The Combined Cathedral Foundations of Merseburg and Naumburg and the collegiate chapter of Zeitz were able to purchase a fragment from the chronicle of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg (975/976-1018) at auction last December with the help of the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the state of Saxony-Anhalt and private donors.
"With the acquisition of the fragment, a very important textual testimony of the European history of the Ottonian period has been permanently secured for the Merseburg Cathedral Library for research," says the head of the Cathedral Library, Markus Cottin.
Markus Cottin has driven the auction of the fragment for the Vereinigte Domstifter: "At the large exhibition on Thietmar of Merseburg in 2018, only one medieval textual witness of the Chronicle could not be shown: the fragment of a revision of the late 12th century from the possession of the philologist and manuscript collector Marvin L. Colker in Charlottesville/USA. Marvin L. Colker died at the age of 93 in March 2020. In autumn 2022, the Combined Cathedral Foundations received a tip-off from Mr Thomas Taugnitz/Leuna that the Colker collection was to be auctioned off at Christie`s auction house in London. Within a very short time, thanks to the generous pledges of the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the state of Saxony-Anhalt and private donors, a financial framework was created for the auction of the fragment. Thus it was possible to win the online auction on 12 December 2022 and secure the Thietmar fragment for the Merseburg Cathedral Library. For a total of 7560 British pounds (about 8600 EUR), the one-sided fragment could be bought at auction."
The text passages recorded in the fragment record significant events: Thietmar reports on the King of the Russians, Vladimir I, who was baptised and thus founded the Russian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, Thietmar retrospectively describes the naming of Frankfurt am Main, where a Frankish army under Pippin, the son of Charlemagne, found a ford thanks to a hind. Finally, the fragment contains an account of the beginnings of the monastery of Corvey, which turned out to be an addition to this spiritual community.
With this auction, there is now finally a medieval textual witness of the important Thietmar Chronicle in Merseburg and thus in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Visitors will be able to see the fragment for the first time during the exhibition: "Otto the Great, Saint Laurentius and the Foundation of the Diocese of Merseburg - Searching for Traces in Merseburg's Imperial Cathedral" from 18 May - 5 November 2023 in Merseburg Cathedral.
Background Information
The chronicle of the Merseburg bishop Thietmar is the most important narrative source on the history of the Ottonian period. Written between 1012 and 1018, the chronicle was initially intended to present a history of the bishopric of Merseburg in order to illustrate its former splendour. However, in view of Merseburg's position as a royal palace, the site of important court days and the foundation of Otto I's bishopric, Thietmar's account grew into a history of the Ottonian rulers and the empire in its many European connections. Thietmar wrote a total of eight books, which first correspond to the reigns of the Ottonian kings and then refer to important events in the history of Merseburg in the time of Henry II. Always drawing on sources such as Widukind von Corvey's History of Saxony and the Quedlinburg Annals, as well as what he heard and experienced himself, Thietmar recorded the political history of Europe. He did this to illustrate Merseburg's role, for example in the founding of the archbishopric of Magdeburg.
The descriptions are particularly vivid for the times that Thietmar himself had experienced, such as when he went into battle with Henry II or helped to organise court days in Merseburg. Again and again he referred to the ancient rights of the bishopric and wove in old donations to the church in order to assert his claims against the king during his episcopate. Thus arose a chronicle written with zeal, which allows an important insight into the political, economic and cultural developments of the Ottonian period. Without Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicle, we would know much less about the Ottonian age. The chronicle was already used and revised several times in the Middle Ages. The 16th century saw the start of editing and critical examination of the source, which continues to this day. Time and again, the chronicle forms the basis for anniversaries, as around 50 places owe their first mention to it.
The newly acquired fragment from the Colker Collection contains text from Book VII, Chapters 71-75, on the front and back of a trimmed leaf. Four lines of double-column text have been lost in the upper margin due to trimming. There is also loss of text due to shaving done for the application of a spine title. The fragment has in fact been cut up and served as a binding for an edition of the work "De ortu animae" by Martin Ruland. The book was first printed in 1591, so the binding was probably done in the 17th century.
The fragments of text from Chapter 7 of the Chronicle record significant events, which Thietmar largely postponed. He reports on the King of the Russians, Vladimir I, who was baptised and thus founded the Russian Orthodox Church. Thietmar complains harshly about his transgressions, reports on his bride Helena, a daughter of the Byzantine emperor. Vladimir I was buried in Kiev, in a coffin in the middle of a church.
Furthermore, Thietmar retrospectively describes the naming of Frankfurt am Main, where a Frankish army under Pippin, the son of Charlemagne, found a ford thanks to a hind. Finally, the fragment contains an account of the beginnings of the monastery of Corvey, which turned out to be an addition to this spiritual community.
