Annales Xantenses: ANNALES XANTENSES QUI DICUNTUR.
Annales Xantenses•ANNALES XANTENSES QUI DICUNTUR.
Abbo Floriacensis1 work
Abelard3 works
Addison9 works
Adso Dervensis1 work
Aelredus Rievallensis1 work
Alanus de Insulis2 works
Albert of Aix1 work
HISTORIA HIEROSOLYMITANAE EXPEDITIONIS12 sections
Albertano of Brescia5 works
DE AMORE ET DILECTIONE DEI4 sections
SERMONES4 sections
Alcuin9 works
Alfonsi1 work
Ambrose4 works
Ambrosius4 works
Ammianus1 work
Ampelius1 work
Andrea da Bergamo1 work
Andreas Capellanus1 work
DE AMORE LIBRI TRES3 sections
Annales Regni Francorum1 work
Annales Vedastini1 work
Annales Xantenses1 work
Anonymus Neveleti1 work
Anonymus Valesianus2 works
Apicius1 work
DE RE COQUINARIA5 sections
Appendix Vergiliana1 work
Apuleius2 works
METAMORPHOSES12 sections
DE DOGMATE PLATONIS6 sections
Aquinas6 works
Archipoeta1 work
Arnobius1 work
ADVERSVS NATIONES LIBRI VII7 sections
Arnulf of Lisieux1 work
Asconius1 work
Asserius1 work
Augustine5 works
CONFESSIONES13 sections
DE CIVITATE DEI23 sections
DE TRINITATE15 sections
CONTRA SECUNDAM IULIANI RESPONSIONEM2 sections
Augustus1 work
RES GESTAE DIVI AVGVSTI2 sections
Aurelius Victor1 work
LIBER ET INCERTORVM LIBRI3 sections
Ausonius2 works
Avianus1 work
Avienus2 works
Bacon3 works
HISTORIA REGNI HENRICI SEPTIMI REGIS ANGLIAE11 sections
Balde2 works
Baldo1 work
Bebel1 work
Bede2 works
HISTORIAM ECCLESIASTICAM GENTIS ANGLORUM7 sections
Benedict1 work
Berengar1 work
Bernard of Clairvaux1 work
Bernard of Cluny1 work
DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI LIBRI DUO2 sections
Biblia Sacra3 works
VETUS TESTAMENTUM49 sections
NOVUM TESTAMENTUM27 sections
Bigges1 work
Boethius de Dacia2 works
Bonaventure1 work
Breve Chronicon Northmannicum1 work
Buchanan1 work
Bultelius2 works
Caecilius Balbus1 work
Caesar3 works
COMMENTARIORUM LIBRI VII DE BELLO GALLICO CUM A. HIRTI SUPPLEMENTO8 sections
COMMENTARIORUM LIBRI III DE BELLO CIVILI3 sections
LIBRI INCERTORUM AUCTORUM3 sections
Calpurnius Flaccus1 work
Calpurnius Siculus1 work
Campion8 works
Carmen Arvale1 work
Carmen de Martyrio1 work
Carmen in Victoriam1 work
Carmen Saliare1 work
Carmina Burana1 work
Cassiodorus5 works
Catullus1 work
Censorinus1 work
Christian Creeds1 work
Cicero3 works
ORATORIA33 sections
PHILOSOPHIA21 sections
EPISTULAE4 sections
Cinna Helvius1 work
Claudian4 works
Claudii Oratio1 work
Claudius Caesar1 work
Columbus1 work
Columella2 works
Commodianus3 works
Conradus Celtis2 works
Constitutum Constantini1 work
Contemporary9 works
Cotta1 work
Dante4 works
Dares the Phrygian1 work
de Ave Phoenice1 work
De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum1 work
Declaratio Arbroathis1 work
Decretum Gelasianum1 work
Descartes1 work
Dies Irae1 work
Disticha Catonis1 work
Egeria1 work
ITINERARIUM PEREGRINATIO2 sections
Einhard1 work
Ennius1 work
Epistolae Austrasicae1 work
Epistulae de Priapismo1 work
Erasmus7 works
Erchempert1 work
Eucherius1 work
Eugippius1 work
Eutropius1 work
BREVIARIVM HISTORIAE ROMANAE10 sections
Exurperantius1 work
Fabricius Montanus1 work
Falcandus1 work
Falcone di Benevento1 work
Ficino1 work
Fletcher1 work
Florus1 work
EPITOME DE T. LIVIO BELLORUM OMNIUM ANNORUM DCC LIBRI DUO2 sections
Foedus Aeternum1 work
Forsett2 works
Fredegarius1 work
Frodebertus & Importunus1 work
Frontinus3 works
STRATEGEMATA4 sections
DE AQUAEDUCTU URBIS ROMAE2 sections
OPUSCULA RERUM RUSTICARUM4 sections
Fulgentius3 works
MITOLOGIARUM LIBRI TRES3 sections
Gaius4 works
Galileo1 work
Garcilaso de la Vega1 work
Gaudeamus Igitur1 work
Gellius1 work
Germanicus1 work
Gesta Francorum10 works
Gesta Romanorum1 work
Gioacchino da Fiore1 work
Godfrey of Winchester2 works
Grattius1 work
Gregorii Mirabilia Urbis Romae1 work
Gregorius Magnus1 work
Gregory IX5 works
Gregory of Tours1 work
LIBRI HISTORIARUM10 sections
Gregory the Great1 work
Gregory VII1 work
Gwinne8 works
Henry of Settimello1 work
Henry VII1 work
Historia Apolloni1 work
Historia Augusta30 works
Historia Brittonum1 work
Holberg1 work
Horace3 works
SERMONES2 sections
CARMINA4 sections
EPISTULAE5 sections
Hugo of St. Victor2 works
Hydatius2 works
Hyginus3 works
Hymni1 work
Hymni et cantica1 work
Iacobus de Voragine1 work
LEGENDA AUREA24 sections
Ilias Latina1 work
Iordanes2 works
Isidore of Seville3 works
ETYMOLOGIARVM SIVE ORIGINVM LIBRI XX20 sections
SENTENTIAE LIBRI III3 sections
Iulius Obsequens1 work
Iulius Paris1 work
Ius Romanum4 works
Janus Secundus2 works
Johann H. Withof1 work
Johann P. L. Withof1 work
Johannes de Alta Silva1 work
Johannes de Plano Carpini1 work
John of Garland1 work
Jordanes2 works
Julius Obsequens1 work
Junillus1 work
Justin1 work
HISTORIARVM PHILIPPICARVM T. POMPEII TROGI LIBRI XLIV IN EPITOMEN REDACTI46 sections
Justinian3 works
INSTITVTIONES5 sections
CODEX12 sections
DIGESTA50 sections
Juvenal1 work
Kepler1 work
Landor4 works
Laurentius Corvinus2 works
Legenda Regis Stephani1 work
Leo of Naples1 work
HISTORIA DE PRELIIS ALEXANDRI MAGNI3 sections
Leo the Great1 work
SERMONES DE QUADRAGESIMA2 sections
Liber Kalilae et Dimnae1 work
Liber Pontificalis1 work
Livius Andronicus1 work
Livy1 work
AB VRBE CONDITA LIBRI37 sections
Lotichius1 work
Lucan1 work
DE BELLO CIVILI SIVE PHARSALIA10 sections
Lucretius1 work
DE RERVM NATVRA LIBRI SEX6 sections
Lupus Protospatarius Barensis1 work
Macarius of Alexandria1 work
Macarius the Great1 work
Magna Carta1 work
Maidstone1 work
Malaterra1 work
DE REBUS GESTIS ROGERII CALABRIAE ET SICILIAE COMITIS ET ROBERTI GUISCARDI DUCIS FRATRIS EIUS4 sections
Manilius1 work
ASTRONOMICON5 sections
Marbodus Redonensis1 work
Marcellinus Comes2 works
Martial1 work
Martin of Braga13 works
Marullo1 work
Marx1 work
Maximianus1 work
May1 work
SUPPLEMENTUM PHARSALIAE8 sections
Melanchthon4 works
Milton1 work
Minucius Felix1 work
Mirabilia Urbis Romae1 work
Mirandola1 work
CARMINA9 sections
Miscellanea Carminum42 works
Montanus1 work
Naevius1 work
Navagero1 work
Nemesianus1 work
ECLOGAE4 sections
Nepos3 works
LIBER DE EXCELLENTIBUS DVCIBUS EXTERARVM GENTIVM24 sections
Newton1 work
PHILOSOPHIÆ NATURALIS PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA4 sections
Nithardus1 work
HISTORIARUM LIBRI QUATTUOR4 sections
Notitia Dignitatum2 works
Novatian1 work
Origo gentis Langobardorum1 work
Orosius1 work
HISTORIARUM ADVERSUM PAGANOS LIBRI VII7 sections
Otto of Freising1 work
GESTA FRIDERICI IMPERATORIS5 sections
Ovid7 works
METAMORPHOSES15 sections
AMORES3 sections
HEROIDES21 sections
ARS AMATORIA3 sections
TRISTIA5 sections
EX PONTO4 sections
Owen1 work
Papal Bulls4 works
Pascoli5 works
Passerat1 work
Passio Perpetuae1 work
Patricius1 work
Tome I: Panaugia2 sections
Paulinus Nolensis1 work
Paulus Diaconus4 works
Persius1 work
Pervigilium Veneris1 work
Petronius2 works
Petrus Blesensis1 work
Petrus de Ebulo1 work
Phaedrus2 works
FABVLARVM AESOPIARVM LIBRI QVINQVE5 sections
Phineas Fletcher1 work
Planctus destructionis1 work
Plautus21 works
Pliny the Younger2 works
EPISTVLARVM LIBRI DECEM10 sections
Poggio Bracciolini1 work
Pomponius Mela1 work
DE CHOROGRAPHIA3 sections
Pontano1 work
Poree1 work
Porphyrius1 work
Precatio Terrae1 work
Priapea1 work
Professio Contra Priscillianum1 work
Propertius1 work
ELEGIAE4 sections
Prosperus3 works
Prudentius2 works
Pseudoplatonica12 works
Publilius Syrus1 work
Quintilian2 works
INSTITUTIONES12 sections
Raoul of Caen1 work
Regula ad Monachos1 work
Reposianus1 work
Ricardi de Bury1 work
Richerus1 work
HISTORIARUM LIBRI QUATUOR4 sections
Rimbaud1 work
Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles1 work
Roman Epitaphs1 work
Roman Inscriptions1 work
Ruaeus1 work
Ruaeus' Aeneid1 work
Rutilius Lupus1 work
Rutilius Namatianus1 work
Sabinus1 work
EPISTULAE TRES AD OVIDIANAS EPISTULAS RESPONSORIAE3 sections
Sallust10 works
Sannazaro2 works
Scaliger1 work
Sedulius2 works
CARMEN PASCHALE5 sections
Seneca9 works
EPISTULAE MORALES AD LUCILIUM16 sections
QUAESTIONES NATURALES7 sections
DE CONSOLATIONE3 sections
DE IRA3 sections
DE BENEFICIIS3 sections
DIALOGI7 sections
FABULAE8 sections
Septem Sapientum1 work
Sidonius Apollinaris2 works
Sigebert of Gembloux3 works
Silius Italicus1 work
Solinus2 works
DE MIRABILIBUS MUNDI Mommsen 1st edition (1864)4 sections
DE MIRABILIBUS MUNDI C.L.F. Panckoucke edition (Paris 1847)4 sections
Spinoza1 work
Statius3 works
THEBAID12 sections
ACHILLEID2 sections
Stephanus de Varda1 work
Suetonius2 works
Sulpicia1 work
Sulpicius Severus2 works
CHRONICORUM LIBRI DUO2 sections
Syrus1 work
Tacitus5 works
Terence6 works
Tertullian32 works
Testamentum Porcelli1 work
Theodolus1 work
Theodosius16 works
Theophanes1 work
Thomas à Kempis1 work
DE IMITATIONE CHRISTI4 sections
Thomas of Edessa1 work
Tibullus1 work
TIBVLLI ALIORVMQUE CARMINVM LIBRI TRES3 sections
Tünger1 work
Valerius Flaccus1 work
Valerius Maximus1 work
FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM9 sections
Vallauri1 work
Varro2 works
RERVM RVSTICARVM DE AGRI CVLTURA3 sections
DE LINGVA LATINA7 sections
Vegetius1 work
EPITOMA REI MILITARIS LIBRI IIII4 sections
Velleius Paterculus1 work
HISTORIAE ROMANAE2 sections
Venantius Fortunatus1 work
Vico1 work
Vida1 work
Vincent of Lérins1 work
Virgil3 works
AENEID12 sections
ECLOGUES10 sections
GEORGICON4 sections
Vita Agnetis1 work
Vita Caroli IV1 work
Vita Sancti Columbae2 works
Vitruvius1 work
DE ARCHITECTVRA10 sections
Waardenburg1 work
Waltarius3 works
Walter Mapps2 works
Walter of Châtillon1 work
William of Apulia1 work
William of Conches2 works
William of Tyre1 work
HISTORIA RERUM IN PARTIBUS TRANSMARINIS GESTARUM24 sections
Xylander1 work
Zonaras1 work
Annalium qui dicuntur Xantensium codex, ut videtur re vera unicus, exstat Londinii in museo Britannico, inter Cottonianos, Tiberius C. XI. signatus, membr., isque satis aegre servatus. Vix enim effugit cladem bibliothecae Cottonianae a. 1731. incendio illatam, quo margines foliorum adusti sunt, quamquam textus integer permansit.
The codex of the Annals which are called Xanten, as it seems in truth unique, exists in London in the British Museum, among the Cottonian manuscripts, marked Tiberius C. 11, parchment, and it has been preserved only with difficulty. For it scarcely escaped the disaster brought upon the Cottonian library in the year 1731 by a fire, whereby the margins of the leaves were scorched, although the text remained entire.
15. on the folio formerly prefixed (now 2) he inscribed the Donations of the church of Utrecht and of ours together with chronicles, in the monastery of Egmond, in the diocese of Utrecht. And indeed it is a collectaneum, which many and various things by different hands from the cent.
10. it may contain writings up to the beginning of the 13th cent., such as Einhard’s Life of Charles the Great, Regino’s Chronography (without the continuation), the Egmond Annals (joined with excerpts from Regino’s Chronicle). The Xanten Annals by a hand of the cent.
11. written in fairly slender letters they are read on fols. 132-145; a specimen of the script taken from the year 865, plate.
G. H. Pertz, qui hos annales ibidem p. 217 sqq. primus et usque adhuc solus edidit, eos etiam satis emendate recognovit. K. Hampe, cuius collatione nobis uti licuit, librum denuo conglutinatum atque numeros foliorum paulo mutatos, sed nonnisi pauca corrigenda vel supplenda invenit.
G. H. Pertz, who in the same place, p. 217 and following, first—and up to now alone—published these annals, also reviewed them with sufficient correctness. K. Hampe, whose collation we were permitted to use, found the book glued together anew and the numbers of the leaves somewhat changed, but discovered only a few things to be corrected or supplied.
Into the German language the Xanten Annals were well translated and more accurately illustrated with a few annotations by the most learned C. Rehdantz, of blessed memory, in the collection entitled 'Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit', whose second edition (vol. 23, of the 9th century, vol. 8, 1889) presents the same work carefully revised by W. Wattenbach. Moreover, Hans Steffen dealt intelligently and shrewdly with these annals in 'Neues Archiv' vol. 14, p. 87 ff.
Praecedunt in codicis f. 128?-130?. annales 640-789, sed multis annis nihil adscriptum est. At iam Pertz perspexit hos multo posterius a monacho Egmondano suppletos esse. Etiam fontes, ex quibus conscripti sint, explorare conatus est, quos postea alii viri docti accuratius indicaverunt.
Preceding on the codex’s fols. 128?-130? are the annals 640-789, but in many years nothing has been entered. But already Pertz perceived that these had been supplied much later by a monk of Egmond. He also tried to explore the sources from which they were composed, which later other learned men indicated more accurately.
which is now numbered 131., once sewn on, now badly inserted, he added brief annals excerpted from the Xanten [Annals] as well as from Sigebert’s Chronicle, which Pertz entitled ‘Appendix of the Annals of Xanten’ and at the place cited, p. 236, likewise made public; we have judged that the greater part of them, being of no value, should be neglected.
Primus editor Annales Xantenses a. 790-829. Annalibus regni Francorum (quos Annales Laurissenses et Einhardi nuncupavit) tamquam fundamento inniti putavit. Quod tamen nonnisi ex parte et cum aliqua exceptione concedi potest. Nondum noverat ille vir b. m. Annales illos vulgo Maximinianos dictos, quos a. 1844.
The first editor [of the] Annales Xantenses for the years 790–829. thought that they rested upon the Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks (which he designated the Annales Laurissenses and of Einhard) as upon a foundation. Which, however, can be conceded only in part and with some exception. That man, of blessed memory, had not yet known those annals commonly called Maximinian, which in 1844.
l. b. de Reiffenberg brought them to light; then G. Waitz, with a skilled hand, investigated and in SS. vol. 13, p. 19 ff., revised them. With which ours are joined by so close an affinity that from the year 790, when they begin, up to 811, when those end, they have without doubt for the greatest part proceeded from the same book of annals.
No less does it appear that this book, from a. 797 onward, entirely followed the Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks; but after a. 811, ours no longer supply items repeated from those, but lean upon another annalistic memory, which it is difficult to indicate, unless you should wish to believe that a few things were drawn forth from Thegan’s Life of Emperor Louis.
Afterwards not even the death of Lothar is noted; Louis (a. 869. 873, p. 27. 32) is praised as a king wiser and more just than the others ruling in the empire once of Charles the Great, and as a dutiful father. Nor for that reason do we, with Georg Pertz, judge the work to belong to at least two writers; nay rather, following the opinion of the most learned man H. Steffen, we consider that the whole is to be owed to the same person.
The earlier portions are so negligently excerpted from elsewhere that sometimes they can no longer be understood, unless you approach the source itself or attempt to supply in some other way the fragments which they provide. The latter part, especially from the year 869 onward, is of somewhat greater value, since in it matters are treated much more copiously and by one for whom they were a care and dear to the heart.
There, being subject to others, he seems rashly to have made their judgment his own; here, following his own mind, he stood by his own judgment. The reckoning of the times, too, previously often disturbed, with the numbers of the years 854-872. even afterwards always remaining by one behind the true ones, at the very end finally returns to its proper order.
The discourse, where the author now offers his own, is grandiloquent and too stuffed with the words of the Vulgate Bible, yet always as if indulging the antique, and one which sins gravely against the law of grammar. I would have you observe the present participle used in place of the indicative—nay rather, the conjunction ut set with the indicative.
Multum loci res Guntharii archiepiscopi Coloniensis occupant, qui, cum Hlothario II. regi in repudianda uxore legitima favisset, a munere remotus est. Hunc scriptor acerrime impugnat, tandem alium in eius locum subrogatum esse vehementer gaudens. Commemorat quoque orientalem partem provinciae Coloniensis aliquamdiu a Liudberto Monasteriensi administratam.
Much space is occupied by the affair of Guntharius, archbishop of Cologne, who, since he had favored King Hlothar 2 in repudiating his lawful wife, was removed from his office. The writer attacks this man most sharply, rejoicing vehemently that at last another was substituted in his place. He also mentions that the eastern part of the province of Cologne was for some time administered by Liudbert of Münster.
He favored this bishop of 'Saxony', as is manifestly apparent, with singular zeal; he proclaims this one venerable and blessed, he also notes the day of his death, and he reports about the relics donated by that monastery of Freckenhorst and other things received by the grace of the pope, as elsewhere about the bodies of saints translated into Saxony.
Quas res si reputas, non immerito miraberis, quod Georgio Pertz hos annales, qui medio aevo fere incogniti mansisse videntur, Xantenses nuncupare placuerit. Innititur enim tantum iis, quae a. 864. (p. 20) de loco Sanctis 'opinatissimo' vastato et ecclesia S. Victoris incensa enarrantur, quam cladem scriptor non modo vehementissime doluit, sed etiam oculis vidisse videtur. Attamen ne Pertz quidem ideo totum opus illo in loco confectum esse contendit.
If you reckon these matters, you will, not without reason, marvel that Georg Pertz chose to designate these annals, which seem to have remained almost unknown in the Middle Ages, as Xantenese. For he relies only on those things which in 864 (p. 20) are recounted about the place Sanctis, “most renowned by report,” having been laid waste and the church of St. Victor burned—a calamity which the writer not only most vehemently lamented, but also seems to have seen with his own eyes. Yet not even Pertz on that account contends that the whole work was completed in that place.
Another learned man recently, not without cause, judged it more verisimilar that the author lived at Cologne (Colonia Agrippina), to which place also we learn that the body of St. Victor was conducted by the provost, with one presbyter as companion. However the matter stands, we have not dared utterly to spurn the inscription commended by the first editor and now in common use, since no other certain one can be substituted, and this alone is evident: that the author embraces Ripuaria and Westphalia, especially the province of the church of Cologne and the diocese of the church of Münster, as a fatherland.
G. H. Pertz in editione principe codicem, apographum sane, sed unicum, fere ad litteram secutus, nonnisi perpauca emendavit neque nos multo plura correximus, cum nonnulla, quorum veram lectionem nonnisi annotare licuit, iam ab ipso annalista depravata videantur. Berolini a. d. IV. Kal. Apriles anni 1909.
G. H. Pertz, in the editio princeps, following the codex—an apograph indeed, but a unique one—almost to the letter, emended only very few things; nor did we correct many more, since some items, whose true reading we were permitted only to annotate, already seem to have been corrupted by the annalist himself. At Berlin, on the 4th day before the Kalends of April, year 1909.
Anno DCCXCV. Rex Carolus venit in Saxoniam. Cumque Saxones convicti in omnibus se culpabiles recognovissent, obsides regi offerentes, accepitque eorum terciam partem in obsidionem generis masculini, et spoponderunt se ultra non fallere, sed antiqua illorum infelicitas eos non permisit, et domno rege inde recedente, statim foedus irrumpentes.
In the year 795. King Charles came into Saxony. And when the Saxons, convicted, had acknowledged themselves guilty in all things, offering hostages to the king, he accepted a third part of them as hostages of the male kind, and they pledged that they would no longer deceive; but their ancient ill‑fortune did not permit them, and, the lord king departing from there, they immediately broke the pact.
Anno DCCXCVII. Barcinona civitas Hispaniae, quae iam olim a nobis desciverat, per Azotum prefectum ipsius nobis est reddita. Nam et ipse ad palacium veniens domno regi semetipsum cum civitate commendavit. Expedicio facta in Saxoniam, et usque ad oceanum trans omnes paludes et invia loca transitum est; et rex mense Novembrio mediante ad hibernandum cum exercitu Saxoniam intravit, positis castris apud Wisuram fluvium.
Year 797. The city Barcinona of Spain, which had already long ago defected from us, was restored to us through Azotus, its prefect. For he too, coming to the palace, commended himself with the city to the lord king. An expedition was made into Saxony, and a passage was made as far as the ocean across all the marshes and pathless places; and the king in mid-November entered Saxony with the army for wintering, with the camps pitched at the Wisura river.
Anno DCCCX. Sol et luna bis defecerunt, sol VI. Idus Iunii et luna XI. Kal. Iulii, et Pippinus rex, filius imperatoris, migravit, et ille elefas, quem Aaron imperatori miserat, subita morte periit, et magna mortalitas boum et aliorum animalium erat in ipso anno, et hiemps valde dura.
In the year 810. The sun and the moon were eclipsed twice, the sun on the 6. day before the Ides of June and the moon on the 11. day before the Kalends of July, and King Pippin, the son of the emperor, departed, and that elephant, which Aaron had sent to the emperor, perished by sudden death, and there was a great mortality of oxen and of other animals in that same year, and the winter was very harsh.
Anno DCCCXII. Dedit Karolus imperator filio filii sui Bernhardo, filio Pippini regis, regnum Langobardorum, et, gratias omnipotenti Deo! tunc venerunt legati imperatoris nostri de Grecia, qui prenominati sunt, et simul legati cum eis Grecorum cum honorificis vel imperialibus muneribus ad Aquis palacium ad colloquium imperatoris, et dimissi sunt cum pace.
In the year 812. Emperor Charles gave to the son of his son, Bernard, the son of King Pippin, the kingdom of the Langobards; and, thanks be to almighty God! then came our emperor’s envoys from Greece, who are aforementioned, and at the same time envoys of the Greeks with them with honorific or imperial gifts to the palace at Aachen for a colloquy with the emperor, and they were dismissed in peace.
Anno DCCCXXVI. Ludewicus imperator habuit sinodum episcoporum ad Ingulunheim, et illic venit multitudo ad eum Nordmannorum, et princeps eorum nomine Herioldus baptizatus est et uxor eius, et cum eis plus quam CCCC homines promiscui sexus. Ex eo tempore multa mala increverunt a gentilibus super aecclesiam catholicam.
In the year 826. Louis the emperor held a synod of bishops at Ingulunheim, and there came a multitude of Northmen to him, and their prince named Heriold was baptized, and his wife, and with them more than 400 persons of both sexes. From that time many evils increased from the gentiles upon the catholic Church.
Anno DCCCXXIX. Erat sinodus episcoporum in tribus locis regni Lodewici imperatoris, et mense Augusto [in] Vangionensium civitate erat conventus magnus episcoporum. Et ibi tradidit imperator Karolo filio suo regnum Alisacinse et Coriae et partem Burgundiae.
In the year 829. There was a synod of bishops in three places of the realm of Emperor Louis, and in the month of August [in] the city of the Vangiones there was a great convocation of bishops. And there the emperor handed over to his son Charles the kingdom of Alsace and of Chur and a part of Burgundy.
Anno DCCCXXXI. Mense Octobri venit ad imperatorem Pippinus rex Aequitaniae et Bernhardus comes Barcenonae civitatis, qui infideles deputabantur, ac fidem iuraverunt; et Pippinus de Aquis nocte fugiens abscessit. Eodem mense eclipsis lunae facta est. Legati Sarracenorum venerunt ad imperatorem pacem con firmandam et cum pace reversi sunt.
In the year 831. In the month of October there came to the emperor Pippin, king of Aquitaine, and Bernard, count of the city of Barcelona, who were accounted unfaithful, and they swore faith; and Pippin, fleeing by night, departed from Aachen. In the same month a lunar eclipse took place. Legates of the Saracens came to the emperor to confirm the peace and returned with peace.
Anno DCCCXXXII. Mense Aprili eclipsis lunae fuit; et postea aestivo tempore, Ludewico imperatore morante apud Magontiam civitatem, obviam venit ei filius eius Lodewicus rex Beguariae, rebellare paratus contra patrem, et non potuit, sed fugiens abscessit. Persequente autem eum patre usque ad Augustam civitatem, necessitate conpulsus venit ad patrem et in pace dimissus est. Et inde rediens imperator ad Hispaniam capere filium suum Pippinum, sed non potuit.
In the year 832. In the month of April there was an eclipse of the moon; and afterwards, in the summertime, while the emperor Louis was lingering at the city of Mainz, there came to meet him his son Louis, king of Bavaria, prepared to rebel against his father, and he could not, but fleeing he departed. However, with his father pursuing him as far as the city of Augsburg, compelled by necessity he came to his father and was dismissed in peace. And from there the emperor, returning, went to Spain to seize his son Pippin, but he could not.
Anno DCCCXXXIII. Tempore enim aestivo convenerunt filii imperatoris in pago Alisacinse, Lutharius, Pippinus et Ludewicus, adducentes secum Gregorium papam. Ibique leudes imperatoris coniurationes suas postposuerunt, relinquentes autem eum solum, reversique sunt ad Lotharium, ei fidem iuramentis spoponderunt, et imperator vero illorum coniuge simul et regno privatus, merens adflictusque in dominium filiorum advenit.
Year 833. For in the summer season the sons of the emperor, Lothar, Pippin, and Louis, gathered in the Alsatian pagus, bringing with them Gregory the pope. And there the emperor’s leudes set aside their conspiracies, but leaving him alone, they returned to Lothar, pledged him faith by oaths, and the emperor indeed, deprived by them both of his spouse and of the kingdom, came, grieving and afflicted, under the dominion of his sons.
Anno DCCCXXXIIII. Morante Ludewico imperatore in custodia, filius Ludewicus astute cogitans contra fratrem suum Lotharium, cui priori anno omnem fidem promiserat, insidias molitus est. Congregato exercitu suo festinus perrexit ad Suessiones patremque suum de claustris liberavit atque Iudith de custodia revocavit, direxeruntque aciem contra Mahtfridum atque Landbertum, principes Lotharii consules, ut eos vinctos ad se adducerent aut etiam gladio detruncarent.
In the year 834. While Louis the emperor was in custody, his son Louis, thinking astutely against his brother Lothar, to whom in the prior year he had promised all faith, contrived a plot. Having gathered his army, he hastened to Soissons and freed his father from confinement and brought back Judith from custody, and they directed the battle-line against Mahtfrid and Landbert, Lothar’s leading consuls, so that they might bring them bound to themselves or even behead them with the sword.
With them resisting, many persecutors fell with great slaughter. And there, together with very many others, Count Uodo and Abbot Theodo were killed. But Emperor Louis and his consort pursued Lothar, who at length came to them with all his men; and with a pledge of faith made on both sides, yet not firm, each returned to his own.
Meanwhile, while these things were being done, the pagans rushed into the most renowned market-town Dorestad and laid it waste with immense cruelty; and at that time the realm of the Franks was very desolated within itself, and the infelicity of men was being increased in multiple ways every day. In the same year the waters inundated greatly over the land.
Anno DCCCXXXVII. Ingens turbo ventorum frequenter erumpebat, et stella cometes visa est nimium ex se mittens fervorem in oriente coram humanis obtutibus quasi per tres cubitos, et pagani vastaverunt Walicrum multasque feminas inde abduxerunt captivas cum infinita diversi generis pecunia.
In the year 837. A huge whirlwind of winds was frequently bursting forth, and a comet-star was seen, sending from itself excessive fervor in the east before human gazes as if for three cubits, and the pagans devastated Walicrum and led away many women from there captive, with infinite money of diverse kinds.
In February wind-thunder was heard, and likewise in the month of February on the 14. Kalends of March a great thunder was heard, and an excessive ardor of the sun was scorching the earth, and [in] certain parts an earthquake occurred, and a fire in the form of a dragon was seen in the air. In the same year heretical depravity arose.
In January a huge whirlwind of wind arose, such that the waves of the sea were greatly inundating beyond the boundaries and the shore, and miserably they consumed an innumerable throng of the human race in the farmsteads and villages set around, together with the edifices. For fleets tossing in the sea were shattered, and a flame of fire was seen above the whole sea. In the same year 8.
Kalends of April, admirable battle-lines appeared as day was drawing toward evening in the sky, in the manner of a round house, encompassing the whole circuit of the sky. In that year there came the bodies of the saints Felicissimus and Agapitus and of Saint Felicitas into the place which is called Fredenna.
Anno DCCCXL. Acies consimiles apparuerunt per duas simul noctes sicut hae quae in priore anno fuerunt. Et tercia Maii, id est tercia die rogationum, hora nona eclipsis solis facta est, et stellae manifestae sunt visae in caelo velut noctis tempore.
In the year 840. Similar lines appeared for two nights together, just like those which were in the prior year. And on the third of May, that is, on the third day of the Rogations, at the ninth hour an eclipse of the sun took place, and the stars were manifestly seen in the sky as if at the time of night.
And afterwards, in the month of June, on 21 June [the 11th day before the Kalends of July], Emperor Louis died on a certain small island of the river Rhine, opposite the royal villa which is called Ingelheim, with his children and his spouse absent, and he was interred at Saint Arnulf. Afterwards indeed Emperor Lothar set out from Italy into France to possess the kingdom granted to him by his father.
Against him coming in opposition, the aforesaid Louis, his brother, again to seize the eastern kingdom; but when Lothar arrived beyond the Rhine river, they scarcely withdrew from each other without a battle. Afterwards indeed Lothar set out with an army against Charles. And Louis, again, having assembled an army, occupied the shore of the Rhine. When this was learned, Lothar moving his army and, secretly, at the city of Worms, the aforesaid river having been crossed, Louis again fled into Bavaria.
Anno DCCCXLI. Videns Ludewicus, quod germanum superare nequibat, iunxitque se ad Karolum, ut per eius solatium predictum superaret imperatorem. Quod cum Lotharius percepisset, moto cum exercitu venit adversus eos in locum qui dicitur Alciodorum, et, quod dici dolor est, magna se cede ibidem Christiani in invicem debachati sunt.
In the year 841. Louis, seeing that he could not overcome his brother, joined himself to Charles, so that by his aid he might overcome the aforesaid emperor. When Lothair had perceived this, having set his army in motion he came against them to the place which is called Alciodorum, and—what is a grief to say—there Christians raged against one another in a great slaughter.
In the same year on the 5th day before the Kalends of August, weekday 5, with the sun bright, three circles appeared in the sky, similar to the vision of a rainbow, encircling one another; but the smallest, encircling the sun itself as its middle, which nevertheless seemed fullest in color compared to the others. The greatest was in the west, whose farthest part seemed to touch the sun.
Before the third hour of the day they were seen, and they remained until after midday. In the same year throughout all Saxony the power of the slaves had greatly increased over their masters, and they usurped for themselves the name “Stellingas” and committed many irrational things. And the nobles of that country were very afflicted and humiliated by the slaves.
And afterwards, in the summer season, Louis and Charles, having plundered the pagus of the Vangiones, by a narrow, rough route of the Gronnei made for the city of Confluentes. And there Lothar came against them in hostile fashion. But when he saw that he had been deceived by his own men, fleeing he reached as far as the Lingones, and there, after regaining his strength, he encamped.
The aforesaid kings, the whole region of the Ripuarians laid waste, pursued him up to the aforesaid place. And there, with valiant men intervening, again, the kingdom of the Franks being tripartite, in peace, yet not firm, they departed from one another: Lothar to Aachen, Charles into Gaul, Louis into Saxony; and the serfs of the Saxons, haughtily exalted, he severely chastised and restored to their proper condition.
Anno DCCCXLIII. Prefati III reges miserunt legatos suos proceres, unusquisque ex parte sua, ut iterum per descriptas mansas aeque tripertirent regnum Francorum. Cumque et inter illos dissensio facta est, venerunt ipsi reges in unum locum et dissonantiam illorum coadunaverunt, et separati sunt a se. Eodem anno Iudhit imperatrix, mater Karoli, predata a filio substantia omni Turonis civitate migravit a seculo.
In the year 843. The aforesaid 3 kings sent their noble legates, each from his own side, so that again, by the described manses, they might equally tripartition the kingdom of the Franks. And when also a dissension arose among them, the kings themselves came into one place and reconciled their dissonance, and they separated from one another. In the same year Judith the empress, mother of Charles, plundered by her son of all her substance, departed from the world in the city of Tours.
And there one of their kings perished, by name Gestimus; but the rest, proffering faith/fealty, kept coming to him— which, when he was absent, they instantly lied about. After these things, however, Lothar, Louis, and Charles convened at Thiedenhofe, and after their conference they departed from one another in peace.
In the same year in many places the Gentiles attacked Christians, but of them more than 12 were slain by the Frisians. Another part of them made for Gaul, and there more than 600 men of them fell. But nevertheless, on account of the indolence of Charles, he gave to them many thousands of pounds of gold and silver, that they might go outside Gaul, which they also did.
Nevertheless the monasteries of very many saints were razed, and they led away many Christians as captives. With these things thus done, King Louis, a great army having been gathered, entered upon a march to the Wends. When the gentiles had learned this, in turn they sent legates into Saxony, and they sent him gifts and hostages and sought peace.
But he, with peace granted, returned from Saxony. Afterwards, however, the plunderers were struck by a huge calamity, in which even the prince of the wicked, who had plundered Christians and holy places, named Reginheri, perished, the Lord smiting. For, counsel having been taken, they cast lots as to from which of their gods they ought to obtain salvation; but the lots did not fall auspiciously.
With a certain Christian captive advising them to set the lot before the god of the Christians—which they did—and their lot fell healthfully. Then their king, named Rorik, together with the whole gentile people, abstained for 14 days from meat and mead, and the plague ceased, and they dispatch all the Christian captives whom they had to their own native fatherland.
Anno DCCCXLVI. Consueto Norhtmanni Ostraciam et Westraciam vastaverunt et vicum Dorestatum cum aliis duabus villis incenderunt igni, vidente Lothario imperatore, cum esset in Noviomago castro, sed scelus ulcisci nequiverat. Illi autem ingenti preda hominum atque facultatum oneratis classibus reversi sunt in patriam.
In the year 846. As was their custom, the Northmen devastated Ostracia and Westracia and burned with fire the town of Dorestat together with two other towns, in the sight of Emperor Lothar, when he was in the fortress of Noviomagus, but he was not able to avenge the crime. They, however, with fleets laden with a huge booty of men and of resources, returned to their fatherland.
In the same year Louis of Saxony went against the Wends beyond the Elbe. But he himself proceeded with his army against the Bohemians, whom we call Beuwinitha, but very perilously; Charles against the Britons, but it did not profit. At the same time, which is not to be said or heard by anyone without great sorrow, the mother of all churches, the basilica of Saint Peter the apostle, was captured and plundered by the Moors or Saracens, who had long since settled in Beneventania, and all Christians whom they found outside Rome they killed, both inside and outside that same church.
Anno DCCCXLVII. Defuncto Sergio memoria apostolicae sedis minime ad aures nostras pervenit. Hereban magister et abbas de Fuldo defuncto Otgero episcopo archiepiscopus et successor eius effectus est atque sollempniter electus. De cetero NordmanniChristianos hinc inde vastaverunt et contra Sigirum et Liutharium comites bellum fecerunt, et ultra vicum Dorestatum contra flumen Reni per miliaria novem remigaverunt usque ad vicum Meginhardi, et ibidem facta preda reversi sunt.
In the year 847. With Sergius deceased, the report of the apostolic see did not at all come to our ears. Hereban, magister and abbot of Fulda, with Bishop Otger having died, was made archbishop and his successor, and was solemnly elected. Moreover, the Northmen devastated Christians here and there and made war against the counts Sigir and Liuthar, and beyond the vicus of Dorestad, up the River Rhine, they rowed for nine miles as far as the village of Meginhard, and there, after taking plunder, they returned.
Anno DCCCXLVIII. II. Nonas Februarii ad vesperum fulgur emicuit et tonitruum auditum est, et gentiles Christianis, ut consueverant, nocuerunt. Eodem anno Ludewicus rex habuit conventum populi apud Magontiam, et secta quaedam in sinodo episcoporum inlata est a quibusdam monachis de predestinatione omnipotentis Dei.
In the year 848. On February 4, at evening, lightning flashed and thunder was heard, and the gentiles harmed the Christians, as they were accustomed. In the same year King Louis held a convocation of the people at Mainz, and a certain sect, in the synod of the bishops, was introduced by certain monks concerning the predestination of the omnipotent God.
Anno DCCCXLVIIII. Infirmante Ludewico rege, hostis illius de Beioaria iter arripuit in Boemmanos; sed multis ex eis ibidem interfectis, valde humiliati reversi sunt in patriam. Gentilitas vero consueto ab aquilone Christianitatem nocuit, magis magisque convaluit; sed fastidiosum est enarrare.
In the year 849. With King Louis being infirm, his enemy from Bavaria undertook a march against the Bohemians; but with many of them slain there, greatly humbled they returned to their homeland. Paganism indeed, as usual from the north, harmed Christendom, and more and more it convalesced; but it is tedious to narrate.
Anno DCCCL. Kalendis Ianuarii, id est octabas Domini, . . . eodem die ad vesperum tonitruum auditum est magnum, et fulgur nimium visum est, et inundatio aquarum ipsa hieme humanum genus affligebat. Et sequenti aestate calor nimium solis terram urebat.
In the year 850. on the Kalends of January, that is, the Octave of the Lord, . . . on the same day toward evening a great thunder was heard, and excessive lightning was seen, and an inundation of waters in that very winter was afflicting the human race. And in the following summer an excessive heat of the sun was scorching the earth.
Leo, pope of the apostolic see, a chosen man, built a castellum around the basilica of Saint Peter the Apostle. The Moors, moreover, devastated the maritime cities in Italy here and there. Rorik the Northman, brother of the already-mentioned younger Heriold, who earlier, having been dishonored by Lothar, fled, returned to Dorestad and fraudulently inflicted many evils upon the Christians.
Anno DCCCLXI. Beatus Liutbertus episcopus honorifice multis sanctorum menbris monasterium quod dicitur Frikkenhurst adornavit, id est Bonifacii et Maximi martyrum, Eonii atque Antonii confessorum, adiecta parte de presepe Domini atque de sepulchro illius, simul et de pulvere pedum illius ascendentis in caelum. Eo anno hiemps longissima, et supradicti reges iterum secretum colloquium in supradicta insula habuerunt penes Confluentiam, vastantes omnia quae in circuitu erant.
In the year 861. Blessed Liutbert the bishop honorifically adorned the monastery which is called Frikkenhurst with many members of saints, that is, of the martyrs Boniface and Maximus, and of the confessors Eonius and Antonius, with a portion added from the Lord’s manger and from his sepulcher, likewise also from the dust of his feet as he was ascending into heaven. In that year the winter was very long, and the aforesaid kings again held a secret colloquy on the aforesaid island near Confluentia, laying waste everything that was in the circuit.
And Lothar, king of the Ripuarians, abandoned his legitimate wife, the sister of the cleric Hugbert, on an unjust pretext. Whom afterwards, in the same year, the aforesaid brother of hers took as his own. The king, however, publicly consorted with the concubine, for love of whom he had abandoned his wife.
Anno DCCCLXIIII. Nimia inun datione aquarum pagani sepe iam dicti aecclesiam undique vastantes per alveum Reni fluminis ad Sanctos usque pervenerunt et locum opinatissimum vastaverunt. Atque, quod omnibus audientibus et videntibus nimium dolendum est, aecclesiam sancti Victoris mirifico opere constructam incenderunt igni, omnia quae intus aut foris sanctuarii repperierunt rapuerunt.
In the year 864. By an excessive inundation of waters, the pagans so often already mentioned, laying waste the church on all sides, came along the channel of the river Rhine as far as the Saints and devastated the most renowned place. And, what to all who heard and saw is exceedingly to be lamented, they set on fire the church of Saint Victor, constructed with wondrous workmanship, and they seized everything which they found within or outside the sanctuary.
The clergy, however, and the whole populace almost all fled. But the very tribute of the sanctuary, afterward, seized with excessive madness, they restored there. But the provost of the brothers, having mounted a horse and with the coffin set before him, with only the presbyter, conveyed the holy body of Victor to Cologne by night in great peril, only with the merits of the saint intervening.
Guntharius, moreover, at the same time seemed to preside there as rector and bishop, namely the grandson of Hildiwin the Younger. The brigands, however, after the crime had been perpetrated, not far from the monastery sought a certain small island and there, with a fortification constructed they dwelt for a time. But a certain part of them, ascending along the channel, burned a great royal villa, and there more than 100 men of them were cut down, so that one ship there, of their number, remained empty.
But the others, scarcely having boarded the ships, returned to their own in confusion. But Lothar, with the ships prepared, was thinking to rush upon them, but his own did not consent to him. But on the contrary the agile Saxons from the other bank of the river acted nimbly, so that a certain one of their kings by the name Calbi, who with proud temerity was attempting to aggress their shore, they struck down and, fleeing, sank in the very river, and nearly all his followers. But the rest, terrified from then on, left the aforesaid place and sought uncertain places.
Louis, moreover, spent almost the whole year lingering in Bavaria, acting cautiously against the rebellious Margos, but also against his son. The aforesaid Gunthar, archbishop of Cologne, and Thietgaud, archbishop of Trier, in the same year, at the order of Pope Nicholas, sought Rome on account of the adultery of King Lothar, which he had long since committed, because they, together with their suffragans, had consented to him in this on an unjust pretext, against the Christian religion, carrying with them very many sentences as if composed with canonical authority. With these, in the Roman synod, condemned together with all their assertion, they were altogether refuted, and, every sacerdotal office interdicted to them for a time, they were dismissed.
Anno DCCCLXV. Moram faciente Lothario veniendi, temerarias ipsi episcopi conscriptiones Nicolao papae iterum remiserunt, dicentes eum impie et absque omni ratione tirannico in eos more iniusta exercere iudicia, promittentes se absque illius gratia velle aequaliter gloriari in locis suis ceu ipse in Roma et in nullo gradum suum inferiorem gradu illius esse, non recordantes se ab eo pallium dignitatis accepisse. Loquente per eos apostata spiritu, qui dixit: Ponam solium meum ad aquilonem et ero similis altissimo.
In the year 865. With Lothar making a delay in coming, the bishops themselves sent back to Pope Nicholas again rash conscriptions, saying that he impiously and without any reason, in a tyrannical manner, was exercising unjust judgments against them, promising that without his favor they wished to glory equally in their own places just as he in Rome, and that in nothing their grade was inferior to his grade, not remembering that they had received the pallium of dignity from him. With the apostate spirit speaking through them, who said: I will set my throne in the north, and I will be like the most high.
To whom again the pope himself in an episcopal synod declared that, if they had thus proceeded, they were to be excommunicated from the whole Catholic church. They returned therefore whence they had gone, and, Gunthar arriving at Cologne, from that most holy day of the Lord’s Supper itself he performed the whole Paschal office contrary to right, and on account of this rashness he was again in the same province excommunicated by all the bishops of Lothar. Nor is it a wonder, if he himself, who emptied the treasury of Saint Peter in sacred vessels of gold and silver and in many kinds, and was always inflamed by the torches of avarice, and turned these things to secular pomp and likewise to brothers and nephews and sisters and nieces, should be deprived of all goods. But his consort was attempting none of these things.
At the same time Hubert, a cleric, of whom it is written above, whose sister King Lothar long ago dismissed, repudiated, having been excommunicated by five bishops, is slain in battle by the sons of Conrad, brother of Judith, once queen. In that year the pagans excessively ravaged the remnants of Frisia. And Louis the eastern king in the summer season held an assembly of the people of his share at Franconoford, and there was present Arsenius, the auricularius (confidential secretary) of Pope Nicholas, sent by him with letters concerning the state of the catholic faith and the defense of the Christian religion.
And thence setting out, he visited King Lothar, removing the illicit concubine elevated as queen, with the consent to which affair Gunthar and Thietgaud, two archbishops, fell grievously; restoring to him his legitimate wife, previously by him repudiated on a nefarious pretext, and thence returning to Rome. At that time a magnificent man named Ernost, namely the father‑in‑law of Karlomann, firstborn of King Ludewic, departed from this light. However, with Gunthar making delay in coming to the city, there succeeded in his place a certain tyrannical man named Hugo, son of the aforesaid count Cuonrad, who not as a pastor, but like a ravening wolf invaded the flock of God, and therefore, with the Lord assenting, was quickly cast down from there, many being slain by him in the same bishopric.
Anno DCCCLXVII. Duo presbiteri, qui se monachico habitu in Saxonia, quamvis inperiti, nimiae sanctitatis viros sub obtentu religionis simulabant, ita ut episcopis et presbiteris omnibus eiusdem provintiae sanctiores se esse prefigurabant. Nam solitariam vitam in hipocrisi primum duxere simul.
In the year 867. Two presbyters, who themselves in monastic habit in Saxony, although unskilled, were feigning themselves as men of excessive sanctity under the pretext of religion, so that they were putting themselves forward as holier than all the bishops and presbyters of the same province. For at first they led a solitary life in hypocrisy together.
But afterwards, with a spirit of discord mediating between them, they were separated from one another, and yet, seeking remote habitations, they were always boasting that they had even seen angelic visions and had wrought signs. And a great multitude of this people was flocking to them, both of the rich and also of the rest, bearing diverse gifts. Receiving their confessions, they put forth new judgments.
The Lord, inspector of secrets, looked forth from heaven upon the hypocrisy of those men and made manifest the counsels of their hearts, so that he who seemed the first of them was seized by an excessive infestation of the Devil was seized. But the other, in summertime, with Liudbert, archbishop of Mainz, convened together with the other fellow-bishops, was canonically vanquished and prostrated and deposed from his grade. With these things thus done, the relics of Saint Magnus the martyr were brought into Saxony, sent by Pope Nicholas to the venerable Bishop Liudbert.
At the same time Guntharius, once archbishop of Agrippina, returned again from Rome, with only common communion granted to him, but every episcopal office interdicted. He himself, however, with great elation, with the bells clanging, as the clergy ran to meet him with the Gospels and thuribles, went to the churches. In that year an enormous war is waged between the Gauls and the pagans in Gaul, and on both sides an innumerable multitude fell.
Anno DCCCLXVIII. Adhuc visitante Domino plebem suam et circa solis occasum pro denario diurno ociosos vocante operarios ad vineam excolendam, gens Bulgarum, hactenus idola vana colentium, ad fidem catholicam conversa est, mittente eis summo tonanti signa et prodigia fieri in medio plebis. Directis a Nicolao summo pontifice et universali papa urbis Romae viris apostolicis, receperunt sermonem domini nostri Iesu Christi et baptizati sunt.
In the year 868. While the Lord was still visiting his people and, about the setting of the sun, calling the idle for the daily denarius as laborers to cultivate the vineyard, the nation of the Bulgars, hitherto worshiping vain idols, was converted to the catholic faith, with the Most High Thunderer sending to them signs and prodigies to be done in the midst of the people. Apostolic men having been dispatched by Nicholas, the supreme pontiff and universal pope of the city of Rome, they received the word of our Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized.
For it was indeed equitable, that the veteran fisherman, to whom the fishing had long ago been committed by the Lord, directed with the drag-net of preaching to the European sea, should pursue it to the very end of the world; and that the Ancient of Days, called the shepherd of sheep, should lead the lambs specially entrusted to himself and long dwelling in the desert to the sheepfold pastures, where his indivisible companion and distinguished preacher of the nations would give milk to drink in place of food, until they should become fecund sheep, abounding in their goings-out, and there should be one fold and one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Moreover, on the fast-days of September two great circles appeared in the sky, similar in appearance to a rainbow; of which the greater, from the north at first more beautiful, but afterwards, as though it were assigning its fullness to the south, faded.
But the lesser, encircling the sun with itself as the middle, shone resplendent at the extreme part of the other. For, coming into being before the third hour and enduring until the ninth, they vanished. At the same time in Saxony, fire in the air was seen to be borne with the swiftness of an arrow, of the thickness of a hay‑rake’s wooden shaft, and, like a mass of iron in the smelting-hearth, emitting sparks; and suddenly, before the eyes of many, it was reduced as it were into the smoke of pitch.
Sed the signification of these things is for the Lord alone to know. Then, in the autumnal time, an edict went out from the kings, that a fast of three days should be generally observed, with the imminent terror of famine, of pestilence, and a great earthquake across the realms, so that desperation of human life befell very many. At that time Liudbert, bishop of Saxony, originating from ... , by the distribution of the grades and the chrismal imposition, administered the parish of Guntarius from the eastern part.
Anno DCCCLXVIIII. Mense Februario, tenebrosis aquis in nubibus aeris, tonitrua audita sunt, et XV. Kal. Martii, id est nocte sancta septuagesimae, stella cometes visa est ab aquilone et occidente, cui statim nimia tempestas ventorum et inmensa inundatio aquarum est subsecuta, in qua multi inprovidi interierunt.
In the year 869. In the month of February, with tenebrous waters in the clouds of the air, thunders were heard, and on the 15th day before the Kalends of March, that is on the holy night of Septuagesima, a comet-star was seen in the north and west, which was immediately followed by an excessive tempest of winds and an immense inundation of waters, in which many incautious people perished.
And afterwards, in the summertime, a most bitter famine followed in many provinces, especially in Burgundy and Gaul, in which a great multitude of men endured a harsh death, such that men are reported to have eaten the bodies of men. But also some are said to feed on the flesh of dogs. At that time, as the prophet says: “because of the sins of the land, its princes are many,” four kings reigned in the kingdom once of Charles the Great: Ludewicus, the son of Emperor Ludewicus, in the east and among the Slavs, Bavaria, Alemannia and Coria, Saxony, the Suevi, Thuringia and the Eastern Franks, with the district of Worms and of the Namnetes, who was wiser and more just than the rest. Karolus, his brother, presided over the Gauls, the Aquitanians and the Wasconians, very often sustaining the pagans’ incursions and always opposing to them tribute, and never proving victor in war.
Ludewicus, the son of Lotharius the emperor, the elder, settled in Italy and Beneventania, who inflicted many injuries upon Pope Nicholas and did not expel the Moors from Beneventania. Lotharius, his brother—swift and light—his lawful wife left behind, contrary to the canons of the saints and the command of Pope Nicholas, illicitly used a concubine. He himself possessed Ripuaria, Burgundy, and the Province (Provence).
Again and again Guntarius and Thietgaudus made for Rome, Adrian having succeeded to the place of governance, if in any way they might obtain their former grade; but they could not, because it is hard to kick against the goad. For on that very pilgrimage Theotgaudus, seized by a great fever, was deprived of life together with his priesthood. But his church was ruled by chorepiscopi.
The other indeed, overtaken by the same molestation, scarcely convalesced. And when he saw that by no means could he repedal into his pristine rank, with the treasury acquired by fraud consumed, with almost all his followers deceased, poor with a few he wandered uncertainly, roving through the lands. And thus the two metropolitans, on account of their consent to the nefarious adultery of the king, were duly bound and fell.
But the bride of Guntharius, who formerly, after Rome, was held as most elect, as a widow bereft of her husband, with garment torn, skin darkened, hair cast down, with bare feet, without a pastor, sat in ashes. Her little ones too, here and there, were being devoured by rapacious wolves throughout the places, not having a father. Her priests are beaten with sharp floggings and rods, not having a patron.
Her nobles fell by the sword, and she, grieving and groaning, weeping, wept through day and night, saying: 'Anguish is mine on every side, and what I should choose, I know not, because the tribulations of my heart have been multiplied'. And, turning also to the travelers, she said: 'O all you who pass along the way, attend and see if there is a sorrow like my sorrow. Behold, with my husband living I am called a widow. My delicate little ones have been suffocated.
As though an avenger had said: “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.” “I will unsheathe the sword, and my hand will slay them.” In that year Louis the Eastern king, having sent his two sons Carloman and Charles against the Margi, who had long resisted him, put their king Rasticius to flight and laid waste their homeland, and returned with many spoils. Likewise Gunthar, already often named, in the autumn time with a few men, like a wolf lying in wait for the flock, while all were unaware, by a concealed naval conveyance came to Cologne, and, an envoy having been sent, ordered the signs of the church to be struck (that is, the bells to be rung) and commanded that men come out to meet him honorably, saying that he had an authority which he did not have, as the outcome of the matter afterward proved.
Anno DCCCLXXI. Karolus rex Galliae regnum quondam Lotharii cum elatione magna invasit, Aquisgrani palatium consedit, affirmans se totum regnum absque ullius gratia in proprietatem usurpare velle, quod postea, viris intercurrentibus strenuis, emollitum est et in pace dispositum. Tamen cum adhuc esset in pertinatia et videns Guntharium de loco suo avulsum Hilduvinum quendam nepotem eiusdem, die sancto theophaniae cum uno tantummodo episcopo Leodiae de Aquis ad Coloniam misit episcopum ordinandum et cathedram huius regiminis inrationabiliter obtinendam.
Year 871. Charles, king of Gaul, with great elation invaded the kingdom once of Lothar, at Aachen he took seat in the palace, affirming that he wished to usurp the whole kingdom into his own property without anyone’s favor, which afterwards, with strenuous men intervening, was softened and set in peace. Nevertheless, while he was still in pertinacity and, seeing Gunthar torn from his place, he sent a certain Hildwin, the nephew of the same, on the holy day of Theophany, with only a single bishop, of Liège, from Aachen to Cologne, to have a bishop ordained and to obtain, irrationally, the cathedra of this governance.
But on the contrary Louis, the eastern king, sent Liudbert, archbishop of the city of Mainz, with all the suffragan bishops to Cologne, from the other side of the Rhine river, opposite the city, to ordain a certain Willibert, a son of that same Cologne, as bishop— not puffed up, not a huntsman, not a hypocrite, not a mercenary nor hired for a wage, but constrained by great necessity, endowed with all ecclesiastical disciplines. With all these things thus completed, in the sight of the nations the Lord revealed his justice, and the mercenary went away and withdrew, but the true shepherd kept solicitously watch over his flock. Then Gunthar, seeing that he could fix no hope of his obstinacy there any further, having left Cologne, defeated and confounded, departed and no longer returned to it.
But in the following year, always wandering, lying in wait, returning again to Rome, bringing threats against Pontiff Adrian, and therefore excommunicated by the whole Roman synod, he perilously lost his pertinacious life by an uncertain and unforeseen end. In the same year, on the 5th day before the Kalends of May (April 27), the blessed bishop Liudbert, of Saxony and a son of Ripuaria, about whom we have commemorated many good things, migrated from this light to the Lord.
The holy Jerusalem city and the Mount of Olives, and all the holy places round about, have been invaded and possessed by the Saracens. The monks also there, serving the Lord, have been afflicted with diverse penalties and sent into custody. Hear these things, all you cultors of the catholic faith, saying: 'Weep, priests, ministers of the Lord, and say: Spare, Lord, spare your people, lest the nations lord it over them and say: Where is their God?'
Rasticius rex Margorum a Karlomanno captus et in Franciam patri directus ibique postea luminibus privatus est. Pagani quoque tunc totam pene Hiberniam vastantes cum spoliis multis sunt reversi et per aquosa loca Franciae atque Galliae humano generi multas miserias intulerunt. Mauri quoque Beneventaniam consederant plurimis iam annis, quos Ludewicus rex Italiae expellere nequibat, et undique ecclesia catholica infestatione gentilium circumcincta, anxiali spiritu gemens ac sentiens tempora Antichristi appropiare.
Rasticius, king of the Moravians, was captured by Carloman and sent into Francia to his father, and there afterward he was deprived of his eyes. The Pagans also then, laying waste almost all Ireland, returned with many spoils and, through the watery places of Francia and Gaul, brought many miseries upon the human race. The Moors too had settled in Beneventania for very many years, whom Louis, king of Italy, was not able to expel; and on every side the Catholic Church, encircled by the infestation of the gentiles, groaning with an anxious spirit and sensing the times of Antichrist to be approaching.
Now the principal mother church of Saint Peter the Apostle of the city of the Vangiones, recently restored anew by Samuel, bishop and abbot of the monks of Saint Nazarius, was struck by a bolt of lightning, thrown down and set ablaze. Again a huge army from every part of the Franks was gathered against the Margi. They put the enemies to flight and drove them into a most strongly fortified city.
Anno DCCCLXXIII. Ludewicus rex orientalis placitum publicum episcoporum ac laicorum ad Vadum-Francorum celebravit. Ibique venerunt contra eum duo filii eius, pleni iniqua cogitatione, convocus et Karolus, tirannidem moliri et iuramenta priorum postponere, patrem regno privare et in custodiam mittere, Sed Deus, iustus iudex et patiens, grande miraculum palam omnibus ibidem monstravit, ita ut malignus spiritus videntibus cunctis Karolum invasit eumque horribiliter discrepantibus vocibus agitavit.
In the year 873. Louis, the eastern king, held a public assembly (placitum) of bishops and laymen at Vadum-Francorum. And there his two sons came against him, full of iniquitous thought, convocus and Charles, to plot tyranny and to set aside the oaths of the former, to deprive their father of the kingdom and to send him into custody. But God, a just and patient judge, showed a great miracle openly to all there, such that an evil spirit, with all looking on, invaded Charles and shook him horribly with discordant voices.
But on the same day by the suffrages of prayers and the adjurations of diverse priests, he was cast out. At the sight of this terror the elder brother, prostrate at his father’s feet, professes the unspeakable thing committed, asking indulgence. But the pious father prudently disposed all these things with moderation.
At the same winter time an unforeseen deluge, snow-sodden, suddenly spread, especially on the shores of the Rhine river. Ex the influx of many waters a multitude of people, together with edifices and innumerable crops, perished. Again, in the summer season of the same year, the aforesaid king took his seat at the palace at Aachen, in accordance with the synod and the assembly of his men.
And there, with everything set in order rationally, there came to the king a certain blind cleric, the son of Charles, his brother, the king of Gaul, whom his own father had ordered to be deprived of his eyes and afterwards to be thrust into a monastery, promising to inflict worse things, seeking protection. Likewise there came to him Ruorich, the gall of Christianity; nevertheless, after very many hostages had been placed for him on a ship, and having become subject to the king and bound by oaths, he was constrained to keep unshaken loyalty to him. And not after much time, Ruodold, nephew of the aforesaid tyrant, who horribly devastated many overseas regions and the kingdom of the Franks on every side and Gaul, and almost all Frisia, in the same region, in the district Ostrachia, was swiftly slain by the same people along with five hundred men; and, although he had been baptized, he finished his canine life with a worthy death.
Afterwards indeed in the middle of the month of August the ancient plague of the Egyptians, that is, an innumerable swarm of locusts, in the manner of bees going forth from a hive, arose anew from the East across our lands; and as they were flitting in the air, they were giving a subtle sound like that of a very small bird. And when they lifted themselves up, the sky could scarcely be looked upon as if through a sieve. But in very many places the pastors of the churches and all the clergy, with reliquaries and crosses, went out to meet them, imploring the mercy of God, that He would defend them from this plague.