WIDUKIND
618
WIEST
widowhood is preferable to the married state (I Cor.,
vii, 8), yet he does not forbid remarriage (loc. cit., 39).
Second nuptials are valid by ecclesiastical law if the
first marriage bond has been really dissolved and if
there is no canonical impediment, as is the case for
clerics in major orders in the Oriental rites. In the
mind of the Church, however, second nuptials are less
honourable than a first marriage (Cone. Ancyr., c. 19;
Cone. Laodic, c. 1), and the state of widowhood is
more commendable (Cone. Trid., sess. xxiv, de matr.,
can. 10) as a more perfect good. (See Woman.)
Thomassin, Vet. et nova discipUna (Paris, 1688); Weknz, Jus decret., IV (Rome, 1904).
William H. W. Fanning.
Widukind, Saxon leader, one of the heads of the Westphahan nobihty, was the moving spirit in the struggles of the Saxons for their independence and heathen faith . The Prankish accounts of the Saxon wars, coloured by national feehng, give only an out- line of Widukind's character. After Charlemagne's victory in 777 Widukind fled to Denmark. He saw that at the moment opposition was useless. When Charlemagne was in Spain in 778, Widukind came back and, trusting to the Saxon love of independence, organized a war of revenge. Saxon hordes plundered and devastated the region of the middle Rhine, and even threatened Fulda, so that the monks fled, carry- ing the remains of St. Boniface. A Prankish army defeated the Saxons at Laisa and rescued the town. In 782 order seemed to be restored among the Saxons, and Widukind again fled to Denmark, but returned once more when Charlemagne began his march toward home. The Wends also were incited to join the uprising. The hatred of the insurgents was directed against the churches and priests, and Willihad, first Bishop of Bremen, was obliged for the time to aban- don his missionary work. Widukind no longer had the entire Saxon nation on his side. A strong Prank- ish party had now sprang up, but the terrible punish- ment inflicted by Charlemagne on 4000 Saxons at Verden on the AUer greatly strengthened the national party among the Saxons. Widukind again fled to Denmark; after this he persuaded the inhabitants of the northern Elbe district and the Frisians to join the revolt. Particulars as to Widukind's actions during the last struggles of the Saxons are lacking. Charlemagne saw that he was the leading spirit of the resistance and sought to induce him to submit peacefully. In 785 Widukind was baptized, with many of his companions, at Attigny. Charlemagne believed that the Saxon opposition was now broken, and the pope ordered a general feast of thanksgiving. Widukind took no part in the later Saxon wars. There is no further credible information respecting him. It is fairly probable that Mathilde, second wife of King Henry I of Germany, was a member of the same family. Widukind soon became one of the heroes of legend, and later he appeared as a great builder of churches and a saint. Medieval times regarded Enger, near Herford, as his place of burial. A gravestone purporting to be Widukind's and giving his entire figure, is a work of the twelfth century; what is called Widukind's reliquary is a work of the ninth or tenth century.
DiEKAMP. Widukind der Sachsenfilhrer nach Gescgichte und Sage, pt. I (MOnster, 1877); Dettmer. Der Sachsenfilhrer Widu- kind nach Geschichte und Sage (WiirzburK, 1879); von Uslar- Gleichen, Das Geschlecht Wittekinds d. Gr. und die Jmmendinger (Hanover, 1902); Acta SS., VII Jan.
Franz Kampers.
Widukind of Corvey, historian, lived in the tenth century in the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey, Germany, lie was a Saxon, he began in 967 his "Res gesta; saxoniea' sive annalium libri tre.s", devoted particularly to Henry I and Otto I, as staled in the dedication to Mathilde, Abbess of Quedlinburg. Unlike the earlier chroniclers, he did not connect the
beginning of his account with the time of the Roman
Empire, but commenced with the primitive history
of his nation. He relates with much enthusiasm the
tribal sagas, tells of his heathen ancestors in their
battles with the Franks, and describes the introduc-
tion of Christianity. After this, he shows how, after
they became Christian, the Saxons conquered all
other nations, including the Franks, in the reign of
Henry, maintained the supremacy victoriously, in
spite of the revolt of various tribes, during the reign
of Otto, and finally ruled all Christendom. His work
has become a very popular one; but in his efforts to be
brief and to imitate the classic ^Titers, especially
Sallust, he is frequently impossible to understand.
The work is of great value, because it is often the sole
authority for the events mentioned, and because it
describes persons truthfully and rehably, although
only so far as they come within his range of vision;
whatever was outside of Saxony was incomprehensible
to him. His opinion of the Emperor Otto is incorrect,
neither has he any conception of Otto's important
labours for the benefit of the Church. Widukind is
silent respecting the founding of the Archdiocese of
Magdeburg, and he does not speak of the pope at all.
When he mentions Prance and Italy his statements are
meagre and incorrect. The work was edited by G.
Waitz in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Scriptores", III, 416-
67, and was also published in the "Scriptores rerum
germanicarum " (Hanover, 1882).
PoTTHAST, Bibliotheca historica, II (Berlin), 1113 sq.; Wat- tenbach, Deulschlands GeschichtsquMen, I (Berlin, 1893), 328- 33; KoPKE, Widukind von Korvei (Berlin. 1867).
Patricius Schlager.
Wiener-Neustadt, Diocese of (Neostadtiensis), a suppressed see in Lower Austria. Upon the re- quest of Frederick III it was erected by Paul II on 14 January, 1469, and was immediately subject to the Holy See. At first it was coterminous with the town of Wiener-Neustadt, but in 1769 the new parish of Theresienfeld was added and in 1784 its territory was extended from Wiener-Neustadt to the boundarj' of Styria. On 21 April, 1785, the see was incorporated in the Archdiocese of Vienna by Joseph II. Its last bishop, Heinrich Johann Kerens, S.J. (1775-85), and his cathedral chapter were transferred to the newly erected diocese of Sankt Polten. Of the twenty-three bishops of Wiener-Neustadt the most noteworthy were: Melchior Klesl, also Bishop of Vienna and car- dinal (1614-30); Leopold, Count von Kollonitsch (1()70-85), later Bishop of Raab, and Christopher Royas von Spinola (1686-95).
WiEDERMANN, BcitriHgc zur Gesch, des Bis. Wiener-Neustadt, in (Esterreich. Vierteljahrsschrift filr kalh. Theol. (Vienna, 1864-9).
Michael Ott.
Wiest, Stephan, member of the Order of Cister- cians, b. at Teisbach in Lower Bavaria, 7 March, 1748; d. at Aldersbad, 10 April, 1797. He attended the gymnasium at Landshut, and in 1767 entered the Cistercian monastery of Aldersbach in Lower Bavaria, where he studied philosophy and theology, took the vows, 28 October, 1768, and was ordained priest, 1772. He continued his studies at the University of Ingolstadt. From 1774-80 he taught philosophy and mathematics, and from 178(KS1 thcologj-, at Aiders- bach. In 1781 he wa.s made professor of dogmatic theology at Ingolstadt, where he also taught patrology and the history of tlu'ol()gio:d literature. He was rector of the university, 1787-88, resigned his pro- fessorship in 1794, and returned to his monastery. Wiest has an honourable place in the history of Cath- ohc theology of the eighteenth century as a positive dogmatist, well versed in theol()gic;il literature. His chief work, "Institutiones lheologic;c" (6 vols., Eichstiitt, 1782-86; Ingolstadt, 1788-89; 2nd ed., Ingolstadt, 1788-1801), is valuable for its abundance of positive and historical material, though the treat- ment of the speculative side is scanty. "Institu-
