Burchard of Ursperg, also called Burchard of Biberach (c.1177–1230/1) was a German priest and chronicler. His ''Ursperger Chronicle'' (or ''Chronicon Urspergensis'') is the most important

universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...

of the late

Staufer The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to List of German monarchs, royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 ...

era.Mathias Herweg, "Burchard of Ursperg", in ''

Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle The Medieval Chronicle Society is an international and interdisciplinary organization founded to facilitate the work of scholars interested in medieval annals and chronicles, or more generally medieval historiography. It was founded in 1999 and in ...

'', ed. Graeme Dunphy, Cristian Bratu. First published online in 2016, consulted online on 19 May 2019. What is known of Burchard's life is drawn mainly from his chronicle. He was born in the imperial free city of Biberach in the

Duchy of Swabia The Duchy of Swabia (; ) was one of the five stem duchy, stem duchies of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, German Kingdom. It arose in the 10th century in the southwestern area that had been settled by Alemanni tribes in Late Antiquity. While th ...

. He was at the

Papal court The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremon ...

in 1198–99 and was ordained a priest at

Constance Constance may refer to: Places * Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community * Mount Constance, Washington State, United States * Lake Constance (disambiguat ...

in 1202. He joined the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

Schussenried Abbey Schussenried Abbey (''Kloster Schussenried'', ''Reichsabtei Schussenried'') is a former Catholic monastery in Bad Schussenried, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is famed for its Baroque library hall. The abbey was established in the 12th century b ...

in 1205 and became its

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

in 1209. He spent 1210–11 at the Papal court again before he was called to Ursperg Abbey in 1215 to serve as provost. He wrote his chronicle there in 1229/30. He died on 11 January in either 1230 or 1231. Burchard was succeeded as provost by Conrad of Lichtenau, who was long thought to have finished his chronicle or at least edited it.Peter Godman, ''The Saint as Censor: Robet Bellarmine between Inquisition and Index'' (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 163. The ''Ursperger Chronicle'', composed in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

prose, begins with the legendary King

Ninus Ninus (), according to Greek historians writing in the Hellenistic period and later, was the founder of Nineveh (also called Νίνου πόλις "city of Ninus" in Greek), ancient capital of Assyria. The figure or figures with which he correspon ...

, founder of

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

, and extends to the year 1229. For the earlier part Burchard uses

Ekkehard of Aura Ekkehard of Aura (; born ''c.'' 1080, died 20 February 1126) was the first Abbot of Aura (a monastery founded by Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, on the Franconian Saale river, near Bad Kissingen, Bavaria) from 1108. It is thought that Ekkehard was a mem ...

and

Frutolf of Michelsberg Frutolf of Michelsberg (died 17 January 1103) was a monk in Michelsberg Abbey in Bamberg, Germany, of which he became prior. He was probably a native of Bavaria. Frutolf was possibly a teacher of the quadrivium in the monastery, but principally a ...

. During his two stays in Rome he gathered information in the papal ''

Regesta Papal regesta are the copies, generally entered in special registry volumes, of the papal letters and official documents that are kept in the papal archives. The name is also used to indicate subsequent publications containing such documents, in c ...

''. Although a partisan of the Staufer, he made use of the '' Historia Welforum'' of their chief rivals, the

Welfs The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

. His original work, drawing on events he witnessed or had heard about from witnesses, starts with the last years of Henry VI. The autograph of Burchard's chronicle was lost to fire in the 16th century. His critiques of papal policy made him a favourite among early

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. This led to the ''Chronicle''s being placed on the Catholic

Index of Prohibited Books The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...

in 1575, a sentence lifted by Cardinal Bellarmine in 1593.

Caspar Hedio Caspar Hedio, also written as Kaspar Hedio, Kaspar Heyd, Kaspar Bock or Kaspar Böckel (Ettlingen, 1494 - Strasbourg, 17 October 1552) was a German historian, theologian and Protestant reformer. He was born into a prosperous family and attende ...

added a Protestant continuation to bring the ''Chronicon'' down to 1537. The

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

was brought out by Miller and Foeniseca at Augsburg in 1515 from a copy in the possession of

Konrad Peutinger Konrad Peutinger (; 14 October 1465 – 28 December 1547) was a German Humanism, humanist, jurist, diplomat, politician, economist and archaeologist, serving as Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Maximilian I's chief archaeological adviser. ...

. Another edition by Melanchthon and Mylius appeared at Basel in 1569, erroneously attributing the sole authorship of the chronicle to Burchard's successor, Conrad. The last edition was printed at Strasbourg in 1609.

References

Further reading