Berthold von Reichenau

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Berthold von Reichenau (* around 1030 ; † March 11, 1088 ) was an important chronicler of the time of King Heinrich IV. Berthold was a pupil of Hermann von Reichenau , whose world chronicle he continued.

Hermann's chronicle goes back to the year 1054. This is the year Berthold begins with his chronicle. A first version of the Berthold Chronicle then extends to the year 1066, in which it abruptly breaks off. A second version begins with an extensive life story of his teacher and then extends to the year 1080. Here, too, the text breaks off suddenly.

The first version has not survived as a manuscript, but only through a print from 1529. There are two slightly different manuscripts of the second version, one in the Austrian National Library in Vienna and a second in the archive of the Benedictine College in Sarnen .

Since both versions ostensibly represent different positions, the first more loyal to the king and neutral, the second clearly pro-Gregorian, they were previously thought to be two works by different chroniclers. The first, shorter version was initially considered to be the "Original Berthold" version - the second was ascribed to a "Swabian Annalist" - a style-critical study by the historian Bernhard Schmeidler in 1938 produced the exact opposite result: The second version was "Original Berthold" , the first has now become an "anonymous imperial chronicle", which Berthold is said to have used as a source. Only recently, the historian Franz-Josef Schmale was able to prove Berthold's dual authorship.

The ostensibly opposing political positions of the two versions remain problematic. These are z. B. clearly based on the description of the papal election of the year 1061. In the first, apparently loyal and neutral version, Berthold accepts the election of Cadalus of Parma , i.e. Heinrich's candidate, and names the candidate of the reform movement, Anselm von Lucca , a usurper :

After Pope Nicholas died in Rome, the Romans sent King Henry a crown and other gifts and called him about choosing a Pope. He called all the bishops of Italy to himself and held a general court day in Basel, put on the crown sent by the Romans and was declared a patrician of the Romans. Afterwards, with the unanimous council of all, he elected the Bishop of Parma as the highest bishop of the Roman Church. In the meantime, Bishop Anselm of Lucca usurped the Apostolic See with the benefit of certain Romans.

The second version, on the other hand, denounces the Cadalus election as a simony and takes a stand for Anselm:

After Pope Nicholas died in Rome on July 27, the Romans sent a crown and other gifts to King Henry and turned to him about choosing a pope. He held a general council in Basel, put on the crown sent by the Romans and was declared a patrician of the Romans. After the unanimous advice of all and through the election of the ambassadors of the Romans, Cadalus, Bishop of Parma, was elected Pope in a simonist manner on October 26th and named Honorius after, as it is said, many bribes had been given; he should never hold the papacy. However, 27 days before its elevation, the Bishop of Lucca with the name Anselm was ordained 157th Pope by the Normans and some Romans and named Alexander; he ruled for twelve years.

The opposing political positions of the two versions are explained by the time of writing and the situation of the Reichenau monastery . Berthold will have updated the chronicle in the first version with annual entries, i.e. even before the far-reaching reforms of Gregory VII began. Berthold, whose Reichenau monastery was under royal patronage at that time as an imperial monastery , seems to represent Heinrich's position. Nevertheless, in this version he already mentions the investiture of Bishop Ricimann of Bamberg in 1065, probably as a result of the reform efforts of the German popes at the time of Henry III . But this already makes it clear that Berthold's position is not so loyal to the king. This becomes clear in the second, later revised version: Henry IV had in the meantime forced two abbots , Meginward and Ruotbert, on the monastery, according to the monastery Simonists. Under the subsequent abbot, Ekkehard , who was re-elected by the convent and loyal to the pope , the monastery changed parties from king to pope - and also to the anti-king Rudolf von Rheinfelden . A change that Berthold obviously supported.

literature

Edition

  • Ian Stuart Robinson (Ed.): Bertholds and Bernolds Chronicles . Latin and German. Translated by Helga Robinson-Hammerstein, Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002. (Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages; Freiherr vom Stein commemorative edition; 14). ISBN 3-534-01428-6 . Contains u. a .: Ian Stuart Robinson: The Berthold Chronicle: Introduction, pp. 1–10; Bertholdchronik (first version), pp. 19–33; Bertholdchronik (Second Version), pp. 35–277. (Review)
  • Ian Stuart Robinson (Ed.): The chronicles of Berthold von Reichenau and Bernolds von Konstanz 1054-1100. (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. Nova Series; XIV), Hannover 2003, ISBN 3-7752-0214-5 ( digital edition ).

Secondary literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Quoted from Bertholds and Bernolds Chroniken , p. 29.
  2. ↑ Quoted from Bertholds and Bernolds Chroniken , pp. 51–53.
personal data
SURNAME Berthold von Reichenau
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH around 1030
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1088