Arnulf of Milan

Who is Arnulf of Milan?

Arnulf of Milan, or Arnulfus Mediolanensis was a medieval chronicler of events in Northern Italy. He is known for his work in five books, named Liber gestorum recentium, a "book of the deeds of recent times". Arnulf describes his labour in the first book as "a simple narrative, offered in everyday speech, of the deeds accomplished by our kings, our bishops, and our fellow citizens from Milan and beyond, as well as our compatriots in the Kingdom of Italy, which I myself have seen or somehow heard from either those who saw them or those slightly later." Unlike most Christian chroniclers of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Arnulf did not begin with the Creation - the Liber gestorum recentium is a contemporary account of his times, as seen from the archbishopric of Milan.

Arnulf's history begins in 925, with Hugh of Arles reigning as King of Italy and exercising his right to appoint an archbishop of Milan. It covers the years of the Gregorian reforms, the reform movement of the Milanese Patarenes, and the Investiture Controversy. It ends with the kingship granted to Rudolf von Rheinfeld as anti-king of the Germans.

Famous Quotes:

• captured the city of Vercelli, besieged Novara, invaded Como, and destroyed many other places opposed to him. In the end [1014-15], worn down by labor and sickness and deprived of his kingdom, he was content with the monastery named Fruttuaria alone. There, after the regalia had been placed upon the altar and he had donned the habit of a pauper, he fell asleep in his own time