Hugo Falcandus was a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

who chronicled the reign of

William I of Sicily William I (1120 or 1121May 7, 1166), called the Bad or the Wicked ( scn, Gugghiermu lu Malu), was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile. Wi ...

and the minority of his son William II in a highly critical work entitled ''The History of the Tyrants of Sicily'' (or ''Liber de Regno Sicilie''). The Latin of the work is polished. There is some doubt as to whether "Hugo Falcandus" is a real name or a pseudonym.

Evelyn Jamison Evelyn Mary Jamison (24 February 1877 – 9 May 1972) was a British medievalist who devoted herself mainly to the study of the history of the Normans in Sicily. She was vice-principal and tutor of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1921 to 1937.'Mi ...

argued that he was

Eugenius Eugenius (died 6 September 394) was a usurper in the Western Roman Empire (392–394) against Emperor Theodosius I. While Christian himself, Eugenius capitalized on the discontent in the West caused by Theodosius' religious policies targeting p ...

, '' amiratus'' from 1190. The Frenchman Hugues Foucaud (''Hugo Fulcaudus''),

abbot of Saint-Denis This is a list of abbots and grand priors of the Basilica of Saint-Denis. This list is drawn mostly from Félicie d'Ayzac, ''Histoire de Saint-Denys'' (Paris, 1861), Vol. 1, pp. cxxiii–cxxxi. Abbots For the first part of this list, dates may i ...

, has been proposed as an author.Christopher Kleinhenz
"Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia, Volume 1"
Routledge, 2004, p. 517. His name, ''Falcandus'', is apparently a

cacography Cacography is bad spelling or bad handwriting. The term in the sense of "poor spelling, accentuation, and punctuation" is a semantic antonym to orthography, and in the sense of "poor handwriting" it is an etymological antonym to the word calligra ...

for ''Falcaudus'', Latin for " Foucaud", a French surname. The ''History'' covers the period from the death of

Roger II Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in ...

in 1154 to the majority of William II, in 1169. Hugo concentrates on the internal politics of the Palermitan Norman court. Intrigues and scandals are never ignored. He has a low opinion of most of his contemporaries and ascribes villainous intent to next to all actions. Nevertheless, his detailed account is so far above other narratives of like time and place that he cannot on grounds of bias be overlooked. According to Lord Norwich, he "has been compared to

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

and

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

." The first English translation, by G. A. Loud and T. Wiedemann, was published in 1998.

References

Sources

* Alio, Jacqueline. ''Margaret, Queen of Sicily''. Trinacria:

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, 2017. * Norwich, John Julius. ''The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194''. Longman:

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 1970.
''History of the Tyrants of Sicily''
at

The Latin Library The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for rese ...

G. B.: ''La 'Historia' o 'Liber de Regno Sicilie' e la Epistola ad Petrum Panormitane Ecclesie Thesaurarium di Ugo Falcando, bearb. v. '', Siragusa, Roma 1897
French chroniclers 12th-century French historians 12th century in the Kingdom of Sicily Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown French male writers 12th-century Latin writers {{Italy-historian-stub