This contribution concentrates on the origin narratives of the post-Roman peoples and kingdoms in Latin Europe between c. 500 and 1000, including some observations on the elaborate production of origin stories in the later Middle Ages. It thus addresses a period in which a durable multiplicity of polities with ethnic designations emerged in Europe and was anchored in the mental maps of (at least) the political elites through a set of foundational narratives. Most of these new peoples—Goths, Longobards, Franks, Anglo-Saxons and others—prided themselves in their distant origins, be it from Scandinavia or Troy. Their origin narratives are based on a common stock of mythical points of reference, developed in classical mythology and ethnography and complemented by other motifs and memories. Christianity transformed the frame but not necessarily the elements of the narrative. The wide-ranging comparison to other ethnic and tribal origin stories, as exemplified in this issue, sheds better light on the specificities of the Latin European tradition of ‘origines gentium’, the origins of peoples. The result is that we should look at these texts as essentially hybrid products of cultural encounters in which formerly subaltern peoples developed new identities as a ruling minority in former Roman provinces.

中文翻译：

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中世纪早期欧洲的起源和移民叙事

这一贡献集中于公元 100 年之间拉丁欧洲的后罗马民族和王国的起源叙述。500 和 1000，包括对中世纪后期起源故事的精心制作的一些观察。因此，它讲述了这样一个时期，在这个时期，欧洲出现了具有种族名称的持久多样的政体，并通过一系列基本叙事锚定在（至少）政治精英的心智地图中。大多数这些新民族——哥特人、朗格巴德人、法兰克人、盎格鲁撒克逊人和其他人——都以他们来自斯堪的纳维亚或特洛伊的遥远起源而自豪。他们的起源叙事基于共同的神话参考点，在古典神话和民族志中发展起来，并辅以其他主题和记忆。基督教改变了框架，但不一定改变了叙事的元素。正如本期所举例说明的，与其他种族和部落起源故事的广泛比较，更好地揭示了拉丁欧洲传统“起源 gentium”的特殊性，即人民的起源。结果是我们应该将这些文本视为文化相遇的基本混合产物，在这些文本中，以前的下层人民在前罗马各省发展了作为统治少数民族的新身份。