David Scholasticus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David , sometimes nicknamed Scholasticus , was a scholar, chaplain, and historian in the early 12th century.

David was an Iroschotte (that is, Irishman , Celt ), who before 1110 held the office of cathedral choirmaster in Würzburg . He seems to have had a fairly extensive education. Emperor Heinrich V became aware of David and appointed him his court chaplain . He can still be proven several times in the vicinity of the emperor. David is said to have served as Bishop of Bangor from 1120 to 1139 , but this is sometimes doubted in recent research.

When Henry V made an expedition to Italy in 1110/1111 , David accompanied him. On behalf of the emperor, David wrote an official account of the Rome train in three books. The history is now lost, but it has been used by some subsequent historians. Ekkehard von Aura used it for his description of Heinrich's move to Rome and describes David's style as easy to understand. The author of the anonymous imperial chronicle for Henry V, William of Malmesbury and Ordericus Vitalis also used David's work. William of Malmesbury partly criticized David's report, which had presented Henry V in a particularly positive light. This statement fits a quasi-official historical work, which should offer posterity a representation from an imperial point of view. The easily understandable style of the historical work also served to ensure that it was widely distributed. Still, David's story of the Romzug seems to have been a valuable source.

David was assumed to have considerable political influence in older research, as he was considered the author of an imperial manifesto and other official documents. However, this cannot be proven with certainty. The theory that David could possibly be the author of the anonymous imperial chronicle of Henry V (Review C of the Weltchronik Ekkehard) did not prevail. What is undisputed, however, is that he played an important role as an imperial publicist in the investiture dispute .

literature

  • Friedrich Hausmann: Imperial Chancellery and court orchestra under Heinrich V and Conrad III . Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1956, pp. 83ff. and p. 310ff.
  • Gerold Meyer von Knonau : Yearbooks of the German Empire under Heinrich IV. And Heinrich V. Volume 6. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, especially p. 124f. and p. 370f.
  • Tilman Struve : David No. 12. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 3 (1986), Col. 606f. [with further literature]

Remarks

  1. Ekkehard, Chronicon 1110.
  2. See also Mary Stroll: Calixtus the Second, 1119-1124 . Leiden 2004, p. 362.
  3. Cf. in summary Tilman Struve: David No. 12. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters . Volume 3 (1986), Col. 606f.