Leo Marsicanus (Leo of Ostia)

Leo Marsicanus / Leo of Ostia (c. 1045- 1115).

Chronica monasterii Casinensis.

Leo Marsicanus, also known as Leo of Ostia because he was bishop of this city during the turbulent pontificate of Paschal II, entered the monastery of the Montecassino when he was fifteen.

A man of great cultural and political stature, he was charged by Abbot Oderisius I to write - making use of the material kept in the abbey’s archives - a life of the great Cassinese abbot, Desiderius (who then became pope with the name of Victor III). But this project was subsequently expanded and, from 1099 to 1103, Leo wrote a history of the abbey, from its foundation in 529 to 1057; he later extended the account up to 1075. It was then continued by a monk called Peter the Deacon for the period 1075- 1139.

In Leo Marsicanus’s chronicle, as Ovidio Capitani states, the events in Italy are grafted onto those in the monastery. He has written a lively and interesting account that, from a historical point of view, is extremely perceptive, as may be deduced from the careful use he makes of the enormous quantity of charters he has at his disposal. He pays particular attention, in fact, to the documentation and registration of privileges and land, with the clear intention of substantiating the freedom of the monastery, which he corroborates with incontrovertible documentary evidence.

 

MODERN EDITION

- Chronica monasterii Casinensis, ed. H. Hoffmann, MGH Scriptores XXXIV, Hanover, 1980 (also includes the second part of the chronicle, written by Peter the Deacon).