ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reception of Henry's chronicle during the early modern period or rather the lack thereof. It intends to document the faint traces which Henry left on early modern scholarship, up to Gruber's first edition of his chronicle in 1740. The Codex Zamoscianus, which forms the basis of all modern editions, is the only surviving manuscript from the Middle Ages. The list of early modern scholars who used the Livonian chronicle seems impressive at a first glance. The first early modern scholar to use Henry's chronicle was Albert Krantz, the prominent Hanseatic historian and one of the most influential humanists in Northern Europe. The idea of a pre-social, pre-governmental condition in which all people were equal before God enabled early modern society to reflect on itself. Reconstructing the mechanisms and motivations that led to the initial establishment of statehood, it raised the question of which political system best served the interests of the individual.
