Thietmar of Merseburg
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Thietmar (Dietmar or Dithmar) of Merseburg (July 25, 975 - December 1, 1018), was bishop of Merseburg and a German chronicler.
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[edit] Life
Thietmar was a son of Siegfried, count of Walbeck, and was related to the family of the emperor Otto the Great. He was educated at Quedlinburg and at Magdeburg, became provost of Walbeck Abbey in 1002 and bishop of Merseburg seven years later. He took some part in the political events of the time; in 994 he was a hostage in the hands of the Northmen, and he was not unfamiliar with the actualities of war.
He died on December 1, 1018, and was buried in Merseburg cathedral.
[edit] Thietmar's Chronicle
Between 1012 and 1018 Thietmar wrote a Chronicon, or Chronicle, in eight books, which deals with the period between 908 and 1018. For the earlier part he used Widukind of Corvey's Res gestae Saxonicae, the Annales Quedlinburgenses and other sources; the latter part is the result of personal knowledge.
The Latin style and the composition are not of a high standard, largely because, as the original manuscript reveals, Thietmar continued to make amendments and insertions to the text after it was completed. Nor does he always discriminate between important and unimportant events.
The chronicle is nevertheless an excellent authority for the history of Saxony during the reigns of the emperors Otto III and Henry II. No kind of information is excluded, but the fullest details refer to the bishopric of Merseburg, and to the wars against the Wends and the Poles.
The original manuscript of the work was moved in 1570 to Dresden. When the city was destroyed by bombing during World War II the manuscript was severely damaged, and only a few folios remain intact. Fortunately a complete facsimile edition had been published by L Schmidt (Dresden, 1905).
[edit] Editions
Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi Chronicon:
- Lappenberg, J M. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, vol. III (Hanover, 1889)
- Wattenbach, W, Leipzig, 1892
- Holtzmann, R (MG. SS. rer. Germ. NS. 9); Holtzmann also published a translation in modern German in 1938
- Trillmich, W. Translation into modern German. Darmstadt 1957
[edit] External links
- (German) Thietmar of Merseburg in the German National Library catalogue
- (German) Digital edition of the Chronicle, ed. Arno Mentzel-Reuters and Gerhard Schmitz. München : MGH 2002 (full text of the facsimile of the Dresden MS and Holtzmann's edition)
- "Dithmar". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi chronicon - notae Germano sermone scripta Latino
- Vita Operaque by Migne Patorlogia Latina
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
