Amatus of Montecassino

Amatus of Montecassino, also Amatus Casinensis (* around 1010 in Salerno, † March 1 after 1078, probably in Montecassino ) was a chronicler and a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.

Life and writings

Between 1047 and 1058 he was Bishop of Capaccio ( Paestum ). In the first years of the Abbot Desiderius he renounced his episcopal ministry and entered as a monk in the monastery. In 1061 he signed a deed as a witness in the first place by Desiderius, his position in the monastery are no more information known.

His Historia Normannorum ( "History of the Normans " ) in eight books was indeed written in Latin, but only preserved in an old French translation of the 14th century. In addition to William of Apulia and Gaufredus Malaterra his Ystoire de li Normant is one of the main historiographical sources for the formation of the Norman polity in southern Italy. The Chronicle covers the period 1016-1078, so you take a formation around 1080 on. The work is dedicated to Desiderius, the main character is Robert Guiscard.

About his literary and historiographical activity report the Chronicle of Montecassino and Peter the Deacon in De viris illustribus. In the non-received treatise De laude, he celebrated the deacon Hildebrand, De gestis apostolorum is dedicated to Gregory VII. From this verse text three books about St. Peter and the fourth book of the part about the apostle Paul are preserved.

Editions

• Amato of Monte Cassino. Storia dei Norman, ed Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis ( Fonti per la Storia d' Italia, 76), Roma 1935
• Amato di Montecassino. Storia dei Norman, ed Giuseppe Sperduti, Cassino 1999.
• The History of the Normans by Amatus of Montecassino, Translated Prescott N. Dunbar. Revised by Graham A. Loud ( Boydell ) ISBN 1-84383-078-7 2004
• Il poema di S. Pietro Apostolo Amato su, ed A. Lentini ( MiscCass, 30-31), 1958-59
• Ystoire de li Normant. Lestringant, Rouen 1892 ( digitized )