Abstract
<p>In this dissertation, I argue that overarching narrative themes played an essential, central role in the writing of history in the medieval period. Examining a series of five “house history” chronicles written in and by Benedictine monasteries in England in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, I demonstrate that each chronicle is organized around a particular narrative theme identified by the historian, most often, in a dedicated prologue, although in one case, a manuscript illumination, I argue, pictorially illustrates the theme in question. This overarching narrative theme is embedded in each text, governing the selection of information incorporated into each chronicle, how that information is conveyed, and how the existing texts upon which each chronicler relied were, in many cases, revised and rewritten for inclusion. This dissertation challenges modern historians’ generally dismissive assessments of these “house history” chronicles, asserting, instead, that these are complex texts and complete narratives. Further, this dissertation suggests that modern historians’ tendency to use these chronicles in selective ways in their research should be revised; instead, modern historians should be encouraged to view these chronicles as whole, unified projects rather than as collections of facts, some, notably, of dubious authenticity. The incorporation of overarching narrative themes into “house history” chronicles suggests that this strategy was, indeed, considered a significant, if not absolutely essential, feature of history writing in the high medieval period.<br />
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