Bernold of St Blasien
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Bernold of Constance (c. 1054–Schaffhausen, September 16, 1100) was a chronicler and writer of tracts, and a defender of the Gregorian reforms, Church reforms of Pope Gregory VII.


Life

He was educated at Konstanz, Constance under the renowned teacher Bernard of Constance. He attended the Lenten Synod of Rome, in 1079, at which Berengarius of Tours retracted his errors. Remaining in Italy till 1084, he likely attended the Council of Piacenza, on the proceedings of which he is the main authority. Once more at Constance, he attended the ordination of bishop Gebhard and was ordained priest himself by the papal legate. In 1086 he went with Bishop Gebhard as counsellors to Herman, contender for the Imperial crown, at the Battle of Pleichfeld. About the same time, he entered first the Benedictine Sankt Blasien Abbey in the Black Forest, Abbey of St Blasien in the Black Forest and then, in 1091, the Kloster Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Abbey of All Saints nearby in Schaffhausen, where he died.


Works

He wrote seventeen surviving tracts which are mostly apologetics for the pope's policy, defences of papal supremacy or vindications of men who advocated or enforced it in Germany. Chief among these are: ''De prohibendâ sacerdotum incontinentiâ'' (against married clergy); ''De damnatione schismaticorum'' and ''Apologeticus super excommunicationem Gregorii VII'' (justifying excommunication of schismatics and of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and his partisans). Of broader interest is Bernold's chronicle, ''Chronicon,'' the latter part of which is a terse record of contemporary events by a knowing and intelligent observer in the extreme Papal camp. The chronicle covers the years AD 1054-1000, with the earlier years being composed of brief summaries until the AD 1070’s, the remaining yearly annals are much longer and expansive. The chronicle mostly focuses on Papal court politics and the rivalry with the German clergy/nobility. Important current events like warfare, famines and deaths of public figures are also briefly recounted. Bernold was the author of ''Micrologus de ecclesiasticis observationibus'' (c. 1085), a lengthy commentary on the papal liturgy that became an important medieval liturgical treatise. Thanks to him, the German church was provided with a fairly common sacramentary throughout the Empire. The form of the mass given in ''Micrologus'' was established for Hungary, too, about 1100, by order of the local bishops.


Sources

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External links


''Catholic Encyclopedia'':
Bernold of Constance {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernold of Constance 1050s births 1100 deaths German chroniclers 11th-century German historians 11th-century Roman Catholic priests German Benedictines 11th-century Christian monks 11th-century Latin writers People from Schaffhausen