Sigbjørn Sønnesyn

Doctoral fellowship (2003-2007)

Project title:
Moral teaching as a constitutive element in medieval Latin historiography

Project Summary:

It is a well known fact that medieval historiography presents a visage rather at odds with its modern counterpart, much to the dismay of many modern historians and philologists. My project aims at finding an explanation of at least some of the prima facie peculiar features of medieval Latin historical writing through focusing attention on the moral didactical aspect of this tradition. The medieval historians themselves frequently state moral edification as their primary end in writing history. By treating medieval historical writing as a deductive structure I whish to attempt to reconstruct the often implicit first principles to which the actual works can be seen as valid conclusions. These first principles can then be used as tools for further analysis of the medieval texts. The extent to which this analysis is successful will in itself be a test of the validity of my reconstructions. The scattered formulations of first principles and purposes in medieval historiography need to be interpreted within their own context. The analysis therefore must be firmly anchored in the wider tradition of moral thought as well as the heritage from classical historiography.

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