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Biography of Otto of FreisingName: Otto of FreisingBirth Date: c. 1114 Death Date: September 22, 1158 Place of Birth: N/A Nationality: German Gender: Male Occupations: philosopher of history, historiographer Otto of Freising The German historiographer and philosopher of history Otto of Freising (ca. 1114-1158) was the first chronicler to treat religious and political events with artistic skill and vivid color and to depict them in their temporal as well as their transcendental significance.Otto of Freising was the son of Margrave Leopold III of Austria (later St. Leopold) and of Agnes, the daughter of Henry IV. He was also a half brother to Emperor Conrad III, the founder of the Hohenstaufen line. Otto studied at the University of Paris and about 1133 entered the French Cistercian monastery of Morimont in Champagne, whose abbot he soon became. In 1137/1138 he was made bishop of Freising. In 1146 Otto took part, under his half brother, Conrad, in the Second Crusade, in which Jerusalem was lost to Saladin. Otto wrote the Chronicon sive historia de duabus civitatibus (Chronicle or History of the Two Cities), a history of the world …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…ecclesiastical and theological disputes but deplored them as evils. He practiced scholasticism on its highest level. His account of the illstarred Second Crusade pictures it as starting in a dream of springtime and ending in a nightmare. His presentation, however, employs a modicum of sad detail. An optimistic mood characterizes even more strongly his The Deeds of Emperor Frederick I, in which Otto assumed the cheerful disposition of the Emperor and revealed a sure grasp of the spirit of the age of chivalry. Otto died on Sept. 22, 1158. Further Reading Otto's works were translated, with useful biographical and critical introductions and annotations, by Charles C. Mierow: The Two Cities: A Chronicle of Universal History to the Year 1146 A.D. (1928) and The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa (1953). Discussions of Otto's life and work are in Harry Elmer Barnes, A History of Historical Writing (1937), and James Westfall Thompson, A History of Historical Writing (2 vols., 1942). |