Theodoricus Monachus

Theodoricus Monachus , Theodericus, Theodricus was a spiritual chronicler in the second half of the 12th century. His year of birth, place of birth, year of death and place of death are unknown.

Theodoricus Monachus wrote the Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium , a short Norwegian story in Latin .

Nothing certain is known about his person. He was probably given the name "denórir" when he was baptized, which then became "Tore". According to the custom of his time, he later Latinized his name in "Theodoricus", which should also refer to the Gothic king Theoderik .

In the monastery of St. Victor you can find the name Theodoricus both for the bishop Tore Guðmundsson of Hamar and for the archbishop Tore Gudmundsson , who studied there. It is believed that one of the two was the author of the history. Some of the works that Theodoricus quotes were in St. Victor in the 12th century. Theodoricus also mentions a connection to Trøndelag, which would speak for the archbishop. The historian Johnsen saw strong indications to identify Theodoricus with the archbishop, even if a great uncertainty remains.

The nickname "monachus" suggests that he was actually a monk. Ludvig Daae said that he had been to Munkholmen Monastery . But it is also possible that the epithet was only added by later copyists, so that this is not certain either.

The Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium deals with the Norwegian kings from Harald Hårfagre to Sigurd Jórsalafari , i.e. the period from the end of the 9th century to 1130. That Theodoricus ends there is due to the fact that he did not want to write about the turmoil of the beginning civil war . as he himself explains.

The chronicle is dedicated to Archbishop Øystein Erlendsson , which indicates that it was written before 1180. The earliest writing time is the slaughter of Níkulás Sigurðsson in Nidaros by Øystein Møyla in 1176. Theodoricus also writes that he was the first to write a historical work in Norway. He quotes a Catalogus regum Norwagiensium , apparently an annalistic list that was kept at the bishopric and by the bodyguard. The catalog has not been preserved.

In the introduction, Theodoricus writes that he trusts the Icelandic traditions, as they have preserved the memory of the ancient kings in many poems. This proves that even before Snorri Sturluson there was a long tradition of using the poems of the Icelandic skalds as a source . But he certainly also used oral traditions. However, it is not certain that he was also familiar with contemporary Icelandic texts. In his history he often refers to the Bible , to scholars and poets of earlier times. He knew Plato , Chrysipp , Pliny , Lucanus , Horace , Ovid , Virgil , the Fathers of the Church , such as Origines , Euseb , Hieronymus and Augustine, and the medieval authors Boëthius , Paulus Deacon , Isidore of Seville , Bede , Remigius of Auxerre , Hugo of St. Victor and Sigbert von Gembloux . This means that the archbishop's library in Nidaros was well stocked and there were good relations with France, especially with the monastery of St. Victor.

Theodoricus stood in many ways in a double tradition: the tradition of the homeland and the Latin tradition. These place different demands on the author, and it seems that Theodoricus was well aware of this. Because while he constantly quotes from the Latin tradition, he does not use any direct quotations in the text from the poems of the skalds that he uses. The Latin quotations and rambling digressions make up almost a quarter of the entire text. It is a mixture of historiography , hagiography , secular history and church history . Nor does he skimp on moral evaluations. The princes' desire and ambition are, in his opinion, the cause of all misfortunes in Norwegian history. In doing so, he takes Augustine's ideas about the rex justus as a yardstick. The intention is that it is a propaganda document for the Norwegian Church.

Work editions

• An account of the ancient history of the Norwegian kings. Theodoricus Monachus , arr. by Peter G. Foote, (Viking Society for Northern Research text series, Vol. 11), London 1998.

literature

• Sverre Bagge: Theodoricus Monachus. Clerical historiography in twelfth-century Norway. In: Scandinavian Journal of History 14 (1989), pp. 113-133.
• Sverre Bagge: Theodoricus Monachus. The Kingdom of Norway and the History of Salvation. In: Ildar H. Garipzanov (Ed.): Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery Early History Writing in Northern, East-Central, and Eastern Europe (c.1070-1200), (Medieval texts and cultures of Northern Europe, Vol. 26), Turnhout 2011, pp. 71-90.
• Arne Odd Johnsen: Om Theodoricus og hans Historia de antiquitate regum norwagiensium . Det Norske Videnskaps Akademi. Treatises II. 1939, No. 3.
• Egil Kraggerud: Hellig-Olavs dåp hos Theodoricus Monachus and i hans kilder. In: Collegium medievale 25 (2012), pp. 104–123.
• Gudrun Lange: The beginnings of Icelandic-Norwegian historiography . Studia Islandica 47. Reykjavík 1989.
• Gudrun Lange: Article “Theodricus monachus.” In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Vol. 30. De Gruyter 2005. P. 440–442. ISBN 3-11-018385-4 .
• Merete Røskaft: Article “Theodoricus monachus” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on November 11, 2010.

Individual evidence

The article is essentially taken from the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Any other information is specifically identified.

1. ↑ "Quidquid in hac acie gessisti, Roma, tacebo." A quote from Lucanus.
2. ↑ Lange (1989) p. 20.
3. ↑ Lange (2005) p. 441.
4. ↑ Lange (2005) p. 440.
5. ↑ Johnsen pp. 70, 83.