It may seem surprising that the Monumenta Germaniae Historica is again publishing a text in a collection that was previously edited by Johannes and Georg Waitz in 1881. This text is found in Vol. XIII, pages 405-599, along with other chronicles and annals; this time however, a complete volume, 544 pages, is dedicated to the Historia Remensis Ecclesiae. Both the presentation and the critical apparatus have been considerably developed. The layout of the text, however, has not been changed in any significant manner.
Unlike Heller and Waitz, Martina Stratmann had at her disposal an additional copy of the Codex of Reims (B.M.1606), preserved in Epernay, which, along with the Codex of Montpellier (B.U. Médecine H 186) remains the oldest complete manuscript (before 1175); she added small fragments to it from the eleventh century, taken from a binding found in 1928 (Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek St. Peter berg. 38), but this only involves two chapters. After a very careful study of the variations, this edition seems to be the definitive one, but the most interesting points are her introductory comments and the notes.
Born around 893-894, dead in 966, Flodoard received a good education in Reims before going on to become a canon, a priest and the archivist of his Church. His writing skills and his involvement in life at that time predestined to become an historian. The fact that he used many sources which were later lost adds priceless value to his work. After Heinrich Schrörs' analysis in 1884 of Hincmar's letters which are quoted by Flodoard, after Michel Sot's great thesis (1993), Martina Stratmann clearly underlines the great importance of Urkundlichkeit, work on archival material, in the Historia Remensis Ecclesiae.
While Heller and Waitz attributed little importance to style, Stratmann points out how Flodoard paraphrased or shortened the saints' vitae. New light is shed on both his way of working and his rich culture, ever keen to systematically find the manuscripts he may have consulted and the dossiers from the archives in Reims which he kept in the same filing.
The historical notes and the bibliography are extremely valuable in this new volume, which also goes into more depth on the identification of place-names. A list of quotes, and an extensive index along with a glossary, make this book an excellent tool.
It should also be noted that a study of the diffusion and reception of Flodoard's work does not go beyond the Moselle valley, with the exception of a manuscript in Bamberg.
Considering the wealth of information to be covered, it is inevitable for some shortcomings should appear. It is not certain that King Louis IV died as a result of a hunting accident (4). Jean-Pierre Poly argued that he died of tuberculosis ("Le capétien thaumaturge: genèse d'un miracle royal," in La France de l'an mil, ed. Robert Delort [Paris, 1990], 282-308). Bearing in mind that the great testament of St. Remi is an interpolation (11 and 97ff.) we must consider the possible date of this falsification which may have been after Flodoard's time since we do not have any manuscript dating from before the twelfth century; attention should be drawn to an article by Volkhard Huth, "Erzbischof Arnulf von Reims und der Kampf um das Königstum im Westfrankreich. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Reimser Remigiusfälschungen," Francia 21/1 (1994), 85-124, who believes the interpolation is due to Gerbert, though the question remains open. Similarly (15), on the question of Louis the Pious' diploma for the Church of Reims (BM2 801), the acts of the conference Clovis, Histoire et mémoire, vol. II, Le Baptème de Clovis, son écho à travers l'histoire, ed. by Michel Rouche, (Paris, 1997), should have been mentioned, and in particular the article by Michel Bur, "Aux origines de la réligion de Reims. Les sacres carolingiens: un reéxamen de dossier (751-1131)," p.45-72, which shows that care should be taken as to the authenticity of this document.
In short, there is no point in focusing on details -- Martina Stratmann has shown great erudition and her edition of Flodoard will bear witness not only to a precious piece of work on the history of the early Middle Ages but also to an exemplary analysis of the workin methods of a well-read clerk in the tenth century.