Primary Sources

A brief miracle story about divine punishment for usurers.

Aeneas Piccolomini to Cardinal Capranica (July 1453): Letter on the Fall of Constantinople describing reaction and misinformation surrounding the event at the court of the Emperor Frederick III.

833: Abp. Agobard describes the assembly at Compiègne and the ensuing public penance of Louis the Pious.

Ca. 826/827: Abp. Agobard to Nibridius, Bp. of Narbonne, warning of the dangers of associating with Jews in an attempt to enlist the support of the regional episcopacy in his cause.

Abp. Agobard admonishes Matfred to observe justice in the performance of his role as the emperor’s administrator.

Ca. 823: Abp. Agobard seeks the help of three imperial courtiers in protecting prelates’ ability to baptize pagans who were the property of Jews and their intervention in cases where the Jews refuse to sell the individual or charge an excessive price for their freedom.

Ca. 829: Abp. Agobard admonishes Louis the Pious for altering the provisions of the Ordinatio imperii of 817.

826/827: Abp. Agobard writes to Louis the Pious in protest of policies favorable to the Jewish community and the harm they do to the Christian faithful.

Amalarius describes the origin and method of composition of his antiphonary.

Dated 1461-1462, this account attacks Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, formerly an orthodox bishop, who visited Russia in 1440 and 1443 as apostolic legate to persuade the Russian church to enter into union with Rome.

Sermon describing the conversion of the Roman Pantheon into a Christian Church by Pope Boniface IV (608-15).

A letter from a Franciscan living in Constantinople in 1438 conveying his impressions of growing Turkish power and a call for aid from the West.

Found in a 13th century codex, these annals focus primarily on events in the Adriatic in the 12th century as well as the affairs of the city of Venice itself.

1008/1009: Bruno writes of German missionary and diplomatic among Slavic pagans.

1038: Abbot Cadwalla asks the Duchess to grant assistance and safe, toll-free passage to a monk selling wine from the monastery’s vineyards in order to raise money for renovations.

Fulk writes to Peter Abelard, reacting to news of Abelard’s castration.

981: Otto II summons armored knights from episcopal, abbatial, and lay contingents.

The sheik discusses the defeat of the Turkish fleet by the defenders of Constantinople in April 1452 and recommends responses.

Letter describing Archbishop Isidore’s capture by the Turks during the fall of Constantinople and his journey to Italy.

The Knights of St. John on Rhodes write of the city’s fall and Turkish plans to the Margrave of Brandenburg in Jerusalem.

A member of Frederick’s expedition describes the journey and battles of the German crusader force and the death of the Emperor in Asia Minor.

An annotation added to a Greek manuscript (now British Museum Add. 34060 f.1v) recording a contemporary reaction on the island of Crete to the news that Constantinople had fallen.

Otloh describes an earlier 11th century instance of a judicial ordeal undergone by a layman accused of stealing a horse, the revelation of a different sin, and the subsequent wrath of God against the layman when he attempts to circumvent the letter of his penitential vow to God.

971: Otto I provides for resolution of disputes over property by judicial combat.

Emperor Otto III legislates expanded access to judges and judgment.

Eugenius III “admonishes, asks, and commands” King Louis VII to crusade (Dec. 1145).

866: Pope Nicholas I responds at length to the Bulgars’ questions and concerns about the practical implications of christianization and specific aspects of their new faith.

A brief entry for the year 900 covering portentous astronomical phenomenon and ensuing environmental calamities, rebellions of men against God, deaths of rulers, and Radbod’s new position.

A brief text by the author explaining the circumstances behind his compiling his popular sermons in written form.

A brief account of a decision by ecclesiastics of the Gregorian party that the property of churches could be pawned to support an armed resistance to Wibert of Ravenna.

Trans. W.L. North from the Latin edition in Maurice Coens, “Héribert Rosweyde et la récherche des documents,” Analecta Bollandiana 83 (1965), 50-52.

Describes the holders of the office of sacrist at the monastery and their accomplishments from the mid-eleventh to the turn of the fourteenth century.

Describes the penance imposed on Arduin for leading the murderers of Bishop Peter of Vercelli.

This anonymous text, produced as part of a propaganda war against the Gregorian papacy, describes an alleged ordeal concerning the kingship and priesthood said to have been conducted by ecclesiastics of the Gregorian party on December 3, 1083.

Detailed account of the actual taking of the city from a Byzantine perspective.

Describes the theft of liturgical equipment and personal items from the Basilica of Blessed Mary and pronounces an anathema and excommunication for the thieves.