In the first paragraph of the first book of this work, we read, in the
translation (p 123): "Writers assert that there are three parts of the
world; Asia, Africa and Europe." There is a footnote after the word
"world" which reads as follows: "Manuscript B2, omitting this clause, adds
a passage of about 25 lines on the sphericity of the earth and its five
zones. See Hofmeister's edition, 37."
The bibliography of the translation reveals that the translator lists seven
editions of this chronicle. The seventh and apparently the latest is the
one by Adolf Hofmeister, which appears in *Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in
usum scholarum* (1912). There is no indication here of why there were two
different versions of this paragraph, nor any indication of the original
datings of the two versions, nor if Bishop Otto himself, or some later
editor, made the change. Perhaps Hofmeister discusses this in his edition
of the chronicle.
I conclude, at least provisionally, that there was disagreement in the 12th
century A.D. about the flatness or sphericity of the earth, at least among
some scholars. This says nothing, though, about what proportion of people
in general who lived in the 12th century believed the earth is flat, and
what proportion thought it is spherical. If Bishop Otto himself wrote the
two different versions, it may say a little about beliefs of a Christian
(which Bishop Otto was) in this connection. What it says would depending
on the order in which he wrote the two versions. If the two versions were
written by two different persons, then what it says about medieval beliefs
about the shape of the earth would depend on the dating, and again on the
order in which they were written.
I suppose it's safe to say, though, that the proportion of people in the
European Middle Ages who believed the earth is flat was greater than the
proportion of people in Europe, or its offshoots, or in the world as a
whole, who believe that today.
Gordon Fisher gfisher@shentel.net