Theodoricus monachus

Theodoricus monachus [In Old Norse his name was most likely Þórir munkr.] was a 12th century Norwegian Benedictine monk. He wrote a Latin history of the kings of Norway, "Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium" sometime between 1177 and 1188. The work covers Norwegian history from the reign of the 9th century Haraldr hárfagri up to the death of Sigurðr Jórsalafari in 1130. Theodoricus states that he considered it "utterly unfitting to record for posterity the crimes, killings, perjuries, parricides, desecrations of holy places, the contempt for God, the plundering no less of the clergy than of the whole people, the abductions of women and other abominations which it would take long to enumerate" [Theodoricus monachus 1998, p. 53.] which followed the death of Sigurðr (see Civil war era in Norway).

Theodoricus' work is one of the Norwegian synoptics, the oldest preserved kings' sagas. The others are "Historia Norwegie" and "Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum". Theodoricus relied heavily on Icelandic sources, possibly including the "Oldest Saga of St. Olaf" and Oddr Snorrason's "Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar".

Notes

References

* Theodoricus monachus (translated and annotated by David and Ian McDougall with an introduction by Peter Foote) (1998). "The Ancient History of the Norwegian Kings". Viking Society for Northern Research. Available at [http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk] . ISBN 0-903521-40-7

External links

* [http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/theodoricus.htm The Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066) and the life of Haraldr Sigurðarson, according to Theodoricus Monachus]
* [http://www.hf.uib.no/i/klassisk/norw.med.lit.html Norwegian Medieval literature in Latin]