Memoria e coscienza storiografica nella “praefatio” all’«Ystoriola Langobardorum Beneventum degen-tium» di Erchemperto

Abstract

In this intervention the reading of the "praefatio" at the «Ystoriola Langobardorum Beneventum degentium» by Erchempert, a Lombard historian of the IXth century, is conducted. The examination allows us to observe, as a preliminary, a historian of the High Middle Ages at his “work table”, in the reference to the sources and models and, at the same time, in the clear awareness of the innovative elements that he proposes to highlight through the story of the tragic and fatal decline of the Lombard people of southern Italy. To this are added other connotations that refer to a precise historiographical awareness, such as the high judgment of himself, the profession of truthfulness of the narrative that he is about to undertake, the conception of history as a fundamental exemplum for the generations to come, and, above all, the desire not to stop only – as his predecessor Paul the Deacon had done – at the positive and “glorious” dimension of Lombard power in Italy, but rather that of making public and clear, of that power, the defeats and the setbacks suffered.