Alpert of Metz: De Diversitate Temporum

De Diversitate Temporum is a history by Alpert, a monk of Saint-Symphorien at Metz, dedicated to Burchard, bishop of Worms. In the prologue Alpert says that a brother named Immo had visited him and told him of Burchard’s faith, holiness and government of his church, and of his study of Scripture, fasts and vigils. The work, in two books, describes events in Lower Lotharingia and the region of the lower Rhine in the early eleventh century, including conflicts among local nobles, the dispute between Count Balderic and his rivals over inheritance, attempts by the bishop and emperor to make peace, and the raids of the Northmen.

The work is one of the most important sources for the history of the Netherlands and the Rhineland around the year 1000, a region otherwise poorly documented in this period. Alpert writes with a classical Latin style and a sharp eye for character, and his accounts of feuds, intrigue and violence give a vivid picture of noble society under the Ottonian emperors. The work also includes a remarkable passage about a cleric who converted to Judaism, often cited in studies of Jewish-Christian relations.