Bishops between the exercise of episcopal office and local needs: the construction and view of authority in Thietmar of Merseburg’s Chronicon

NEYRA, ANDREA VANINA

Leeds

Congreso; Leeds International Medieval Congress 2022; 2022

University of Leeds

The renowned chronist and Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg exercised the office between the years 1009 and 1018. His see had suffered from acts performed by Giselher, who, in order to take over the archbishopric of Magdeburg in 981, had agreed to dissolve the bishopric of Merseburg, which was in his hands. As a medieval bishop, Thietmar was part of a net of individuals who had responsabilities towards the ecclesiastical organization, the secular powers and the community of the Christians. He built his episcopacy under the consequences of the adverse context created by the dissolution of the see and its restoration in 1004 under Bishop Wigbert. Local needs for legitimacy of Thietmar’s authority, reconstruction of the see and relationships with other ecclesiasticals as well as with the secular aristocracy had an impact on his actions: in particular in the last book of the Chronicle he states the significance of recording anything valuable that could be of interest for defending the survival of the bishopric in the days to come. In doing so, it is possible to observe a more general defence of the status and authority of bishops in several conflicts, which also arose in other regions. This paper seeks to study the reciprocal interaction between Thietmar’s construction of his authority and his view of other bishops’ similar experiences.