VIDUCHINDO DI CORVEY. – Benedictine monk of Saxon origin, who lived in the 10th century in the abbey of Corvey (Corbeia nova), and died around 1004.
Very little is known of his life (cf. Waitz’s preface to the edition of the Res gestae [V. bibli]). Of the many works attributed to him by Trithemius (Annales Hirsangiennes, ed. St. Gallen 1690, p. 98), most are spurious. The Vita of Otto I attributed to him by Sigebert of Gembloux (Liber de script.
ecol., 129: PL 160, 575) probably never existed; a Passio of St. Thecla in verse and a Vita of St. Paul the Hermit in prose mixed with verse are lost (Sigebert of Gembloux, loc. cit.). Preserved, however, is the work to which V. 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 narrative continues thereafter up to Otto’s death (973).
Departing from the more widespread chronographic tradition, the author begins not with the Roman Empire but with the origins of the Saxons; he describes their struggles against the Franks, their conversion to Christianity, their conquests up to the reign of Henry I, and their triumph under the empire of Otto I. Although often inaccurate, especially with regard to events in France and Italy, and not infrequently partisan as well, V.’s work is important because it represents the sole source for many of the events it recounts. Literary reminiscences, especially of Virgil and Ovid, and quotations from the Vulgate abound in the narrative; the style, out of a desire for concision, is often harsh or even incomprehensible. The Res gestae soon acquired widespread popularity and were already used in the 10Thietmar of Merseburg (v.) for his Chronicon.