Ekkehard from Aura
Ekkehard von Aura , Latinized Ekkehardus Uraugiensis , (* no later than 1085; † on February 20 after 1125) was a German chronicler of the Middle Ages. He was the first abbot of the Aura Monastery and was best known as the author of a world chronicle that goes back to 1125.
Much information about Ekkehard's life is known from his chronicle, into which he incorporated information about himself. Ekkehard is mentioned in more detail in the notes of the Würzburg abbot Johannes Trithemius , but his statements are considered uncertain because of his generally low factual loyalty.
Live and act
Ekkehard's date of birth is unknown, but his participation in the 1101 crusade suggests that he was born no later than 1085 (rather earlier). The strikingly detailed account of the death of Count Sigehart von Burghausen could be due to the fact that Ekkehard also came from the von Burghausen family.
Ekkehard von Aura entered the Aura monastery between 1097 and 1108 as a Benedictine monk , which Bishop Otto von Bamberg founded in 1108 on the Franconian Saale near Kissingen , and in 1113 he became the monastery’s first abbot.
As a chronicler, he updated the world chronicle ( Chronica Ekehardi Uraugiensis ) of Frutolf von Michelsberg , which he added to German history from 1098 to 1125, i.e. the reign of Emperor Heinrich V, using the lost work of David Scholasticus . Ekkehard reworked it five times over the years. In doing so, he leaned sometimes towards the imperial and sometimes the papal side, as were his changing views.
Through his participation in the crusade of 1101 , he provided important source material for the First Crusade in his Hierosolymita .
Ekkehard's date of death (February 20) is known from necrologies that recorded the day and month of death, but no years of death. Therefore, Ekkehard's year of death can only be narrowed down. As a result, he died in 1126 at the earliest, since in 1125 he still reports in his chronicle of the deaths of Emperor Heinrich V (23 May 1125) and Bishop Udalrich II . The first reliable evidence of an Aura abbot according to Ekkehard comes from the year 1144, so that Ekkehard died in that year at the latest. However, the sudden end of the chronicle in 1125 indicates that Ekkehard died a short time later, especially since Otto von Bamberg's missionary trip, which Ekkehard would most likely not have left unmentioned, is missing in the chronicle. The chronicle closes with the mention of a devastating epidemic, of which Ekkehard, who was buried on the monastery grounds, was probably also the victim.
Sources (editions)
- Georg Waitz (ed.): Ekkehardi Uraugensis chronica , in: Georg Heinrich Pertz u. a. (Ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 6: Chronica et annales aevi Salici. Hanover 1844, pp. 1–267 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
- Franz-Josef Schmale , Irene Schmale-Ott (Hrsg.): Frutolfs and Ekkehards chronicles and the anonymous imperial chronicle. = Frutolfi et Ekkehardi Chronica necnon Anonymi Chronica imperatorum (= Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Vol. 15). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1972, ISBN 3-534-01429-4 .
- The Chronicle of Ekkehard of Aura . Translated from the edition of the Monumenta Germaniae by W. Pflüger. Leipzig 1879 ( e-copy ).
literature
- Wilhelm Altmann : Ekkehard of Aura (Uraugiensis) . In: Realencyklopadie for Protestant Theology and Church (RE). 3. Edition. Volume 5, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1898, pp. 277-278.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Ekkehard of Aura (Uraugiensis). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1484.
- Harry Breßlau : The chronicles of Frutolf von Bamberg and Ekkehard von Aura. In: New archive of the society for older German history . Vol. 21, 1895, pp. 197-234 ( digitized version ).
- Gustav Buchholz : Ekkehard of Aura. Investigations into the history of the German Empire under Heinrich IV. And Heinrich V. Part 1. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888.
- Werner Eberth (Ed.): Ekkehard von Aura . Theresienbrunnen-Verlag, Bad Kissingen 2005.
- Heinrich Hagenmeyer (ed.): Hierosolymita seu libellus de oppressione, liberatione ac restauratione sanctae Hierosomitanae ecclesiae. Based on the text of the Monumenta Germaniae historica with explanations and an appendix. Fues assortment store, Tübingen 1877.
- Joachim Leuschner : Ekkehard from Aura. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 431 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Wilhelm Pflüger (translator): The Chronicle of Ekkehard von Aura (= The historians of the German prehistory. 2nd complete edition, vol. 51 = The historians of the German prehistory. Twelfth Century. Vol. 3). After the edition of the Monumenta Germaniae. Dyksche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1893 ( digitized version ).
- Franz-Josef Schmale : Ekkehard of Aura. In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon. Volume 11: Supplements and corrections. 2nd, completely revised edition. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2004, ISBN 3-11-016832-4 , Sp. 400.
- Franz-Josef Schmale: Ekkehard von Aura, historian . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 3, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , Sp. 1765 f.
- Wilhelm Wattenbach : Ekkehart, chronicler . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 793.
Web links
- Ekkehardus Uraugiensis in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
- Extract from the chronicle
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Ekkehard from Aura |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ekkehardus urugiensis |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Benedictine monk and chronicler |
DATE OF BIRTH | before 1085 |
DATE OF DEATH | February 20 after 1125 |