Annals of Quedlinburg

The city of Quedlinburg, Germany, was first mentioned in writing in a document dated to 922. Saint Mathilda founded Quedlinburg Abbey, a religious community for women, there in 936, leading it until her death in 966. The abbey became a premier educational institution for the female nobles of the Duchy and Electorate of Saxony, and maintained its mission for nearly 900 years. The city served as an imperial palatinate of the German emperors from the House of Liudolfings, where Henry the Fowler, the founder of that dynasty (House of Liudolfings), was buried. Quedlinburg was situated not far from Magdeburg, the Royal Assembly of the empire, and its annalists could therefore rely on genuine information from the royal house and obtain eyewitness accounts. ==Annals==

The Annals open with a chronicle of world history from the time of Adam to the Third Council of Constantinople in 680-681, based on chronicles by Jerome, Isidore, and Bede. It has been suggested that the annalist temporarily abandoned the project between 1016 and 1021.{{cite book|last=Brody|first=Howard S.|year=2003|title=The Apocalyptic Year 1000: Religious Expectation and Social Change, 950–1050 ==Mention of Lithuania==

The first written occurrence of Lithuania's name has been traced to the Quedlinburg Annals in the description of the year 1009. The passage reads: In English: Regarding the translation of "VII. Id. Martij": in the Roman calendar dates were counted backward from three specific points in the lunar month. In this particular case, "VII. Id. Martij" literally means 7th of the Ides of March", i.e., around 15-7 = 8th or 9th of March. From other sources that describe Bruno of Querfurt, it is clear that this missionary attempted to Christianize the pagan king Netimer and his subjects. However, Netimer's brother, refusing to accept Christianity, killed Bruno and his followers. The historian Alfredas Bumblauskas has suggested that the story records the first baptismal attempt in the history of Lithuania. ==Editions and translations==

• Latin edition (including the Annals of Hildesheim and Weissemburg): MGH SS 3, pp. 18f. • («Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi», 72). • The Annals of the Holy Roman Empire. The Annals of Quedlinburg. Translated and annotated by Grzegorz Kazimierz Walkowski (Walkowski, Bydgoszcz, 2014) ==References==