Learning and Knowledge In the Carolingian Times
.Fulda .Schools of Carolingian Times .The Medieval Renaissance .Byzantium and The West
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Carolingian schools are sorted by chronological order and in each category by alphabetical order. note: that page must not be considered completed as notices may be added with new data or new notices be crafted
The work of collecting, copying, and spreading of the profane and sacred works which became to be maintained by the Palace School, greatly contributed to bring into relations the monastery and/or cathedral schools in the Carolingian Empire. That move however, seems to have been mostly centralized, with the exchanges taking place from the local schools to the Court, thence back. In some cases however, the closeness to the scholars of the Court of some abbotts -like in Lorsch, for example- surely rendered those exchanges more egalitarian. More "horizontal" relationships seem to have existed in any way at the time. Clerics, indeed, did not hesitate to journey to to other abbeys in scholarly purposes, as, more or less far away from their own house, they went to read the manuscripts, which they used for the works they were writing. Another way of relations were that such authors might too having the books lent to them. More localized links could settle between religious houses and their schools when, for example, a bishop was entrusted the task to give vitality back to some abbeys and monasteries in their bishopric -like the case for Stephen in Liège about 900 A.D. A important part of the -close or faraway- relations between abbeys, on the other hand, is also due to the links maintained between teachers and pupils, or between pupils with each other. Other causes might also have been at play. The fact, at last, that Charlemagne continued first Carolingians policy to hire Austrasians at the head of the varied territories in the Frankish kingdom or Empire, made that one often saw long duration links to settle between those, like, for example, between Gaul and 'Germany'
. Prüm, Germany was founded by Pippin the Short at the investigation of his wife, Bertha, like a center of diffusion of the Frankish culture in Germany
. Echternach, Germany had a scriptorium which, as soon as the 8th century A.D. is producing liturgical manuscripts as it is featuring too a intense intellectual life
. Auxerre, France (northeast of Burgundy): the monastic school of the abbey of St Germain d'Auxerre, which contained the relics of the saint, was highly famed over the Frankish empire. It was favoured by the emperor Charles the Bald (843-877). One of the scholar of that school was, without doubt Lupus Servatus, abbott of Ferrières-en-Gâtinais (840-862), as he was known for its works like a philologist and that he collected numerous manuscripts which he had copied in the local scriptorium. Several books which were written in the abbey were largely spread into the other great cultural centers of the Empire. A strong relationship, dating back to Charles Martel, existed between St Germain d'Auxerre and Bavaria. Bishop Heribald (829-857), who was one of the masters of the school, was in link with Rabanus Maurus with whom he exchanged manuscripts and relics. St Germain was 'the other' pole of the Carolingian empire! Four school's masters succeeded each other at the head of the school between 835-840 and 893 as all began to be pupils there. They were: Murethach (an Irishman, a grammarian; he left Auxerre to Metz about 840-845 becoming part of the group gathered around Archbishop Drogo; authored a grammar treaty, which is a commentary of the most used grammar book at that time, the 'Ars Major' by Donat; he explains words and assemblages through a system of questions). Haymon (was the pupil of the latter; school's master about 840-845/860; exegetic works; he already at that time enounce the famed vision of the society parted into three functional orders: those who pray, those who fight and those who work, founding his vision on works by Servius or Isidore of Sevilla). Heiric (an oblate in 848; followed the teachings of Haymon then of Lupus of Ferrières and then of the school of Soissons; a priest in 865; wrote a life of St Germain and a tale of the miracles of him; died about 875-885; he got influenced in Soissons by the works of John Scot Erigene, this hellenist who was promoting the neo-platonician authors which had been forgotten in the West due to the absence of studies into Greek; Heiric spread those neo-platonician ideas through Maxime the Confessor or the Pseudo-Dyonisios; he was accustomed to write gloses on the texts he was studying with his pupils). Rémi (as he became noted, he was called in Reims, then in Paris where he had Odo like a disciple, who was to become the abbott of Cluny; a theologist, as he wrote too commentaries about grammar and ancient authors; composed too grammatical commentaries about prose or verse constructions which had been constructed from Phocas, Priscien, and Donat, those authors from the Late Antiquity). The school of Auxerre became famed too due to its interest into science, mostly geography, with ancient authors, there too, the models for the local masters. Heiric maybe wrote a treaty in geography -the 'De Situ Orbis'- which he dedicated to Charles the Bald and by which he tries to elucidate the routes used by the Vikings, as Rémi wrote a 'Letter About the Magyars' through which he tries to locate the origins of those. Haymon and Rémi, as far as theology is concerned, did not compile only but they added important scholarly notices and an explanation of the terms of historical or doctrinal interest. Both composed too homeliaries, those books which were meant to guide the meditation of the monks and the flock, offering expositions and commentaries about the lectures of the day
. Bobbio, Italy (near Genoa): Bobbio was initiated as a monastery founded by St Columban in 614. It was a center for the transition of the Lombards to the christianity and was very soon a high place of culture. The Bobbio library built upon the first manuscripts Columban had brought from Ireland and its own treatises and was able to sustain itself through various troubles which settled only at the time of Charlemagne. It was augmented when St. Dungal made donation of its 70-volume library. St. Dungal was one of the Irishmen who always cherished the abbey and came there from Ireland
. Chartres, France (South of Orléans): na
. Corvey, Germany (Westphalia, near Paderborn): this Benedictine abbey was founded about 820 by the Emperor Louis the Pious as the "New Corbie" as St. Adelhard, the ninth abbot of Corbie participated in the foundation. Its school produced many famous scholars as it is there that Widukind wrote its history of the Saxons. The abbey became too the center of evangelisation of Northern Europe
. Fécamp (?), France: na
. Ferrières, France (near Orléans): became a rather active literary centre under Loup of Ferrières, c. 850
. Flavigny, France (at Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, Burgundy, just East of the site of Alesia, where the Callic chief Vercingetorix was vainquished by Cesar in 52 B.C.): a Benedictine abbey which was founded under the name of St Prix, bishop of Clermont, in 719 A.D. by a donation by Wideradus, or Guiré), a Burgondic nobleman, who already was abbot in precaria verbo regis of Alise, and the basilic St-Andoche of Saulieu and the one of St-Ferréol in Besançon. As soon as by its beginnings, the abbey of Flavigny, in a time of decline, generally, turned a prized place of culture, in particular through its scriptorium, which yielded some of the finest manuscripts of the 8th century A.D. It was also Flavigny which augmented and corrected the liturgical books the pope had sent to Pippin the Short at the demand of him. As books are richely ornated, the abbey too is featuring a neat script, which is named the 'Burgondy script'. Abbot Egilon, in the 9th century, by 865 A.D., had the relics of Ste Reine, a martyr from the late Roman times, for protection against the Northmen, installed into a new abbatial church, from the neighbouring village, which was built according to the model of the St Germain of Auxerre abbey. Flavigny at the time was in strong relations with the school of Auxerre and the imperial court. Pope John VIII came to consecrate the new church by the spring 878 (he was presented with 8 pounds of anis as the abbey of St-Peter was likely already producing anise sweets, the forecomers to the current anise drops still produced; in a letter however he complained that he was stolen his small silver cup at the occasion). The city of Flavigny, which took its origin from a Roman legionar, Flavinius, who received that land after the Gauls Wars, still features today its Carolingian times crypt. Down the village, Flavigny owned one of the most ancient wineyards of France as it would have been extant since the time when Caear won over the Gauls at Alesia). Charlemagne would have drunk, by 741, a bottle of wine of Flavigny. The city today still holds the two-level, Ste-Reine Carolingian crypt of the abbey, which oldest parts go back to the 8th century
. Fleury, France (near Orléans) : (today St-Benoît-sur-Loire). An important benedictine abbey, which was founded about 651 A.D. The corpse of St Benoît was taken off from the Monte Cassino through some trick, and brought in the abbey. The history of the abbey, at the Carolingian times, intertwins with the one of the bishopric of Orléans, the titular of which was Theodulf. see at Orléans
. Fulda, Germany (norteast of Frankfurt-am-Main): see more at this abbey dedicated page
. Laon, France (West of Reims): there had been a long-lasting Irish presence in the school of Laon, as Irish missionaries -under the form of hermits- had settled in the bishopric of Laon as soon as of the 6th century and then monasteries swiftly developing, all of them Irish and Colombanian. The Irish influence however became mostly remarkable under Bishops Pardule (848-856) and Hincmar the Younger (858-871), as the Irish presence of the years 850-875 however (Scot Erigene, Martin Scot (819-875) was succeded by a non-Irish one in about 875-900 (Mannon -who likely was the successor of Erigene to the head of the Palace School under Charles the Bald, Bernard -and Didon, Bishop of Laon, playing an active role about those). A third generation (about 900-930, with Adelelm -or Alleaume, dean of the canons, then bishop; he likely was Bernard's pupil) is appearing too as it's seen working in collaboration with the previous one. All those scholars are, at the same time, linked to the Palace School -under Charles the Bald, the bishopric of Laon, and the Colombanian abbey of St. Vincent of Laon. The Irish influence took back in the middle of the 10th century, with an Irish monk, Mac-Allan, who became the abbott of both the abbeys of St. Vincent of Laon and St. Michael in Thiérache. The work in the scriptorium of Laon and the fame of the cathedral school remained important until at least the 11th century
. Lorsch, Germany (near Worms): located about 10 miles East of Worms, the abbey was founded in 764 by count Cancor -a far-fetched, Neustrian, ancestor in the line of the first Capetian kings of France- and his widowed mother Williswinda, from a wooden church and monastery they had built on their estate called Laurissa (hence Lauresham then Lorsch). Entrusted to the care of Chrodegang, archbishop of Metz, a relative of the count and his mother, the latter dedicated both in honor of St. Peter the Apostle, as he became the first abbot there until 766. Chrodegang was linked to Pippin the Short as he was too a most important figure of the renewal of the Frankish Church. The abbey, meanwhile was further augmented by donations of the founders. Gundeland -the brother of the archbishop- and 14 Benedictine monks, coming with him from Gorze, took on the abbey. Since July 765, the relics of St. Nazarius -a martyr under Diocletian- had been sent by pope Paul I, making the abbey a shrine and a place of pilgrimage, and, at the same time, the first place of the Frankish world to be treated with the relics of a Roman saint. The abbey and the -now- basilica were renamed St. Nazarius. The abbey grew from the miracles wrought through the relics and from its prominence as a center of learning and culture, becoming one of the most important abbey -both on a spiritual and cultural point of view- of the Empire, as a new church was completed in 774. Lorsch housed one of the most important library of the Carolingian empire! Richbod, the fourth abbott of Lorsch, was the one who founded, since about 775, the scriptorium, then the monastic schools. Richbod, under the name of 'Macharius' was part of the scholars of the Court, surrounding Alcuin and Charlemagne. He had been trained by Alcuin. As a member of the inner, elite, circle, Richbod had the abbey of Lorsch not only taking an important part in the work of collection, copy and diffusion of the old, lay or ecclesiastical, books, but, too, into the reform of teaching in the kingdom as decided by Alcuin. The numerous possessions of Lorsch Abbey extended from the North Sea down to Switzerland. Lorsch is nowaday famed for the famous gate house, of the Carolingian times -or the 'Königshalle', a remain of the ancient abbey which was destroyed in 1556 at the time of the Reformation, during the Thirty Years war. This is one of the most important pre-Romanesque architectural witness in Germany. Through a request to Charlemagne by the founder's son, Lorsch became immediate to the Empire and entrusted with the immunity, placing it out of reach from the feudals there. Like in such case, owed the 'ost' -the army duty- and had to colonize the surroundings. The abbey of Lorsch, thus, according to a scheme which surely was usual in those times, had passed from the status of a private foundation to the one of an imperial abbey. Monks in Lorsh didn't then pray for the founder's family only, but for the emperor and the Empire! A king palace had been built too in Lorsh since about 774, where Charlemagne resided, along with Louis the German
. Metz, France (Lorraine): Metz generally was the craddle of the Carolingian dynasty with St. Arnulf and Pippin of Landen. Metz then became too a family necropole, with Queen Hildegarde or Louis the Pious interred in St-Arnulf church. Metz became a liturgical and theological center due to relatives to the kingly or imperial family named like bishops. Chrodegang was nominated by Pippin the Short to reform the clergy there and to write a rule for the canons as the Roman ritual was adopted in Metz as soon as by 755 like a step into the religious unity as wished by Charlemagne. Angilram was the chapelain of Charlemagne, as he was the first to write a revision of the Bible. He created a scriptorium for the cathedral church of Metz where Paul Diacre was to write, at his request, the 'Gesta episcopum Mettensium,' a work which traces the history of the local bishops and of the Carolingian dynasty. He was succeded as a bishop in 821 by Drogon, a illegitimate son of Charlemagne, nominated there by Louis the Pious, of whom he was the half-brother. Charles the Bald, in 869, choose Metz like the place of its crowning like King of Lotharingia, and at that occasion he donated manuscripts to the cathedral like a Psalter and a Bible. Was there a school in Metz? In any case Metz, by the mid-9th century was artistically vibrant into manuscript painting and ivory sculpting
. Orléans, France : a cathedral school? The bishopric, since 798, was held by Theodulf, a Wisigoth, who, since 780, had participated, in the court, to the intellectual life there and to the great theological debates. Theodulf was to the abbot of Fleury. Theodulf succeded to Alcuin in 804. He was imprisoned in 818 in Angers, France -where he eventually died- as he had sided Bernard of Italy against Charles the Bald. The scriptorium in Orléans, in its art, rejected the figures, according to the choices of Theodulf in the dispute of the iconoclasm
. Pavia, Italy (near Genoa): Pavia, as the capital of the Lombard kingdom, always had grammar schools. Such schools were famous at the time of Charlemagne who picked up there the grammarian Petrus Pisanus. Emperor Lothair eventually created there a "central" school -a Palatine School- in 825 which was managed by the Irish scholar Dungal. This was due to Pavia having remained the capital city of the kingdom of Italy even after the Lombards' fall
. Reims, France: the celebrated city of the baptism of the Merovingian king Clovis and the city of the coronation of the kings of France, northeast of Paris, might have had chapter schools as soon as the carolingian period. The scriptoria in Reims parted between the cathedral, and the monastery of St-Rémi, and the monasteries of St-Thierry and of Hautvillers. The height of Reims was attained under Abbot Ebbon, who was the foster brother, and the librarian, of the emperor Louis the Pious. Ebbon wanted Reims to become the new center of the Carolingian revival (he had, for example, the cathedral built, or he gathered artists in the monastery of Hautvillers). He was exiled in Fulda in 835 during the struggles between Louis the Pious and Lothar, as he eventually was definitively relieved of the bishopric by Charles the Bald. He took refuge near Louis the German, who granted him the bishopric in Hildesheim. The height of Reims however kept on under the successor to Ebbon, Abbot Hincmar. An ancient monk of St-Denis and a courtier, he was bishop of Reims, and abbot of St-Rémi. He took part into the theological disputes about predestination, and the Holy Trinity
. Rouen (?), France: na
. St-Amand, France (St-Amand-en-Pévèle, then St-Amand-les-Eaux; 20 km South of Tournai): the royal abbey there is considered the center of the 'Franco-Saxon school', in the matter of artistic work in the scriptorium. A school there? The scriptorium was very active by the end of the 8th century, as he got specialized in the production of luxury liturgical books for high dignitaries, the king or other religious houses. The scriptorium did mix the Anglo-Irish motives to the strictly Carolingian contributions. From an artistic point of view, the 'Franco-Saxon' style of production kept extant beyond the end of the Carolingian era, giving the basis for the Romanesque
. St-Denis, France (North of Paris): this abbey was immediate to the Pope and the king as soon as the mid-7th century. St-Denis, further, had a pecular relationship to the Carolingians due to that Pippin the Short had been sacred there in 754. The school of St-Denis was in a constant relationship with other abbeys in the Carolingian empire. The abbey was granted by royal donations of objects and manuscripts, particularly under Charles the Bald
. St-Martin de Tours, France (Tours): the abbey of St-Martin of Tours had been under the Benedictine rule since the 7th century, as it was harbouring the relics of St. Martin, who brought the Scriptures to the Gallo-Romans. Irish scribes came there in the 8th century. It's Alcuin, especially, who developed the scriptorium, the height of which took place under Abbot Vivien. The fame of it was such at that time that it was entrusted imperial orders. The activity of Tours decayed once the monastery was plundered by the Vikings in 853. Was there a school in St-Martin de Tours?
. St-Quentin (?), France: na
. St-Riquier, France (Picardie, near Abbeville; St-Riquier is the ancient Centule): after it was rebuilt, the abbey of St-Riquier, under Abbot Angilbert, began to get an important library. Angilbert was the pupil and friend of Alcuin. Angilbert was ambassador of the emperor to the popes Hadrian I and Leo III. He was too the boyfriend of Bertha, one of Charlemagne's daughters
. Soissons, France (North of Paris): na
 | click to a map of Carolingian schools |
. Celle, Germany (Lower Saxony): na
. Hirschau, Germany (Bavaria, near Cawl, in the Black Forest): Noting, Bishop of Verceil, brought, by 830 A.D. the relic of St. Aurelius, who had died in Milano, Italy, in 475 A.D. Noting was a parent to Erlafried, count of Cawl. Noting founded a chapel and also a church, which was dedicated to St. Nazaire. That place turned into the ground for a abbey as monks came from Fulda under direction of Abbot Lutbert (who died in 853 A.D.). By 988 A.D., the abbey was devastated through a plague and hunger as dissensions further had also affected it. The abbey of Hirschau, by 1001 A.D. passed to the count of Cawl
. Hirsfeld (or Hersfeld), Germany (at the confluence of the Geisa and Fulda rivers): a imperial Benedictine abbey which depended upon the bishopric of Mainz. Lul, a disciple of St. Boniface and archbishop of Mainz founded the abbey in 769 A.D. because he could not submit the one of Fulda to his grop (Fulda was bestowed immunity since 751 A.D.). The location where Lul founded the abbey already had been spotted by Sturmius but also deemed too close to the Saxons. Hirsfeld swiftly became one the most prosperous abbeys in Germany. It was largely endowed by Charlemagne, with privileges, and also given a large number of lands in Hesse and Thuringia. The abbey of Hirsfeld's fame increased when it came to harbour the relics of St. Wigbert, Abbot of Fritzlar (?) and then the ones of Lul self. A imposing abbatial church was built by 850 A.D. One of the early abbots was Haymon who then became Bishop of Halberstadt in 841. Hirsfeld was soon reknown in terms of how the monks observed the Rule and too in terms of its intellectual life (the abbey, for example, had begun to write the Annales Hersfeldienses. The abbey also possessed a monastic school, which is mentioned by Loup of Ferrières in his Vita S. Wigberti, and it reached its apogee under Abbot Gosbert. It remained very active since that date. The school holded very precious manuscripts. A form of decline occurred under Abbot Bernard, by the end of the 9th century, who behave like a feudal lord as the abbey also knew periods of revival
. Petersburg, Germany?: na
. Reichenau, Switzerland: a Benedictine monastery, Reichenau, was founded by St. Permin, on a little island of the Lake of Constance, a major lake between nowaday Germany and Switzerland, crossed by the Rhine, at the suggestion of Charles Martel and became an important abbey long before St. Gall reached importance. Reichenau developed due to its location on the way of pilgrims and travellers to Italy. Irishmen and Italians, as Greeks brought relics at the abbey like a cross with the blood of Christ said to have been a gift by an Arabian to Charlemagne and given later in custody to Reichenau in 925, or the relics of St. Mark brought from Venice in 830. Charles the Fat is burried at Reichenau. Among the famous schoolmen of the island are Walafrid Strabo and Hatto. Such schoolmen formed the famous Reichenau library and its school of painters. Reichenau was intrumental for the Ottonian Renaissance in terms of illuminations and manuscripts
. Rheinau, Switzerland: na
. Solenhaufen, Germany?: na
. St. Gall, Switzerland: St. Gall, near the southern shore of the Lake of Constance, this major lake between nowaday Germany and Switzerland, was first the burying place of Gallus (d. 646) a companion of St. Colombanus, the Irish monk missionarizing in Europe. At the instigation of Charles Martel and with the protection of Pepin the Short the location was developed into an abbey by Othmar and given the Benedictine rule. As soon as this period the learning work was cultivated along with the work of copying manuscripts. The school of Fulda was founded at the beginning of the 9th century as the abbey became one of the most cultural centers of the Carolingian empire. The library was greatly enlarged under Abbot Gotzbert (815-837) and monks were copying the recentest manuscripts. St Gall was home to famous scholars like Notker the Stammerer, the two other Notkers, Eckhard, or Hartker. St. Gall was too an important step in the development of the plain-chant. St. Gall is famous for its well preserved plan which helps to figure out how a great carolingian abbey was looking like. The site CESG, Codices Electronici Sangallenses is putting online the manuscripts which were kept in the library of St Gall; a interesting site (a part of the interface is in English)
. Liège, Belgium: Liège became famed for a basilica which was built to keep the relics of St. Lambert, the bishop who eventually converted the pagan Franks of the region, was murdered by local lords in 705 and definitively replaced Tongres as the see of the diocese. As the school of Liège is modest at the beginning, the passage of scholars close to the Court -like Sedulius Scottus about 850, along with Dermoth, Fergus, Blandus, Marcus and Bentchell- gives fame to it. Liège, then has a colony of Irish masters under the reign of Lothar (840-855). Such periods of prestige in relation with some famed people, did not last however. It's in fact, since the beginning of the 10th century above all, that schools -in plural- obviously emerge in Liège, of them the cathedral school of St. Lambert. Those schools had been born of the scholarly relations established between the cathedral church of Liège and the monastery of Lobbes, as it will be mostly by the end of the Carolingian period -after 950-960- that the schools thrive and really become famous. The initial push which was initiated, about 900 A.D. by bishop Stephen was due to that this cleric was parent to the Carolingian dynasty and the higher Frankish aristocracy and that he had been trained, at the Palatine School, under Charles the Bald, by Mannon, then Robert, bishop of Metz (883-917). Robert himself was either a co-pupil, or a pupil to Notker the Stammerer (about 840-912), in the school of the abbey of St. Gall. Notker was, at the same time, a poet, a hagiograph and biograph, a 'musicologist' and a liturgist. Hence he had those abilities transmitted to Robert, who passed them to Stephen. The school of Liège, by 900, as that part of Lotharingia has been reunited to the Francia Occidentalis, became, by the way, through the curriculum of Stephen, a bridge bringing to the western part of the Carolingian empire the knowledges of the German part of it! Stephen was mostly a hagiograph and a liturgist, being bishop of Liège between 901 and 920. He authored a 'Vita Sancti Lamberti', another bishop of the city. The fame of the school in Lière, and, mostly, of Stephen, likely was due to that he was a kin to the Carolingians. The schools of the Carolingian times, in Liège, passed throught the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages and during the first part of the 11th century. As Europe, at that time, was in a decline, Liège remained a famed center of litterature and art
. St. Laurent, Belgium?: na
. Utrecht, Netherlands (southeast of Amsterdam): Utrecht became the see of the bishopric founded by St. Willibrord in 695 when he was bringing the Gospel to the Frisians. St. Willibrord founded an episcopal school there which became an important center of education for the northern part of the Frankish kingdom
. Corbie, France (Picardie, near Amiens): a Benedictine abbey, founded between 657 and 661 like a royal abbey, Corbie eventually became the most important monastery of the northern Gaul, as, under Charlemagne, it becomes a remarkable center of scholarship, under Abbot St. Adelhard. The library containing books which were manufactured locally as well as those bought, exchanged or lent from other places. Under Abbot Maurdramne (772-781), Corbie played an important role into the birth and tuning of the caroline minuscule
. Paderborn, Germany (South of Hanover): Paderborn had its episcopal school since the bishopric of St. Badurad (815-62). The first church in Paderborn had been built in 777 as Charlemagne had held a diet there. The city was a bishop see already in 805-806
