Menko (chronicler)

Menko or Menco (1213/4 – 1276) was a priest and chronicler. He entered the Premonstratensian abbey of Bloemhof in Wittewierum in 1230 and was ordained as a priest in 1238. Over the next five years he served as vestiarius, cellarer and schoolmaster before being elected Bloemhof's third abbot in 1243. During his abbacy, he wrote a continuation of the Latin house chronicle, Cronica Floridi Horti, begun by the first abbot, Emo. He has an important account of the Frisian crusaders on the Eighth Crusade in 1269–1270.[1] His continuation runs to 1273. He died in 1276.[2] His autograph manuscript survives, as does a later copy of his chronicle with an anonymous continuation down to 1296.[1]

In the right column, the change in handwriting indicates the end of Emo's and the start of Menko's chronicle