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[German Version] (born c. 1060, died before 1145), canon and schoolmaster of the cathedral of Liège; retired to Cluny as a monk in 1121. His De sacramentis corporis et sanguinis Domini, directed against the sacramental teaching of Berengar of Tours, maintains the validity of sacraments administered by Simoniacs (Simony). In canon law, his treatise De misericordia et iustitia was used in Gratian's Decretum ( Corpus Iuris Canonici ). Not content simply to assemble texts bearing on questions of canon law, it seeks to interpret them using the new scholastic method. Wilfried Hartmann Biblio…

[German Version] (Apr 10, 1191 – Jan 8, 1198). Born in Rome around 1105/1106, Celestine (Giacinto [Hyacinthus] Bobone [later Orsini]) studied in Paris under Peter Abelard (c. 1130) and defended him against the accusations brought forward by Bernard of Clairvaux at the Synod of Sens (1140). In 1143/1144, Celestine II appointed him cardinal-deacon at the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. In the following years, he undertook several journeys as a papal legate (esp. to Spain) and…

[German Version] (c. 890, region of Liège – Apr 25, 974, Namur), a difficult character who led an eventful life. He was three times (931–934, 946–948 and 962–968) bishop of Verona, and once, for a short time (953–955), bishop of Liège. Betweentimes he was in the monasteries of Aulne near Liège and Lobbes, where he was also buried. Among his few extant works, the Praeloquia (written 934–936) is noteworthy. It contains Christian moral teaching for laity and clergy. Of autobiographical interest are the Dialogus confessionalis and the Qualitatis coniectura, in which the old Ratherius p…

[German Version] Some textual traditions of the Historia Hierosolymitanae expeditionis (probably contemporary with the events it describes) name an otherwise unknown canonicus Albertus Aquensis ecclesiae as its author. Books 1–6 describe the First Crusade, including the preliminary People's Crusade; books 7–11 recount the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem down to 1111. Book 12 briefly sketches events from 1…

[German Version] ( Chlodwig; 466 – Nov 27, 511, Paris), Frankish king and the son of Childeric of Tournai. In 481 or 482, he succeeded his father as ruler of one of the Frankish kingdoms; in 486/487, he defeated the Roman “king” Syagrius, who ruled northern Gaul. The victory over the Alemanni (probably 496/497) is associated with the moment of Clovis's baptism: It is highly significant that Clovis was baptized as a Catholic by Bishop Remigius of Reims (probably at…

[German Version] The so-called Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, forged letters of the popes from Clement I to Melchiades (311–314), constitute the most significant portion of the Pseudo-Isidorian corpus, “the most influential forgery of the Middle Ages” (Fuhrmann); the corpus also includes the false capitularies of Benedictus Levita, a falsifying version of the Collectio Hispana (the so-called Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis, found in Codex Vaticanus latinus 1341, from Autun [9th cent.]), and supposed capitularies of Bishop Angilram of Metz (died 791). The cre…

[German Version] (c. 974 – Mar 9, 1009), the scion of a prominent family in eastern Saxony, was educated at the cathedral school in Magdeburg; he became a canon of the cathedral in 995. He went to Rome with Otto III, and in 998 entered a monastery there. In 1001, under the influence of St. Romuald, he took up residence near Ravenna as a hermit. In 1002, he was named …

[German Version] (c. 769 – Jun 6, 840). A Visigoth from Septimania who belonged to the circle of Benedict of Aniane. He became archbishop of Lyon in 816; he was deposed as archbishop in 835 after the restoration of Emperor Louis I, the Pious whom Abogard had helped to depose in 833. A single manuscript preserves a series of tractates that show Abogard to be an…

[German Version] (perhaps from southern Gaul, died c. circa 860). The deacon Florus worked for several decades at the cathedral of Lyon, which was a center in the 9th century for theological study and scholarly training. In his tractate De electionibus episcoporum, Florus emphasized, in harmony with the tradition of church law, that the bishop could only enter office by means of election by the clergy and the people. A further writing deals with the exemption of the clergy from secular justice. On questions of liturgy, Florus frequentl…

[German Version] (before 1028 – shortly after 1081). Educated in Bamberg, Lambert entered the Hersfeld monastery in 1058 and in 1081 became abbot of Hasungen, near Kassel. Besides a life of Lullus of Mainz, the founder of Hersfeld, Lambert is noted primarily for his Annales, a historical work that begins with creation and from 1040 to 1077 becomes a detailed presentation of contemporary history. Stylistically echoing Livy and Sallust, Lambert describes the reigns of Henry III, whom he revered, and Henry IV, whom he virtually hated. He was…

[German Version] Poppo of Stablo and Malmédy (Saint), abbot of several monasteries (998, Flanders – Jan 25, 1048). Of noble birth, following pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome he had a conversion experience and entered the monastery of St. Thierry near Rheims; in 1008 he and the reformer Richard of St. Vanne went to the abbey of St. Vanne near Verdun. As Richard’s pupil and colleague, he reformed a series of abbeys in Lorraine. In 1020 Emperor Henry II made him abbot of Stablo (Stavelot) and Malméd…

[German Version] (died 827) came to the Frankish kingdom (initially to Lyon) from Spain in 800; in 815/816, he was appointed bishop of Turin by Louis the Pious. He is noted for his extreme iconoclastic attitude and his rejection of the veneration of saints (he even ordered crucifixes to be removed from the churches). His polemic writing against images can be reconstructed from quotations in the refutation of Jonas of Orléans. His biblical commentaries are little…

[German Version] (925 – Oct 6, 965) was the youngest son of King Henry I. Reared by bishop Balderich of Utrecht, Bruno became chancellor at the court of his brother Otto the Great in 940 and archchaplain in 951. Election and consecration as archbishop of Cologne followed in 953; simultaneously, Otto I named him dux in the region of Lotharingia. His biographer …

[German Version] (801 – Feb 3, 865). Educated in the monastery of Corbie, in 823 Ansgar came to Corvey in Saxony, where he directed the monastic school. From 825 to 831, he served as a missionary in Denmark and Sweden; in 831 he became a missionary bishop with his see at Hamburg (I). In 832 at Rome, along with Ebbo of Reims, he was named papal legate to the …

[German Version] (c. 1010 – Aug 8, 1091) was from a landed noble family in Saxony and Bavaria. Altmann was cathedral scholar in Paderborn, diocesan provost in Aachen and court chaplain of Henry III and Empress Agnes; in 1065 he became bishop of Passau. His interest in the reform of the secular clergy was evident in the foundation of…

[German Version] (Alchvine, Albinus; called Flaccus in the court of Charlemagne; 735/740, Northumbria – May 19, 804, Tours). Educated in the cathedral school in York, he became its leader in 778. In 781, he met Charlemagne in Italy. Until 796, Alcuin was his most important advisor on questions of theology and science. He formulated the Admonitio generalis of 789. Charlemagne trans-ferred to Alcuin a whole series of important and wealthy monasteries, including St. Martin in Tours. Here, Alcuin sp…

[German Version] (died 753), an Anglo-Saxon companion of Boniface, became bishop of Würzburg in 741. He took part in Boniface's reforming synods of 742, 743, and 747. In 750/751, he was commissioned by Pippin, the mayor of the palace, to go to Rome to lay before Pope Zacharias the question of the Frankish kingship. He founded the abbey of St. Andrew in Würzburg and translated the relics of St. Kilian to his own cathedral on Jul 8, 752. Wilfried Hartmann Bibliography A. Wendehorst, LMA II, 1983, 951.

[German Version] (Dec 3, 741 – Mar 15, 752) made an alliance with the Franks, but also sought an accommodation with the Lombards and Byzantium (Constantinople). A Roman council in 743 dealt with disciplinary questions and matrimonial law; a synod in 745 condemned the heretics Aldebert and Clement. In 747 Zacharias wrote to Pippin, the mayor of the palace, regarding the Christian life of clergy and laity (M. Tangl, ed., MGH.Ep 1, 1916, 479–487); he gave Boniface advice on church discipline. Scholar…

[German Version] , (died after 1095, allegedly Jun 16, 1106) was bishop of Meissen from 1066 onward. From 1075 to 1085, he opposed king Henry IV. His canonization (May 31, 1523) was based on his missionary activity among the Slavs. His remains were transferred to Munich in 1576; he is the patron saint of this city. Wilfried Hartmann Bibliography W. Petke, LMA 1, 1980, 1916f.

[German Version] (born 965, died Aug 20, 1025), the scion of an aristocratic Hessian family, became provost of St. Victor in Mainz and court chaplain. In 1000, Otto III appointed him bishop of Worms. The collection of canons ( Decretum) he assembled between 1008 and 1012 quickly came into widespread use; approx. 80 manuscripts have survived, primarily in Germany and Italy. In the course of the 11th century, it became available in practically every Ger…

[German Version] (714, Chasseneuil-du-Poitou near Poitiers – Jun 20, 840, near Ingelheim am Rhein). The third son of Charlemagne, Louis was appointed king of Aquitaine in 781 and coemperor in 813; he became sole emperor in 814. Initially he ruled energetically and decisively (Capitularies, reform of the rules for canons and monks with Benedict of Aniane). The ordinatio of 817 governing succession was intended to assure the unity of the empire: the younger sons were made subordinate to Lothar, the eldest. In 829, when Louis awarded a separate kingdom w…

[German Version] (Dec 24, 1046 – Oct 9, 1047), actually Suidger, was born into the Saxon nobility. He held the office of canon in Halberstadt, where he became court chaplain in 1035. He was appointed bishop of Bamberg in 1040 and elevated to the papacy following the deposition of Gregory VI and Benedict IX. On Christmas Day 1046, he crowned Henry III as emperor. Early in January 1047, at a reform synod in Rome, he initiated the campain to suppress simony. He was buried in Bamberg, where he had remained bishop. Wilfried Hartmann

[German Version] (pope: Oct 27/Nov 7[?], 625 – Oct 12, 638) came from a rich Campanian family and is praised in the Liber Pontificalis on account of his building activities. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Gregory the Great, he pressed on with the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxons, but was unable to compel the Irish (Ireland, see also England) to recognize the Roman date for Easter (see also Paschal/Easter calendrical controversies). He succeeded in settling the Three Chapters controversy in Venetia. Hi…

[German Version] (Apr 2, 748 – Jan 28, 814, Aachen). According to recent research, Charlemagne was born not in 742 or 747, but only on Apr 2, 748 as the first child of the marriage of Pippin the Younger (died 768) and Bertrada (died 783). He died in Aachen, where he was buried and where his remains still rest today. At least 18 children resulted from his four marriages and at least five concubinates. At his death, however, of his legitimate sons only Louis the Pious, wh…

[German Version] (c. 1030, Cologne– Oct 6, 1101). Around 1056, he became head of the cathedral school in Rheims, where he wrote commentaries on the Psalms and the Letters of Paul. After clashes with Archbishop Manasses I of Rheims, Bruno went in 1082 first to Molesme, then to Grenoble, where the bishop gave him La Chartreuse as the site for a hermitage. The hermits were to devote themselves not only to prayer and asceticism, but also to manual labor and the copying of books. In 1090, pope Urban II summoned Bruno to the curia. He spent his last years as a hermit in Calabria, where he died. Wilfried Ha…

[German Version] From the 3rd to the 5th century, “Franci” was the collective designation for the opponents of Rome on the lower Rhine and around the confluence of the Rhine, Maas, and Schelde rivers. The meaning of the name is unclear (from Frakka, “spear,” or from Indo-Germanic * preg, “bold, courageous”?). During the waning 3rd century, Frankish groups began trickling into northern Gaul. In 355 the Franks destroyed Cologne. From the second half of the 4th century, Franks are attested in high military positions in the Roman army (e.g. Arbog…

[German Version] (born c. 460 [467?], died shortly after 533). In 482 Eugippius became a monk at Favianis (Mautern an der Donau). In 488, as Riparian Noricum was being evacuated, he and the other monks went to Italy; in 492/496 he became abbot of the monastery at Castellum Lucullanum near Naples. In addition to the Vita Severini (511), he compiled a selection of excerpts from the works of Augustine in 338 chapters, widely read in the Middle Ages, and a monastic rule. The Vita Severini is our most important source for the last years of Roman rule in what …

[German Version] in the Trebbia valley (Province of Piacenza), founded in 612 by the Irishman Columbanus the Younger in association with the royal house of Lombardy. Whether Bobbio was indeed, in 628, already exempt from answering to the bishops of Tortona and Piacenza and placed under the direct authority of the pope, is uncertain. From 643 onward, the Benedictine Rule (Benedict, Rule of Saint) played a role ¶ alongside Columbanus's way of life. The golden age of the monastery was in the 8th and 9th centuries; Abbot Wala (834–836) finally established the Regula Benedicti in Bobbio and …

[German Version] (940/945 - Nov 13, 1004) was from 965 on the head of the school and the abbot from 988 on of the monastery of Fleury (St.-Benoît-sur-Loire, east of Orléans). Abbo authored, inter alia, lives of saints and a collection of canons, as well as works of grammar and chronology whose major significance for the scholarship of his time only became evident through the recently published critical editions. In chu…

[German Version] Ever since the Catalogus illustrium virorum Germaniae (1495) of J. Trithemius, Haymo of Halberstadt, bishop from 840 to 853, has been identified as the author of numerous biblical commentaries, printed in volumes 116–118 of Migne's PL. Probably, however, not a few of these commentaries were actually written by Haymo of Auxerre, who headed an important school from the middle through the second half of the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Germain in Auxerre. Today the widely disseminated c…

[German Version] (c. 770, Maingau – Mar 14, 840, Seligenstadt), from a noble family, reared in the Fulda monastery (but not a monk), where he was a scribe. From early 796, he was at the court of Charlemagne, where he received the name Beseleel (Bezalel; cf. Exod 35:30ff.). The name refers to his role as court architect. Louis I, the Pious, tried to keep him at court, and, in 815, transferred seven monas…

[German Version] (Bruno von Egisheim, born 1002; pope Feb 12, 1049 – Apr 19, 1054). Court chaplain to Conrad II, then bishop of Toul (1026–1051), Leo was appointed pope in December of 1048 by Henry III. After election by the clergy and people of Rome, he was enthroned on Feb 12, 1049. In numerous synods, Leo urged the need for reforming the church (elimination of simony and concubinage). On his journeys in Italy, France, and Germany, he presided over many dedications of churches and translations o…

[German Version] (pontificate Apr 24, 858 – Nov 13, 867), son of a papal official. Ordained subdeacon by Pope Sergius II (844–847), Nicholas rose to ¶ become a deacon under Leo IV, and became the closest adviser of Benedict III (855–858). His election as pope was influenced by Emperor Louis II. Anastasius Bibliothecarius (Anastasius III) soon became his most important adviser. We are exceptionally well informed about this pope’s actions and aims, since about 170 letters by him, some very extensive, have survived, and his vita in the Liber pontificalis also provide…

[German Version] In the canon law collections of the High Middle Ages, but also already in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, a forgery from the middle of the 9th century, the text of an extensive document is transmitted in which Emperor Constantine gives Pope Silvester I the primacy over all churches as well as a number of imperial rights and possessions. It was above all dominion over Rome and the western half of the Roman Empire, but also imperial …

[German Version] (Hrabanus; c. 780, Mainz – Feb 4, 856, Winkel near Mainz), came from a noble family in the mid-Rhine area. He lived as a monk in the monastery at Fulda, was consecrated deacon in 801, studied for a brief period under Alcuin in Tours from 800, then taught in Fulda, was consecrated priest in 814, became abbot of Fulda in 822, resigned as abbot in 842 after Emperor Lothar I was defeated by Louis the German and Charles the Bald, then was elevated to ¶ archbishop of Mainz in 847 by Louis the German. As abbot of Fulda, Rabanus not only composed numerous poems, letters, …

[German Version] (c. 1010 – Dec 4, 1075). Scion of an influential Swabian family, Anno was educated in the cathedral school at Bamberg, where he later taught; in 1046 he became court chaplain to the emperor Henry III, who made him archbishop of Cologne (1056–1075). After Henry's death, he sought to influence the policies of the regent, the empress Agnes. In 10…

[German Version] is the name assumed by the alleged author of a collection of laws in three books purporting to be the continuation of the “capitularies” of Ansegis of Fontenelle. Some of the manuscripts also contain appendices. The work consists partly of forged, but partly also of authentic texts (esp. Capitularies, synodal decrees, etc.). Like the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, which also originated around 850, it follows the tendency to suppress lay power in the church. Wilfried Hartmann Bibliography MGH.L 2/2, 39–158 H. Fuhrmann, Einfluß und Verbreitung der …

[German Version] (real name: Wynfrith; c. 672/675, near Exeter [on the border between Anglo-Saxon and ¶ British England – Jun 5, 754, Dokkum, Friesland). Educated at Exeter and Nursling monasteries, where he was teacher at the monastery school, he decided at the age of 40 to go to the continent as a missionary. The first mission to the Frisians in 716 was unsuccessful owing to uncertain political …

[German Version] The migrant monk, first attested in 11th and 12th century sources (Vita of Otloh of St. Emmeram, c. 1070; Historia Welforum), is supposed to have established a cell (later named after him) in Altomünster (upper Bavaria) c. 740. Wilfried Hartmann Bibliography M. Huber, “Der heilige Alto und seine Klosterstiftung Altomünster,” in: Wissenschaftliche Festgabe zum 1200-jährigen Jubiläum des heiligen Korbinian, 1924, 209–244.

[German Version] The papacy created the empire of the Latin West. While we possess many statements by the papacy itself on its own purposes from the early 5th century, corresponding statements concerning the emperor's authorities come only quite late. “Only to a limited degree did the empire in the Middle Ages have a firm, robust substance” (Kemp, Mittelalterliches Kaisertum, 225). The original prototype of the Christian emperor was Constantine the Great (306–337). After his victory at the Milvian …

[German Version] (clearly attested only between 1085 and 1103; possibly died Jan 24). Richard of Cluny (c. 1160) speaks of an itinerant teacher named Manegold who traveled about with his wife and daughters. This figure is probably identical with our Manegold, who was expelled in 1085 from Lautenbach in Alsace by supporters of Henry IV. He took refuge in the abbey of Rottenbuch and ultimately became provost of the abbey of Marbach in Alsace, which he founded in 1089. Mangegold composed two works in 1085. In his Liber contra Wolfelmum, he represents the teachings of the pagan philosop…

[German Version] Salomo III, abbot of Saint Gall Abbey and bishop of Constance (c. 860–919). Of noble descent, Salomo was placed in the abbey of Saint Gall as a child; there he and his brother Waldo (bishop of Freising from 883 to 906) were students of Notker Balbulus. In 890 King Arnulf of Carinthia made him bishop of Constance, an office previously held by his great-uncle Salomo I from 838/839 to 871 and his uncle Salomo II from 875 to 889. He had already been active in royal affairs under Charl…

[German Version] (c. 760, in what was Visigothic Spain – 821, Angers or Le Mans [?]). Around 785 the Moorish occupation forced him to flee Spain. Soon the highly cultivated man was playing an important role at the court of Charlemagne. Between 790 and 792, the so-called Libri Carolini were published under his guidance, contesting the decree of the second Council of Nicea (787) favoring iconoduly. Before 798 he was made abbot of many monasteries (including Fleury Abbey) and bishop of Orléans. In 80…

[German Version] (died 915, Trier) appears for the first time in sources in 892, when he was elected abbot of Prüm. He was driven from office in 899 and found refuge in Trier, where the archbishop appointed him abbot of St. Martin’s. He is buried in the abbey of St. Maximin in Trier. Regino is noted as the author of a handbook on canon law (906), intended for use in visitations by the bishop’s synodal court, and a world chronicle from the birth of Christ to the year 906 (completed in 908); its con…

[German Version] The term Investiture Controversy usually denotes the ecclesio-political conflict between the popes and kings at the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th century. Since the Carolingian period, it had been customary for bishops to be appointed and also invested in office by kings. During the Gregorian Reform of the 11th century, this practice had come under fire, especially since the attack on simoniacs published in 1058 by the cardinal bishop Humbert of Silva Candida …

[German Version] (c. 990 – Apr 6, 1031). The son of the count palatine of Bavaria, Aribo was also related to Emperor Henry II. As archbishop of Mainz (1021–1032), he convened several imperial and provincial synods (1023 Mainz and Seligenstadt, 1024 Höchst, 1025 Grone, 1026 Seligenstadt, 1027 Frankfurt, 1028 Geisleden and Pöhlde), at which he attempted to overt…

[German Version] (archbishop from 852 to 875). Particularly significant in terms of theological history is the position Remigius adopted in the dispute over predestination, which was discussed at a number of synods attended by him, notably in Valence (855). However, two works attributed to him that deal with this topic and attack the position of Hincmar of Reims and of John Scotus Eriugena, were not written by him but by his deacon, Florus of Lyon. Wilfried Hartmann Bibliography W. Hartmann, Die Synoden der Karolingerzeit im Frankenreich und in Italien, 1989, 261–266 K. Zechiel-Eckes, F…

[German Version] (1080 – Sep 8, 1100, Civita Castellana; Wibert, born c. 1020/1030, Parma) came from a noble family. From 1058 to 1063, he was chancellor in the Imperial Chancellory for Italy, and was appointed archbishop of Ravenna on Feb 20, 1073. Gregory VII excommunicated him and declared him deposed in 1078; the imperial synod in Brixen designated him as candidate for the papacy in 1080, and he was enthroned in Rome in March 1084. He retained his bishopric …

[German Version] (after 700 in Ireland – Nov 27, 784, Salzburg). Virgil arrived in France in 743, probably from the monastery of Iona. He was active in Bavaria in 745/746 and became bishop of Salzburg in 749; he is buried in the cathedral he built. He came into conflict with Boniface for refusing to repeat a baptism that a Bavarian priest had performed using a grammatically defective formula. Boniface denounced Virgil to Pope Zacharias as a heretic for believing in the antipodes. Today most schola…

[German Version] (Apr 15, 1055 [?] – c. 1124) became a monk at the age of 12 and Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy (near Laon) in 1104. His autobiography, De vita sua (1114), a mixture of self-confession and memoirs with references to the political situation of his time, is famous on account of the description of his childhood. He also wrote Bible commentaries (Gen, Hos, Amos, Lam) that have yet to be edited. In the work De pignoribus sanctorum he criticizes the veneration of saints and of relics. His Gesta Dei per Francos places the First Crusade in a salvation-historical context and empha…