Peter the Deacon

PETER THE DEACON. - Librarian and archivist of the abbey of Montecassino, b. ca. 1107, d. in 1159. Under the guidance of the monk Guido, P. acquired a solid erudition in the sacred sciences and in history. Perhaps because of his restless spirit he was away from Montecassino for some time; but having returned to his abbey, at the behest of the abbot Senioretto, and still more out of an intimate literary passion, he set himself to composing with surprising alacrity various works of a hagiographic and historical character, not without at times altering the tradition, both oral and documented, in order to bend it to his own ends.

Among these is remembered the continuation of the Chronicon Casinense of Leo of Ostia, in which he also made use of the work of his master Guido and at the same time introduced not always happy modifications even into the work of Leo. His other published works are: Liber illustrium virorum archisterii Casinensis; De ortu et obitu iustorum Casinensium; Liber de locis sanctis; PL 173. There too is the part written by him of the aforementioned Chronicon Casinense, reproduced from the edition of Wattenbach in MGH, Script., VII, p. 551. Other writings are still unpublished in the Cassinese codices; among them worthy of mention is the Registrum, in which P. gathered copious archival material to vindicate the patrimonial rights of his monastery. He himself narrates the defense of these rights in the presence of the emperor Lothair, who decided the controversy in favor of Montecassino.

Ambrogio Mancone