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Jacob Königshofen (more properly Jakob Twinger von Königshofen) (1346 – 27 December 1420) was a German chronicler. Jacob was born at Königshofen, then a village near, and now a district of, Strasburg, in
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
, but only a few details of his life are known. He became a priest in 1382, and for a time he held the parish of
Drusenheim Drusenheim ( or ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin ''département'' in Grand Est in north-eastern France, situated on the bank of the Rhine. History Drusenheim was fortified by the military architect, militaire Jean Maximilien Welsch in 1705. Pop ...
. In 1394 he became notary Apostolic and in 1395 a canon of St. Thomas at Strasburg, where he was placed in charge of the archives and kept the stock-books and registers. Early in life he had devoted himself to historical studies, and a Latin "Chronicle" is extant, written by him before he came a priest (edited by
Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailor ...
in ''Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für die Erhaltung der geschichtlichen Denkmäler im Elsass'', second series, IV). This work only contains extracts from different authors, and is in consequence a mere collection of historical matter. His principal work is the ''Chronik''. He began it in 1382; he twice revised it, and brought it down to the year 1415. One of the first universal histories in German prose, it includes also a territorial history of Alsace and a local history of Strasbourg. Recognizing the needs of his time, he wrote it for the Klugen, that is, cultivated, lay men, "who read such things as eagerly as learned parsons". His narrative is therefore popular, and enlivened by legends, jokes, and details concerning the lives of the people. He possessed a good knowledge and availed himself freely of the sources of medieval prose and poetry (particularly
Ekkehard Ekkehard (and Eckardt, Eckard, Eckart, Eckhardt, Ekkehart) is a German given name. It is composed of the elements ''ekke'' "edge, blade; sword" and ''hart'' "brave; hardy". Variant forms include Eckard, Eckhard, Eckhart, Eckart. The Anglo-Saxon for ...
, but also Eusebius,
Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
,
Hermannus Contractus Blessed Hermann of Reichenau (18 July 1013– 24 September 1054), also known by other names, was an 11th-century Benedictine monk and scholar. He composed works on history, music theory, mathematics, and astronomy, as well as many hymn ...
,
Martinus Polonus Martin of Opava, O.P. (died 1278) also known as Martin of Poland, was a 13th-century Dominican friar, bishop and chronicler. Life Known in Latin as ''Frater Martinus Ordinis Praedicatorum'' (Brother Martin of the Order of Preachers), he is bel ...
, and others). In politics he was an adherent of
Louis the Bavarian Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany in ...
, an imperialist and German nationalist. Influenced by the Alsatian chronicler Fritsche Closener, he has himself been in many cases the authority for later historians. The last chapter of the ''Chronik'' contains an alphabetical list of historical events with dates, forms thus a kind of compendium of history, and was often copied separately. The ''Chronik'' was printed as early as 1474, and later at Strasbourg in 1698. A scholarly edition is that of Hegel in ''Chroniken der deutschen Städte'', VIII-IX (Leipzig, 1870-1871). Jacob died at Strasbourg, in his seventies. In addition we possess a Latin-German glossary by Königshofen, which may, however, in its essential details be traced to Closener.


References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **OBERLIN, De Jacobo Twingero Regiovillano (Strasburg, 1789); **SCHNEEGANS, Notice sur Closener et Königshofen (Strasburg, 1842); **POTTHAST, Bibliotheca, II, 1076-88. **Concerning Königshofen as choralist see MATHIAS, Phototypische Wiedergabe des Königshofenschen Tonarius (Graz, 1903). {{DEFAULTSORT:Konigshofen, Jakob Twinger von 1346 births 1420 deaths German chroniclers 15th-century German historians 15th-century Latin writers Writers from Strasbourg