Scansioni della storia e retorica della storia nel mondo carolingio e post-carolingio

The scholars of every time identify some historical episodes and events as more important and significant than others, hence assuming the value of turning points, of moments that constitute a caesura in the continuum of facts. Historiographers build rhetorical constructions around these facts, which conveys their presentation and often provide propaganda meanings. The article considers the ways in which some writers of the Carolingian and post-Carolingian period present these facts. It examines in particular the annalistic construction, the emphasis on the death of kings and the succession of dynasties, and the perception of the beginning of modernity. Among the writings examined: the Annales regni Francorum, Reginon of Prüm’s Chronicon, Liudprand of Cremona’s Antapodosis, Richerius of Reims’s and Freculph of Lisieux’s Historiae.