ADEMARO di CHABANNES. — Benedictine and French chronicler, born at Chabannes, near Angoulême, around 988, died in Jerusalem in 1034. He became a monk at the abbey of Saint-Cybard near Angoulême, where he acquired a broad culture. Around 1029 he wrote a very interesting letter on the apostolate of S. Marziale, asserting that this saint (patron of Aquitaine and of the abbey of Limoges, with which A. had close ties of friendship, so much so that he was considered a monk of this abbey rather than of Saint-Cybard) was one of the Lord’s 72 disciples: an assertion that A. also defended at several councils and synods.
His chronicle on the history of Aquitaine is his own work only from chapter 16 of book III (that is, from the year 830), whereas the preceding part is merely a summary of pre-existing chronicles. Also of great value is a list he compiled of the abbots of S. Marziale at Limoges from the year 848. The autographs of his sermons and poems have been preserved, but have been published only in part.
For the manuscripts: L. Delisle, Notice sur les manuscrits originaux d'Adémar de Chabannes, in Notices et extraits des manuscrits, 35 (1896, I), pp. 241-358.
For the person: M. Manitius, Gesch. der lat. Liter. des Mittelalters, II, II, Munich 1923, especially pp. 284-94; W. Wattenbach-R. Holtzmann, Deutschlands Geschichtquellen im Mittelalter. Deutsche Kaiserzeit, I, II, Berlin 1939, pp. 310-11.
Cesario van Hulst