DUDO

dudo, or dudon (fl. c. 1000), norman historian was dean of st quentin, where he was born about 965. sent in 986 by albert i. count of vermandois, on an errand to richard i., duke of normandy, he succeeded in his mission, and, having made a very favourable impression at the norman court, spent some years in that country. during a second stay in normandy dudo wrote his history of the normans, a task which duke richard i. had urged him to undertake. very little else is known about his life, except that he died before 1043. written between 1015 and 1030, his _historia normannorum_, or _libri iii. de moribus et actis primorum normanniae ducum_, was dedicated to adalberon, bishop of laon. dudo does not appear to have consulted any existing documents for his history, but to have obtained his information from oral tradition, much of it being supplied by raoul, count of ivry, a half-brother of duke richard i. consequently the _historia_ partakes of the nature of a romance, and on this ground has been regarded as untrustworthy by such competent critics as e. dummler and g. waitz. other authorities, however, e.g. j. lair and j. steenstrup, while admitting the existence of a legendary element, regard the book as of considerable value for the history of the normans. although dudo was acquainted with virgil and other latin writers, his latin is affected and obscure. the _historia_, which is written alternately in prose and in verse of several metres, is divided into four parts, and deals with the history of the normans from 852 to the death of duke richard i. in 996. it glorifies the normans, and was largely used by william of jumieges, wace, robert of torigni, william of poitiers and hugh of fleury in compiling their chronicles, and was first published by a. duchesne in his _historiae normannorum scriptores antiqui_, at paris in 1619. another edition is in the _patrologia latina_, tome cxli. of j.p. migne (paris, 1844), but the best is perhaps the one edited by j. lair (caen, 1865). see e. dummler, "zur kritik dudos von st quentin" in the _forschungen zur deutschen geschichte_, bande vi. and ix. (gottingen, 1866); g. waitz, "uber die quellen zur geschichte der begrundung der normannischen herrschaft in frankreich," in the _gottinger gel. anzeigen_ (gottingen, 1866); j.c.h.r. steenstrup, _normannerne_, band i. (copenhagen, 1876); j. lair, _etude critique et historique sur dudon_ (caen, 1865); g. kortung, _uber die quellen des roman de rou_ (leipzig, 1867); w. wattenbach, _deutschlands geschichtsquellen_, band i. (berlin, 1904); and a. molinier, _les sources de l'histoire de france_, tome ii. (paris, 1902).