Romuald of Salerno Sources

Oldoni (2003) writes that Romuald's narration, based on a set of sources partly oral, partly documentary, partly historiographical, all casually used to the point of making their recognition difficult, is inspired by precise political motivations attentive to the facts of the Kingdom of Sicily and aimed at the role that the Papacy and the Empire played in the affairs of that Kingdom and of the time. Oldoni (2003) notes that in a critical debate surrounding the editorial structure of Chroicon, it has been hypothesized that Romualdo had compiled a first draft of the Chronicon in the form of a universal chronicle that reached up to 1125, entrusting a continuation, closer to the events of southern Italy to an anonymous hand, and then taking up the final part. Sections of Chronicon alternate between the 1st and 3rd person where 1st person narration stems from events Romauld witnessed or participated in first hand, although, according to Oldoni (2003), some of the 1st person narration had an external source which was then redacted or edited by Romauld. For the years from 893 to 1127, the years of Pope Honorius II (died in 1130), Oldoni (2003) states that the strictly annalistic editing of the text would ... suggest a writing by several hands where ... at least two other scribes intervene while the archbishop would leave for himself the essentially autobiographical compilation where the characters of Roger II of Sicily and the two William his successors are fixed. Moments that describe [Romauld]'s actions through the use of the third person are followed by narrative phases where the author's personal involvement is clearly distinguishable, where the character of his reactions is strong, and where his likes and dislikes reveal his aristocratic origins.