Widukind of Corvey (c. 920–925after 973) was a medieval Saxon chronicler and a monk of monastery of Corvey in Germany during the middle third of the 10th century. His three-volume Res gestae Saxonicae sive annalium libri tres is an important chronicle of 10th-century Germany during the rule of the Ottonian dynasty.

Life

Widukind's date of birth is traditionally dated to around 920–925. Almost everything known about him derives from his own work, the Res gestae Saxonicae ('Deeds of the Saxons'). The only contemporary external reference is a list of monks who entered Corvey during the abbacy of Folcmar (917–942), where Widukind appears as the second-to-last among fifty entrants. Some scholars argue instead that Widukind was entered into the Corvey register as "a boy of six to eight years", and consequently date his birth to around 933–935.

Widukind's family background and precise origins remain unknown, but the prominence of Corvey and its close ties to the king suggest that admission to the monastery required a background of some importance. It is therefore likely that he came from a household whose support would have been advantageous to both Corvey and the crown. His sustained interest in Saxony and Saxon history also makes it highly probable that his family was Saxon. Claims that he was connected to the royal court or belonged to the household of Princess Mathilda, herself a descendant of Duke Widukind of Saxony (died after 785), remain a matter of scholarly debate. He omitted Italian events in tracing the career of Henry, nor does he ever mention a pope, but one of the three surviving manuscripts of his Gesta was transcribed in Benevento, the Lombard duchy south of Rome. The second book opens with the election of Otto the Great as German king, treats of the risings against his authority, again omitting events in Italy, and concludes with the death of his first wife Edith of England in 946. In the third book the historian deals with Otto's expedition into France, his troubles with his son Liudolf and his son-in-law, Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, and the various wars in Germany.

Widukind is also credited with vitae of St Paul and St Thecla doubtless based on the 2nd century Acts of Paul and Thecla, but no traces of them now remain.

References

Sources

  • An English translation with notes by Raymund F. Wood, The three books of the Deeds of the Saxons, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1949, available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses