LAMBERT OF

See also:

• HERSFELD

HERSFELD (d. c. ro88)  , German chronicler, was probably a Thuringian by birth and became a monk in the Benedictine abbey of Hersfeld in 1058 . As he was ordained priest at Aschaffenburg he is sometimes called Lambert of Aschaffenburg, or Schafnaburg . He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and visited various monasteries of his order; but he is famous as the author of some Annales . From the creation of the world until about 1040 these Annales are a jejune copy of other annals, but from 1040 to their conclusion in 1077 they are interesting for the history of Germany and the papacy . The important events during the earlier part of the reign of the emperor Henry IV., including the visit to Canossa and the battle of Hohenburg, are vividly described . Their tone is hostile to Henry IV. and friendly to the papacy; their Latin style is excellent . The Annales were first published in 15;; and are printed in the Monumenta Germaniae historica, Bande iii. and v . (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 fol.) . Formerly Lambert's reputation for accuracy and impartiality was very high, but both qualities have been somewhat discredited . Lambert is also regarded as the author of the Historia Hersfeldensis, the extant fragments of which are published in Band v. of the Monumenta of a Vita Lulli, Lullus, archbishop of Mainz, being the founder of the abbey of Hersfeld; and of a Carmen de bello Saxonico . His Opera have been edited with an introduction by O . Holder-Egger (Hanover, 1894) .

See H .

Delbruck, Cber die Glaubwiirdigkeit Lamberts von Hersfeld (Bonn, 1873); A . Eigenbrodt, Lampert von Hersfeld and die neuere Quellenforschung (Cassel, 1896) ; L. von Ranke, Zur Kritik frankisch-deutscher Reichsannalisten (Berlin, 1854) ; W . Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen Band ii . (Berlin, 1906) and A . Potthast, Bibliotheca Historica (Berlin, 1896) .