The ''Chronica regia Coloniensis'' ("Royal Chronicle of Cologne", German: ''Kölner Königschronik''), also called the ''Annales Colonienses maximi'', is an anonymous

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

chronicle that covers the years 576 to 1202. The original chronicle only went up to 1197, but a continuator later added the following few years' events. According to the historian Manfred Groten, the ''Chronica'' was probably first compiled about 1177 in

Michaelsberg Abbey, Siegburg Michaelsberg Abbey (german: Abtei Michaelsberg) is a former monastery of the Benedictine Order, belonging to the Subiaco Congregation (1064-2011). The monastery is situated on the ''Michaelsberg'' ("St. Michael's Mount"), about 40 metres abov ...

, and then continued in Cologne. The earliest manuscript only contains an account down to 1175. The chronicle is called "royal" because it is a history of the Roman emperors,

Frankish kings The Franks, Germanic-speaking peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dukes and reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Merovingians, who co ...

Byzantine emperors This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

and

German kings This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Empir ...

and

emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. It probably began with

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, but the beginning of the chronicle is lost. Up to 1106 the ''Chronica'' depends on the works of Frutolf von Michelsberg and

Ekkehard of Aura Ekkehard of Aura ( la, Ekkehardus Uraugiensis; died 1126) was the Abbot of Aura (a monastery founded by Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, on the Franconian Saale river, near Bad Kissingen, Bavaria) from 1108. A Benedictine monk and chronicler, he made upd ...

, and then on until 1144 on the now lost ''

Annales Patherbrunnenses Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

''. After that it is an independent source. The author of the ''

Chronica sancti Pantaleonis {{italictitle The ''Chronica sancti Pantaleonis'', also called the ''Annales sancti Panthaleonis Coloniensis maximi'', is a medieval Latin universal history written at the Benedictine monastery of Saint Pantaleon in Cologne. It was written in 1237 ...

'' made use of the royal chronicle to cover the years down to 1199, and the historian Georg Waitz treated the former as a mere continuation of the latter and edited them together. The author of the ''Chronica'' had access to a letter of

Rainald of Dassel Rainald of Dassel (c. 1120 – 14 August 1167) was Archbishop of Cologne and Archchancellor of Italy from 1159 until his death. A close advisor to the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa, he had an important influence on Imperial polit ...

, archbishop of Cologne, which gave him important information on the emperor's Italian expedition of 1166. He also knew details of the reconquest of Lisbon and the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...

in 1147 because a contingent from the Rhineland took part. He includes an account of how the crusaders captured

Alcácer do Sal Alcácer do Sal () is a municipality in Portugal, located in Setúbal District. The population in 2011 was 13,046, in an area of 1499.87 km2. History Earliest settlement There has been human settlement in the area for more than 40,000 ye ...

, now known as the '' Gesta crucigerorum Rhenanorum''.The poem begins at p. 349 in Waitz (1880).

Notes

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Sources

*Waitz, Georg (ed.
"Chronica regia Coloniensis cum continuationibus in monasterio S. Pantaleonis scriptis aliisque Coloniensis monumentis partim ex monumentis Germaniae historicis recusa"
MGH, ''Scriptores rerum Germanicarum'', 18. Hanover: 1880. *Wolf, Jürgen. "Chronica regia Coloniensis". ''Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle''. Graeme Dunphy, ed. Brill Online, 2013.

Notes

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Further reading