Albert of Stade

The building of secularised St John's Friary, Stade, housing a memorial plaque and a small exhibition on Albert of Stade

Albert of Stade (c. 1187 – c. 1260) was a German monk, historian and poet.

Albert probably studied in the school of Bremen Cathedral. He joined the Benedictine Order and entered the monastery of Harsefeld near Stade. He rose to become prior and in 1232 was elected abbot. He was opposed both to the lax enforcement of the Benedictine Rule at Harsefeld and to the introduction of the stricter Cistercian observance. For this reason he resigned as abbot in 1240 and joined the Franciscan friary of Saint John in Stade.

In the same year that he became a friar, Albert began writing a Latin world chronicle, the Annales Stadenses or Annals of Stade. It begins at Creation and ends in 1256. The early portions appear to have been based on Bede's Libellus de sex aetatibus mundi and Ekkehard's Chronicon. As he approaches his own time, Albert becomes, like most medieval chroniclers, both fuller and more reliable.

Albert also wrote several theological and literary works while he was a friar. He is credited with Raimundus, a versification of Raymond of Penyafort's Summa de casibus poenitentiae, and with Troilus, a Latin epic about the Trojan War in 5,320 lines.

Albert died between 1256 and 1258/1261, although he has sometimes been credited with the continuations added to his Annals to bring it down to 1265.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Albert of Stade, a chronicler of the thirteenth century. He was born before the close of the twelfth century. It is known that he became abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Stade (near Hamburg) in 1232. Failing to change (1236) the rule of St. Benedict in his abbey to that of the Cistercians, he resigned his office and in 1240 joined the Franciscans. In the same year he commenced to compile his chronicle, which begins with the creation of the world and comes down to 1256; he may also be the author of the continuations to 1265. The earlier portions appear to have been taken from Bede's "Libellus de sex ætatibus mundi," and Ekkehard's "Chronicle." As he approaches his own times, Albert becomes, after the manner of medieval chroniclers, both fuller and more reliable. The first and only complete edition is that printed at Helmstadt in 1587; (Wittenberg, 1608). He is also credited with the authorship of a work called "Troilus," a Latin epic on the Trojan War, in 5,320 lines, a manuscript copy of which is in the Wolfenbüttel library.

Von Funk, in Kirchenlex., I, 425, 426; Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen (6th ed., Berlin, 1893), II, 439–441. The text of the Chronicle from 1165 to the end is best found in Mon. Germ. Hist.—Scriptores, XVI, 272 sqq., 431 sqq. See Hurter, Nomenclator., IV, 269, 353.