Annals of Niederaltaich

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The Annals of Niederaltaich ( Annales Altahenses , or "Altaicher Annalen") is a description of history that was written at the beginning of the last quarter of the 11th century by an unknown monk in the Niederaltaich monastery in Lower Bavaria . It deals with the period between 708 and 1073. The importance of the annals for the history of the empire in the Salian period can hardly be overestimated.

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The first part of the annals offers a report on the years from 708 to 1032. The sources include the no longer preserved Hersfeld annals , the larger Hildesheim annals and the so-called Annales Alamannici .

The second part was probably written around 1075. It builds on the chronicle of Hermann von der Reichenau . The detailed description of the campaigns of Emperor Heinrich III. against Hungary and Bohemia in the years between 1041 and 1052 may be traced back to a lost source.

The author is well informed about the history of the empire in his presence, although of course the events in the southeast are the focus of his interest. He doesn’t skimp on detailed personal comments, but rather retains his rating. The policy of Henry IV is criticized; however, his opponent, Duke Otto von Northeim , does not appear in a favorable light either. This is probably due to the fact that the originally royal monastery Altaich was transferred to Otto in 1065.

It is noteworthy that the author was one of the first medieval historians to speak of a "German" empire ( regnum Teutonicum ).

Only one copy of the early modern historian Aventine from 1517 has come down to us.

Edition

Annales Altahenses maiores, ed. v. W. v. Giesebrecht / ELB Oefele, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum [4], 2nd edition. 1891.

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