John Canaparius
Encyclopedia
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk at the Aventine monastery in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. It had long been assumed that in the year 999
999
Year 999 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Silesia is incorporated into territory ruled by Boleslaus I of Poland.* The Orsay commune is founded.- Asia :...
he wrote the first Vita sancti Adalberti episcopi Pragensis, or "Life of St. Adalbert of Prague
Adalbert of Prague
This article is about St Adalbert of Prague. For other uses, see Adalbert .Saint Adalbert, Czech: ; , , Czech Roman Catholic saint, a Bishop of Prague and a missionary, was martyred in his efforts to convert the Baltic Prussians. He evangelized Poles and Hungarians. St...
" just two years after Adalbert's death.
Adalbert was sent by Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V, né Bruno of Carinthia , Pope from May 3, 996 to February 18, 999, son of the Salian Otto I, Duke of Carinthia, who was a grandson of the Emperor Otto I the Great . Gregory V succeeded Pope John XV , when only twenty-four years of age...
to convert the pagan Old Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and had come to Prussia
Prussia (region)
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...
, apparently taking the route along the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
River to reach the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
at „urbem Gyddanzyc“., which is identified with the later Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
(Danzig). Then a small trading and fishing settlement with wooden buildings, it was anyway recorded by Canaparius as „urbs“, city.
It is, however, now assumed by Johannes Fried, that the 'Vita' was not written by Canaparius, but was written down in Liège, with the oldest traceable version having been at the imperial Adalbert shrine at Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
. It was only recently recovered at the Marienstift, and is used to reconstruct the archetype of the 'Vita'. Bishop Notger of Liège, a hagiographer himself, apparently had knowledge of the earlier handwritten Vita from Aachen. The imperial court at Aachen had in 997 assembled immediately upon receiving word of Adalbert's death and had thereupon planning the upcoming events.
Another famous biographer of Adalbert was St. Bruno of Querfurt
Bruno of Querfurt
Saint Bruno of Querfurt , also known as Brun and Boniface, is a sainted missionary bishop and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania while trying to spread Christianity in Eastern Europe...
who wrote his hagiography in 1001-1004.
Nikolaus von Jeroschin
Nikolaus von Jeroschin
Nikolaus von Jeroschin was a 14th century German chronicler of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia.Nikolaus was a chaplain of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights. In 1328, he translated the Vita Sancti Adalberti of Johannes Canaparius into Middle High German...
translated the Vita Sancti Adalberti into Middle High German
Middle High German
Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
in the 14th century.
Editions in Latin
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores (in folio) Bd. 4, S. 581-595;
- Johannes Canaparius, S. Adalberti Pragensis episcopi et martyris vita prior, hrsg. von Jadwiga Karwasińska, Monumenta Poloniae historica, Seria nova 4/2, Warschau 1969;
Literature
- Johannes Fried, Gnesen – Aachen – Rom. Otto III. und der Kult des hl. Adalbert. Beobachtungen zum älteren Adalbertsleben, in: Michael BORGOLTE (Hg.), Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren. Die Berliner Tagung über den „Akt von Gnesen“, Berlin 2002, S. 235 ff.