Editing Widukind of Corvey (section)

==Life==
[[File:Corvey Westwerk.png|thumb|[[Princely Abbey of Corvey|Corvey Abbey Church]], westwork]]
In view of his name, he possibly was a descendant of the Saxon leader and national hero [[Widukind]], mentioned in the ''[[Royal Frankish Annals]]'', who had battled [[Charlemagne]] in the [[Saxon Wars]] from 777 to 785. Widukind the Chronicler entered the [[Order of Saint Benedict|Benedictine]] abbey of [[Princely Abbey of Corvey|Corvey]] in the [[Westphalia]]n part of [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]] around 940/42, probably to become a [[tutor]]. It is widely assumed that he had reached the age of 15 upon his access, though it has been recently suggested that he may have joined the Order as a child. In 936 [[Henry the Fowler]], the first [[East Francia|East Frankish]] king of the Saxon ducal Ottonian dynasty had died and was succeeded by his son [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto the Great]].

Otto's rise as undisputed ruler of a German kingdom against the reluctant [[stem duchy|dukes]] made great impression on the Benedictine monk. By his own admission, Widukind first wrote several Christian [[Hagiography|hagiographies]] before he began his ''Res gestae Saxonicae''. He dedicated the chronicles to Abbess [[Matilda, Abbess of Quedlinburg|Matilda of Quedlinburg]] (c. 955{{ndash}}999), daughter of Emperor [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto the Great]], like himself a descendant of the Saxon leader Widukind. The annals were written after Otto's coronation by [[Pope John XII]] on 2 February 962; however, though both Otto and his father Henry the Fowler are named ''[[Imperator]]es'', this incident is not mentioned. After the elevation of Matilda's brother [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]] as co-emperor in 967 and the death of her half-brother Archbishop [[William (Archbishop of Mainz)|William of Mainz]] one year later, the abbess remained the only important member of the Ottonian dynasty in the Saxon lands under regent [[Hermann Billung]]; therefore, Widukind may have begun the writing – or started all over again – to create a kind of [[mirrors for princes|mirror for princes]].

The annals were continued until Otto's death on 7 May 973. Widukind probably died thereafter at Corvey Abbey.