thesis although not the one Hydatius himself puts forward, his thesis being people were holding their own against the barbarian influx though it's generally believed they didn't while Hydatius looks to the restoration of imperial authority through able men who are being suborned by barbarian treachery. I doubt that I don't have the actual chronicles to refer to would make much difference since I'd still be dependent on how the scholars were interpreting them and this one provides substantial quotations, especially from Hydatius. The imperial authorities, he says, would've put down any such self-helping as treason, making me think the barbarians weren't such a bad idea after all. People accommodated as people do to the circumstances, however bad and against their ideology, they find themselves in like we would had the Germans succeeded in invading us. We'd've been quite as collaborative as the French and resistant too. He credits the chroniclers despite their Xian special pleading as minor historians.