Jeff Rider – författare

Galbert of Bruges's De multro, traditione, et occisione gloriosi Karoli comitis Flandriarum (The Murder of Charles the Good) has been studied extensively over the last hundred years. Considered one of the most important and original works of medieval historiography, the De multro is an eyewitness account of the assassination of Charles the Good, Count of Flanders, in 1127 and of the ensuing civil war. It is written in the form of a journal, the only work of its kind from Europe in the twelfth century, and provides a continuous, detailed account of events in Flanders from March 1127 to July 1128. Scholars have long considered the De multro to be a true journal, written hastily as events unfolded and never revised. In God's Scribe, the first book devoted to Galbert and his chronicle, Jeff Rider challenges that view. He argues that the De multro is not the transparent and objective testimony it has been taken to be; rather it is a complex and sophisticated work of astonishing originality that is an outstanding example of medieval historical writing. Intended as a companion volume to the De multro, the book provides an outline of the Flemish crisis of 1127-28 and summarizes what is known about Galbert. It traces the elaboration of the De multro from a set of wax notes to a nearly completed chronicle. Rider studies Galbert's sources, the way he took and organized his notes, the distinct stages in which the chronicle was written, its literary qualities, and the conceptual tools he used to comprehend the events he related in it. Rider concludes that Galbert's efforts to understand an extended series of events in light of the theology of history and authority common in his day, and to apply that theology to the practice of historical writing, made the De multro one of the most intellectual and experimental histories of its time, while its style, form, and viewpoint made it one of the most popular ones.

Galbert of Bruges' ""The Murder, Betrayal and Assassination of the Glorious Charles, Count of Flanders"" is one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages. It recounts the assassination of Charles, Count of Flanders, and the events leading up to and following the murder. Galbert was a resident of Bruges and had served in the count's administration for at least thirteen years by the time of the assassination in 1127. He was well-acquainted with Charles and many of the other actors in this drama, an eyewitness to many of the events he relates, and exceptionally well positioned to gather information about others. Galbert's chronicle takes the form of a journal, the only one that exists from northwestern Europe in the twelfth century. Edited by two of the world's most prominent specialists on Galbert today, Jeff Rider and Alan V. Murray, this book brings together essays by established scholars who have been largely responsible for the radical changes in the understanding of Galbert and his work that have occurred over the last thirty years and essays by younger scholars. The essays are written by British, Belgian, Dutch, German, Canadian, and American scholars of literature and history, and are divided into four sections - Galbert of Bruges at Work, Galbert of Bruges and the Development of Institutions, Galbert of Bruges and the Politics of Gender, and The Meanings of History. The book includes an extensive bibliography of editions, translations, and studies of Galbert's chronicle, and of works devoted to the reign of Charles the Good and the Flemish Crisis of 1127-28, to the government and institutions of Flanders in the age of Galbert, and to the topography and history of medieval Bruges.