Hermann, or Hermannus, Contractus

Hermann, or Hermannus, Contractus So called from disease having shrunk up his limbs, was a monk of Reichenau, and one of the learned men of the 11th century, being well skilled in Latin, Greek, and Arabic. He was born in 1013, and was the son of the count of Weringen in Suevia. He wrote a Chronicle (De Sex cetatibus mundi), which commences at the Creation and ends A.D. 1052. The events occurring before the Christian era are very briefly noticed, but afterwards he enters into more details, and amplifies as he approaches nearer to his own times. The "Chronicle" was continued by Berthold of Constance up to 1065, and published at Basle in 1536, and again at St. Blaise in 1790 (2 vols. 4to). It may be found also in Bibl. Max. Patr. vol. 18. Trithemius ascribes the hymns Alma Redemptoris mater and Salve Regina to Hermann. See Dupin, Eccl. Writers, 9, 102.