Bruno of Merseburg: De Bello Saxonico

The Saxon War is a history of the conflict between the Saxons and King Henry IV, written by Bruno, a cleric of the household of Werner, bishop of Merseburg, to whom it is dedicated. In the dedication Bruno explains that, searching all his resources for a gift worthy of his lord, he found only letters, which he considers the most precious gift one person can give another. The work begins with Henry’s youth and character, and then narrates the Saxon rising of 1073, the wars that followed, and the struggle between Henry and Pope Gregory VII.

Bruno writes as a passionate partisan of the Saxon princes and of the Gregorian party, and his portrait of Henry IV is deeply hostile, including lurid accounts of the king’s private life. He includes the texts of letters and arguments, as in a passage defending Peter’s universal power to bind and loose, from which kings are not exempt. Though highly biased, the work is a major source for the Saxon wars and the Investiture Controversy, and the documents it preserves are of great value.