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(Jans the Grandson) ca 1240 - post 1302. Austria. A high-ranking member of the Viennese patriciate. Author of Weltchronik (World Chronicle) and Fürstenbuch (Book of Princes) in Middle High German verse.Probably started by 1272, though an alternative view places it in the 1280s, the Weltchronik recounts the history of the world from the creation until 1250 in ca 30,000 lines of verse. Apparently modelled conceptually on the Weltchronik of Rudolf von Ems and the Christherre-Chronik, but not using either directly, and on the Kaiserchronik, which is a major source, it presents first Old Te…

The problem of political discontinuityOne of the strategies by which medieval rulers consolidated their legitimacy historiographically was to seek continuities between the present dispensation and dominions which had gone before, making the current ruler the natural successor of the great kings of the past. When such a continuity was not easy to find, when for example a dynasty had fallen and been replaced by conquest, an alternative strategy was to highlight the breach and declare the newcomers the…

 14th century. Germany. Anna belonged to a leading patrician family from Freiburg im Breisgau, and is attested as prioress of the Dominican convent at nearby Adelhausen, 1316-27. Her Chronik is in fact a sequence of accounts of mystic experiences, visions and asceticism among the nuns, as the opening heading promises: Dis sint die gnade, die vnser Herre hett getan semlichen swestern in disem closter ze Adelnhusen (These are the gifts of grace shown by our Lord to some of the sisters in this monastery at Adelhausen). It opens with the foundation of the monaste…

8th-9th century. France. Carolingian annals from the Benedictine abbey at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Département Nord). These Latin annals appear to be the work of three authors, who cover the years 687-770, 771-91 and 792-810 respectively. They have text in common with the Annales Tiliani, Annales Laubacenses and Annales Petaviani, all of which are similarly brief annales minores. They appeared in a now lost manuscript of Bede's De ratione temporum.Two minor annalistic compositions from the same abbey are the Annales Sancti Amandi breves, marginal notes in an Easter table from…

(Salzburg world chronicle) 15th century. Austria. A compilation of various sources from creation to 1465, filling 19 folios in the manuscript (Mattsee, Stiftsbibliothek, 66). It is unedited apart from short excerpts by Pez in 1729, where it is misleadingly titled Anonymi Mellicensis breve chronicon Austriae (Short chronicle of Austria by the anonymous of Melk). Not to be confused with Chronicon Salisburgense.Graeme DunphyBibliography Literature A. Lhotsky, Quellenkunde zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte Österreichs, 1963, 411. RepFont 3, 434f.

12th century. Germany. A monk at the Benedictine monastery of Nienburg and author of a Latin imperial chronicle from Carolingian times. The anonymous was given the tag "Annalista Saxo" by the philosopher and polymath Gottfried Leibnitz when he was gathering material for a history of the House of Hanover. Attempts to identify the author as Arnold von Berge und Nienburg have been abandoned.Written in the years 1148-52, the chronicle provides a broad account of German and European history over a period of four hundred years. The surviving text covers the year…

Modern readers are often surprised to discover that medieval chronicles may sometimes be written in verse. Metrical forms, which some today might regard as a sign of either a reflective poetic muse or of frivolous and entertaining writing, carried no such implications in the Middle Ages. The origins of verse are believed to be far older than writing: in the primary oral cultures of pre-historic Europe, rhyme and rhythm were cultivated not only because they were pleasing, but also because they aided the process of memorizing data, which in a pre-literary societ…

The Teutonic KnightsThe Teutonic Order or Deutscher Orden (members may have the letters OT = Ordo Teutonicus after their names) was originally founded in 1190 in the Holy Land by Hanseatic crusaders as a medical brotherhood during the long siege of Acre. In 1198 it was raised to the status of a military order, assigned a rule which combined the Hospitaller rule on caritative affairs with the Templar rule on military matters, and as such it was a religiously-based organization of lay people trained in arms for the defence of Christendom. A papal exemptio freed it from the jurisdiction of…

(Small Chronicle of Dresden) late 14th century. Germany. Short German vernacular annalistic chronicle, presumably written at the Kreuzkloster (Augustinian hermits) in Dresden. The title originates with the editio princeps of Mencke (Leipzig 1739); in the text itself the work is called the Coronica principum Misnensium (Chronicle of the Dukes of Meissen), which may be judged more appropriate, as the chronicle covers the dynastic history of the House of Wettin from 1175 to 1349. Sources include a Tabula in capella principum from the monastery at Altzella, and a common source shar…

13th century. Austria. Monastic annals from the Benedictine house at Garsten in upper Austria, covering the years 1181-1257. They begin with material in common with the Annales Mellicenses, and continue with material shared with the Annales Admontenses. This is followed by unique material, which is edited under the title Continuatio Garstensis. Manuscript: Vienna, ÖNB, 340 (14th century).Graeme DunphyBibliography Text W. Wattenbach, MGH SS 9, 1851, 594-600. Literature O. Redlich, "Die österreichische Annalistik bis zum Ausgange des xiii. Jahrhunderts", Mitteilungen des In…

[Cronicon Aquense] late 15th century. Germany. Town chronicle in High German, but with occasional Low German forms in the early sections, which may reflect a source. This anonymous prose text, possibly commissioned by the Aachen town council, runs from 770 to 1482. It is arranged annalistically, with entries for years, though the first four centuries are represented by just 13 brief entries. For the 14th century, some of the entries are out of order, suggesting a compilation of sources. From 1428 the entries become longer narrative units. While the earlier s…

(Annals of Fulda) 9th century. Germany. East Frankish royal annals which in their fullest form cover 714-901.According to an unreliable tradition derived from marginal notes in one of the manuscripts, the main text falls into three parts: 714-838 by Einhard, author of a life of Charlemagne; 838-63 by the hagiographer Rudolf of Fulda; and 864-87 by Rudolf's pupil Meginhard. This authorship was accepted by Kurze and informs the critical edition, but has since been refuted by Hellmann. In fact, though the annals probably were written by a series of writers, the breaks in t…

The need to structure history clearly in order to find larger patterns in the mass of detail has given rise to many historiographical schemata. After the principle of the sex aetates mundi (see Six Ages of the World), the most popular pattern for structuring Biblical and classical history in medieval chronicles is the construction of a series of empires modelled on the Somnium Danielis, Daniel's dream in the seventh chapter of the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Sometimes this is referred to in the plural, Somnia Danielis, for the prophet had four dreams, and at least one other - t…

(Lower Rhenish rhymed chronicle of the Battle of Göllheim) 1298. Germany. A fragmentarily-transmitted poem on the Battle of Göllheim, written in the Mosel-Franconian (Central German) dialect of Middle High German, in rhyming couplets.The battle at Göllheim near Worms (Rhineland) was fought on 2nd July 1298 between the Roman-German King Adolf of Nassau and his challenger the newly elected Habsburg Antiking, Duke Albrecht of Austria. The poem was apparently written in the Rhineland in the autumn of the same year by an author who was not p…

The Franciscan OrderThe Franciscans are a mendicant order founded in Italy in the years after 1210 by Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1182-1226). They were known correctly as Friars Minor (OFM = Ordo Fratrum Minorum), or Minorites, or in England as Grey Friars, and because of their commitment to extreme poverty their popular name in German was Barfüßer (barefooters). The rule of St. Francis (1221/23) laid down the complete renunciation of property, both personal and communal, as a basis for spiritual life and preached repentance and…

1423-36. Low Countries. Short Latin chronicle of Liège, covering the years 1387-1423, which corresponds roughly to the reign of John III of Bavaria as Prince-Bishop of Liège (1374-1425). Among the sources is the chronicle of Jean de Stavelot. The text was used as a source by Cornelius Menghers. The sole manuscript is Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Abdij der Norbertijnen van Averbode, Archief, IV, Hs. 9, fols. 116-140v.Graeme DunphyBibliography Text S. Balau, Chroniques liégeoises, I, 1913, 145-214. Literature L. Goovaerts, Ecrivains, artistes et savants de l'Ordre de Prémontré, 4, 190…

early 13th century. Germany. Eberhard was a priest ( pape, diaconus) attached as chaplain to the convent at Gandersheim, who acted as notary in a number of documents. At the time, the Abbess Mechtild I was in bitter dispute with the Bishop of Hildesheim, who challenged her independence. Eberhard appears to have supported her in a number of ways, possibly including forging a foundation charter of the convent. In 1208, Innocent III confirmed the status of the Gandersheimer Stift as subject only to the Holy See.In 1216-18, Eberhard composed the Gandersheimer Reimchronik (Gandersheim Rhym…

Mid-12th century. Germany.A set of annalistic notes added to a late 11th-century chronological table at the imperial abbey at Fulda (Benedictine), also known as the monasterium sancti Bonifatii. They are transmitted in Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, SCA 49, itself 11th-century. This dating, based on paleological evidence, represents a revision of an earlier opinion whereby both the annals and the framework text were deemed to be a full century earlier. The codex, which in places is badly damaged, offers a particularly interestin…

late 13th century. France. A short, annalistic town chronicle of Montpellier in Old Occitan, covering 814-1295, with an entry for 1364 by a later hand. It is found the final folios of a legal manuscript: Montpellier, Bibliothèque Universitaire de Médecine, ms. H 119, fol. 124r-118r. On this shared transmission of historical and legal texts, see Cartulary chronicles and legal texts.The chronicle in Montpellier, H 119 is related to the Chronique romane du Petit Thalamus, as well as to a short chronicle in the Grand Thalamus and two other lost texts. These have some entries in com…

(Chronicle of the Zerbst Town Council) commissioned 1451. Germany. This Low German prose chronicle was written by an anonymous scribe, possibly the town clerk Nicolaus Jodeke, at the request of the town council. In 120 manuscript pages it charts the history of Zerbst, near Magdeburg, from 1259 to 1445. The first century is covered cursorily, recording documents granting trading prerogatives to the city, which are cited by incipit and briefly described. The bulk of the chronicle is a narrative account of the town's struggles to assert its prerogatives from the late 14th century onwards…