Adam of Bremen on Slavic Religion

Chapter 3

Adam of Bremen on Slavic Religion

1

Introduction: Adam of Bremen and His Work

“A. minimus sanctae Bremensis ecclesiae canonicus”1 – in this humble manner, Adam of Bremen introduced himself on the pages of Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontif i cum, yet his name did not sink into oblivion. We know it thanks to a chronicler, Helmold of Bosau,2 who had a very high opinion of the Master of Bremen’s work, and after nearly a century decided to follow it as a model. Scholarship has awarded Adam of Bremen not only with a significant place among 11th-c. writers, but also in the whole period of the Latin Middle Ages.3
The historiographic genre of his work, a history of a bishopric, was developed on a larger scale only after the end of the famous conflict on investiture between the papacy andtheempire. Thevery appearanceof this trendinhistoriography was a result of an increase in institutional subjectivity of the particular Church.4 In the case of the environment of the cathedral in Bremen, one can even say that this phenomenon could be observed at least half a century

1ꢀ Adam, [Praefatio]. This manner of humble servant refers to St. Paul’s writing e.g. Eph 3:8;
1 Cor 15:9, and to some extent it seems to be an allusion to Christ’s verdict that his disciples quarrelled about which one of them would be the greatest (see Lk 9:48).
2ꢀ Helmold I, 14: “Testis est magister Adam, qui gesta Hammemburgensis ecclesiae pontificum disertissimo sermone conscripsit …” (“The witness is master Adam, who with great skill and fluency described the deeds of the bishops of the Church in Hamburg …”).
3ꢀ The biography and personality of Adam of Bremen are discussed by: Max Manitius,

Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur d. Mittelalters, vol. 2 (München: Beck, 1923), pp. 398–

409; Bernhard Schmeidler, “Einleitung,” in Adam, pp. lii–lvii; Werner Trillmich, “Einleitung,”

in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae Pontif i cum, ed. Werner Trillmich, in Quellen des 9. und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der hamburgischen Kirche und des Reiches, (Ausgewählte

Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe)

11 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1961), pp. 137–158; Francis J. Tschan,

“Introduction,” in Adam of Bremen, History o f the Archbishops o f Hamburg-Bremen, trans.,

introduction and notes Francis J. Tschan, reed. and new introduction Timothy Reuther (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, pp. xxv–xlvi); Timothy Reuther, “Introduction to the

2002 Edition,” in Adam of Bremen, History o f the Archbishops, pp. xi–xxi; Walter Berschin, Biographie und Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter, vol. 4: Ottonische Biographie. Das hohe Mittelalter. 920–1220 n. Chr., part 2: 1070–1220 n. Chr. (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann Verlag,

2001), pp. 212 ff.

4ꢀ Schmale, “Mentalität und Berichtshorizont,” p. 13.

©ꢀKoninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020ꢀ|ꢀdoi:10.1163/9789004331488_005

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before the so-called Concordat of Worms (1122), which is confirmed exactly by the work of Adam of Bremen who was a canon there.
All of Adam’s work comprises four books, and the last one, differing from

the others in its layout and content, titled Descriptio insularum aquilonis, is

an excellent geographical and ethnographic description that made him rise to fame as the “Tacitus of the people of the North.” Biographical information, essential to have a good understanding of his way of working and his literary achievement, is extremely modest and to a large extent hypothetical. B. Schmeidler, who suggests that Adam of Bremen was born shortly before the middle of 11th c., supported the view that he came from eastern Franconia. However, there were also alternative proposals that he could have come from Thuringia, Upper Saxony, or Lotharingia.5 The place where the future writer received his education also turns out to be disputable, as according to B. Schmeidler it was either Würzburg or, which seems more certain, the famous school in Bamberg.6 Nevertheless, one should not forget about an earlier thesis, that it was a school in Magdeburg.7
In 1066, or in the following year, Adam came to Bremen to manage a cathedral school at the request of archbishop Adalbert (deceased 1072).8 A year later he accompanied his supervisor on a trip to visit the king of Denmark Sven Estridsen and, although the journey did not cover the whole Danish state and was related to mainly the king’s matrimonial affairs,9 it turned out to be fruitful for his later work as a chronicler. M. Manitius conjectures that a man with such education as Adam must have continuously accompanied Archbishop Adalbert and must have been his confidant and familiar with the archbishop’s plans.10 However, the chronicler’s orientation in political and legal matters was

5

ꢀ

Schmeidler, “Einleitung,” in Adam, pp. liii ff.; Trillmich, Einleitung, [in:] Gesta

Hammaburgensis, p. 137; Berschin, Biographie, pp. 211 f.; cf. Philipp Wilhelm Kohlmann, Adam von Bremen. Ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen Textkritik und Kosmographie (Leipzig:

Quelle & Meyer, 1908); Edward Schröder, “Zur Heimat des Adam von Bremen,” Hansische

Geschichtsblätter 23 (1917), pp. 351–366.

678

ꢀ B. Schmeidler as above; W. Trillmich as above. ꢀꢀ

Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur, p. 398.

This fact is confirmed in a document from 11th June 1069 (see Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch, vol. 1, ed. Johann Martin Lappenberg (Hamburg: Pertehs-Besser & Mauke, 1842), No. 101, p. 97), in which there is Adam’s original signature with the title of “magister scholarum”. See Schmeidler, as in footnote 5 in this page; Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur, p. 398, suspected that the reason for entrusting Adam with supervision of the cathedral school was Adalbert’s intention to raise its level. See also Trillmich,

“Einleitung,” in Gesta Hammaburgensis, pp. 137 f.

9

ꢀ

Adam, III, 54 (53).

10ꢀ Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur, p. 398.