Latin

Bishop Rimbert of Bremen lived before 888 AD.

His main work was the biography of his predecessor, Saint Ansgar, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, the "Apostle of the North" (Vita Anskarii).

Adam was probably born and educated in the region Franconia and went to Bremen in 1066/67, where he became canon and principal of the cathedral school. He undertook a voyage to the court of the Danish King Sven Estridsen, who provided him with much of his knowledge about the European North. Adam died in Bremen some time between 1081 and 1085.

Pliny the Elder (Plinius Secundus) was born in 23 or 24 AD in Como. As an officer in the Roman Army he saw parts of Gallia, Germany, Spain and Africa. After 52 AD he lived in Rome as a writer and died on August 25, 79 AD at Stabiae during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the city of Pompeii.

Saxo, an ancient Danish historian, was born around 1132, probably in Sjælland, and died during the first decades of the thirteenth century. He seems to have been a cleric and served as a scribe to Archbishop Absalom in Lund. His byname >Grammaticus< refers to the outstanding quality of his written Latin and to his great erudition in general. His Danish Chronicles were written down just before the turn of the century.

Pomponius Mela was born in the otherwise unknown Spanish town of Tingentera, situated probably near Gibraltar. Almost nothing is known about his life - neither the date of his birth nor that of his death (c. AD 45). The only certain date is that of the writing of his only known work, the Chorographia - AD 43/44, at the time when Britannia had just been conquered by Roman troops during the reign of Emperor Claudius.