Li Teng, The Empire and the Church in the Kaiserchronik: An Investigation of the Vernacular Historical Writing in the High Middle Ages

　　The Kaiserchronik is the first vernacular chronicle written in Bavaria in medieval High German in the second half of the 12th century, with great values in the history of historiography and literature. It is also a classic from Germany during the Twelfth Century Renaissance. The idea of empire emerged in the middle of the 12th century goes throught the whole Kaiserchronik, which presents a unique mixture of Christian morality and cultivation of imperial ideology. Through the idealised description of the cooperation between the Pope and the Emperor and the selective neglect, this work constructs an artificial exemplary relationship of the Church and the State. The tendency of compromise contained in the work not only reflects the contemporary historical context, but also indicts the different intentions and motivations between the vernacular and Latin historical writings. This alternative historical writings in the 12th century demonstrates a strong inclination of secularization, which makes it a significant case for reviewing the evolution of the medieval historiography in the Twelfth Century Renaissance.