Table Of ContentManchester Medieval Sources Series
series advisers Rosemary Horrox and Janet L. Nelson
This series aims to meet a growing need amongst students and teachers of medieval
history for translations of key sources that are directly usable in students’ own work.
It provides texts central to medieval studies courses and focuses upon the diverse
cultural and social as well as political conditions that affected the functioning of all
levels of medieval society. The basic premise of the series is that translations must be
accompanied by sufficient introductory and explanatory material, and each volume,
therefore, includes a comprehensive guide to the sources’ interpretation, including
discussion of critical linguistic problems and an assessment of the most recent research
on the topics being covered.
already published in the series
Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher The world of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish
reconquest
J. A. Boyle Genghis Khan: history of the world conqueror
Trevor Dean The towns of Italy in the later Middle Ages
John Edwards The Jews in Western Europe 1400–1600
Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding Late Merovingian France
P. J. P. Goldberg Women in England c. 1275–1525
Janet Hamilton and Bernard Hamilton Christian dualist heresies in the Byzantine world
c. 650–c. 1450
Rosemary Horrox The Black Death
Graham A. Loud and Thomas Wiedemann The history of the tyrants of Sicily by ‘Hugo
Falcandus’ 1153–69
R. N. Swanson Catholic England: faith, religion and observance before the Reformation
Elizabeth van Houts The Normans in Europe
Jennifer Ward Women of the English nobility and gentry 1066–1500
OTTONIAN GERMANY
Warner_Prelim 1 22/2/01, 8:44 am
Medieval Sourcesonline
series advisers Rosemary Horrox and Janet L. Nelson
Complementing the printed editions of the Medieval Sources series, Manchester
University Press has developed a web-based learning resource which is now available
on a yearly subscription basis.
Medieval Sourcesonline brings quality history source material to the desktops of students
and teachers and allows them open and unrestricted access throughout the entire
college or university campus. Designed to be fully integrated with academic courses,
this is a one-stop answer for many medieval history students, academics and researchers
keeping thousands of pages of source material ‘in print’ over the Internet for research
and teaching.
titles available now at Medieval Sourcesonline include
John Edwards The Jews in Western Europe 1400–1600
Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding Late Merovingian France: History and
hagiography 640–720
Chris Given-Wilson Chronicles of the Revolution 1397–1400: The reign of Richard II
P. J. P. Goldberg Women in England c. 1275–1525
Janet Hamilton and Bernard Hamilton Christian dualist heresies in the Byzantine world
c.650–c. 1450
Rosemary Horrox The Black Death
Graham A. Loud and Thomas Wiedemann The history of the tyrants of Sicily by ‘Hugo
Falcandus’ 1153–69
Janet L. Nelson The Annals of St-Bertin: Ninth-century histories, volume I
Timothy Reuter The Annals of Fulda: Ninth-century histories, volume II
R. N. Swanson Catholic England: faith, religion and observance before the Reformation
Jennifer Ward Women of the English nobility and gentry 1066–1500
visit the site at www.medievalsources.co.uk for further information and subscription
prices
Warner_Prelim 2 22/2/01, 8:44 am
OTTONIAN GERMANY
THE CHRONICON
OF THIETMAR OF MERSEBURG
translated and annotated by David A. Warner
Manchester University Press
Manchester and New York
distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave
Warner_Prelim 3 22/2/01, 8:44 am
Copyright © David Warner 2001
The right of David Warner to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA, UK
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
93-50558
ISBN 0 7190 4925 3 hardback
ISBN 0 7190 4926 1 paperback
First published 2001
07 06 05 04 03 02 01 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does
not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
Typeset in Monotype Bell
by Koinonia Ltd, Manchester
Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Warner_Prelim 4 22/2/01, 8:44 am
CONTENTS
Series editor’s foreword page vii
Abbreviations ix
Family trees xiii
Maps xix
Introduction: Thietmar, bishop and chronicler 1
The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg
Book one 66
Book two 89
Book three 126
Book four 149
Book five 205
Book six 235
Book seven 306
Book eight 361
Bibliography 386
Index 401
Warner_Prelim 5 22/2/01, 8:44 am
vi ABBREVIATIONS
Warner_Prelim 6 22/2/01, 8:44 am
ABBREVIATIONS vii
SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD
Shortage of suitably rich and reflective material often makes it difficult to
access the mentalities of an earlier medieval society. But in the case of
Ottonian Germany, Thietmar of Merseburg, an idiosyncratic yet wide-ranging
and highly conscientious chronicler, offers a wealth of entrées and insights
into his world but also – belying the notion that introspection comes only with
the long twelfth century – himself. David Warner’s fine translation of Thietmar’s
stylish Latin now opens the entrées wide to new audiences. His substantial
Introduction sets the work in social and cultural as well as political contexts,
making sense of authorial concerns that blended the public with the private, the
genuinely altruistic with the intensely self- and kin-centred. The Manchester
Medieval Sources Series has never confused accessibility with dumbing down:
readers need the whole text. The Press has been admirably undeterred by the
scale of Thietmar’s work, since in this case scale is of the essence. Thanks not
only to Thietmar’s literary talents and the range and variegated interest of his
themes, but also to David Warner’s expertise as translator and historian, this
large book will surely get and keep readers’ rapt attention. It reveals, like no
other work of its place and period, the textures and contexts of the Ottonians’
regime, as the activities of the German rulers and their contemporaries, and
their dealings with Slav and Scandinavian neighbours, enable Thietmar, and
his readers, to make their own analyses and comparisons. With this volume,
Germany, hitherto insufficiently represented in the series’ European pano-
rama, takes its full place. Thietmar’s perspective, personal as it is, also
embraces, and is representative of, Europe’s early eleventh-century culture.
Janet L. Nelson
King’s College London
Warner_Prelim 7 22/2/01, 8:44 am
viii ABBREVIATIONS
Warner_Prelim 8 22/2/01, 8:44 am
ABBREVIATIONS ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Adalbold Waitz, G. (ed.) 1841
Adam Schmeidler, B. (ed.) 1917
Ado Dubois, J. and Renaud, G. (eds) 1984
AE Pertz, G. (ed.) 1839a
AfD Archiv für Diplomatik
AfKg Archiv für Kulturgeschichte
AH Waitz, G. (ed.) 1878
Alpert Pertz, G. (ed.) 1841a
an. anno
AQ Pertz, G. (ed.) 1839
Arnold Arnold of St Emmeram, De miraculis et memoria beati
Emmerammi libri duo, Migne, J. P. (ed.), PL, vol. 141,
cols 971–1090
Arnulf Bethmann, L. C. and Wattenback, W. (eds) 1848
AS Waitz, G. (ed.) 1844
Aug., Civ. Dei Dombart, B. and Kalb, A. (eds) 1955
Aug., Div. Quaest. Matzenbecher, A. (ed.) 1975
Aug., Enn. Ps. 63 Augustine, Ennarratio in Psalmum, vol. 63. Migne,
J. P. (ed.), PL, vol. 36, cols 759–72
Aug., Ep. Goldbacher, A. (ed.) 1904
BdLg Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte
B Mt S Zuchetti, G. (ed.) 1820
BG Böhmer, J. F. 1971
BM Böhmer, J. F. 1950
BO Böhmer, J. F. 1967
BU Böhmer, J. F. 1956
Bon., Ep Tangle, M. (ed.) 1955
Brun, Ep Karwasin’ska, J. (ed.) 1969
Brun, VA Karwasin’ska, J. (ed.) 1973
Carm. Cant. Strecker, K. (ed.) 1926
CCL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina
Const. Weiland, L. (ed.) 1893
Cont. Reg. Kurze, F. (ed.) 1890
CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
D, DD Diploma, Diplomata
DA Deutsches Archiv
DBI Dizionario biografico degli Italiani
D H I Sickel, T. (ed.) 1879–84
D H II Bresslau, H. et al. (eds) 1957
DHP Levillain, P. (ed.) 1994
DMA Dictionary of the Middle Ages
Warner_Prelim 9 22/2/01, 8:44 am
