Otia Imperialia

Otia Imperialia (“Recreation for an Emperor”) is an early 13th-century encyclopedic work by Gervase of Tilbury and his best-known work. It is an example of speculum literature. Also known as the “Book of Marvels”, it primarily concerns history, geography, physics, and folklore, and was written for the court of Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.

Its credibility has been questioned by numerous scholars, including the philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, who was alerted to the fact that it contains many mythical stories. However, many scholars consider it a very important work in that it “recognizes the correctness of the papal claims in the conflict between Church and Empire.”

The work was written between 1210 and 1214, although some give the dates as 1209 to 1214 and numerous authors state it was published c. 1211. These earlier dates must be questioned, however, as the Otia contains stories that take place in 1211 and later. S. E. Banks and James W. Binns, editors and translators of what is considered the definitive version of the Otia, suggest that it was completed in the last years of Otto IV’s life, saying “it seems most likely […] that the work was sent to Otto sometime in 1215”, due to the inclusion of the death of William the Lion, King of Scotland, which took place in 1214, and the fact that King John was still living while it was written; John died in 1216.