Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium

Religious houses across Europe falsified texts to improve local documentary records in the tenth and eleventh centuries, leading to significant shifts in society and political culture. Levi Roach's book examines five sets of falsified texts to demonstrate how they gave voice to new collective identities within and beyond the Church, revising traditional master narratives about the development of antiquarianism in the modern era.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 360 pages
Publication date: 09 August 2022
Publisher: Princeton University Press

Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium delves into the intricate realm of documentary forgery during the turn of the first millennium, offering a fresh perspective on historical memory and its manipulation in the Middle Ages. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, religious houses across Europe embarked on an unprecedented scale of falsifying texts, driven by the desire to enhance local documentary records. As scholar Levi Roach illustrates, this wave of forgery heralded significant transformations in society and political culture, laying the groundwork for the European ancien régime.

Spanning documentary traditions across France, England, Germany, and northern Italy, Roach examines five sets of falsified texts to showcase how these forged records gave voice to new collective identities within and beyond the Church. Above all, he highlights how this fascination with falsification points to a developing interest in the signs of antiquity, reshaping attitudes toward the past and the present. These conclusions challenge traditional narratives about the development of antiquarianism in the modern era, demonstrating that medieval forgers were equally sophisticated as their Renaissance counterparts.

Rather than being confined to the literary world of classical antiquity, medieval forgers were primarily interested in the history of the Church and their local realms. By studying the falsified records produced during this crucial turning point in the Middle Ages, Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium provides valuable insights into how institutions and individuals rewrote and reimagined the past. This comparative history sheds light on the complex processes of historical construction and the ways in which individuals and societies sought to shape their understanding of the past to suit their own purposes.

Weight: 566g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691217864