Viduchindo of Corvey

VIDUCHINDO OF CORVEY. - Benedictine monk of Saxon origin, who lived in the 10th century in the abbey of Corvey (Corbeia nova), d. around 1004.

Of his life there is only very little information (cf. the preface by Waitz to the edition of the Res gestae [see bibliography]). Of the many works attributed to him by Trithemius (Annales Hirsangiennes, ed. St. Gallen 1690, p. 98), most are spurious. Probably never existing is the Vita of Otto I, attributed to him by Sigebert of Gembloux (Liber de script.

ecol., 129: PL 160, 575); lost are a Passio of St. Thecla in verse and a Vita of St. Paul the Hermit in prose mixed with verse (Sigebert of Gembloux, loc. cit.). Preserved, however, is the work to which V. owes his fame, the Res gestae Saxoniae, sive Annalium libri tres, dedicated to the daughter of Emperor Otto I, Matilda abbess of Quedlinburg. Written for the most part around 968, the account then extends to the death of Otto (973).

Departing from the most widespread chronographic tradition, the author begins, rather than from the Roman Empire, from the origins of the Saxons, describes their struggles against the Franks, the conversion to Christianity, the conquests up to the reign of Henry I, the triumph under the empire of Otto I. Although often inaccurate, especially in relation to the events of France and Italy, and not rarely even partisan, the work of V. is important because it represents the only source for many of the events narrated. Literary reminiscences abound in the narrative, especially of Virgil and Ovid, and quotations from the Vulgate; the style, out of love for conciseness, often turns out harsh or even incomprehensible. The Res gestae quickly acquired a wide popularity and already in the 10th century were used, for his Chronicon, by Thietmar of Merseburg (v.).