Gesta Dagoberti
The Gesta Dagoberti, fully Gesta domni Dagoberti regis Francorum, is an anonymous Latin biography of Dagobert I, king of the Franks. It combines deeds from the life of Dagobert with numerous accounts of miracles to present Dagobert as a saint and the founder of the Abbey of Saint-Denis. It was written in the early 9th century. As a historical source, it is "extremely unreliable", but not totally useless.
Date, authorship and manuscripts
The Gesta was written between 800 and 835 at Saint-Denis under the direction of Abbot Hilduin. The dating may be narrowed down to between 830 and 835, or even 834–835. That it was in existence by 835 is certain, since the Emperor Louis the Pious refers to it in a letter that year to Hilduin, who had probably given him a copy. Although anonymous, it has been tentatively assigned to Hincmar, then a monk at Saint-Denis, on the basis of similarities in language between the Gesta and two of Hincmar's known works, the Miracula sancti Dionysii and the Vitae Remigii. Laurent Morelle suggests that Hincmar was part of a team who composed the Gesta under Hilduin's direction.The oldest extant manuscript of the Gesta dates to the 9th century and once belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Bertin. Today it is Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 342. Other known copies include:
- Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS lat. 5569
- London, British Library, MS Add. 21109
- Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 715
- Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Reg. lat. 571 IV
- Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 716
- Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, MS 7460
- Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS lat. 11756
- Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS lat. 5925
- Jena, Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, El. 2° 65
- Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, MS F 60
Usage
The Gesta was one of the sources used by Primat of Saint-Denis for his Old French Roman des rois, the earliest redaction of the Grandes Chroniques de France. It was also an important source for the Vita et passio sancti Dyonisii, an account of Denis's life, death and miracles written by the monk Yves in the early 14th century.For modern historians, the Gesta is "extremely unreliable" as a historical source, but not entirely useless. It is the earliest source to claim that Clovis I was anointed with holy oil by Bishop Remigius. It is also the first source to name Dagobet's mother. Chlothar II is known to have had two wives, Haldetrudis and later Bertetrudis. The Gesta is sometimes taken to indicate that the latter was Dagobert's mother. Among its stories that are possibly true are the accounts of the punitive expedition against Duke Berthoald of Saxony and Dagobert's divorcing Gomatrude on grounds of infertility.
The Gesta occasionally differs from its main source, Fredegar. For example, it reports that there were no survivors of Dagobert's massacre of the Bulgars, whereas Fredegar has the leader, Alciocus, and 700 survivors taking refuge in the Windic March. It also offers a slightly different account of the revolt of Samo. It makes Samo to be a Slav and its version was a source for the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum.