John of Viktring

John of Viktring (btw. 1270 & 1280-November 12, 1347) was an Austrian chronicler and political advisor to the rulers of Carinthia. He is also known as Johannes Victorensis, Johannes de Victoria, John of Victring, Johann von Viktring, or Jo(h)annes Victoriensis.

Nothing is known of John's early life. In 1307 he became abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Victring (Viktring), near Klagenfurt, in Carinthia, Austria. He was later both chaplain and confidential secretary to Duke Henry of Carinthia. Upon the duke's death in 1335, John journeyed to Linz at the request of the Henry's daughter, Margarete Maultasch, to defend her claims to her father's estates before Louis IV. But two dukes, Albert II and Otto of Austria, took possession of the contested lands in her stead, and became the lords of Victring. They too learned to value the abbot's abilities and consulted him in all important government matters. He frequently stayed in Vienna as their confidential secretary until 1341, when he withdrew to the quiet of his monastery to write a history of his own time.

His chronicle, which he titled "Liber certarum historiarum", has come down to us in various forms. In its original form, as preserved in a manuscript at Munich, it is a history of Austria and Carinthia from 1231 to 1341. The information on the earlier period was based on the rhyming chronicle of Ottokar of Styria, while the rest was written from data which he himself had collected during his many travels.

In 1342, he elarged the book into a chronicle of the empire, which began with the year 1217. He rewrote it again in 1343, this time beginning with the Carlovingian period. This revised work has only reached us through a later compilation, the so-called "Chronicon Anonymi Leobiensis". John ranks among the most important chroniclers of the late Middle Ages. He was a very learned man and well acquainted with the Latin and Greek poets. His narrative is lucid, and his judgments on the events of his own time show great impartiality. He is influenced by Otto of Freising, and condemns in his chronicle the anti-Roman policy of Emperor Louis.

References

* F. Schneider, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, rer. Germ. 36, 2 Bände, 1909/10;
* U. Bassi, Studien zur Geschichtsschreibung Johanns von Viktring, 1997; Neue Deutsche Biographie
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