(Redirected from Annals of Saint Bertan)The '''Annales Bertiniani''', or ''Annals of St.
Bertin'', is a
Frankish chronicle that was found in the Monastery of St. Bertin, after which it is named. The chronicle covers the period 830-82 and was written by a number of scribes, including
Hincmar of Reims. It is preserved in ''
Monumenta Germaniæ Historica''.
The ''Annals'' are notable, among other things, for a reference to a group of
Vikings who called themselves "''
Rhos''" and who had visited
Constantinople about the year 838. Fearful of returning home through the steppes, which would have left them vulnerable to attack by the
Magyars, the Rhos traveled via
Germany. Somewhere near
Mainz they were questioned by
Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and informed him that their leader was known as "''chacanus''" (
Latin for "Khagan") and that they lived in northern Russia, but that their ancestral homeland was in
Sweden.
[1]
References
1. Gwyn Jones, ''A History of the Vikings'', 2nd ed., London, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 249-250.