Thangmar (or Thankmar) (c.950- c.1003) was a German historian.

Life

His first appearance in history is as the head of the

cathedral school Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these ...

at Hildesheim; at a later date he became dean of the

Hildesheim Cathedral Hildesheim Cathedral (German: '), officially the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary (German: ''Hohe Domkirche St. Mariä Himmelfahrt'') or simply St. Mary's Cathedral (German: ''Mariendom''), is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral in the city cent ...

, and being at the same time

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

and librarian his position was a very important one. Thangmar was distinguished both as a scholar and a statesman; he taught several bishops including Bernward of Hildesheim, Meinwerk of Paderborn, and Benno of Meissen, as well as the Emperor Henry II. He exercised great influence over Bernward of Hildesheim, and a large part of the affairs under episcopal control were directed by him. In 1000 he accompanied Bernward to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and was sent several times to the imperial court as the representative of the bishop to settle important matters, being highly esteemed by Emperor Otto III.

Works

After the death of Bernward in 1022 he wrote an account of the active and varied life of the bishop, a biography for which he had already gathered the material and of which he had probably written the first ten chapters during the years 1008–13. He had been an eye-witness of many of the events he relates and had taken as active part in all important measures. As he says himself, Bernward trusted him as a child does its father. Consequently, his ''Vita Bernwardi'' is one of the finest biographical productions of the Middle Ages, and is also one of the most valuable authorities for an important period of German history. He displays much affection for the dead bishop, and has written a plain and simple narrative, unrhetorical and truthful. It is only in the account of the dispute between the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

s of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

and

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

as to the right of jurisdiction over Gandesheim that Thangmar appears at times to be a partisan of Bernward. Editions: *'' Mon. Germ. Hist.: Scriptores'', IV, 757-782; * Migne, '' Patrologia Latina'', CXL, 393–436. The life has been edited in German by Hüffer (Berlin, 1857), and by Wattenbach (Leipzig, 1892).

References

* Wattenbach, ''Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen'', I (Berlin, 1893), 346–349; *Christoph Beelte, ''Thangmar, sein Leben u. Beurteilung seiner Vita Bernwardi'' (Hildesheim, 1891) {{Authority control 11th-century German historians Chroniclers from the Holy Roman Empire 11th-century deaths 10th-century births Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 11th-century writers in Latin