Abbo Cernuus

Abbo Cernuus ("the Crooked"), Abbo Parisiensis, or Abbo of Saint-Germain was a Neustrian Benedictine monk and poet of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. He was born about the middle of the ninth century.

Abbo was present at the Siege of Paris by the Vikings in 885–886. He was the only eyewitness who wrote a description of it, in Latin verse, with an account of subsequent events to 896, the so-called De bellis Parisiacæ urbis or Bella Parisiacæ urbis ("Wars of the City of Paris"). Abbo also left some sermons for the instruction of clerics in Paris and Poitiers (Patrologia Latina, CXXXII).

Though coming from one of the most prominent ecclesiastical centres of ninth-century Francia the monk Abbo is unusually obscure for an individual responsible for a source such as the De bellis. The little that we do know is gleaned from this work, with very little corroboratory evidence from elsewhere. Though we know he was a Neustrian we do not know his political agenda or affiliations, as he contradicts his own "views" throughout the work. As a result, historians have often speculated that the De bellis was "refined" at a later date by a separate editor.

Abbo can be viewed as a source for the collapse of Carolingian hegemony in 887–88. 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.

We have no definitive date for Abbo's death, though it has been assumed to be later than 922. Around that year Bishop Fulrad of Paris endeavored to publish a selection of Abbo's sermons. If the bishop was willing to publish his sermons while Abbo was still alive, why did he choose not to endorse the De bellis?

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