Abbo Cernuus - De Bellis Parisiacae Urbis

De Bellis Parisiacae Urbis

The Wars of the City of Paris was written in the 890s between c. 890 and then later that decade with an extension up to 896. The purpose of the work was both scholarly and hortative, warning future generations of the Viking menace. Its literary style (sometimes called the "hermeneutic style") is typical of its period and place, though it is studded with "obscure Grecisms." It has usually received negative criticism from historians, or even been viewed as a contemporary parody of the hermeneutic style.

A detailed and political work, it has been underused by historians of the late Carolingians. It may have been written at the bequest or insistence of Odo of France, who appears as the hero and "future king" (rex futurus) in the poem. The poet views Odo through an 890s lens. He praises Odo as "the noblest" of the city of Paris, more so than Askericus or Joscelin. Abbo also presents the Emperor Charles III in a positive light, whom he refers to as basileus Francorum. The poem stresses the magnitude and diversity of the united Frankish empire. Significantly, he places no blame on the emperor for the siege of Paris nor for the subsequent harrying of Burgundy, which he actually considered to be appropriate for the Burgundians' refusal to aid the city. Abbo even warns the Neustrians not to use "the purple to keep warm", a reference to overreliance on imperial protection.

Abbo is a source for the collapse of Carolingian hegemony in 887–888. He regarded Odo as the legitimate successor of Charles the Fat in West Francia after Charles' death (888) and does not seem to have regarded the deposition of East Francia as binding on West Francia. Abbo also regards the empire as Frankish and he himself, though a Neustrian and Parisian, as Frankish as well. He does not present a united West Francia as a more basic political unit than the empire and is therefore seen by some historians as refuting the hypothesis that regional identities led to the breakup of the empire within Abbo's lifetime.