Nithard (Frankish nobleman, c. 790s-844/845)
“Once there was abundance and happiness everywhere, now everywhere there is want and sadness. Once even the elements smiled on everything and now they threaten, as Scripture which was left to us as the gift of God, testifies: And the world will wage war against the mad.”
- Nithard’s Histories (Book IV, chapter 7), included in the edition of the Carolingian Chronicles translated by Bernhard Scholz and Barbara Rogers. Ann Arbor Paperbacks / University of Michigan Press, 1972.