2 - The Chronicle of Fulk le Réchin: a Reassessment

Summary

MS Latin 173 of the Reginensis collection of the Vatican Library is a small (152 x 106mm) compilation of ninety-six folios containing three groups of texts in hands of the late eleventh and twelfth century. Mostly it consists of narratives pertaining to the monastery of St Michael of La Chiusa, a community of Benedictine monks living in the alpine passes north of Turin. The first quire, however, is a narrative fragment that begins ‘Ego Fulco, comes Andegavensis’. This incipit clause and the narrative that follows allege that the text was written by Fulk IV le Réchin, count of Anjou (1067–8/1109); a very early, if not the earliest historical narrative of the central Middle Ages attributed to an author who was not only a member of the lay nobility, but also a powerful regional prince – a consul – and the head of his household. The text is incomplete, becoming illegible on the last folio. What remains is a brief history of the Anjou comital family until the death of Count Geoffrey Martel in 1060 followed by an account of the events surrounding the itinerary of Pope Urban II in Anjou and neighbouring regions in 1096. The text breaks off during a description of the siege of the city of Antioch by the armies of the First Crusade in 1098 on folio 8v. There is no indication, either textual or otherwise, of exactly how much more of the original text existed. It is clear, however, that the writer intended to record much more than what actually survives.

One might presume, on account of its unique attribution to a lay ruler, that the text would be an artefact of great significance for those interested in literacy, memory, identity, or the practice of lordship, but in fact the fragment has received surprisingly little attention. That is not to say that no scholar has drawn upon the fragment; the text has served as a reference point in a number of recent studies,and evidence from the fragment has been especially important in arguments surrounding the preaching of the First Crusade. But to say that essential questions regarding the authorship, form, and possible function of this text have not been answered would be to understate the situation: they have not yet been asked.