Gerhard of Steterburg

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Gerhard von Steterburg (Latinized: Gerardus Stederburgensis , † September 21, 1209 ) was a chronicler and from 1164 to 1209 provost of the canonical monastery of Steterburg in today's Salzgitter-Thiede , Lower Saxony .

Life

Steterburg Abbey around 1654/1658, engraving by Matthäus Merian

Gerhard was a relative of the provost Gerhard von Riechenberg († 1150), who initially held the post of provost in the Riechenberg monastery near Goslar, and from 1142 in Steterburg. Gerhard von Riechenberg brought Steterburg back to life after a period of decline. Both persons are also listed as Gerhard I and Gerhard II in the Steterburger Proöpste series.

Gerhard II. Had been raised by his uncle Gerhard I from the age of seven and after his death worked for five years as a cellar in Riechenberg.

After Gerhard I's death, Steterburg fell again. On December 21, 1163 Gerhard II was elected provost and installed in January 1164 by the Bishop of Hildesheim . In Steterburg he made the buildings and enforced the rules of the Augustinian order . The cloister and the veiling of the nuns were introduced, personal property abolished. From 1165 he had a new collegiate church built. He was able to protect the monastery goods against attacks and was able to gain further goods for the monastery.

The monastery suffered severe damage after the Peace of Venice in 1177 , through the war of Frederick Barbarossa against Henry the Lion . The same afflictions were repeated in 1190 and 1191. As a diplomat, Gerhard probably belonged to the embassy that Heinrich the Lion gave to Heinrich VI in 1191 . and was the mediator of the final peace in 1194.

There are records of these events, some of which were written by Gerhard himself and some of which were arranged by him. These annals , together with copies of documents and excerpts from other chronicles , were compiled in a 14th-century copial book of the monastery . Gerhard reports in detail almost exclusively on the history of the property of the monastery. The annals are also one of the most informative sources about the fate of Henry the Lion after 1177, at the time of the beginning conflict with Friedrich Barbarossa, albeit in a one-sidedly welf-friendly representation. The hardship that the imperial armies brought over the country is vividly described.

Gerhard died on September 21, 1209. His records end with the Duke's death on August 6, 1195.

Works

Gerhard is the author of the Steterburger Annalen ( Annales Stederburgenses ), a chronicle of the monastery from the foundation in 1000 to the death of Henry the Lion in 1195 and the biographer of his uncle Gerhard von Riechenberg. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz used the Steterburg annals for his work Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium (1707–1711), a collection of sources on the history of Guelph and Lower Saxony.

expenditure

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Wattenbach:  von Steterburg, Gerhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 758 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gerhard of Steterburg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerardus Stederburgensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chronicler and provost
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1209