Interferences between hagiography and historiography : Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg and emperor Henry II

Abstract

This article studies the hagiographic and historiographic narrative patterns in ac-counts on Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg and Emperor Henry II, important rulers of C10 and early C11, both canonized after their death. Gerhard of Augburg’s Ulrich vita, composed shortly after the battle of Lechfeld, highlights the bishop’s military talents; in the early C11 Latin more hagiographic account by Bern of Reichenau this aspect loses importance. The early and high medieval historiographic texts and chronicles both in Latin and German present Ulrich increasingly as saint. In the Late Middle Ages the mode of description of the canonized bishop changes again. A little different is the textual tradition of Henry II. First, only historiographic texts tell about him, esp. Thietmar of Merseburg. Later, hagiographic texts were written, in Latin and also in German. Establishing a dialogue with historiographic texts, they superimpose the guiding image of the ruler and the saint. In a complex process, the hagiograpic texts in turn influence a series of late medieval vernacular chronicles. Finally, in the aftermath of the Reformation, hagiographic and historiographic accounts on Saint Henry are systematically distinguished.