Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 373: Ekkehard of Aura OSB, Chronicle

purl.stanford.edu/rg420yp8320

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 373: Ekkehard of Aura OSB, Chronicle

Alternate Title:

Ekkehardi Historia

Language:

Latin

Extent:

ff. 2 + 96 + 2

Dimensions:

216 Height (mm) and 143 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1114 - 1125]

Provenance:

Written in Germany

Table of contents:

Chronicle (to 1114, based on Ekkehard of Aura's Imperial Chronicle)

Description:

CCCC MS 373 was once thought to contain a copy of Ekkehard of Aura (fl. early twelfth century), Imperial Chronicle, a history of the Franks, ancestors of the Emperor Henry V at whose request it was written. However, it is now known that the manuscript is the unique copy of an anonymous chronicle, closely modelled on Ekkehard's work, but also incorporating material from the World Chronicle (ending c.1111) of Sigebert of Gembloux (c. 1029/9-1112), continued down to 1114, shortly after which date this copy was produced in Germany. It seems to be by an anonymous author working in Wurzburg 1112-13. The book is illustrated by pen drawings in brown and red of the enthroned kings and emperors. Recent research has suggested that the codex may have been donated to the monastery at Bec by the Empress Matilda (c. 1102-67), from where it travelled to Rochester, possibly being lent for copying in the late twelfth century. It may be identified with the volume described as Cronica Francorum i volumen in Rochester library's catalogue of 1202, and if so it was presumably from there that it found its way, together with many other former monastic manuscripts, into Parker's collection.