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d. 1468. Germany. Clergyman, later town official. Bartholomäus is best-known for his chronicle of his home city of Soest, De Historia van der Soistschen vede (History of the Soest Feud), in Early Modern Low German. Although his family seems to have established itself in Soest by the end of the 13th century, information about his early life is unavailable. He was a clergyman and a notary, before becoming town secretary in Soest in 1440. He was involved in the feud between the duke of Kleve and the archbishop of Moers, and compiled a journal during the years of the feud.The resulting chronicle …

15th century. Northern Germany. Chronicle of the city of Lübeck in Low German, long believed lost, but now rediscovered in Armenia. It was composed by a series of writers commissioned by the city council, who were given access to city documents to aid them in the writing process. This access allowed them to prepare a more detailed chronicle than other Lübeck chroniclers.The first part of the chronicle, covering the years 1401-69, was written by Johann Hertze, later a city councilman. Hertze seems to have obtained the data for the early stages of this part of the chron…

ca 1460-1518. Switzerland. Civic leader in Fribourg, where he held a number of positions, ultimately serving on the city council from 1498 until 1505, and then again from 1507 until his death. A German-language chronicle about the Burgundian wars ( Chronik des Burgunderkrieges) is attributed to Fries by the copyist of a manuscript dating to 1556, Peter Fruyo. The chronicle covers the period 1339-1499; Fries apparently extracted much of the somewhat fragmentary data for the early years from the works of Nicod du Chastel, Hans Greierz and others. However, material dealing with eve…

[Stralsunder Chronikfragmente] 15th-16th century. Germany. The 16th-century title Chronicon Sundense refers to a group of partly lost late-medieval chronicles from the northeastern German town of Stralsund on the German Baltic coast. Three fragmentary texts survive.The Stralsunder Chronik is preserved on three sheets of parchment, to be found in  Stralsund, StA, Hss. 39, 144, 185. The author (or authors) is unknown, although it is hypothesized that he was either a member of the city council or closely connected to it, as he was very knowledgeable …

15th century. Prussia. Chronicle of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk), covering the years 1439-66. This chronicle deals with the formation of the Prussian confederation under the leadership of Danzig and the subsequent conflict with the Teutonic Order. The text is written from the point of view of the city, and is therefore not neutral, and probably not always entirely reliable. Reconstructing the exact text is difficult, as the (presumed) manuscripts from the 15th century have all been lost, and we are therefore reliant on evidence from the incorporation of the chronicl…

ca 1427-95. Prussia (now Poland). Scribe and clergyman, author of historical notes written in Latin. Waldau served the Teutonic Order as a scribe to the commander of Christburg (Dzierzgoń). In 1454 he became a scribe to the governor of Baysen (Bażyny), and held this position until 1462, when he became a minister in Neuteich (Nowy Staw) near Marienburg (Malbork). In 1466 he accepted a position at the Hauptkirche in Thorn (Toruń); he was later also an official of the dioceses of Ermland (Warmia) and Kulm (Chełmno), and worked for the bishop of Kulm. From 1476 to 1484 he was also a…

(Chronicle of the emperors, kings and popes, as well as the Dukes of Württemberg) ca 1480. Germany. Vernacular printed chronicle. This work consists of seven chapters, as follows: chapter 1 focuses on the history of the Upper Rhine region; 2 and 3 outline the history of the emperors; 4 discusses the history of the popes; 5 turns to the origins of the French kings; 6 cycles back to the Upper Rhine; and 7, which is presumably a later addition, deals with the history of Württemberg. The text is a compilation from other works of the time: the first six chapters are apparently based on Jakob Twinger's S…

15th century. Prussia. Lost but reconstructable chronicle in High German. The Preußische Chronik of Stenzel Bornbach (1530-97) states that some of its source material stems from a work written by one Heinrich Kaper, and a Danziger Ordenchronik (chronicle of the Teutonic Order's activities in Gdańsk) was therefore attributed to Kaper. This chronicle supposedly covered the time period from 1190-1439, and focused on the history of Prussia under the Teutonic Knights. It is said to have been a well-known compilation in the 16th century, and would have been the oldest existing Pru…

[Franck] d. 1472. Germany. Benedictine monk in Augsburg. Frank entered the monastery of St. Ulrich and Afra in 1451, and was ordained a priest in 1458. He is best-known for two major achievements: he was a talented painter who illustrated a number of books found in his monastery, and, more importantly, he compiled an Augsburger Chronik (or Augsburger Annalen) in German vernacular. This work describes events in Augsburg during the period 1430-62, with an understandable emphasis on events involving the monastery. Today it is most valued for its descrip…