ABSTRACT
For a long time, German historians have analysed the work of Godfrey of Viterbo simply in a positivist way, questioning his reliability for the ‘facts’ of Hohenstaufen times. Seen from this angle, Godfrey has a bad reputation indeed. Max Manitius blamed him for the harmful influence his works had had on other medieval authors’ views of the past. 1 Philipp Külb stated that the historical value of Godfrey’s Pantheon was ‘insignificant in all its variations and in its presentation of very bad taste’. 2 Other critics, like Paul Scheffer-Boichorst, accused him of having processed world history on his poetical chopping board. 3
