Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885-948)

Balzaretti, Ross

Abstract

Hugh of Arles, King of Italy between 926 and 947, has come to be regarded as one of the more successful kings of Italy in the tenth century. The evidence of his charters supports this conclusion, showing how effectively he managed to insert members of his own Provençal family into the existing political fabric of northern Italy. Contemporary narrative sources tell the same story but as one of failure. For Rather of Verona, Liutprand of Cremona and even Flodoard of Reims, Hugh and his family were suspect and their sexual mores questionable. Their texts intervened in contemporary politics not simply as records of Hugh’s inadequacies but as real political actors which helped to make that failure happen.

Citation

Balzaretti, R. (2016). Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885-948). Early Medieval Europe, 24(2), 185-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12140

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 3, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2016
• Publication Date: May 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 25, 2016
• Journal: Early Medieval Europe
• Print ISSN: 0963-9462
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0254
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 185-208
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12140
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/976631
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emed.12140/abstract
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Balzaretti, R. (2016) Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885–948). Early Medieval Europe, 24: 185–208, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emed.12140/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.; ; Acceptance date is estimated.
• Contract Date: Nov 3, 2015