Henry's Chronicle in the Service of Historical Thought: Editors and Editions

In the Baltic Sea region, each medievalist has his or her own personal relationship with the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. ¹ In addition, different political regimes have used this chronicle in their own ways. Henry’s text has fed different national impulses. We can differentiate between antiquarian, historical (scientific) and popular interest in Henry’s text. Some editions of the chronicle present, very clearly, only one of these attitudes, while others combine different aspects. One may be tempted to connect the antiquarian interest with the eighteenth century, the scientific with the nineteenth and the popular with the twentieth century. In the case of some editions this is actually true, while with others different interests are combined in the same edition.