Wolfhere of Hildesheim and others: Annales Altahenses Maiores

The Greater Annals of Niederaltaich, a monastery on the Danube in Bavaria, covering the years from the eighth century to 1073. The opening section is given from the excerpts of the sixteenth-century humanist Aventinus. The first part, assigned in the edition to Wolfhere of Hildesheim, begins with terse entries on the Carolingian age (‘Pippin rules’, ‘Bede died’, ‘the monastery of Altaich is built for Saint Maurice’) and grows fuller as it approaches the eleventh century. The later annals, by monks of Niederaltaich, give detailed narratives, such as accounts of fighting against the Hungarians.

For the reigns of Henry III and the young Henry IV, the Annals of Niederaltaich are among the best and most independent sources, well informed about Bavaria, Hungary and Bohemia and about the politics of the court. They were edited by Edmund von Oefele for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, with fragments in an appendix. The later annalists wrote close to the events they describe, and their judgements on the court of Henry IV are notably independent.