Helmold
Encyclopedia
Helmold of Bosau was a Saxon
historian
of the 12th century and a priest
at Bosau
near Plön
. He was a friend of the two bishops of Oldenburg in Holstein, Vicelinus
(died 1154) and Gerold (died 1163), who did much to Christianize the Polabian Slavs
.
Helmold was born near Goslar
. He grew up in Holstein
, and received his instruction in Brunswick
from Gerold, the future bishop
of Oldenburg (1139–42). Later he came under the direction of Vicelinus
, the Apostle of the Wends
, first in the Augustinian monastery of Faldera, afterwards known as Neumünster
(1147–53). He became a deacon
about 1150, and finally became a parish priest in 1156 at Bosau on Großer Plöner See
.
At Bishop Gerold's instigation Helmold wrote his Chronica Slavorum
, a history of the conquest and conversion of the Polabian Slavs
from the time of Charlemagne
(about 800) to 1171. The purpose of this chronicle was to demonstrate how Christianity and German nationality gradually succeeded in gaining a footing among the Wends, especially in the eastern portion of Holstein. As an eyewitness he gives a clear description in fluent Latin of Vicelinus's missionary labors, of the founding of the bishopric in Oldenburg, of the transfer of this bishopric to Lübeck
when German commerce at the latter place had become more important than in the former city, of the spread of German influence among the Wends, of the merciless subjugation and extermination of these, and of the summoning to their lands of foreign settlers, principally Westphalia
n and Dutch
. The work is divided into two parts: the first covers a period closing with the year 1168, while the second continues to the year 1171. This second part, however, was written subsequently to 1172.
Helmold was a critical historian, calling Henry the Lion
"out for money", and criticizing the Wendish Crusade
s. He said that among the troops of Henry the Lion
during the Wendish Crusade, there was "only talk of money, never about Christianity" and missionary conversion of the Slavs.
Helmold drew his knowledge of the earliest period from the church history of Adam of Bremen
and the Saxon records bearing on Henry IV
, besides the life of Willehadus, the list of Ansgarius, and perhaps also a life of Vicelinus, but the summaries which he made of these records are unreliable. He is, however, the most important source of information for the history of his own period, his account of which rests on the verbal information of Vicelinus and of Gerold. His fund of information becomes noticeably meager after the latter's death in 1163. His trustworthiness was seriously questioned in the 19th century (see particularly Sehirren, Beiträge zur Kritik holsteinischer Geschichtsquellen, Leipzig, 1876) owing to his antagonism towards the Archbishops of Bremen and his partiality for the Oldenburg-Lübeck bishopric, but it should not be supposed that be was guilty of an intentional falsification of facts. The chronicle was first published in 1556 at Frankfurt
, and later in Monumenta Germaniae Historica
: Scriptores, XXI (1868), 11-99, and in "Script. rer. Germ."
Henry the Lion
, Duke of Saxony
, was Helmold's patron. The chronicle was continued down to 1209 by Abbot Arnold of Lübeck
.
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of the 12th century and a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
at Bosau
Bosau
Bosau is a municipality on the Great Plön Lake the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 13 km west of Eutin, and 30 km southeast of the state capital of Kiel.- Parishes :...
near Plön
Plön
Plön is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 13,000 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on several smaller lakes, touching the town on virtually all sides...
. He was a friend of the two bishops of Oldenburg in Holstein, Vicelinus
Vicelinus
Saint Vicelinus was a German bishop of Oldenburg in Holstein who was considered the apostle of Holstein.Orphaned at an early age, Vicelinus received his primary education at Hamelin, his birthplace...
(died 1154) and Gerold (died 1163), who did much to Christianize the Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...
.
Helmold was born near Goslar
Goslar
Goslar is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-Geography:Goslar is situated at the...
. He grew up in Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, and received his instruction in Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
from Gerold, the future bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Oldenburg (1139–42). Later he came under the direction of Vicelinus
Vicelinus
Saint Vicelinus was a German bishop of Oldenburg in Holstein who was considered the apostle of Holstein.Orphaned at an early age, Vicelinus received his primary education at Hamelin, his birthplace...
, the Apostle of the Wends
Wends
Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
, first in the Augustinian monastery of Faldera, afterwards known as Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
(1147–53). He became a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
about 1150, and finally became a parish priest in 1156 at Bosau on Großer Plöner See
Großer Plöner See
The Großer Plöner See or Lake Plön is the largest lake in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located near the town of Plön...
.
At Bishop Gerold's instigation Helmold wrote his Chronica Slavorum
Chronicon Slavorum
Chronica Slavorum is a historical record attributed to Helmold. It is a continuation of Deeds of bishops of the Hamburg Church by Adam von Bremen. Chronica describes events related to North-West Slavic tribes known as the Wends up to 1171. Chronica is a very significant historic record of...
, a history of the conquest and conversion of the Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...
from the time of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
(about 800) to 1171. The purpose of this chronicle was to demonstrate how Christianity and German nationality gradually succeeded in gaining a footing among the Wends, especially in the eastern portion of Holstein. As an eyewitness he gives a clear description in fluent Latin of Vicelinus's missionary labors, of the founding of the bishopric in Oldenburg, of the transfer of this bishopric to Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
when German commerce at the latter place had become more important than in the former city, of the spread of German influence among the Wends, of the merciless subjugation and extermination of these, and of the summoning to their lands of foreign settlers, principally Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
n and Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
. The work is divided into two parts: the first covers a period closing with the year 1168, while the second continues to the year 1171. This second part, however, was written subsequently to 1172.
Helmold was a critical historian, calling Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
"out for money", and criticizing the Wendish Crusade
Wendish Crusade
The Wendish Crusade was an 1147 campaign, one of the Northern Crusades and also a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany inside the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs ....
s. He said that among the troops of Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
during the Wendish Crusade, there was "only talk of money, never about Christianity" and missionary conversion of the Slavs.
Helmold drew his knowledge of the earliest period from the church history of Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
and the Saxon records bearing on Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
, besides the life of Willehadus, the list of Ansgarius, and perhaps also a life of Vicelinus, but the summaries which he made of these records are unreliable. He is, however, the most important source of information for the history of his own period, his account of which rests on the verbal information of Vicelinus and of Gerold. His fund of information becomes noticeably meager after the latter's death in 1163. His trustworthiness was seriously questioned in the 19th century (see particularly Sehirren, Beiträge zur Kritik holsteinischer Geschichtsquellen, Leipzig, 1876) owing to his antagonism towards the Archbishops of Bremen and his partiality for the Oldenburg-Lübeck bishopric, but it should not be supposed that be was guilty of an intentional falsification of facts. The chronicle was first published in 1556 at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, and later in Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...
: Scriptores, XXI (1868), 11-99, and in "Script. rer. Germ."
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
, Duke of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
, was Helmold's patron. The chronicle was continued down to 1209 by Abbot Arnold of Lübeck
Arnold of Lübeck
Arnold of Lübeck was a Benedictine abbot, a chronicler, the author of the Chronica Slavorum.-References:...
.