Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle
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Subject: History
Edited by: Edited by Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu
The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle brings together the latest research in chronicle studies from a variety of disciplines and scholarly traditions. Chronicles are the history books written and read in educated circles throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. For the modern reader, they are important as sources for the history they tell, but equally they open windows on the preoccupations and self-perceptions of those who tell it. Interest in chronicles has grown steadily in recent decades, and the foundation of a Medieval Chronicle Society in 1999 is indicative of this. Indeed, in many ways the Encyclopedia has been inspired by the emergence of this Society as a focus of the interdisciplinary chronicle community.
The online version was updated in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
Subscriptions: See Brill.com
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The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle brings together the latest research in chronicle studies from a variety of disciplines and scholarly traditions. Chronicles are the history books written and read in educated circles throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. For the modern reader, they are important as sources for the history they tell, but equally they open windows on the preoccupations and self-perceptions of those who tell it. Interest in chronicles has grown steadily in recent decades, and the foundation of a Medieval Chronicle Society in 1999 is indicative of this. Indeed, in many ways the Encyclopedia has been inspired by the emergence of this Society as a focus of the interdisciplinary chronicle community.
The online version was updated in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
Subscriptions: See Brill.com
Schulthaiss, Nicolaus
(303 words)
ca 1425 - 1500. Germany. Town councillor in Konstanz. Author of a
Konstanzer
Stadtchronik. Schulthaiss studied in Vienna and spent time at the imperial court of Frederick III. He served in the episcopal administration in Güttingen (1460/1-1476) and as a member of the Konstanz town council. He composed a legal handbook and wrote a summary of Ulrich Richental's
Konzilschronik (Innsbruck, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Sammlung Di Pauli 874, fol. 1r-78v). The later Konstanz town chronicler Gregor Mangolt (died 1577) copied a number of passages which, he notes, were "
us Claus Schu…
Date:
2021-04-15
Schwarz, Ulrich
(350 words)
1422-78. Germany. Augsburg mayor. Author of chronicle notes on municipal history. Together with the smaller guilds, Schwarz attempted to push through a constitutional reform. Bitter conflicts with competing groups within the oligarchic élite over a period of years ultimately led to his deposition and execution. In the political turmoils of the 16th century, Schwarz was stylized to a negative exemplum, but his descendents lived on in Augsburg as respectable citizens and sought to rehabilitate him in their family history.In the years ca 1466-73, Schwarz compiled a collectio…
Date:
2021-04-15
Schwinkhart, Ludwig
(213 words)
1495-1522. Switzerland. Bernese burgher, member of the greater town council (Großrat) from 1517, killed in action as mercenary in the French army in the battle at Biccocca northeast of Milan on 27th April 1522. Author of a vernacular German prose chronicle encompassing the years 1506-21, mainly dealing with the armed conflicts of the early 16th century between the popes, emperors and French kings, in which Berne and the Swiss Confederation took an active role on varying sides. Schwinkhart's account becomes livelier the more he himself was actively involved in th…
Date:
2021-04-15
Scottish Chronicle
(218 words)
early 14th century. England and Scotland. A short Anglo-Norman account of English/Scottish relations from the time of Brutus to 1296, including an account of the 1292 agreement at Norham, near Berwick, between Edward I and the lords of Scotland. It presents the English argument that the King of the Scots was a vassal of the English king and is based on the Latin text of the letter from Edward I to Pope Boniface VIII (ed. Stones). Although Dean, who gave the work its title, describes this as "a particular redaction of
Livere de Reis d'Engleterre with emphasis on Scotland," Fisher demonstrates …
Date:
2021-04-15
Scottis Originale
(384 words)
[Chronicle of Scotland in a part; Chronicle of the Scots] ca 1470-1530. Scotland. Short prose chronicle in Scots English written as propaganda against England. Presumably translated from a lost Latin source. Three manuscripts: Edinburgh, National Archives of Scotland, Dalhousie Muniments, GD 45/31/1 (formerly Brechin Castle, Panmure manuscript), also known as the Dalhousie manuscript; Edinburgh, NLS, ms. 16500 (Asloan); and BL, Royal ms. 17.D.xx, all somewhat different and possibly all derived independently from a Latin origina…
Date:
2022-11-07
Scriptor incertus de Leone Armenio
(332 words)
9th century. Byzantium. The text with the title Συγγραφὴ χρονογραφίου τὰ κατὰ Λέοντα υἱὸν Βάρδα τοῦ Ἀρμενίου περιέχουσα (Compiled chronicle containing what happened to Leo, the son of Bardas the Armenian) is a record on the reigns of the Byzantine Emperors Michael I (811-13) and Leo V (813-20). Leo himself was a son of the Byzantine
patricius Bardas, whose family originated from Armenia. Modern scholars are not sure if the text was composed as an independent chronicle or if it was intended to continue Ioannes Malalas or Theophanes Confessor. The author fiercely criticises Leo V for…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sebēos
(314 words)
late 7th century. Armenia. An Armenian historian to whom is ascribed a
History which covers the last century of Sasanian rule and the early Islamic occupation of Armenia until 661. Incorrectly known as the
History of Heraclius, Sebēos'
History is a prose chronicle whose manuscripts preserve neither its original title nor the name of its author; the text was attributed to Sebeos by modern scholars based on the temporal coincidence of the anonymous
History of Heraclius, the known existence of a 7th-century bishop Sebēos, and the presence of a "historian Sebēos" in some 19th-century lists …
Date:
2021-04-15
Secret History of the Mongols
(234 words)
13th century ad. Mongolia. An anonymous work written after the death of Genghis Khan for the Mongol royal family, the oldest existing literary work in the Mongolian language. The surviving texts derive from transcriptions into Chinese characters dating from the 14th century (which all seem to be in private possession), but the original text was probably written in Uighur script. The historical value of the text is not as great as might be expected, since the text is full of poetical elements and not consistent in time but it is the on…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sędziwój of Czechel
(223 words)
1410-76. Poland. Church official, scholar, diplomat and historian. Sędziwój studied arts at the University of Kraków (BA 1426; MA 1429) and theology at the University of Paris (1441-4). He taught theology at the Gniezno Cathedral School and became Gniezno Cathedral canon (before 1432). He acted as an envoy for the archbishop of Gniezno, attended the councils of Ferrara (1437-8) and Basel (1441-4), and was activein the service of King Casimir IV. In 1458-9 he joined the canons in Kłodawa to become provost (1459).All his life Sędziwój of Czechel collected Latin works and docume…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sefer ha-Yashar
(379 words)
early 16th century. Italy. An anonymous chronicle of biblical tales in Hebrew.
Sefer ha-Yashar tells the biblical narrative from the creation of Adam and Eve up to the conquest of the Land of Israel by Yehoshua after the Exodus from Egypt. The work concentrates, however, only on the major events during this period: the deluge, the wanderings of Abraham from the East, the Binding of Isaak, Yoseph and his brothers, the Exile in Egypt and the redemption from slavery, the wandering in the desert and the conquest of Canaan.
Sefer ha-Yashar is the most perfect example of the old Hebrew gen…
Date:
2021-04-15
Seffried of Mutterstadt, Johannes
(267 words)
d. 16th April 1472. Germany. Mentioned as an imperial notary in 1431, Johannes was also a vicar at Speyer Cathedral for more than 50 years. He wrote the Latin
Chronica praesulum Spriensis civitatis (Chronicle of the Bishops of the town of Speyer) in the 1460s on the order of bishop Matthias von Rammung (1464-88). It is a short, unoriginal narrative spanning the time from the invasion of the Barbarians and the formation of the Frankish kingdom in the 7th century up to the ordination of the commissioning bishop. A short addendum might also have been written by Johannes.Johannes Seffried used …
Date:
2021-04-15
Seher of Chaumousey
(302 words)
[Calmosiacensis] 12th century. France. Author of Latin monastic chronicle. Seher, the first abbot of Chaumousey in the Vosges (France), wrote the
Primordia Calmosiacensia, an account of the first three decades of the abbey's existence. It runs from the bull of Pascal II (1107) to Seher's death in 1128. The plan is clear: a short classic prologue followed by two books (today incomplete). Towards the end of Book I Seher recounts his journey to Rome and announces a letter from Pascal (5th May 1101), but what follows is a letter from the Pope to Bishop Pibo of Toul (1103). The second book i…
Date:
2021-04-15
Senarega, Bartolomeo
(309 words)
1440s (?) - 1514.Italy. Chancellor, ambassador, notary and official historian of Genoa.In 1492, the Genoese doge charged Senarega with reviving the city's chronicle tradition, which had been interrupted by a period of inactivity, and also with recasting his predecessors' chronicles in a more elegant form. The result was his
De Rebus Genuensibus Commentaria (Commentaries on the events of the city of Genoa), which covers the years 1488-1514. Senarega was a notary by training, which explains why he was given the additional task of compiling an appen…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sentlinger, Heinz
(256 words)
14th-15th century. Germany, Austria. Member of the patrician Sendlinger family of Munich, attested from the late 14th century. Served the Vintler family, an aristocratic family in South Tyrol, as a scribe and editor of a world chronicle. In 1390 Sentlinger made a copy of the
Rechtssumme of Brother Berthold (Munich, BSB, cgm 549), which was possibly meant for Niklaus Vintler (d. 1413). He prepared a copy of the
Weltchronik of Heinrich von München known by the siglum M3 (Munich, BSB, cgm 7330) at Runkelstein Castle (north of Bolzano) in 1394, and five years later in a customs house …
Date:
2021-04-15
Serbian Annals
(659 words)
The history of Serbia, as transmitted in Serbian sources, is essentially understood as the history of the Nemanjid dynasty. This is evident from the earliest texts dealing with the history of Serbia, the collection known as Животи краљева и архиепископа српских (see
Lives of Serbian Kings and Archbishops) written in the first half of the 14th century. A text tradition that is closer to traditional annals than this earliest text collection evolved in the second half of the 14th century: the Serbian annals. They can be divided into a more uniform (the so-called older annals…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sercambi, Giovanni
(458 words)
1348-1424. Italy. Giovanni Sercambi was a successful spice dealer and stationer in Lucca. He resolved to write a chronicle of Lucca's recovery of its political liberty in 1369, the year Emperor Charles IV freed the city from Pisan domination. Composing the chronicle in several sections, he eventually produced a history,
Le chroniche di parte e de' facti di Lucha(Chronicles of the politics and events of Lucca), from 1164 to 1424, the year of his death. Coverage is uneven both because of the limited local chronicle fragments he had at hand and the contro…
Date:
2021-04-15
Serlinger, Johannes
(257 words)
d. 1511. Austria. Author of a Latin chronicle on the bishops of Salzburg (
Catalogus Episcoporum Salisburgensium), ranging from 580 to 1495, with later addenda (by himself?) until 1505. From 1492 he is attested as a scribe of the archiepiscopal chamber. in 1480/81 he was designated bishop of Seckau (Styria) but resigned little later without having taken up office. Nevertheless, he is commemorated in the liturgical calendar of the Seckau manuscript: Salzburg, UB, M II 18, fol. 6r. His date of death is attested by an epitaph in the graveyard of St Peter's, Salzburg, which …
Date:
2021-04-15
Servion, Jean
(742 words)
1400-1466/1473. Switzerland. Jean Servion is the author of a chronicle known as
Gestez et chroniques de la maison de Savoie, which records the history of the House of Savoy from its origins to Count Amadeus VII.
Jean’s father, Henri, likely settled in Geneva at the end of the 14th century and became a wealthy merchant and hotelier. Henri was also a member of the ruling elite, as he was elected elected mayor (
syndic) of the city in 1409, 1422, and 1426. In 1431, Emperor Sigismund granted letters of nobility to both Henri and Jean. Like his father, Jean Servion was …
Date:
2021-04-15
Sex Aetates Mundi
(316 words)
(Six Ages of the World) 11th century. Ireland. This tract in Middle Irish gives an overview of the six ages or
aetates, which begin with Adam, the Flood, Abraham, David, the Babylonian Captivity and the birth of Christ, respectively (see Six Ages of the World). This follows the division of Bede, but the introduction of the tract claims that it is a translation of the
Pandect of Jerome. The years assigned to each of the six ages are given in a poem according to the Septuagint and the Hebrew Verity. In the tract the prose alternates with poetry, which usually summarizes the prose. The final poem,
Rédi…
Date:
2021-04-15
Sex Werkdays and Agis
(199 words)
ca 1495. Scotland. Brief anonymous universal chronicle describing the six ages of the world, with genealogies from Adam to Christ, in Scots-English prose. It survives in the early 16th-century miscellany of Edinburgh notary John Asloan, NLS, ms. 16500, along with several other brief chronicles (
Auchinleck Chronicle
,
Scottis Originale
,
Ynglis Chronicle
,
Brevis cronica). The discussion of the second age includes a short geographical account of the three areas of the earth -- Asia Major, Africa and Europe -- that Noah gave to each of his sons. Sou…
Date:
2021-04-15