Lawrence of Amalfi

Laurentius von Amalfi († 1049 in Rome ) was a clergyman and scholar in Italy in the 11th century. He was a Benedictine monk and archbishop, teacher of the reform pope Gregory VII and a supporter of the Cluniac reform movement . Theological, poetic and scientific writings of his work have been preserved.

Life

He was initially, under Atenulf (1011-1022) and Theobald (1022-1035), a monk in the Benedictine mother monastery of Montecassino . He later became archbishop in the southern Italian Maritime Republic of Amalfi . The work of Ferdinando Ughelli from the 17th century gives exact dates of his life : According to this, Laurentius was elected on April 27, 1030 and on July 2, 1030 by Pope John XIX. consecrated in the Lateran . He had been enemies with the Salernitan prince Waimar IV and had to flee from his diocese before him. After a term of office of 19 years and 11 months, he died at the age of 53 years, 6 months and 15 days on March 7th. However, the historian Walther Holtzmann considers Ughelli's information to be unreliable and only accepts the expulsion, which probably took place in 1039, when Waimar IV conquered the rival Duchy of Amalfi. Then Laurentius stayed in Florence as an emigrant and came to Rome in 1046 at the latest , where he died in the spring of 1049.

plant

Of the works of Laurentius, two vites , a sermon , a mathematical treatise on the use of the abacus in division , exegetical writings and poetry have come down to us. An extensive Florilegium that he created has also been preserved. The first vita describing the life of St. Wenceslas of Bohemia was written in Montecassino. Laurentius wrote the second vita about Bishop Zenobius of Florence in exile there. The writings reveal a comprehensive education of their author; In addition to the Bible and the Church Fathers, he cited about 50 classical works, including Virgil , Horace , Juvenal , Persius , Prosper and Priscian , and his style suggests a profound knowledge of the art of rhetoric .

influence

At the latest during his stay in Rome, Laurentius belonged to the circles of the reform movement that started from the Cluny Abbey . He was a teacher of the young Hildebrand, who later became Pope Gregory VII , and a friend of Odilos von Cluny , whom he visited at the bedside. At that time he came into the focus of the elite of his time. His name can be found not only in the Odilo biographies of Iotsaldus and Petrus Damiani , Petrus Diaconus also included him in his description of famous members of the Montecassin Abbey. His influence on Gregory VII cannot be reconstructed from reliable sources. On the other hand, a pamphlet by Cardinal Beno , an opponent of the Reform Party, gained a certain prominence when in 1098 he claimed that Laurentius was the princeps maleficiorum (the greatest culprit) among all who had led the reform pope astray. He was a student of Pope Silvester II , whom Beno accused of the pact with the devil, had publicly disputed with Theophilact about mathematics and was famous for his prophecies . He is even responsible for the alleged poisoning of Pope Damasus II . According to Holtzmann, these “z. Sometimes very silly novels ”were reprinted quite often during the Reformation .

literature

• Used literature:
  • Walther Holtzmann: Laurentius of Amalfi. A teacher of Hildebrand . Studi Gregoriani 1, 1947, pp. 207-236.
  • Max Manitius: Laurentius of Montecassino. In: Ders .: History of Latin Literature of the Middle Ages 2, CH Beck, Munich 1976 (unchanged reprint of the 1st edition from 1923). ISBN 3-406-01402-X , pp. 304-306
  • Francis Newton (ed.): Laurentius monachus casinensis archiepiscopus amalfitanus opera . Sources on the intellectual history of the Middle Ages 7, Weimar 1973 (work edition with German commentary - digitized version )
• Further reading:
  • Oldřich Králík: La leggenda di Laurentius di Montecassino su S. Venceslao ed il suo modello. Ricerche Slavistiche 7, 1959, pp. 24-47.
  • Dušan Třeštík: Laurentius from Montecassino and Laurentius from Amalfi. Mediaevalia Bohemica 1, 1969, pp. 73-92.

Web links

• Laurentius monachus Casinensis in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"

Remarks

1. ↑ Walther Holtzmann: Laurentius von Amalfi, p. 208.