Pöhlder annals

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Pöhlder Annalen or Annales Palidenses is the name of a medieval historical source written in Latin from the second half of the 12th century. The chosen name annals is a bit misleading, since it is actually a chronicle .

origin

It is named after the place of origin, the Pöhlde monastery in Pöhlde am Harz. The Pöhlder Annalen exist in two manuscripts, of which the Oxford signature Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud. Misc. 633 is the original manuscript, while the Göttingen manuscript Göttingen, Universitätsbibliothek, 5a is a copy from the 17th century.

The monk Theodor ( Theodorus monachus ) is generally named as the author . The following entry can be found: “Hucusque Idatius episcopus; deinde Theodorus describit annales “. ("Up to this point Bishop Idatius; after that Theodor writes the annals.") There is, however, an approach according to which the passage mentioned is a transcription error from the work of Siegbert von Gembloux. Thus the author would be unknown.

content

The content of the Pöhlder annals consists of an extensive world chronicle as well as a list of the emperors and popes since the birth of Christ. The world chronicle, typically medieval, consists of Christian salvation history and secular historiography up to the last quarter of the 12th century.

The chronicle ends with a succinct entry on the year 1182: "Anno 1182. circa festum sancti Iacobi dux in exilium abiit." (In 1182 around the feast of St. Jacob (July 25th), Duke Henry the Lion went into exile) . The following list shows all the popes and emperors since the birth of Christ, with fairly regular entries, up to Emperor Frederick II in 1220. This was followed by only a few, sporadic entries up to the year 1421, which, however, only concern the Pöhlde Monastery or the Duchy of Braunschweig.

In comparison with other Saxon annals and chronicles from the same time of origin, similarities immediately catch the eye. The Pöhlder Annals are very similar to the Magdeburg Annals and the Lüneburg Chronicle. This similarity is due to the fact that the works mentioned have used the same sources, such as Ekkehard von Aura , Siegbert von Gembloux and the Hildesheimer Annalen . This makes it possible to reconstruct similar texts that are only preserved in fragments - for example, the Pöhlder annals were used by the historian Paul Scheffer-Boichorst in the 1870s to restore the Paderborn annals.

Another conclusion that can be drawn from the content is that the entries were not made promptly, but at large intervals. The conquest of the city of Crema by Frederick I Barbarossa in 1159 is mentioned, although it did not take place until 1160, the death of the antipope Viktor IV is mentioned in 1160, although he did not die until 1164.

meaning

The Pöhlder annals are an important source for the (Lower) Saxon history of the 12th century, whereby the very precise information about Henry the Lion deserves special attention. The imperial sagas that are recorded here are also of great importance. The legend of the Faithful Wives of Weinsberg and the legend of the chaste marriage of Emperor Heinrich II and his wife Kunigunde can be found in the annals. The nickname of King Heinrich I , "the bird", is also mentioned here for the first time.

Manuscripts

  • The original manuscript is in Oxford , Bodleian Library , call number Laud. Misc. 633, Saec. XVII. It was only discovered by Georg Waitz in 1877 . She had previously been suspected in Cambridge, but was not found there.
  • A copy is in Göttingen , University Library, Saec. XVII. This is relatively exact and was already known.

Editions

Latin copy

German translation

literature

  • Hans-Werner Goetz : "Construction of the past". Awareness of history and “fictionality” in the high medieval chronicle, illustrated using the example of the Annales Palidenses . In: Johannes Laudage (Ed.): Of facts and fictions. Medieval histories and their critical appraisal . Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2003. pp. 225-257.
  • Hermann Herre: Contributions to the criticism of the Pöhlder Chronicle . In: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft , Vol. 11 (1894) pp. 46–62.
  • Julius Voigt: The Pöhlder Chronicle and the imperial sagas contained in it , dissertation (1879).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ report