Search

[Ostiensis, Leo Marsicanus, Leone dei Conti dei Marsi] 1045/6-1115/7. Italy. Latin Benedictine chronicler and hagiographer. First author of the Chronica monasterii Casinensis. Born in Marsica into the aristocratic family of the counts of Marsi in Abruzzo, he joined the Benedictines of Montecassino at around the age of fourteen and became a friend of the abbot Desiderius of Benevento, later pope Victor III (1087-8). As librarian and archivist of the monastery, he was encouraged by Oderisius, who succeeded Desiderius as …

fl. ca 1200. France. Probably a member of the household of Robert VII of Béthune (d. 1248), possibly a minstrel. Author of two prose chronicles in Old French (Picard).The Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre (History of the Dukes of Normandy and the Kings of England) covers the history of Normandy and England from the time of the Normans up to 1220. It was written shortly after 1220. For the older parts (up to 1199), it is based on an anonymous vernacular compilation of Norman history, the Chroniques de Normandie, which was drawn up from Dudo of St. Quentin and other Latin…

12th-13th century. France. An anonymous compilation of Norman history in Old French, recounting the history of the Duchy of Normandy from its foundation to 1194, or, in some later recensions, to 1199. It was drawn up from the Latin chronicles of Dudo of St. Quentin, William of Jumièges, and Orderic Vitalis. This chronicle served as one of the most important sources to the Anonyme de Béthune, and was partially incorporated into his Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d’Angleterre. There are several manuscripts surviving: Cambridge, UL, Ii.6.24; Paris, BnF, fr. 2137, 10130, 12203, 17…

fl 1370s. Italy. Author of Breviarium historiae Pisanae (Breviary of Pisan History).Michele da Vico was a secular canon of the Cathedral Chapter at Pisa.His Breviarium, encompassing the history of the Pisan Republic from the late 10th century, is a compilation of a number of earlier anonymous Pisan chronicles: Annales rerum Pisanorum 971-1176, Chronicon Pisanum breve, and Chronicon aliud breve Pisanum incerti auctoris 1101-1268. Occasionally inaccurate (as in the erroneous narrative concerning the Pisans' expedition during the 1st Crusade), the Breviarium historiae Pisanae d…

[Odon de Diogilo; Eudes de Deogilo] ca 1110-62. France. Benedictine monk, abbot of St. Denis, Paris. Born to a modest family, he entered the order at St. Denis and became a trusted companion of abbot Suger. In 1147-9 he participated in the Second Crusade as a chaplain of Louis VII, king of France (1137-80). Returning to France, Odo remained a trusted associate of both Louis and Suger, succeeding the latter as abbot of Saint-Denis in 1151, and appointed abbot of Saint-Corneille in Compiègne in addition to his previous dignity by the king. Probably on Suger's request, he wrote …

fl. 888-891. Germany or Switzerland. Anonymous Saxon poet and historian. A monk, most probably of the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey or of St. Gallen, he wrote a versified Annales de gestis Caroli Magni imperatoris libri quique (Annals of the Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne in Five Books). His erroneous identification with Agius of Corvey has been rejected; on the contrary, he himself indicates his Saxon origins (v. 687-690).Saxo dedicated his work to the East Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia (887-99, emperor from 896). In the five books of annals, Saxo gives a detailed description of Charlem…

[Radulphus Cadomensis, Raoul de Caen] ca 1080 - post-1130. France, Italy, Palestine. Author of a Latin crusading chronicle. Born to a knightly family, Ralph obtained education as a clerk in Rouen. During the First Crusade in which he participated, Ralph entered the service of the South-Italian Norman princely family of Hauteville (Altavilla), becoming chaplain to Bohemond of Taranto, the future prince of Antioch (1098) and serving him until Bohemond's capture by the Turks in 1100. When Bohemond was ransomed in 1103, Ralph appea…

790/800 - 844/45. France, Germany. Frankish historian. Nithard was a grandson of Charlemagne, son of his daughter Bertha and Angilbert, and a lay abbot of St. Riquier ( Centula) in Picardy. As a member of the imperial family, he was educated at Charlemagne's court. It is highly probable that he was a commendatory abbot of St. Riquier, and, like his father, he had never taken the vows. In the quarrels and wars between Charlemagne's grandsons, Nithard was a zealous adherent of Charles the Bald, whom he served as diplomat and for whose cause he fought on the field of battle (Fo…