Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum
Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Medieval Latin for "Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg") is a historical treatise written between 1073 and 1076 by Adam of Bremen, who made additions (scholia) to the text until his death (possibly 1081; before 1085). It is one of the most important sources of the medieval history of
It covers the entire period known as the
The existence of the work was forgotten in the later medieval period, until it was re-discovered in the late 16th century in the library of Sorø Abbey, Denmark.
Contents
The treatise consist of the following parts:
- an introduction, addressed to bishop Liemar
- Book 1: History of the bishopric of Bremen and (after 845) Hamburg-Bremen(788–940)
- Book 2: History of the archbishopric Hamburg-Bremen (940–1045)
- Book 3: Biography of archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg(r. 1043–1072)
- Book 4: Descriptio insularum aquilonis: Geographical description of Northern Europe
- M. Adami epilogus ad Liemarum episcopum: A dedication to bishop Liemar in hexameters
The text is one of the most important sources of Northern German and Scandinavian history and geography in the
After the death of Bishop Leuderich (838–45), the see was given to Ansgar, it lost its independence, and from that time on was permanently united with the Archdiocese of Hamburg. The
Adam is also an important source of Viking Age
- "In this temple, entirely decked out in gold, the people worship the statues of three gods in such wise that the mightiest of them, Frikko have places on either side. (…) Thor, they say, presides over the air, which governs the thunder and lightning, the winds and rains, fair weather [and] crops. The other, Wodan – that is, Fury [Wodan, id est furor] – carries on war and imparts to man strength against his enemies. The third is Frikko, who bestows peace and pleasure on mortals. His likeness, too, they fashion with an immense phallus."[3]
The fourth book describes the geography of Scandinavia and the Baltic region. It mentions numerous episcopal seats and churches, including
Author
Adam is believed to have come from Meissen (Latin Misnia) in the Margravate of Meissen.[4] He was probably born before 1050 and died on 12 October of an unknown year (possibly 1081, at the latest 1085). From his chronicles it is apparent that he was familiar with a number of authors. The honorary name of Magister Adam shows that he had passed through all the stages of a higher education. It is probable that he was taught at the Magdeburger Domschule.
In 1066 or 1067 he was invited by archbishop
Sources
Adam made use of a variety of sources. He had a preference for biographies over chronicles and annals. He had access to the biographies of the missionary saints
Among documentary sources, Adam had access to letters and charters, both papal and imperial. He also saw the
Manuscript tradition
According to Schmeidler (1917), Adam created three versions of the text, in the convention of Schmeidler (1917) labelled
- (A) representing his preliminary text,
- (a) the work as given to bishop Liemar, and
- (X) which he kept for his own use and supplemented with various additions (scholia).
None of the three archetypes has been preserved. The most relevant surviving manuscripts are classified into three groups, labelled A, B and C.
The best manuscript is of group A, labelled A1 (National Library Vienna, cod. 521), dated to the first half of the 13th century. Parts of book 2, book 4 and some scholia are also preserved in a ms. dated c. 1100 (Leiden University Library, Codex Vossianus Latinus, VLQ 123).
Manuscripts in the B and C groups are derived from version X. They contain independent additions of scholia. The best ms. in group B was the so-called Codex z, written 1161/2, which was however lost in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. Some copies of this ms. are extant. The best ms. in group C, labelled C1, is at the Copenhagen Royal Library, Old Royal Collection, No. 2296 quarto (dated c. 1230).
Editions
The editio princeps was printed in 1595 after the now-lost ms. C2 by Erpold Lindenberg. It was reprinted as Scriptores rerum septentrionalium in 1609 and 1630. The fourth book was edited by Johannes Messinus in Stockholm in 1615, and by
The first critical edition, based on ms. A1, is due to Johann Martin Lappenberg, published 1846. It was included in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica series, appearing in a revised edition by Georg Waitz in 1876, and edited by Migne in 1884 (PL 146). The edition by Bernhard Schmeidler (1917, reprinted 1977, 1993) remains current.
See also
- Gesta Danorum
- Chronicon Slavorum
- Duchy of Saxony
- Vinland
- Birca
References
- ^ a b c d Remy, Arthur F.J. "Adam of Bremen." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 20 Sept. 2012
- ^ "There is a festival at Uppsala every nine years [...] The sacrifice is as follows; of every kind of male creature, nine victims are offered. By the blood of these creatures it is the custom to appease the gods. Their bodies, moreover, are hanged in a grove which is adjacent to the temple. This grove is so sacred to the people that the separate trees in it are believed to be holy because of the death or putrefaction of the sacrificial victims. There even dogs and horses hang beside human beings."[page needed]
- ^ Tschan, Francis J. (1959). History of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen [by] Adam of Bremen. Translated with an introd. and notes by Francis J. Tschan. Columbia University Press.
- ^ Gilman, Daniels, ed. (1905). The New International Encyclopedia. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. p. 101.
- ^ a b Francis J. Tschan, "Introduction", in Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen (Columbia University Press, 2002 [1959]), pp. xxix–xxx.
- Bernhard Schmeidler (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 2: Adam von Bremen, Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte (Magistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum). Hanover, 1917 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, digitalised)
- ed. Waitz (1876) Gesta Hammaburgensis Pontificum Liber I (Wikisource) (phys.msu.ru) Archived 2007-12-23 at the Wayback Machine Georg Heinrich Pertz et al. (ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 7: Chronica et gesta aevi Salici. Hanover, 1846, pp. 267–389 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 267 digitalised)
- Erpold Lindenbrog, Johann Albert Fabricius, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum septeatrionalium sumptu C. Liebezeit, 1706 (google books).
- Adam von Bremen: Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. In: Werner Trillmich, Rudolf Buchner (eds.): Quellen des 9. und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der Hamburgischen Kirche und des Reiches. (FSGA 11), 7th ed., Darmstadt 2000, ISBN 3-534-00602-X, 137–499.
- J. C. M. Laurent,Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte|Adams von Bremen Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte (1893) (wikisource)
- Linda Kalhjundi: Waiting for the Barbarians: the imagery, dynamics and functions of the Other in Northern German missionary chronicles, 11th-early 13th centuries: the Gestae hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum of Adam of Bremen, Chronica Slavorum of Helmold of Bosau, Chronica Slavorum of Arnold of Lübeck, and Chronicon Livoniae of Henry of Livonia, dissertation, Tartu, 2005 (utlib.ee)
- Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum. English translation in History of the Archbishops of Bremen, translated with an introduction and notes by Francis J. Tschan. Columbia University Press. New York (1959).
- Adami Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum. Codex Havniensis. Published in photolithography with preface by C. A. Christensen. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1948 (Ms. Copenhagen, Old Royal Collection 2296 quarto, c. 1230, Schmeidler's C1); Ludwig Bieler, review, Speculum 24.2, April 1949, 256f. Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
- Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, English translation by F.J. Tschan, Columbia University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-231-12575-5.
- Edition of the Gesta by Bernhard Schmeidler, Digitale Bibliothek der Monumenta Germaniae Historica 1917, including current edition of the Latin text
- Adam of Bremen, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, online text. German.
- Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, online text. Latin.
Notes
- ^ Adam mentions Vinland (Winland) in Chapter 39 of Book IV of his Gesta: Adam von Bremen (1917). Schmeidler, Bernhard (ed.). Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte [Hamburg's Church History] (in Latin and German). Hannover and Leipzig, Germany: Hahnsche. pp. 275–276. From pp. 275–276: "XXXVIIII. Praeterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam oceano, quae dicitur Winland, eo quid ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum optimum ferentes. Nam et fruges ibi non seminatas habundare, non fabulosa opinione, sed certa comperimus relatione Danorum. Post quam insulam, ait, terra non invenitur habitabilis in illo oceano, sed omnia, quae ultra sunt, glacie intolerabili ac caligine immensa plena sunt. Cujus rei Martianus ita meminit: Ultra Thilen, inquiens, navigatione unius diei mare concretum est. Temptavit hoc nuper experientissimus Nordmannorum princeps Haraldus. Qui latitudinem septentrionalis oceani perscrutatus navibus tandem caligantibus ante ora deficientis mundi finibus, inmane baratrum abyssi retroactis vestigiis vix salvus evasit." (39. In addition, he [i.e., Sweyn Estridsson, king of Denmark (reigned 1047–1076)] named one more island in this ocean, discovered by many, which is called "Vinland", because vines grow wild there, making the best wine. For [that] crops [that are] not sown, abound there, we learn not from fanciful opinion but from the true account of the Danes. Beyond which island, it is said, habitable land is not found in that ocean, but all [places] that are beyond, are filled with intolerable ice and boundless fog. About this subject Martianus [i.e., Martianus Capella (fl. ca. 410–420) in his De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury), Book VI, § 666] recalled: At one day's sailing beyond Thule, he says, the sea is frozen. Harald [i.e., Harald Hardrada (ca. 1015–1066), King of Norway], the most enterprising leader of the Normans, recently attempted [to go] to this place. [It was he] who – the extent of the northern ocean having been investigated by [his] ships – finally by withdrawing from the fogs before the edge at the world's end, barely escaped safely the vast abyss of Hell by reversing [his] tracks.)
Further reading
- Bartusik, Grzegorz; Biskup, Radosław; Morawiec, Jakub, eds. (2022). Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum: Origins, Reception and Significance. Studies in Medieval History and Culture. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781003223030.