The ''Annales Romani'' are a set of

annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

covering the history of the city of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the 11th–12th centuries, with entries for the years 1044–1073, 1100–1121 and 1182–1187.

Chris Wickham Christopher John Wickham, (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. From 2005 to 2016, he was Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford: he is now emeritus professor ...

, ''Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900–1150'' (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 5. The earlier periods correspond to the periods of the

Gregorian Reform The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be nam ...

and the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monast ...

, and the ''Annales'' thus form an important source on those events. David Whitton remarks that "no historian of eleventh and early twelfth century Rome or of the Reform Papacy can advance very far in his studies without giving attention to the ''Annales Romani''."David Whitton, "The ''Annales Romani'' and Codex Vaticanus Latinus 1984", ''Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo'', 84 (1972–73), pp. 125–43. The ''Annales'' are rich in detail, although their reliability has been questioned. Only

Bonizo of Sutri Bonizo of Sutri or Bonitho was a Bishop of Sutri and then of Piacenza in Central Italy, in the last quarter of the 11th century. He was an adherent of Gregory VII and an advocate of the reforming principles of that pope. He wrote three works of p ...

's ''Liber ad amicum'' is comparable for the history of the city in this period. According to Mary Stroll, they are sometimes melodramatic and typically "riddled with errors", but "one can still glean valuable information" from them.Mary Stroll, ''Popes and Antipopes: The Politics of Eleventh Century Church Reform'' (Brill, 2012), pp. 69–71.

Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailors, ...

argued that the surviving annals are fragments of a once continuous narrative. Ludwig Bethmann believed that the 1044–1073 series was originally a separate piece of pro-imperial and pro-

Guibert Guibert is a given name and surname, and may refer to: ; Given name *Guibert of Ravenna (or Wibert of Ravenna; c. 1029–1100), Italian Roman Catholic archbishop of Ravenna, elected Antipope Clement III *Guibert of Gembloux (10th century), founder ...

propaganda.

Editions

"Annales Romani"
in

Georg Pertz Georg Heinrich Pertz (28 March 17957 October 1876) was a German historian. Personal life Pertz was born in Hanover on 28 March 1795. His parents were the court bookbinder Christian August Pertz and Henrietta Justina née Deppen. He married twi ...

, ed., ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

, Scriptores'' (Hanover, 1844), 5, pp. 468–480. *"Annales Romani", in

, ed., '' Le Liber Pontificalis'' (Paris, 1955), II, pp. 331–50.

References

{{reflist Medieval Latin histories