1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lambert of Hersfeld

LAMBERT OF HERSFELD (d. c. 1088), German chronicler, was probably a Thuringian by birth and became a monk in the Benedictine abbey of Hersfeld in 1058. As he was ordained priest at Aschaffenburg he is sometimes called Lambert of Aschaffenburg, or Schafnaburg. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and visited various monasteries of his order; but he is famous as the author of some Annales. From the creation of the world until about 1040 these Annales are a jejune copy of other annals, but from 1040 to their conclusion in 1077 they are interesting for the history of Germany and the papacy. The important events during the earlier part of the reign of the emperor Henry IV., including the visit to Canossa and the battle of Hohenburg, are vividly described. Their tone is hostile to Henry IV. and friendly to the papacy; their Latin style is excellent. The Annales were first published in 1525 and are printed in the Monumenta Germaniae historica, Bände iii. and v. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 fol.). Formerly Lambert’s reputation for accuracy and impartiality was very high, but both qualities have been somewhat discredited.

Lambert is also regarded as the author of the Historia Hersfeldensis, the extant fragments of which are published in Band v. of the Monumenta of a Vita Lulli, Lullus, archbishop of Mainz, being the founder of the abbey of Hersfeld; and of a Carmen de bello Saxonico. His Opera have been edited with an introduction by O. Holder-Egger (Hanover, 1894).

See H. Delbrück, Über die Glaubwürdigkeit Lamberts von Hersfeld (Bonn, 1873); A. Eigenbrodt, Lampert von Hersfeld und die neuere Quellenforschung (Cassel, 1896); L. von Ranke, Zur Kritik frankisch-deutscher Reichsannalisten (Berlin, 1854); W. Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen Band ii. (Berlin, 1906) and A. Potthast, Bibliotheca Historica (Berlin, 1896).