Dicuil

Dicuil (also Dikuil ; Latin Dicuilus ) was an Irish-Scottish monk and scholar who was born in the second half of the 8th century and who wrote scientific writings that were important for posterity in the first half of the 9th century.

Life

Dicuil probably belonged to one of the numerous Irish-Scottish monasteries of the Franconian Empire and was familiar with the island world in northern Britain through personal experience.

Scientifically, Dicuil worked on the one hand as an astronomer , on the other hand as a geographer ,

Astronomical work Liber de astronomia

Dicuil wrote an astronomical work between 814 and 818. This four-book astronomical work is a type of computus; H. a system for determining the date of Easter . Only one manuscript from the 9th century has survived, originally in the library of the Amandus monastery in Elno (Saint-Amand-les-Eaux) , it is now in Valenciennes . Due to an indirect location in this work, the Carolingian court school in Aachen is being considered as Dicuil's place of activity.

Geographical work De mensura Orbis terrae

On the other hand, he also worked as a geographer and wrote a geographical work around 825 with the Latin title De mensura Orbis terrae .

De mensura Orbis terrae is a summary of geography that contains precise information about various countries. The work is based on the mensuratio orbis , which was created in 435 on behalf of Theodosius II , and of which a copy found its way to the Carolingian court. Godescalc had already made use of this manuscript in 781–783 when he had written his famous Evangelistarium . Dicuil also used Pliny the Elder , Paulus Orosius , Isidore of Seville and other authors as sources , as well as his own research.

In nine sections he deals with Europe , Asia , Africa , Egypt , Ethiopia , the extent of the earth's surface, the five great rivers, certain islands, the length and breadth of the Tyrrhenian Sea , and the six (highest) mountains.

Although the work is primarily a summary, it is not without value. Dicuil is our only source which contains details of the land surveys undertaken under Theodosius II. His generally exact quotations are useful for textual criticism of the authors mentioned. The few reports he received from travelers of his time are also of great interest - for example from the monk Fidelis who (in the year 762?) Traveled along the then still existing canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, and from clergymen, who had lived in Iceland for six months.

This book contains the earliest known account of the settlement of Iceland . He also mentions a previously unknown group of islands in the North Atlantic, which are probably the Faroe Islands . Furthermore, it provides the clearest western account of the canal that once connected the Nile with the Red Sea .

The work has survived in four manuscripts that were known to Markus Welser , Isaac Vossius , Claudius Salmasius , Jean Hardouin and Johann Daniel Schöpflin . It first appeared in print in an edition by Charles Athanase Walckenaers in 1806, the current edition by James J. Tierney appeared in 1967.

expenditure

Liber de astronomia

• Mario Esposito: An Unpublished Astronomical Treatise by the Irish Monk Dicuil . In: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 26, 1906/07, Section C, pp. 379-446 ( digitized version ).

De mensura Orbis terrae

• Charles Athanase Walckenaer : Dicuili Liber de mensura orbis terrae e duobus Codd. mss. Biblotecae imperialis nunc primum in lucem editus . Paris 1807 ( digitized ).
• Jean Antoine Letronne : Recherches géographiques et critiques sur le livre De mensura orbis terrae, suivies du texte restitué . Paris 1814 ( digitized ).
• Gustav Parthey : Dicuili liber de mensura orbis terrae . Berlin 1870 ( digitized ).
• James J. Tierney, Ludwig Bieler : Dicuili Liber de mensura orbis terrae (= Scriptores latini Hiberniae vol. 6). Dublin 1967.

literature

• CRB: Dicuil . In: Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition, Vol. 8, 1910, p. 200 ( digitized ).
• Mario Esposito: An Irish Teacher at the Carolingian Court: Dicuil . In: Studies. To Irish Quarterly Review Vol. 3, 1914, pp. 651-676.
• Ludwig Bieler: The Text tradition of Dicuil's Liber de mensura orbis terrae . In: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 64, 1965/66, Section C, pp. 1-31.
• Werner Bermann: Dicuils De mensura orbis terrae . In: Paul Leo Butzer, Dietrich Lohrmann (eds.): Science in western and eastern civilization in Carolingian times . Birkhäuser, Basel 1993, pp. 527-537.
• John J. Contreni: Dícuil . In: Oxford dictionary of national biography . 2004.

Web links

• Dicuil in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
• Article on Dicuil in the Catholic Encyclopedia
• De mensura orbis terrae (Latin text) uchicago.edu

Remarks

1. ↑ The name Dicuil goes back to an Irish saint of the 6th century named Dichuil , Latin also Deicolus . An Irish abbot, Dichuil of Cluain Mór Dicholla, is also known . The Carolingian Dicuil mentions the dedication of the work to Emperor Ludwig in fol. 73r of the astronomical work his own name: "Successor Caroli, felix Hlodvice, valeto, Dicuil haec ego que feci argumenta videto."
2. ↑ Alcuin , a leading scholar at the Aachen court school, should a period of study in Ireland Coelchu (also Colga , Colchu , Colcu or Colgu , Latin Colcus ; d 794/796.), In his capacity of the monastery abbot Clonmacnoise , have spent . However, a connection to the abbot of the Irish monastery is only secured through letters from Alcuin . Because of this connection, Clonmacnoise is sometimes assumed to be the place of origin for Dicuil. See here . The Tallaght Monastery is not excluded either . In 803, Alcuin had pointed out to Emperor Karl the increasing influence ( "the daily increasing influence of the Irish at the school of the Palace." ) Of the Irish monks in the Aachen palace school.
3. ↑ Valenciennes, Bibliothèque municipale Ms. 404 (Mangeart No. 386), fol. 66r-118r. Bernhard Bischoff: Catalog of the mainland manuscripts of the ninth century , Volume 3, Wiesbaden 2014, No. 6392; ( Digitized version ).
4. ↑ In the first book of this work (fol. 73r) he gives an indirect reference to his whereabouts by declaring in a dedication poem to Emperor Ludwig that he was looking forward to his arrival for the presentation of the gift in mid-May 814 (see here and here ). At the beginning of the summer campaigns, the Frankish ruler was usually honored with the presentation of a gift by the leading figures of the empire and at the same time demonstrated loyalty. It is very likely that this presentation of the gift, so shortly after the death of Emperor Charles, took place in Aachen, the then capital of the Frankish Empire.
5. ↑ Because of the central meaning of the text about the unknown archipelago, here the Latin text of the passage: 3. Sunt aliae insulae multae in Septentrionali Britanniae Oceano, quae a septentrionalibus Britanniae insulis duorum dierum ac noctium recta navigatione, plenis velis, assiduo feliciter adiri queunt. Aliquis presbyter religiosus mihi retulit quod, in duobus aestivis diebus, et una intercedente nocte, navigans in duorum navicula transtrorum, in unam illarum intrivit. Illae insulae sunt aliae parvulae; fere cunctae simul angustis distantes fretis, in quibus in centum ferme annis heremitae ex nostra Scotia navigantes habitaverunt, sed, sicut a principio mundi, desertae semper fuerunt; ita, nunc causa latronum Normannorum, vacuae anachoritis, plenae innumerabilibus ovibus, ac diversis generibus multis nimis marinarum avium. Nunquam eas insulas in libris auctorum memoratas invenimus. In particular, the description of the narrow sound between the islands in the sentence Illae insulae sunt aliae parvulae; fere cunctae simul angustis distantes fretis, ... suggests the Faroe Islands, as the narrow sounds are characteristic of these islands.