Count Gerald of Aurillac and Feudalism in South Central France in the Early Tenth Century

Abstract

An important source, available to the historian, which helps explain the nature of the society of South Central France in the late ninth and early tenth century is the Life of St. Gerald of Aurillac, written by Abbot Odo of Cluny. It is important for a number of reasons. In the first place, it was written during a period when French royal capitularies reflect a kingly authority restricted to an area north of the Loire and thus are unable to throw much light on conditions in the Midi. In the second place, when it was composed local narrative chronicles seem no longer to have been written south of the Loire, while those still being penned north of it, like Flodoard's Annals, seem to contain little information concerning this part of France. In short, the Life of St. Gerald of Aurillac fills an important gap in our information between the narrative found in the Annales Bertiniani, composed by Hincmar of Rheims, who seems well informed on events taking place in the Midi, and that found in the early eleventh-century chronicle of Ademar of Chabannes.