From Sithiu to Saint-Bertin

"Previous studies of the abbey of Sithiu (modern Saint-Omer) have often sought to explain the competition between the canons of Saint-Omer and the monks of Saint-Bertin, a rivalry deriving from their shared origins in the abbey of Sithiu. However, David Defries book centres on the cooperative relationship that developed between the saints Omer and Bertin in the monks collective memory. Earlier historians overwhelmingly assumed that collective memory has a narrative structure and that the texts meant to shape its evolution are "historiographic" in form. In contrast, Defries treats Sithius historiography as a type of scriptural exegesis that emphasizes the allegorical levels, especially typology and tropology, of the Christian scriptural hermeneutic. This argument has broad implications for the study of early medieval collective memory indeed, From Sithiu to Saint-Bertin may be seen as a preliminary case study for the value of paradigmatic approaches to early medieval memory."--

David Defries received his doctorate from The Ohio State University and a Licence in Mediaeval Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto and taught at the University of Tennessee before joining the Department of History at Kansas State University, where he is currently Associate Professor. His essays have appeared in Early Medieval Europe, Hagiographica, History Compass, and Mediaeval Studies, among other journals, as well as in recent collections on textual transmission and on hagiography and the history of Latin Christendom. He is currently at work on a history of Flanders and the world of the North Atlantic, from 864 to 1127.