Berezhnaya, N. A.
«Chronicle» by Johann Carion: the circulation patterns, religious context, «translatio imperii», in: Proslogion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture. 2026. Vol. 9(1). P. 141–172.
Natal’ya Aleksandrovna Berezhnaya, PhD of History, Associate Professor, Institute of History, St. Petersburg State University (199034, Russia, St. Petersburg, Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5)
n.berezhnaya@spbu.ru
Language: Russian
The Early Modern Period was a period not only of profound crisis and transformation of the Empire, its religious, cultural, and social everyday life, but also of the beginning of a rethinking of its history by confessional authors and erudite. Modern historiography examines German historiography of the Early Modern Period both in the spirit of the problem of nations and in terms of the development of historical concepts. German historiography of the 16th and 17th centuries can be roughly divided into ecclesiastical and profane (or universal): the goals of their authors, their intended audience, and even their language differed. This article attempts to examine the continuity of the Empires of Charlemagne and the Ottonian Empire (the problem of «translation imperii») and, more generally, the concept of early medieval empires, using the example of Johannes Carion’s Chronicle, the most famous world history in Germany, published in German and Latin, and translated into French, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish.
For Carion, the continuity of power in the fourth and final Empire (from the emperors of Rome and Constantinople to Charlemagne, and in the 10th century, to the Ottonian dynasty) was determined by the consensus of the elites: in the case of Charlemagne, the Frankish, Roman, and Byzantine; in the case of the Ottonian dynasty, the elites of the Empire itself. For the author, the Holy Roman Empire is the direct successor to the Carolingian Empire, and the list of «German emperors» continues from Charlemagne to Charles V of Habsburg and his brother, Ferdinand I. Overall, the Chronicle’s objectives fell within the following didactic scope: the «German emperors» are the primary defenders of the Christian church and faith, justice and knowledge, and the builders of peace. They strive to extend all these blessings to other nations, but the world has become divided due to human sin, and the Empire no longer unites all Christians. The popes are supposed to assist the emperors in defending the faith and the church, but not all of them understand their responsibilities correctly. It is also important to examine how the author, his successors, and translators viewed the Reformation, whether attitudes toward the Habsburg emperors change from early to later editions of the Chronicle, and whether this leads to changes in the medieval history of the Empire.
Keywords: Profane historiography, Johann Carion, «Chronicle», «translatio imperii», Philipp Melanchthon, Johann Funck, Eusebius Mennius
Постоянная ссылка: http://proslogion.ru/91-berezhnaya/
20466846PDFOCR
