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[Ekkehardus Uraugiensis] d. post-1125. Germany. First abbot of the Benedictine Abbey at Aura an der Saale (Bavaria) and author of a Vita Burchardi and a Chronicon universale. Presumably born into an old-noble ( edelfrei) family linked to the Aribonen, Ekkehard joined Welf of Bavaria's crusade (1101). After becoming a monk at Tegernsee (1102/3), he attended the Synod of Guastalla (1106) as a member of Henry V's delegation. Between his appointment as first abbot of Aura (1108) and the consecration of the monastery in 1113, Ekkehard stayed at St. Burchard in Würzburg, where he wrote a Vita B…

16th century. Germany. Anonymous High German prose chronicle of the history of Mainz 1454-84 with a clear focus on the struggle between Archbishops Diether von Isenburg and Adolf von Nassau, and on the conquest of Mainz in 1462. It survives in three copies: Mainz, StB, cod. IV, 94; Darmstadt, SA, C 1 C Nr. 87 (expanded); Munich, BSB, cgm 2875 (copied from Darmstadt).The title Mainzer Chronik has also been given to the Chronik von alten Dingen der Stadt Mainz attributed to Nikolaus Reise. Kerstin PfeifferBibliography Text C. Hegel, CDS 18, 1882. Literature K.-M. Sprenger, "Die Mainzer St…

commissioned 1542. Germany. At the request of the abbot, Rudolph Garb, an anonymous monk from Offenburg composed a chronicle of the former Imperial abbey at Schuttern near Offenburg in Baden-Württemberg. His prologue to the chronicle, written at the Williamite monastery in Strasbourg, is dated 1 December 1542. The chronicler had access to the materials from the archives at Schuttern and to the annals composed by Paul Volz, a former librarian and later abbot of Hugshofen (Alsace), and the monk Nikolaus of Gerau (d. 1538), which he uses and acknowledges in his work.Written in Latin with…

fl. 1455-60. Germany. Otherwise unknown author of a Hessische Chronik (Hessian Chronicle). Wilhelm names himself as the owner of a now lost manuscript containing devotional texts and annalistic notes for the years 1455-60 written in the margins of the first and last pages (Metz, BM, ms. 599, olim H 34, fol. 2r-4v and 284v-286v). The notes, written in Latin and German, are not in chronological order. As the cities Kassel and Dransfeld are mentioned, it can be assumed that they were written in this area. Opening with an account of an infestation of mice, they clearly…

fl. 1475-1505. Germany. Presumably from Bacharach on the Rhine. Tax assessor in Würzburg. Author of a Würzburger Ratschronik (Chronicle of Würzburg Town Council), which provides the little information we have on the author: Siegfried joined the tax assessment office in 1475, was appointed as its head in 1481 and retired in 1505. It is based on cursory notes on random events between 1407 and the 1470s which happened to be available, with detailed accounts of the weather, harvests, famines, the fluctuation of wine prices and salaries, executions and public building works, as well as …

fl. 1461-96. Pomerania. Citizen of Gdańsk and author of a German-language Danziger Chronik (Gdańsk city chronicle). Caspar names himself as the author of this chronicle which is primarily concerned with the affairs of the Hanseatic League. Although not a member of the Gdańsk patriciate, he was clearly involved in civic life, prompting Hirsch to identify him as a member of a well-documented merchant family. The chronicle covers a vast array of local and international events of the years 1461-96 with an emphasis on those which had a direct bearing on the shipping trade such as the War of the…

fl. 1470s. Alsace. Author of a short verse chronicle of the Burgundian Wars in German, and presumably a presbyter from Strasbourg. The name Conradus Pfedteshem appears as an acrostic in the first 18 lines of the poem. Pfettisheim's identity is not established beyond doubt, but the poem's sermon-like opening and its ending, which celebrates popular piety in Strasbourg as a decisive factor in the victory over Charles of Burgundy, suggest he is identical with a presbyter of the same name (d. 1516) at St. Thomas. The 423 line-poem falls broadly into two parts: a biting commentary on the Hagenbac…

(Chronicle of the times of Albrecht II and Frederick III) ca 1460-70. Southern Germany. A prose chronicle Bavarian German, divided into two chapters covering the first years of the reign of German King (later Emperor) Frederick III, 1439-43. The anonymous author wrote on the empty pages of an account book and made numerous corrections, which suggests that the work, which survives only in autograph (Vienna, ÖNB, cod. ser. n. 3964), is a draft. The focus is on Frederick's political struggles and even though the chronicle lacks accuracy in terms of dates and th…

1151. Germany. This anonymous Latin chronicle which, according to its prologue, was commissioned by the prioress Maragrethe in 1151, describes the first hundred years in the history of the Benedictine convent at Lippoldsberg an der Weser (diocese of Mainz). It begins with an account of the building of a wooden church under archbishop Lippold of Mainz (1051-59), the life of archbishop Siegfried and the alleged petition of the Hildesheim cleric Betto to archbishop Ruthard (1089-1109) to establish a convent on the Lippoldsberg. Included in the chronicle are several…

ca 1280. Austria. This short Latin chronicle covers the history of Austria from the accession of Margrave Adalbert in 1018 and the elevation of the margraviate of Austria to the status of duchy in 1156 to the acquisition of Austria and Styria by Rudolph of Habsburg in the wake of his victory over Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1278. The anonymous author structures his entries around the successive margraves and dukes, and appears to have been an eye-witness to the struggles for power following the death of the last Babenberg duke, Friedrich II, in 1246. He comments positively on Bohemian ru…

d. 1103. Germany. Monk and prior at Michelsberg Abbey in Bamberg. Author of a Latin Chronica. Frutolf is attested as scribe at Michelsberg, and according to Heimo von Bamberg ( Chronographia seu decursu temporum) he was also a magister. His authorship is also confirmed for a Breviarum de musica.Written ca 1099, the Chronica is one of the most important medieval works of chronography. It was considered lost until Bresslau established that Ekkehard of Aura's vastly influential Chronicon universale is largely a partisan revision of Frutolf's work. Modelled conceptually on Jerome's tran…

(Chronicle of the Burgundian Wars) post-1484. Switzerland. Short, anonymous chronicle in High German prose covering the armed conflict between the Swiss Confederation and Charles of Burgundy 1473-79. The author was an eyewitness to the war and identifies himself as belonging to the Swiss sytten (side). Although incomplete and occasionally vague, the chronicle is interesting for its systematic contrasting of Walchen and Tütschen (French/Italian-speaking and German-speaking parts of the Swiss confederation), and it contains some information not to be found in Johannes Knebel'…

[Chronicon monasterii Frenswegen] completed 1495. Germany. Latin monastic chronicle. This prose chronicle, which survives in a single 15th-century manuscript (Münster, LA, Verein für Geschichte und Altertumskunde Westfalens 103) and some later copies, has been attributed to Johannes von Horstmar, but there is no evidence of his authorship within the text itself. The chronicle is in fact a kind of a commemorative work written on the occasion of the centenary of the monastery St. Marienwolde in Frenswegen in 1494, and its focus is c…

(Chronicle of the Counts of Cilli) post-1460. Germany. A prose chronicle in German on the rise and fall of the Counts of Cilli, 1340-1460. This partisan account provides an important contemporary source for the expansion of Habsburg power in the 15th century. It falls into two parts, plus an appendix with documents relating to territorial acquisitions and the granting of privileges. The core section, possibly written by a Franciscan from Cilli in Styria (now Celje, Slovenia), covers the years from the elevation of the noble family of Sanneck (Žovnek) to counts of Cill…

(Chronicle of the Counts of Bentheim) post-1485. Northern Germany. Anonymous prose chronicle in Low German covering the history of the county of Bentheim (Lower Saxony), concentrating on the figures of the ruling counts from the reign of Otto von Salm-Rheineck (d. 1150) to that of the "good" Everwin II (1473-1530). The last entry dates to 1485. The bulk of the work deals with the sometimes troubled relations with their feudal lord, the bishop of Utrecht, and with land acquisitions until the extinction of the male line at the death of Bernhard I in 1421. The last two pages of the chro…

ca 1412-70. Germany. Member of the Lower Franconian ( unterfränkisch) aristocratic von Steinau family, which also used the name Steinruck or Steinrück; author of a German prose chronicle covering Franconian matters. In the first paragraph, Heinrich names himself as the author of dys hernach geschrieben buch (the following written book), and gives the date he starts writing as 10th September 1433. His annalistic notes cover the years 1430-62. Varying in length and detail, they focus predominantly on regional matters. Much attention is given to the weather as well as the wars betw…

[Theodoric; Thierry; of Epternach; Theodericus Scholasticus] mid-12th century. Luxembourg. Theoderic was an otherwise unknown monk at the Benedictine monastery of Echternach, whose dates are disputed. He was the author of the Latin Liber aureus Epternacensis (not to be confused with the better-known Codex aureus , the Golden Gospels), the first book of which contains a brief prose Chronicon Epternacense in support of the (ultimately successful) legal conflict on the status of Echternach between Abbot Godfrid and Archbishop John I of Trier, before Emperor Henry VI. The chronicl…

(Annals of Admont) 12th-13th century. Austria. These Latin annals of the Benedictine monastery of Admont in Styria (Steiermark), in the Diocese of Salzburg, are linked with the Annales Sancti Rudberti Salisburgenses , Annales Garstenses , and Annales Mellicenses. The first set of annals (in manuscript Admont, Stiftsbibliothek, cod. 501, 13th century) is an ecclesiastical world history from Adam onwards (the earliest part summarised briefly), down to 1139, to the papacy of Innocent II and the death of St. Otto of Bamberg (in June of that year).…

12th and 13th century. Low Countries. The anonymous history of the Benedictine abbey of Notre Dame at Waulsort on the Meuse, in the province of Namur, is contained in a prose account in manuscript Brussels, KBR, 8964 fol. 15-17 (van den Geyn 3516) and the 16th-century manuscript in Namur (modern Belgium), Bibliothèque du Grand Séminaire, 56. Written in the mid-12th century, the work begins with the foundation of the abbey in 945 by Eilbert, lord of Florennes, when it was given to Irish monks led by St. Cadroe(l), who died in 976. It includes an account of the capture of king Charles the Simple by H…