Sedulius Scottus

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Sedulius Scottus (also Sedulius Scotus ; French Sedulius de Liège ) was an Irish scholar and poet who worked in Liege in the 9th century . Among other works, he wrote one of the first medieval prince mirrors .

Life

The biography of Sedulius Scottus has only been partially reconstructed to this day. The poems of the scholar, in which he refers to historical events and people that can be dated, are decisive.

Sedulius came from Ireland, possibly known there under the name Suadbar . However, it can only be proven beyond doubt after his arrival in Liège, which must have taken place between 840 and 851. Ludwig Traube dated this arrival to the year 848, he suspected Sedulius to be a member of an embassy of the Irish king. It is also conceivable, however, that Sedulius was one of many Irish and Anglo-Saxons who increasingly left their homeland due to Viking invasions from the end of the 8th century and immigrated to the empire or empire of the Carolingians . In Liège Sedulius initially worked at the St. Lambert Cathedral School under Bishop Hartgar , with whom he maintained a close relationship. From 857/8 he was sponsored by his successor, Bishop Franco . As a highly educated scholar and talented poet, Sedulius already enjoyed a high reputation during his lifetime. Possibly he was at the center of an (Irish) circle of scholars who produced several works. He also maintained political and professional relationships beyond Liège, for example with Archbishop Gunthar of Cologne .

The last testimony of Sedulius is one of his poems, which can be dated to the year 874. After that his track is lost.

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The scholar's broad knowledge suggests that he began his studies and possibly also the work on his works in Ireland. In Ireland he could also have come into contact with the Greek language , for which he seems to have developed a certain interest. Like other writers of the Carolingian period, he knew some Greek terms and had a basic knowledge of Greek grammar, but there is not a single verse of his that was written entirely in Greek. As a copyist of Greek texts, however, he was practiced and had above-average skills for his time.

In addition to the copy of a Greek psalter, Sedulius created several collectanes. So he made the Collectaneum in Apostolum , in which he compiled and commented excerpts from Paul's letters ; in another he deals with the gospel according to Matthew . He also wrote comments on grammatical treatises by Aelius Donatus , Priscian and his pupil Eutyches. His work also includes a collection of sentences known as Proverbia Graecorum . With his Collectaneum Miscellaneum Sedulius put together a collection of excerpts, some of which come from rare classical, theological and pagan sources. This Collectaneum may have served Sedulius as a basis for work, as a collection that he could refer to again and again in his work as an author. Sedulius' work also includes numerous poems. In addition to those about everyday life, some of which have humorous tendencies, others are aimed at "princely personalities, laypeople or bishops". The contents, such as references or quotations, of the poems in the latter category are always carefully tailored to the respective recipient. Due to his abilities as a poet, Sedulius has already been referred to as the “chief bard” of Liège ”and“ Liège Virgil ”.

Liber de rectoribus Christianis (Work on the Christian rulers)

Perhaps the most important work by Sedulius Scottus is the Königsspiegel Liber de rectoribus Christianis , the full title of which was probably: Liber de rectoribus Christianis et regulis, quibus est res publica rite gubernanda (»Work on Christian rulers and the principles according to which a state is correct to rule is «). Both the addressee and the related question about the dating of the work are, however, controversial, since no information on this is available from the author himself. In recent times it was especially Nikolaus Staubach who pleaded for Karl the Kahlen and an origin around 870; however, the majority of modern researchers are in favor of Lothar II as recipient and a draft between 855 and 858/59. The philologist Ludwig Traube and the historian Siegmund Hellmann , in particular, carried out fundamental studies on the work around 1900 , some of the results of which are still valid today. Hellmann also produced the first modern edition of the Königsspiegel.

Formally, the text is written in prosimetric form , probably following the example of the consolation of Boethius ' philosophy . It is divided into twenty chapters, each of which is followed by a poem. When making the king mirror, Sedulius oriented himself on the Carolingian mirror literature, which was still young at the time, and of course also took up the idea of theocracy typical of the Middle Ages . A significant novelty for the 9th century can be seen in his use of pagan-ancient works, which, in addition to insular templates and Christian scripts, formed the basis for the king's mirror. In addition, Sedulius combines the rule of the king as God's representative with the benefit for the state and the people, whereby the work shows a new orientation towards secular rulership.

Editions & translations (selection)

  • Sedulius Scottus: Work on the Christian rulers, in: Prince mirror of the early and high Middle Ages, selected, trans. and comment. by Hans Hubert Anton (Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe 45), Darmstadt 2006, pp. 100–149.
  • Sedulius Scottus: Liber de rectoribus Christianus, in: Traube, Ludwig (ed.): Sources and investigations on the Latin philology of the Middle Ages 1 (Issue 1), commented on by Siegmund Hellmann, Munich 1906, pp. 19–91, online  - Internet Archive .
  • Brearly, Denis (Ed.): Commentum Sedulii Scotti in Maiorem Donatum Grammaticum. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975.

literature

  • Hans Hubert Anton : Fürstenspiegel des early and high Middle Ages (= selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe 45), Darmstadt 2006.
  • Franz Brunhölzl : From Cassiodorus to the end of the Carolingian renewal (= History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages 1), Munich 1975.
  • Reinhard Düchting : Sedulius Scottus. His seals, Munich 1968.
  • Reinhard Düchting: Sedulius Scottus. A ›Holy three more king‹ from the West, in: Heinz Löwe (Hrsg.): The Irish and Europe in the Middle Ages 2, Stuttgart 1982, pp. 866–875.
  • Ernst Dümmler : The handwritten tradition from the Carolingian era. II., In: New archive of the Society for Older German History 4, 1879, pp. 315-320.
  • Siegmund Hellmann: Sedulius Scottus, in: Ludwig Traube (Hrsg.): Sources and studies on the Latin philology of the Middle Ages 1 (Book 1), Munich 1906.
  • Henri Pirenne : Sedulius de Liège, in: Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires publiés par l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, t. XXXIII, Brussels 1882.
  • Michael C Sloan .: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians (= Millennium Studies on Culture and History of the First Millennium AD 39), Berlin / Boston 2012.
  • Nikolaus Staubach : Rex christianus. Court culture and rulership propaganda in the empire of Charles the Bald. The foundation of the ›religion royale‹ (= Pictura et poesis. Interdisciplinary studies on the relationship between literature and art 2, II), Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1993.
  • Nikolaus Staubach: Sedulius Scottus and the poems of the Codex Bernensis 363, in: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 20 (1986), pp. 549-598.
  • Ludwig Traube: O Roma nobilis. Philological studies from the Middle Ages (= treatises of the philosophical-philological class of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences 19, 2nd Abth.), Munich 1891, pp. 338–373.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ D. Ó Cróinín: The Irish as Mediators of Antique Culture on the Continent , in: Paul Leo Butzer / Dietrich Lohrmann (eds.): Science in Western and Eastern Civilization in Carolingian Times, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1993, p. 41 -51.
  2. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 3 f.
  3. ↑ L. grape: O Roma nobilis. Philological studies from the Middle Ages (= treatises of the philosophical-philological class of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences 19/2), Munich 1891, p. 342.
  4. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 3.
  5. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 3.
  6. ↑ M. Zimmer: Hagiography and the cult of the saints in the diocese of Liège, c. 700-980 , Diss., St. Andrews 2007, http://hdl.handle.net/10023/358 (accessed March 27, 2018).
  7. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 2.
  8. ^ N. Staubach: Rex christianus. Court culture and rulership propaganda in the empire of Charles the Bald. The foundation of the ›religion royale‹ (= Pictura et poesis. Interdisciplinary studies on the relationship between literature and art 2, II), Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1993, pp. 105, 108.
  9. ↑ D. Ó Cróinín: Early Medieval Ireland. 400–1200 , New York 2017, p. 238.
  10. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 4.
  11. ^ MW Herren: Sedulius Scottus and the knowledge of Greek , in: Pádraic Moran / Immo Warntjes (ed.): Early Medieval Ireland and Europe. Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship. A Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (= Studia Traditionis Theologiae. Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology 14), Turnhout 2015, pp. 517-520, 524-530, 532.
  12. ↑ F. Brunhölzl: From Cassiodor to the end of the Carolingian renewal (= history of Latin literature in the Middle Ages 1), Munich 1975, p. 451 f.
  13. ↑ S. Hellmann: Sedulius Scottus , in: Ludwig Traube (Hrsg.): Sources and studies on Latin philology of the Middle Ages 1 (Book 1), Munich 1906, p. 107.
  14. ^ F. Brunhölzl: From Cassiodor to the end of the Carolingian renewal (= history of Latin literature of the Middle Ages 1), Munich 1975, p. 457; see also pp. 461 f., 464.
  15. ^ D. Simpson: Sedulius Scottus and the Latin Classics , in: Benjamin T. Hudson / Vickie Ziegler (eds.): Crossed Paths. Methodological approaches to the Celtic aspect of the European Middle Ages, Lanham / New York / London 1991, p. 26.
  16. ^ MC Sloan: The Harmonious Organ of Sedulius Scottus. Introduction to His Collectaneum in Apostolum and Translation of Its Prologue and Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians , Berlin 2012, p. 4.
  17. ^ N. Staubach: Rex christianus. Court culture and rulership propaganda in the empire of Charles the Bald. The foundation of the ›religion royale‹ (= Pictura et poesis. Interdisciplinary studies on the relationship between literature and art 2, II), Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1993, p. 109.
  18. ↑ HH Anton: Fürstenspiegel des early and high Middle Ages (= selected sources on German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnis-Edition 45), Darmstadt 2006, p. 19.
  19. ^ N. Staubach: Rex christianus. Court culture and rulership propaganda in the empire of Charles the Bald. The foundation of the ›religion royale‹ (= Pictura et poesis. Interdisciplinary studies on the relationship between literature and art 2, II), Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1993, pp. 105–221.
  20. ↑ See e.g. BHH Anton: Fürstenspiegel des early and high Middle Ages (= selected sources on German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnis-Edition 45), Darmstadt 2006, p. 17 f.
  21. ^ LM Davies: Sedulius Scottus. Liber de Rectoribus Christianis, a Carolingian or Hibernian Mirror for Princes? , in: Studia Celtica 26/27 (1991), p. 35.
  22. ↑ HH Anton: Fürstenspiegel des early and high Middle Ages (= selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnis-Edition 45), Darmstadt 2006, pp. 10 f., 15, 18.
personal data
SURNAME Scottus, Sedulius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish poet, theologian and scholar
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 9th century