The Chronicon Livoniae in Early Modern Scholarship: From Humanist Receptions to the Gruber Edition of 1740

In 1755, the Swedish historian Arvid Moller (1674–1758) expressed his dislike for a certain ‘old, faulty, so-called Livonian chronicle, handwritten in Latin’ that had recently been printed in Germany. ² The ‘unreliable text, or rather insignificant piece of scrap paper’ that aroused Moller’s scorn was none other than the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, first published by the Hanoverian scholar Johann Daniel Gruber (c. 1686–1748) in 1740 ³ and translated into German by Johann Gottfried Arndt (1713–67), schoolmaster at Arensburg (Est. Kuressaare), seven years later. ⁴ Moller’s disdainful remarks fit well with the attitude that preceding centuries had displayed towards the Livonian chronicle. Scholars in early modern Europe were, in general, not kind to Henry of Livonia.