Amatus of Montecassino

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Amatus von Montecassino , also Amatus Casinensis (* around 1010 in Salerno ; † on March 1 after 1078, probably in Montecassino) was a chronicler and monk in the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino .

Life and writings

Between 1047 and 1058 he was Bishop of Capaccio ( Paestum ). In the first years of the abbot Desiderius he renounced his office as a bishop and entered the monastery as a monk. In 1061 he signed a certificate as a witness in the first place after Desiderius, no further information is known about his position in the monastery.

His Historia Normannorum (“History of the Normans”) in eight books was written in Latin, but has only survived in an old French translation from the 14th century. In addition to Wilhelm of Apulia and Gaufredus Malaterra , his Ystoire de li Normant is one of the main historiographical sources for the development of the Norman state in southern Italy. The chronicle covers the period from 1016 to 1078, so it is assumed that it was made around 1080. The work is dedicated to Desiderius, the main character is Robert Guiskard .

The chronicle of Montecassino and Petrus Diaconus in De viris illustribus reports on his literary and historiographical activities . In the de laude , which has not survived , he celebrated the deacon Hildebrand, De gestis apostolorum is dedicated to Gregory VII . Three books about St. Peter and the fourth book of the part about the apostle Paul are preserved from this poem .

Editions

  • Amato di Monte-Cassino. Storia dei Normanni , ed. Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis (Fonti per la Storia d'Italia, 76), Roma 1935
  • Amato di Montecassino. Storia dei Normanni , ed.Giuseppe Sperduti, Cassino 1999.
  • The History of the Normans by Amatus of Montecassino , Translated by Prescott N. Dunbar. Revised by Graham A. Loud (Boydell) 2004 ISBN 1-84383-078-7
  • Il poema di Amato su S. Pietro Apostolo , ed. Anselmo Lentini (Miscellanea Cassinense, 30–31), 1958–59
  • Ystoire de li Normant . Lestringant, Rouen 1892 ( digitized version )

literature

  • Max Manitius : History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages . Third part (volume) with Paul Lehmann's participation: From the outbreak of the church dispute to the end of the twelfth century . Munich 1931, pp. 449–454 ( HdAW 9.2.3)
  • Anselmo Lentini:  Amato di Montecassino. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 2:  Albicante – Ammannati. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960.
  • Faustino Avagliano: Amatus of Montecassino . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 513.
  • Wilhelm Smidt, The "Historia Normannorum" by Amatus , in: Studi Gregoriani 3, 1948, p. 173-231

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Amatus of Montecassino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amatus Casinensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Longobard historian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1010
PLACE OF BIRTH Salerno
DATE OF DEATH March 1 after 1078
Place of death unsure: Montecassino