The anonymousSaxon poet known asPoeta Saxo, who composed themedieval LatinAnnales de gestis Caroli magni imperatoris libri quinque ("Annals of the Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne in Five Books") was probably a monk ofSaint Gall or possiblyCorvey. HisAnnales is one of the earliest poetic treatments of annalistic material and one of the earliest historical works to concentrate on Saxony. It is considered characteristic of thedénouement of theCarolingian Renaissance.
The Saxon identity of the poet is implicit in only two places in the text of his poem, as when he refers to the Saxons as "our people" in lines 687–690.[1] He probably began collectingoral tradition aboutCharlemagne, the conqueror of the Saxons, 883, but he soon graduated toannalistic texts, such as theAnnales regni Francorum as compiled underEinhard, and biographic works, like Einhard'sVita Karoli Magni;[2] he composed his poem between 888 and 891, during the reign ofArnulf of Carinthia, whom he addresses. The Poeta was steeped inclassical poetry and schooled inrhetoric. TheAnnales gives evidence of his having access to now lost annals and he has been a source for historians, though most literary critics offer less praise, noting that the Poeta is aversifier who simply transformed prose annals into metric ones with little original contribution.
He "goes beyond received and conventional ideas", however, in portraying Charlemagne as superior to theRoman emperors, standing besideConstantine in Heaven, and famous asDavid (this idea came from Charlemagne's court nickname).[3] In the final book, where the Poet depicts the nations onJudgement Day, he has each nation led by a different apostle:Peter leads theJews andPaul leads theGentiles, under whomAndrew leads theGreeks,John theAsians,Matthew theEthiopians,Thomas theIndians, and Charlemagne the Saxons.[4] The Poeta is among the saved Saxons who enter Christ's presence; it is for this reason that he overlooks the brutality of Charlemagne's conquest of his people, for with Charlemagne came Christian salvation.
Among the pieces of history for which only the Poeta is a source are the commendation of theDanish chieftainHalfdan to Charlemagne in 807 and the existence of vernacular Germanic poems and songs about Germanic heroes of the past. About the latter the Poeta writes:Est quoque iam notum: vulgaria carmina magnis / Laudibus eius avos et proavos celebrant, / Pippinos, Carolos, Hludowicos et Theodricos / Et Carlomannos Hlothariosque canunt ("As is well known, vernacular poems celebrate and praise / his grandfathers and great grandfathers; / of Pippin, Charles, Louis, and Theoderic / Carlomann and Lothar are their songs made").[5] The Poeta also refers to the people of Europe over whom the Romans did not hold sway yet who are subjects of Charlemagne.
The identification of the Poeta withAgius of Corvey was refuted by Karl Strecker and more recently by H. F. Stiene. Rita Lejeune andTimothy Reuter see theAnnales as the predecessor ofFrenchepic poetry andromance. The Poeta was probably a source forWidukind of Corvey.[6]
Of the five books of the 2,691-lineAnnales, the first four are inhexameters while the last is inelegiacdistichs. The first critical edition of the Poeta's poem was G. H. Pertz,MGH SS, II (Hanover, 1829), which was replaced by an updated version by Paul von Winterfeld in thePoetarum Latinorum Medii Aevi Tomus IV, i (Berlin, 1909). Parts of books I and II appeared in Godman (1985) with English translation. A complete English prose translation appears in McKinney (1956).
Paul von Winterfeld, ed., inPoetarum Latinorum Medii Aevi Tomus IVi inMonumenta Germaniae Historica, (Berlin, 1909)
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