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Transformation and Reconstruction of Historical Narratives: Analysis of Narrations About Otto II’s Battle in Calabria

In Sigebert of Gembloux’s Chronica, the record of the year 982 is not a mere compilation of an episcopal biography written by Alpert of Metz, to whom the author refers as his source. In this short chapter, Sigebert not only recounts “the flight and escape of the emperor (die Flucht und Rettung des Kaisers)” during Otto II’s battle in Calabria, but he also implies a political interpretation, as Alpert did before him, by highlighting the anti-Byzantine episode in which Theophano frivolously insults the Ottonian troops. 
However, the same historical event of 982 has different implications when specific historical contexts and intentions of two authors’ writings are taken into account: Alpert intended to advocate for the bishop Dietrich of Metz who supported Henry II against the young emperor Otto III and his mother Theophano. On the other hand, Sigebert’s writing can be read under the perspective of the Two Emperors’ Problem (Zweikaiserproblem). Even though the context of the Crusade can also be discerned in this passage, Sigebert presents the principal agents of conflicts as the Ottonians and the Byzantines, assigning the Saracens to a supporting role. Other slight variations are also found in Sigebert’s narration when compared to the text written by Alpert such as in the case of the reason of Otto II’s campaign in Southern Italy, the existence of the Slav “merchant”, and the second flight of Otto II from the Byzantine ship. Sigebert’s writing is not so much a faithful summary of Alpert’s text as it is a meticulous reconstruction of a historical narrative within the framework of his Universal history which seeks to uncover the historical meaning and role of the Medieval German Empire.