Liber ad honorem Augusti

The Liber ad honorem Augusti sive de rebus Siculis (also Carmen de motibus Siculis, German: book in honor of the emperor or of the affairs of Sicily, Codex 120 II Burgerbibliothek Bern ) is an in 1196, written by Peter de Ebulo in Palermo Illustrated Chronicle reflecting the Hohenstaufen conquest of Sicily.

The artwork was created by Peter de Ebulo as a panegyric on the Emperor Henry VI. and as a diatribe against the enemies of Henry, especially against Tancred of Lecce, created. According to the author comments, it was the first work of Peter de Ebulo. It is an epic poem, which is however deviating from the antique models shown on the frontispiece ( Virgil, Lucan, Ovid ) and translating them bidding written in couplets. Additionally there is a narrative image cycle which illustrates the standing each on the Verso text on the opposite recto and is provided with its own Tituli in prose. Language and style are hochrhetorischer mannered and testify despite some Italianizismen in choice of words and especially spelling of the erudition of highly educated author who has mastered the versification sovereign. The book is divided into three books and 52 consecutively counted particulae. The first two books contain the history of events, the third is a panegyric on Henry VI. It also contains a praise of the seven liberal arts ( artes liberales ) that can only be seen as an indirect self-praise of the poet ( Part 51).

This book is next to the Bayeux Tapestry 's only intact medieval image sequence illustrates the events of contemporary history. It is a valuable source for the Gewandungskultur of staufer temporal southern Italy. Due to the propagandistic account of the events and the polemic against Tancred and his followers, although it is to be interpreted as a historical source with caution, but offers quite important additional information about the event history, especially to Henry's wife Constance of Sicily and the birth of Frederick II, and is due to the high-level authority, the Chancellor Konrad of cross- ford, a source of high importance for the court of Henry VI. propagated reign understanding.