37

In his Annales, Flodoard records year by year the events of his lifetime from 919 to 966. Yet a careful analysis of the opening — yearly — paragraphs reveals that the author, who both witnessed and participated in a significant number of the events he recorded, in all likelihood only began writing in 922 and 923. Indeed, the fact that he may have begun writing at this time is probably not accidental: when he witnessed the deposition and imprisonment of King Charles the Simple as well as the royal coronations of Counts Robert and Raoul, Flodoard clearly realized that he was living through extraordinary and historic events. These exceptional circumstances may have awakened his curiosity and driven him to undertake the writing of his opus. Thus it is possible to examine the context of Flodoard’s writing and the state of mind of the Rheims cleric at the moment when he first takes up his quill.