Herausgegeben von ELMAR HOCHHOLZER (Libri memoriales et necrologia, Nova series 10) XVIII, 206 S. sowie 31 meist farb. Abb. 4°. 2018 ISBN 978-3-447-10955-0Ln. EUR 125,-
The twelfth-century necrologies of the imperial abbey Hersfeld have been transmitted in three separate sources of different age, form and content, namely in a calendar-necrology surviving in the original, and in two name-lists extant in manuscript copies. The first part of this edition describes and analyses these sources, identifying organisational principles and highlighting their specific characteristics, such as the recording of important historical events and persons. The texts offer revealing insights into the composition, outward relations and self-conception of the monastic community of Hersfeld and are illustrative of the important but scarcely known role played by the abbey in service of the kingdom and the imperial abbeys during the 11th and 12th centuries. In the second part, the edition attempts a reconstruction of the text of the original necrologies from the given transmission in the most precise form possible. In the annotated persons-index (Personenkommentar), all named persons are listed and sorted in relation to the calendar with possible explanations for their inclusion in the monastery's remembrance prayers. Richly supplemented with historical context, the edition and commentary of the three Hersfeld necrologies is an important contribution to modern research, particularly regarding the culture and influence of "memoria" in one of the major abbeys of the medieval German Empire.