, so called because he was a canon
of that church. He was born, according to some writers,
at Misnia in the eleventh century; he devoted himself
early to the church, and in 1067, was made a canon by
Adelbert, archbishop of Bremen, and at the same time
placed at the head of the school of that city, a situation
equally important and honourable at a time when schools
were the only establishments for public instruction. Adam
employed his whole life in the functions of his office, in
propagating religion, and in compiling his history, “Historia ecclesiastica ecclesiarum Hamburgensis et Bremensis
vicinorurnque locorum septentrionalium, ab anno 788 ad
annum 1072,
” Copenhagen, 1579, 4to; Leyden, 159.5,
4to; Helmstadt, 1670, 4to the latter, edited by John
Mader, is the best edition. This work contains the most
accurate account we have of the establishment of Christianity in the north of Europe. As Bremen was the centre
of the missions for this purpose, in which Adam was himself engaged, and had travelled over the countries visited
by Anscharius about 200 years before, he had the farther
advantage of making valuable collections from the archives
of the archbishoprick, the library of his convent, and the
conversations he held with the missionaries. He lived in
an age when the dignified clergy were not inattentive to
temporal affairs, and yet acquitted himself with much impartiality in writing the history of his patron Adelbert, a
man of intrigue and ambition. He made a tour in Denmark, where he was favourably received by the reigning
sovereign; and on his return wrote a geographical treatise,
which was published at Stockholm, under the title of
“Chronographia Scandinavise,
” 1615, 8vo, and afterwards
at Leyden, with the title “De situ Daniae et reliquarum
trans Daniam regionum natura,
” 1629. This short work
is added to Mader’s edition of his history, and although
not without a portion of the fabulous, is curious as the first
attempt to describe the North of Europe, particularly
Jutland, and some of the islands in the Baltic. We also owe
to Adam of Bremen the first accounts of the interior of
Sweden, and of Russia, the name of which only was then
known in Christian Europe. He even speaks of the island
of Great Britain, but chiefly from the accounts of Solinus
and Martian us Capella, as his visits did not extend so far.
This description of the North has been preserved by Lindenbrog in his “Scriptores rerum Gerrn. septentrional.
”
Hamburgh, 1706; and Muray, one of the most distinguished
professors of Gottingen, has enriched it with a learned
commentary. The time of our author’s death is not
known.