Magnus of Reichersberg (died 12 April 1195Norbert Kössinger (2016)
"Magnus of Reichersberg"
in Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu (eds.), ''

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 ...

'', Brill Online.) was an

Augustinian canon The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious ...

and historian who worked at Reichersberg Abbey from the 1160s.. He wrote a

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 ...

chronicle of Reichersberg covering the years 1167–1195. This was a continuation of the annals of Gerhoh of Reichersberg, whose political and ecclesiastical ideas are reflected in Magnus' work. Although he was a supporter of

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

, he was not ill-disposed to the

Emperor Frederick I Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aa ...

, Alexander's chief rival.. He is an important source for Frederick's participation in the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

(1189–1190). He incorporated into his chronicle the diary of

Tageno Tageno (died 1190) was a Bavarian clergyman and crusader. He was a minor cleric of the cathedral of Passau from at least July 1183. He became dean of the cathedral in 1187 and joined the army of Frederick Barbarossa on the Third Crusade in 1189. H ...

, a copy of which was sent to him from the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

; a letter from Bishop

Diepold of Passau Bistumswappen of Passau.Diepold Count von Berg, also: Theobald, (c. 1140, – 3 November 1190) was the 11th Bishop of Passau from 1172 to 1190. Biography Diepold von Berg was born around 1140 as the son of Diepold von Berg-Schelklingen and Gise ...

; an anonymous letter to the master of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

in Italy, Archembald, about the

battle of Hattin The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...

; and a letter by Terricus, preceptor of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

, and a survivor of Hattin. He also made use of an early draft of the '' History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick''., pp. 4–5. Continuations added to his chronicle after his death bring it down to 1279. The first continuator records Magnus' date of death.

References

{{reflist 1195 deaths Augustinian canons 12th-century historians from the Holy Roman Empire