AIMOIN

born 960 died 1010 French Benedictine monk whose history of the Franks was highly esteemed in the European Middle Ages. After his arrival at the Abbey of Fleury-sur-Loire (between 979 and 985), Aimoin wrote about St. Benedict, completing the second and third books of the Miracula Sancti Benedicti in 1005 (the first book had been the work of an earlier writer). During this time he also wrote the biography of the abbot Abbon (d. 1004), who suggested that Aimoin compose a history of the Franks. His Historia Francorum, or Libri IV de gestis Francorum, was compiled from texts from the Merovingian period that were rewritten by Aimoin in better Latin. Later, 12th-century historians expanded and refined his history of the Franks. His biographies of Abbon and St. Benedict were historically more valuable. Aimoin's description of Abbon's two trips to Rome, made because of political disagreements between the French king and the church, is one of the many important historical events of the 10th century recounted in his histories.