Nithard (c. 795–844), aFrankishhistorian, was the son of Charlemagne's daughterBertha. His father wasAngilbert.
Nithard was born sometime around the yearCharlemagne was crownedImperator Augustus in December 800. He was probably raised either at the imperial palace, where his mother continued to live until the death of the emperor, or at themonastery of Saint-Riquier, where his father waslay abbot. He would have been educated most likely at the imperialschola, which offered the kind of high-quality instruction in both military and literary training he is known to have received.[1]
Nithard himself later became lay abbot of St Riquierin commendam. He served his cousinCharles the Bald in both war and peace, fighting at his side during theCarolingian civil war and at the battle ofFontenoy in June 841. It is probable that he died as the result of wounds received whilst fighting for him against the Northmen nearAngoulême. The date of his death is disputed among scholars, but consensus is now for June 14, 844.[citation needed] In the 11th century his body, with the fatal wound still visible, was found in the grave of his father,Angilbert.
Nithard's historical work consists of four books on the history of theCarolingian empire under the turbulent sons of the emperorLouis I, especially during the turbulent period between 838 and 843. TheHistoriae orDe dissensionibus filiorum Ludovici pii (On the Dissensions of the Sons of Louis the Pious) is valuable for the light which it throws upon the causes which led to the disintegration of the Carolingian empire. Nithard's work has been described as a "nostalgic lament":[2]
In the times ofCharles the Great of good memory,
who died almost thirty years ago, peace and concord ruled everywhere
because our people were treading the one proper way,
the way of the common welfare, and thus the way of God.
But now since each goes his separate way, dissension and struggle abound.
Once there was abundance and happiness everywhere,
now everywhere there is want and sadness
The first three of these books were written before Nithard's appointment as lay abbot of St-Riquier in the winter of 842, the fourth and final in spring of 843 after taking up office there. Although rough in style, partisan in character and sometimes incorrect in detail, the books are the work of a man who had an intimate knowledge of the events which he relates, who possessed a clear and virile mind, and who above all was not a recluse but a man of action. They are dedicated to Charles the Bald, at whose request they were written.
His work as a military intellectual places him in the tradition ofXenophon,Julius Caesar,Ammianus Marcellinus, andFlavius Merobaudes. For the military historian, Nithard's description of the complex exercises of cavalry inGaul is particularly valuable as a supplement to the account in theTactical Handbook ofArrian as well as for its insight into Carolingian techniques.[3]
Only two manuscripts of theHistoriae survived, one roughly contemporary and an incomplete Renaissance-era text useless in the reconstruction of the text.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nithard".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 711.
