Character Description

On cuPortfolio, you will develop a “biography” of the character you are inhabiting. Some characters are historical people and others are left to be fleshed out from historical archetypes by the students. A first draft of the character biography is due early in the term to ensure students know the key historical details of their character. Students are encouraged to keep adding to it over the course of the class.

At minimum, your profile should note the name, station, motivations (but do not publicize any private objectives or motivations from your character sheet, if you have them). If you are a landed aristocrat, you might want to describe your holdings (explore its geography, its resources in the sixth century). If you are a nun, for example, you might want to describe your monastery or the family you came from. If you are a real historical person, research the biography of your character up until 561 and what is known about them after this time. Most Merovingian people are not well known and little evidence about them survives, so part of your goal will be to make informed decisions based on generalizable evidence of the period (i.e. what would it be normal for a Merovingian abbot to act or to think). Your profile must be supported by primary and secondary sources.

Requirements:

Roughly 1200 words of descriptive prose, not including reference notes and bibliography.

Your character profile can be written in the first person (e.g. I am …) or in the third (she/her). It is meant to provide your character’s backstory before the events of 561 when King Clothar dies and four subkingdoms arise – radiating from capitals in Paris, Soissons, Orleans and Rheims.

Your profile (two examples in the next page) should describe basic information (key dates for biography, sense of his/her obligations). You could include information about family background, education, and experiences leading up to the events of 561. Try to determine and explain who is the character and what motivations do they have. As mentioned in class, however, information for Merovingians is not particularly easy to come by. Even for semi-famous figures (such as Mummolus) his later history might be known, but less so his youth and early career.

Do not list any SECRET motivations from your character sheet. THAT would be a very bad self-defeating idea!

For your character profiles, therefore, you may have to supplement the known historical picture with what might be generalized from the historical picture (this will be even more so the case for generic count X or bishop Y). In your research, discern what is the pattern for individuals of your group/ faction. Use this, if necessary, as the historical template for the backstory you create for your character. A certain amount of creativity is necessary, ranging from making a name for yourself if you don’t have one, to trying to come up with the motivations for your character (i.e. what are Brunhild/ Galswinth’s motivations as Visigothic Princesses in a Frankish court?). Do these sisters like each other or are they competitors (i.e. this would require you to figure out what ‘sisterhood’ was imagined in the early medieval period).

In addition to the character backstory, try to consider the following:

• Frankish elites/ Gallo-Roman elites: consider what is the strategic position of your territory. How long has your family/ kin been rooted in the region? Where are your estates located? What do they look like? What does your kinship web look like?

• Bishops and abbots: try (if possible) to establish a list of names of abbots between 561 and 585. Who is the patron saint of your church/ abbey? What does your church/ abbey look like? What are your most famous relics? What family/ kin network do you belong to?

• Kings and queens: based on the historical picture, what were the roles of kings and queens. What, according to Gregory, is the disposition of your character? What seems to motivate you? What is your strategy? Who are your allies and your enemies? What kind of leader were you in history – is your character going to reproduce those choices or act differently?

• Papal envoys: Who is a typical envoy/ legate from the bishop of Rome (pope?) have? What is papal policy towards the Merovingians? What kind of power do they wield?

• Byzantine envoys: Who is a typical envoy from the Emperor Justinian or later Justin? How would a typical Byzantine noble/ bureaucrat feel about the west? About “Barbarian kings”? How might that hamper their position and bargaining position? What are Byzantine attitudes towards the Franks in the aftermath of Justinian’s reconquest of Italy?

• Foreign envoys: Who is a typical envoy from your kingdom/political community? How would they feel about Francia? Are they subordinate (i.e. a client kingdom like England, or more of an equal, like the Visigoths)? What king do you serve? What political and strategic interests do you have (generally, not specifically)? What are you (and your king's) attitudes towards the Merovingians?

You also need to append an annotated bibliography, in which, at minimum, you provide summaries/annotations of a monograph, a scholarly article and a primary source. Other than these three, any other works you use need to be fully cited (Chicago style), but do not need to be commented on.

Assessment:

Assessment will be based on the student's ability to undertake and communicate detailed research on their character. Due to the limitations of source materials, little is generally known about Merovingian individuals and little historical background exists even for individuals named and described by Gregory of Tours, so the historian/medievalist must always use some imagination to fill in the blanks. In the case of generic characters (e.g. Frankish Warrior X), the need for balancing imaginative creativity and researched historical plausability is even more difficult. Your character biography will be assessed based on your ability to show research or to make informed leaps of judgement to fill in the blanks.

Your writing need to be meticulously footnoted (no interior notes, I want footnotes/marginal notes in Chicago style). And if you decide to post a 19th century engraving of Fredegund, make sure to tell me where it comes from (and why someone decided to make it when they did). And if you want to make your backstory outlandish, show me (by citing other historical examples) that it might be reasonable.