Quedlinburg Annals

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Sheet 31 verso from the Quedlinburg Annals

The Quedlinburger Annalen or Annales Quedlinburgenses are a year-by-year history account from the 11th century, which are considered an outstanding source for the time of the Ottonians and have only survived in a single copy from the 16th century. This Dresden composite manuscript goes back to the Wittenberg professor Petrus Albinus (1543–1598). The first important editing of the work was carried out by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1710 as part of the "Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium" and was published as a print. The most important edition to date was published in 1839 by Georg Heinrich Pertz in the third volume of the Scriptores series of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH). Since then the edition has been referred to as “Annales Quedlinburgenses”. The work used to be called "Chronicon Saxonicum Quedilnburg" .

Place of origin

There is no doubt that the Quedlinburg Annals were written in the Quedlinburg women's monastery , a memorial center for the Liudolfing ruling family , the personal environment of the emperors and other important decision-makers of the 11th century. After the death of Heinrich I in 936, his son Otto I expanded the Palatinate to include a women's foundation, which his mother, Queen Mathilde , headed for 30 years. This served to secure the memory of the dead at the grave of King Heinrich I, who was buried there. The women's monastery, reserved for the daughters of the higher nobility, rose to become one of the most important spiritual centers of the Ottonian era.

Completion time

The Annales Quedlinburgenses deal with the creation of the world up to the year 1025. Up to and including the year 1002, the Annales are largely dependent on verifiable templates. From 1008 onwards, the chronicler writes the text independently up to his own present. The most difficult sources and also derived texts show that the annals may originally have reached back to the year 1030. In the annual reports for 1029 and 1030, fragments of the lost part of Quedlinburgense's annals are preserved in other sources, including the Imperial Chronicle of the Annalista Saxo , the Magdeburg Annals and the Magdeburg Schöppenchronik .

Gaps in the text

The Dresden collective script, also known as the Dresden Codex, the only manuscript from the 16th century that has come down to us, contains several gaps in the text. However, the relatively extensive use of the Quedlinburg annals in the Middle Ages creates a detailed collection of material. These templates provide the basis for a reconstruction of the considerable text gaps from 873 to 909 and 961 to 983. In the foreground are both the heaviest sources and the daughter sources of these periods, including the chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg , the Chronicon Wirziburgense, the Halberstädter Bischofschronik , the Annalista Saxo , the Annales Magdeburgenses and the Magdeburg Schöppenchronik .

content

The Annales Quedlinburgenses consist of two parts: the world chronicle , which is based on the Annales Hersfeldenses and Annales Hildesheimenses maiores , and the analytical conclusion. The entries from 702 onwards are written in annals , from 913 onwards there are separate formulations and from 984 onwards the presentation is independent of other known sources.

The narrative focuses on four points:

  1. Biblical origin, expansion and success of the Christian faith,
  2. Descent and history of the Saxon family,
  3. Family history of the Liudolfinger and
  4. Local history of Quedlinburg.

In the section of the world chronicle there are many fabulous elements and some gross inaccuracies, for example that for the Hun king Attila († 453) 532 is given as the year of death. Theuderich I's accession to power is also mentioned for this year, but it already took place in 511. It is similar with the more detailed Saxon heroes and origins stories.

From the 10th century, the family history of the Ottonians is in the foreground. The reports of this time refer mainly to the women of the Ottonian rule: Queen Mathilde , Empress Adelheid , Empress Theophanu and the two Quedlinburg abbesses Mathilde and Adelheid. The report on the consecration of the Quedlinburg church building in 1021 is, as it were, a highlight of the work. It was designed in great detail and contains many details relevant to the building history.

expenditure

Reviews of the latest edition

  • Ludger Körntgen : Review by: Martina Giese (Ed.): Die Annales Quedlinburgenses, Hannover 2004, in: sehepunkte 7 (2007), No. 3 [15. March 2007], ( online )
  • Review by Caspar Ehlers , in: Concilium Medii Aevi 9 (2006) pp. 1017-1019 ( online )
  • Julian Führer: Review of: Giese, Martina (Ed.): The Annales Quedlinburgenses. Hanover 2004, in: H-Soz-Kult , August 2, 2005, ( online )
  • Hartmut Hoffmann : To the Annales Quedlinburgenses, in: Sachsen-und-Anhalt. Yearbook of the historical commission for Saxony-Anhalt 27 (2015), pp. 139–178.

Translations and research literature

  • The Quedlinburg yearbooks. Translated from the edition of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica by Eduard Winkelmann , revised by Wilhelm Wattenbach (= The Historians of Prehistoric Germany. 2nd Complete Edition, Volume 36). 2nd edition, Dyk, Leipzig 1891 ( digitized version ).
  • Robert Holtzmann : The Quedlinburger Annals . In: Saxony and Anhalt. Yearbook of the historical commission Saxony-Anhalt 1 (1925), pp. 64–125.

From 1998 to 2009, Hans K. Schulze translated and commented on the entries in the Quedlinburg Annals.

  • Hans K. Schulze: An unholy alliance: what the Quedlinburg annals report about the year 1003 and what they keep silent - the Easter festival in Quedlinburg and the alliance of Henry II with the pagan Slavs . In: Quedlinburger Annalen 6 (2003), pp. 6-13.
  • Hans K. Schulze: Between Pavia, Prague and Bautzen: Italian migration and Polish wars: what the Quedlinburg annals and Thietmar von Merseburg report on the year 1004 . In: Quedlinburger Annalen 7/2004 (2004), pp. 6-16.
  • Hans K. Schulze: Polish war, pagan comrades in arms and a questionable peace: the year 1005 in the Quedlinburg annals and the chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg . In: Quedlinburger Annalen 8 (2005), pp. 6-9.
  • Hans K. Schulze: A failed campaign and a tough judge: the year 1006 in the Quedlinburg annals and the chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg . In: Quedlinburger Annalen 9 (2006), pp. 6-8.
  • Hans K. Schulze: Brun von Querfurt and the Ostmission: what the Quedlinburger Annalen and Thietmar von Merseburg report about the events of the year 1009 . In: Quedlinburger Annalen 12 (2009), pp. 6-14.

Web links

Commons : Annales Quedlinburgenses  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Entry “Annales Quedlinburgenses” at geschichtsquellen.de
  2. ↑ Martina Giese (ed.): The Annales Quedlinburgenses . (MGH) Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum In Usum Scholarum Separatim Editi. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2004, ISBN 978-3-88612-219-6 , pp. 244 .
  3. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 373-375 .
  4. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 41 .
  5. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 47-56 .
  6. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 299-300 .
  7. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 66 .
  8. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 69 .
  9. ↑ An alleged participation of Saxony in the subjugation of the Thuringian Empire is also mentioned. Today, however, this participation is considered very unlikely. see. Matthias Springer : The Saxons . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 90 ff., ISBN 3-17-016588-7 .
  10. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 101 .
  11. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 80-84 .
  12. ↑ See Martina Giese: The Annales Quedlinburgenses . 2004, p. 561-566 .