Schools of Carolingian Times

a scholar working in the Palatine School

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.' By the 9th century A.D., some bishops who had been monks and studied in monastic schools, did pass the taste for the study from the cloister to the cathedral. Eventually, in the 10th century, the reputation of the schools of Francia occidentalis then the Kingdom of France attracted students from foreign countries. Englishmen sent their children to Lyon according to a custom which was already ancient by the 11th century as foreigners also wanted to have the most skilful masters from Francia, like English drew Abbo of Fleury, or princes of Germania Rathier and Gerbert. Intellectual centers were particularly concentrated in northern Gauls and Germania or in Lombardy while the Aquitaine and the South of Gauls were still, by the 10th century A.D. -- except Lyons and Vienna -- cultural deserts. Within a same region, the size of a monastery was a factor. Between around 880 and 990 A.D. the map of Carolinigian culture spread and densified generally and in particular, it reached to margins like eastern Germania, Italy, Spain, or England. There was no real stability on the other hand, as such a important school in the 9th century A.D. was no longer necessarily important in the 10th. The stability in the duration of a school hold to a reknown master and then eventual successors. The influence of a school was also due to the reputation of the place for non-strictly educational intellectual activities, mainly historiography and hagiography. The global will at the level of the Empire gave way to local realities. Another characteristic of the time -- and even before -- which hold to the very ecclesial organization, was the establishment of schools in networks -- not only intellectual but also spiritual ones. To the existence of the global, rather loose network of the Empire between active centers, were adding regional networks which as far as they are concerned, also corresponded to the organization of the Church or even to regional realities. Irishmen from Laon for example were in relation also with those of the Rhine area, and relations between the Orléanais, French Brittany, Great Britain and more generally the West of France. A swarming generally occurred through the pupils of a given center and their career in Church. The Irish influence was particularly noticeable in the northeast of Gaul and in Germania. (in each category, by alphabetical order of the place, city or bishopric; the fact that a school be mentioned not or no more for a given century may result from the used source only and also from the fact that some source, written from a national point of view, do not take in account places considered foreign. Note: that page must not be considered completed as notices may be added with new data or new notices be crafted; some schools, on a other hand, have been installed into a given chronological section as new date might have them installed into another)

click to a illustration of the Carolingian schools (for the sake of graphic clarity, that map does not take up the names of the schools and it only consider the most significant schools in terms of links with the scholars of the time. With the data as they stand, the map clearly shows that culture centered on the old Austrasian heart, added with a presence in northern Neustria. A 'Orléans' band' is also seen. It remains however that large abbeys are found mainly in Austrasia and the Germanic countries and in the Orléans' band (which probably has a meaning). One has thus a culture of the Frankish country as a whole but it is dominated by Austrasia and -- which is quite surprising since the culture was lying in the abbeys and monasteries -- by the bishops. A slight Irish sprinkling is also seen as Court scholars seem on a mission to the margins of the central heart)

Schools Which are Known Existing as No Data are Available to Them

Celle (Germany, Lower Saxony)

Chartres (France)

Fécamp (France)

Petersburg (Germany?)

Rheinau (Switzerland)

Rouen (France)

St-Laurent (Belgium?)

St-Quentin (France)

Soissons (France)

Solenhaufen (Germany?)

Schools Which Existed Only in The 8th Century A.D.

L'Isle-Barbe

-no details-

Medeloc (bishopric of Trier)

the school served as a seminary in the 8th century A.D. and several archbishops of this important seat were trained there (Richbode, Wason or Wison, Hette, Amalar as the latter perfected the training he had first followed in St-Martin-de-Tours)

St-Vandrille

close Rouen (no other details)

Utrecht

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. St Gregory, disciple of St Boniface, taught students of all nations (France, England, Friesland, Saxony, Suevi, Bavaria). These disciples spreaded faith in Saxony, Friesland and Westphalia. Among the pupils of St Gregory was St Marchelme (or St Marcellin), a priest

Schools Which Existed in The 8th and 9th Centuries A.D.

Aniane

few named in the 8th century A.D., it was however also very famous before the end of the 8th century. The monastic school served both clerics and monks. The monastery was founded by St Benedict of Aniane and there he had amassed a large library and established various skillful masters (which he maybe hed formed himself). Benedict had been educated at the Palatine School and he had a great knowledge of the letters. The masters of Aniane taught singing, reading, grammar, theology (which explained the Holy Scripture). Many of their disciples became bishops and many more, in turn, restored studies in the monasteries of France, Italy and Germany, the latter place where, at the beginning of the 9th century A.D., the reformation of Aniane was extended. In the 9th century, Aniane seems to have perpetuated itself more than Tours, at least as long as St Ardon Smaragde (various works), a disciple of St. Benedict of Aniane, taught there. It was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Flavigny, France (Burgundy)

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'. Guerin, count of Mâcon and first among the Greats of Burgundy, titled himself 'rector of Flavigny' about 835 A.D., a sign that he also ruled the Auxois area. In the 9th century, the abbey was given to the bishop of Autun by Charles the Bald. 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. The abbey already hold the remains of St Priest, St Amarin and a fragment of the mantle of Archangel Gabriel. 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 anise as the abbey of St-Peter was likely already producing anise sweets, the forecomers to the current anise drops still produced (anise appeared to have been brought to the vicinity by the doctors of the legions of Cesar during the siege of Alesia); in a letter however the Pope complained that he had been stolen his small silver cup during his stay). 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, that typically illustrates pre-Romanesque art: the crypt is ordained around the 'confession,' where the relics were presented, which therefore are under the church's choir. While pilgrims had to content themselves to stroll through the church, around the choir, the privileged approached the relics in the 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. It is uncertain whether the school maintained itself in the 10th century A.D.

Fontenelle (St-Wandrille de Fontenelle abbey)

its school, as it was important, had fallen into decay at the time of the Mayors of the Palace. It found its luster back under Gervolde (Bishop of Evreux turned a monk then abbot of the abbey) before the end of the 8th century. A excellent connoisseur of the chant, he taught it. Among his pupils, Hardouin exceled in arithmetic and the art of writing well and who trained to those same arts several pupils and left a large number of works. Those came to increase the library already considerable due to his gifts of copying, and to which Wandont and Gervolde, abbots, added. Eginhard and Ansegise (the latter a student of the school, strongly versed in Sacred and profane sciences) succeeded them and kept increasing the library. By the 9th century A.D., Hardouin, who was illustrating the school at the end of the 8th century by its science in arithmetic and its ability to write well, continued until 811. Benedict became master of the school some time later and he taught there the 'highest sciences' (he was then abbot of St-Peter, nowadays St-Maur-des-Fossés, near Paris). Fontenelle also gave some other writers. Fontenelle was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Fulda

there was a school since the time of St Boniface, by the 8th century A.D. Raban became the master of the school and he had Samuel, his classmate in Tours, as a colleague. The school became famous since the beginning of the 9th century as students came from Germania or Gauls. Out of there came doctors for all Christendom. Fulda, moreover, begat many other schools, like that of Mainz. Raban Maur and Samuel, disciples of Alcuin in Tours, had made the taste for the sciences pass in Fulda, as the abbey became one of the most famous monasteries in the West. Under Raban, there were 270 monks at the abbey and 12 of them, the most learned, were preposed to teach others Church and profane sciences (if the latter were related to the former). Of these school teachers (or "moderators"), if one was missing (death or departure for another monastery) he was immediately replaced by another of the most skillful monks. Piety, in Fulda, went together with science, which carried several churches, even remote, to come to choose Bishops there, like Freculfe, bishop of Lisieux or Thibauld, Bishop of Cluse and many others. The library, under Raban, was rich for the time. Raban, who became abbot of Fulda, nevertheless wanted to continue his explanations of the Scriptures. He had a very large number of illustrious disciples: Walafried Strabo, Loup of Ferrières, Rudofle, Otfride. In the 9th century A.D., when Raban Maur ceased to be the master of the school, it was monk Candide monk who was, then Rudolfe, pupil self of Raban (he wrote his life; 'all of Germany watched this new moderator as an excellent master in history, poetics and all other liberal arts.') Then came Bernward, a scholar in all kinds of knowledge, who ran the school for 14 years. Thus under so many remarkable écolâtres, Fulda did not cease, throughout the 9th century, to produce great scholars: Ermenric, Abbot of Elwangen (wrote in verse and prose), Werembert (one of the scholars of the time, retired to St. Gall where he taught), Helperic (then in St. Gall also). Gerhoh, a priest, was some time in charge of inspecting the library in the 9th century. Fulda was no longer mentioned in the 10th century A.D.

Hersfeld (or Hirsfel; today Bad Hersfeld; in Hesse, 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 group (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. Little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., Haimon, by the 9th century, was abbot before being Bishop of Halberstat and undoubtedly communicated to the studies the taste he had brought from Fulda. 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. Hersfeld was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Hirsauge (or Hirschau, bishopric of Speyer)

it was the other place, with Reichenau and St-Germain-d'Auxerre, where sciences passed after Fulda. Little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., it is only given like founded in 838. Before, 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. They took 15 monks from Fulda to populate it, and many were scholars: Liutbert (1st abbot, of regular mores, he gave the first lessons, wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs); Gerungue (succeeded him, a scholar), Hildulfe and Ruthard who took over successively the direction of the school wrote various works. As the schoolmaster's charge was not compatible with the dignity of abbot, Liutbert transmitted the charge to Hildulfe, who remained master of the school until his death in 859 A.D. (since 852, he wrote, for the pupils, a treatise about the ecclesiastical calculation). Ruthard, very praised, educated in all sorts of knowledges; had a quantity of disciples and his reputation attracted a large number of young lay people. It was also under him that monk Helfride was trained (several very useful works). Richbodon, by his death in 865 A.D., succeeded him during 24 years. Then came Harderard in 889, for 2 years then he was abbot and Luthelme became master of the school, a scholar with a lot of knowledge. Even at the end of the 9th century A.D., as studies fell elsewhere, several men of letters were still seen in Hirsauge: Rudolfe (Commentary on Tobie in 888), Herderic (hymns in honor of the Saints, collection of epigrams and other poems, treatise on Music), Sigismund, Cunzigon both strongly scholars (the first became bishop of Halberstat, the second abbot of St-Nazaire near Worms). Hirsauge was no longer mentioned in the 10th century A.D. One only knows that, 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

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

New Corbie or Corvey (Saxony, near Paderborn)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., it was established in Saxony by monks who came from Corbie shortly after the death of Charlemagne in 822, and with the support of Emperor Louis the Pious as St. Adelhard was the ninth abbot. The school opened the following yearv. The abbey school was flourishing from the beginning as it was to produced many famous scholars. St Anskar was its first director. The letters were studied there with such success that they spreaded very quickly throughout Saxony. The Saxon abbey, in the 9th century A.D., continued above all the missionary work North of Corbie (as well as among the Saxons, its original function), which is normal since it is the daughter. It was a seminar for the missions and many doctors and bishops came out of it. Gerolde, Deacon and chaplain of Louis the Pious retired in the abbey to dedicate himself to God and he was of a great help for the advancement of studies. He was poured into all the sciences and he brought his considerable library. Under Warin, the first abbot, who ruled until 856 when he died, there were 180 monks, of which 7 preposed to teaching. All later became illustrious in Church: Nithard suffered martyrdom in Sweden and the other 6 became bishops. Adalgaire and Hoger of Bremen and Hamburg, Haltfrede of Hildesheim, Tiagrin of Halberstat. Witmar and Gislemar, also masters of the school, who had come from the ancient Corbie, became also bishops, the first of Sweden, the other of Denmark. Helocon, another master of the school, was chosen with Ailbolde to evangelize Nordmen. The New Corbie retained its radiance for a long time. Still at the end of the 9th century A.D., under Bovon, who died in 890, studies were as flourishing as anywhere else in Germany and, like before, great men of Church or letters came out: in 883 A.D., Wigbert became Bishop of Hildesheim, in 889 Evilpe became the one of Halberstat as Wimon was then also known for his doctrine. Solace went out of the New Corbie to evangelize the 'Nordmen or Danes;' Addaston, a very learned monk, author in 901 A.D. of a commentary about prophet Daniel, was issued from the school of New Corbie; Two students wrote, one the life of St Rembert about 888, the other the relation of relics sent by the abbey to St-Denis in France. Another one, Agius, wrote. New Corbie was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Pavia (Italy)

: 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

Prom (or Prüm, bishopric of Trier)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., when it had been founded by Pippin the Short at the investigation of his wife, Bertha, like a center of diffusion of the Frankish culture in Germany. The schools, in the 9th century, were no less brilliant than in Reichenau under Abbot Marcuard (after 850). Grerungue, who had been chamberlain of the Emperor, Nithard 'famous in Loup of Ferrières' (who is not the historian of the same name), Ansbald, Egile, Wandalbert (martyrology in verse) were making the reputation of the school. Marcuard's reputation and his taste for 'good studies,' attracted several characters of a distinguished merit in fine letters and ecclesiastical science: Adon (later Archbishop of Vienna), Reginon (then Abbot of Prom, where he was one of the greatest lights of the end of the 9th century A.D. and beginning of the 10th). Prom was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Reichenau

it was the place where sciences passed after Fulda. 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. A school existed several years before the end of the 8th century A.D. Hetton, for example, abbot of the monastery, Bishop of Basel and ambassador of Charlemagne to Constantinople, had been a schoolboy there since the age of 5 under a Irishman (perhaps Clement). To this Clement succeeded as masters of the school: Herlebalde, Tacens, Talton, Wetin, Walafride Strabo. The latter gave a new luster to Reichenau and he trained several important disciples, as, with Hatto, and others, they formed the famous Reichenau library and its school of painters. In the 9th century A.D., a large number of writers emerged from Reichenau, a sign that the letters were widely cultivated. Walafried Strabo, first master of the school, became the abbot. When he was master of the school, studies became flourishing and the library was provided with all the necessary books (the library had been formed, as soon as he had worked to renew the studies, by Waldon, abbot during 20 years of the monastery, then that of St-Denis in 806 and who had preferred to remain abbot than to become bishop of Basel or Pavia; it was greatly increased by Regimbert, monk and librarian, who was a very good copyist under Waldon and his 3 successors (he also gave several excerpts from the Fathers' writings and, at the top of the books he was copying, he usually put a epigram in 12 large werse) as the books that were copied in Reichenau in the 9th century would otherwise have sufficed to form a 'reasonable' library). They had a special taste for poetry and to letters, they added fine arts. And above all they had excellent painters, some of whom were called to St. Gall to decorate the abbatial house built for Abbot Grimald. Then came, in the 9th century A.D., as masters of the school: Buntwide (some works), Ermenric (works), Meginard (issued from a illustrious family and honored as a martyr, he had shone by his spirit and his application to study under Erlebalde). Kerard, who was not écolâtre of the school, he composed a collection of synonyms for the students. Small monasteries that depended on Reichenau (like Pollingen, near the lake of Zürich, where a monk was preposed to teaching). Were pupils of Reichenau Wichingue, one of the apostles of Moravia and then Bishop of Neytracht in Upper Hungary at the end of the 9th century A.D.; Gothescalc; Cadolte, Bishop of Novara, brother of Lintward, Bishop of Vercelli and Archchancelor of the Empire. Reichenau was no longer mentioned in the tenth century as however it was intrumental for the Ottonian Renaissance in terms of illuminations and manuscripts. Emperor Charles the Fat is burried at Reichenau

St-Bertin (or Sithiu)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., Hucbalde (of Elnone) was called there in the 9th century by Abbot Rodulfe to lead the school. Since King Alfred of England had taken from there Grimbalde and some others to reestablish letters in his kingdom, the monastery was deprived of learned monks who could teach others. Before, however, the letters had not ceased. Gontbert, the son of a great lord and monk had been a long time, for example, the ornament of it by his knowledge and his beautiful writing (a treatise about ecclesiastical calculus; through his work as a copyist, he renewed the books of the library; he copied three antiphonaries for three churches, one in gold letters). St-Bertin was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

St-Riquier-en-Ponthieu or Centula (France, Picardie)

few mentioned in the 8th century, it was since long the monastery where children of the Kings, dukes and earls were raised (Jeremiah, who became Archbishop of Sens, and Nithard, the historian, were part of that, for example). The Centula/Saint-Riquier abbey was a abbey that served as a model. Angilbert, the abbot from 798 A.D., renewed the monastery and the letters bloomed particularly. Angilbert, with 200 volumes, created the fund of the 'curious and rich' library (the catalogue was preserved by the monk Hariulfe). 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. After being great in the 8th century A.D., the school received a new luster in the 9th due to the care the Deacon Michon, a monk, too of the abbey (various verse and prose works). It was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Vieux-Moutier (St-Michel-en-Lorraine or St-Mihiel)

like St-Gall, it hardly distinguished itself at the beginning of the Renaissance but soon became a preeminent school. Smaragde teached there. The school of St-Michel, so brilliant at the end of the 8th century A.D. and at the beginning of the 9th under Abbot Smaragde, maintained itself under the direction of a disciple of Remi of Auxerre. Smaragde's commentary on Donat, a kind of grammar, was very much used for students' studies

Wissemburg (Alsace)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., Otgaire, in the 9th century, was abbot and then Archbishop of Mainz. He had a lot of zeal for the Sacred literature and he likely communicated thee the taste for studies. In any case, it is certain that, at the end of the 9th century A.D., the school of the monastery was flourishing under scholar monk Otfride who shone through his doctrine and his writings. The school at the time gave a bishop to Spire, Amalric. It was no longer mentioned in the 10th century

Schools Which Existed From the 8th to The 10th Century A.D.

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

Corbie (bishopric of 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. Under Abbot Maurdramne (772-781), Corbie played an important role into the birth and tuning of the caroline minuscule. In the 8th century A.D., Adalhard, abbot, was concerned to bring together the books of the Elders, that he sometimes made come from Italy. From Corbie great scholars came out at the beginning of the 9th century: Paschase Radbert, Adalhard the Young, Hildemanne (Bishop of Beauvais), Odon (idem), Warin (abbot of New Corbie), St Anskar (the Apostle of northern Peoples, Archbishop of Hamburg), Witmar, as well as many others thereafter. Corbie was one of the most thriving schools of the 9th century throughout the Empire. A large number of great men were issued from it: Paschase Radbert, Anscaire, Ratramne, Chrestien Druthmar. Led by Pascase and Anscaire, it passed by 826 A.D. under the direction of Macaire. He was a Irishman (or a "Hibernois") but he did not always defend Irishmen's "solid way of teaching" and he sowed in teaching some philosophical subtleties (which are quite ordinary to the Irishmen on a other hand) which were to lead a anonymous monk of Corbie to embrace "strongly singular feelings." But, above all, Corbie then was forming skilled missionaries who were to bring the Gospel and culture to Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere (Anskar and Aubert who, rejected from Denmark, stopped in Friesland; then Anskar went back to Sweden with Vitmar, also issued from Corbie; Anskar was prosecuted by Gislemar also from Corbie; Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims also played a role, who had evangelized in Denmark). The abbey, source of so many writers and scholars in the 9th century A.D., still supported itself by the 10th century. Even if new books were not published, they were copying ones from the Antiquity. Ratold, abbot in 945 A.D, had the manuscript of the Sacramentary of Pope St Gregory made. Walbert, Bishop of Noyon in 920, Ingelrand (or Enguerrand), Bishop of Cambrai in 957, scholars both in sacred and profane science, had been raised there. Ingelard, still a student, was taken from Corbie in 981 to become abbot of St-Riquier. St Ethelvold, abbot in England, made came from Corbie monks who were skillful in letters and chant to teach his monks in the two domains

Echternach (Germany)

had a scriptorium which, as soon as the 8th century A.D. was producing liturgical manuscripts as it was featuring too a intense intellectual life

Ferrières-en-Gâtinais

by the 8th century A.D., as soon as before the death of Alcuin, Sigulfe, one of his pupils, became master of the school. A pupil of York, he had gone to Rome and Metz to perfect himself in ecclesiastical studies. In the 9th century, not far from Fleury, the abbey was much more flourishing. St-Martin-de-Tours thus was the mother of Ferrières. Loup, abbot of the monastery, issued of Fulda, began by being master of the school (from all the 9th century, he was the scholar who best mastered letters; he was very versed in theology; to the lessons on the letters, he always joined instructions of Christian piety). Loup carried the studies at such a level that he and the monks he directed 'signaled themselves out of all the people of letters of their time.' Loup, a "learned abbot", also had books looked for he lacked in the library because he wanted to enrich him with all the good books of ecclesiastical and profane Antiquity; he even sent several times people to Rome to look for, whence he made brought back from there, the History of Salluste, most of Cicero's works, Quintilian, and the commentary of Donat on Terence. Lupus Servatus, a disciple of Rhabanus, as Abbot of Ferrières, early in the ninth century encouraged and promoted the study of the pagan classics with all the ardour of a fifteenth century Humanist. In the 10th century there were still in Ferrières some slight vestiges of the lessons that Loup had given. Ecfride, monk, left a manuscript poem on Gregory the Great (he knew Walon or Galon, Bishop of Troyes)

Gorze (bishopric of Metz)

the school existed but without relief during the 8th and 9th centuries A.D. By the 10th century, Blidulfe, who spent a few years as Archdeacon of the Church of Metz, withdrew to Gorze. The abbey was reformed in 933 A.D. and he brought into the way (the "doctrine") of the school of Reims under Remi of Auxerre (Blidulfe had a lot of spirit delicacy and passed for the most learned man then in Metz). Other scholars arrived shortly thereafter, forming a society as scholarly as pious: Einolde, the first archdeacon of the Church of Toul (reputation of being poured into the divine and profane letters; he was the first abbot after the reformation of the abbey), Anstée (another archdeacon of Metz; naturally very eloquent and he had applied himself particularly to the Holy Scriptures but without neglecting the liberal arts), Jean de Vendière (became very illustrious thereafter, abbot after Einolde; he had trained at St-Mihiel in Lorraine under grammarian Hildebolde (who was poorly named Heribalde for the 9th century), another disciple of Remi of Auxerre; then he studied a little rhetoric and compute at the school of Toul and, elsewhere, Holy Scripture, cannons and civil laws; once withdrawn to Gorze, he applied himself seriously to the study of the Fathers, the liturgy, the "science of time", ecclesiastical history, the "Categories", the introduction of Porphire and the whole dialectic; at the same time, he was the abbey's steward). Those were the "first Solitaires" to populate the "desert of Gorze" as their example soon attracted many others including bishops. A school was formed for the study of "high sciences", but children were also educated there. The year 955 A.D. allowed to check the esteem that one had of the knowledge of the solitaires of the place, and the strength of their erudition: Abderrhamane, "Prince" of the Arabs of Spain, sent letters offensive to religion to Emperor Otto, even he was seeking the friendship of him; they decided to send him scholars to add orally to the writings in return and, thus, to convert him. Finally, they turned to the scholars of Gorze following the opinion of Adalberon Bishop of Metz and the abbot allowed Jean de Vendière (who illustrated himself in that embassy) and Deacon Garamanne (secretary of the embassy; he was very apt to that function because he wrote skillfully and quickly). Gorze's reputation then continued and it came to Pope Agapit who drew monks from the abbey to reform the monastery of St Paul (it was the already aged monk Andre, who left). It is, finally, difficult to enumerate all the great men who came out of Gorze: Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, Rothard, Bishop of Cambrai, Odilon (from a illustrious family, restaurer and abbot of Stavelot), Humbert, restaurer of St-Evre in Toul, Guibert I, founder of the Abbey of Gembloux, St Macalene Abbot of Wassor and then of St-Michel-en-Thiérarche, Frederic, paternal uncle of Adalberon Bishop of Metz and then abbot of St-Hubert, Rambert at last, abbot of Senone

Luxeuil

by the 8th century A.D., letters are cultivated with as much success and ardour as elsewhere, under Mellin (or Mellic), master of the school as the epoch was later mentioned with a 'school so brilliant once.' Mellin kept teaching at the beginning if the 9th century as Angelome, one of his students, after he had perfected his studies at the Palatine School, made some figure at the time among scholars. Luxeuil faded during that century then Constance, master of the school who died in the early 11th century, makes it clear that the school was very famous at the end of the 10th. Students came from Besançon, Lyons, Châlons, Mâcon, Langres, Strasburg to take lessons from Constance. The establishment of the school goes back much higher or, better, it was not interrupted since Mellin and Angelome taught there with reputation in the 9th century A.D. Thus Adson was taken from the abbey before 950 to renew studies in Toul and he had drawn there the beginnings of his erudition that one finds in his writings

Lyons

by the 8th century A.D., under Archbishop Leidrade, the archbishopric had a famous school as soon as by the end of the 8th century: chant, spiritual sense of the Gospels and other sacred texts (including the Book of Job, "one of the most difficult in the Bible"). The Episcopal school was the most illustrious of the 9th century A.D. after the Palatine School. The archbishopric was successively occupied by four scholarly clerics: Leidrade, Agobard, Amolon and Remi. The famous scholar of the school was deacon Florus, known for his various writings. In the 10th century A.D., they also went, from Lyons, to study until Luxeuil as that is even more surprising because the school of Lyons was very famous throughout the 10th century especially for philosophy (where it was studied "seriously"). It was Antoine (then abbot of L'Isle-Barbe, who taught philosophy with reputation during the first years of the 10th century.) St Maïeul, abbot of Cluny, was one of his pupils and he also learned a great deal in morals and doctrine. Already in the precedent centuries, the school of Lyon was termed the "Academy of the country beyond the Sea" (by the Irishmen?, the Anglo-Saxons?) and no one deserved the title of master (elsewhere?) if it had not been carefully instructed there. Still at the beginning of the 11th century A.D., St Odilon named Lyons "mother and nurse of philosophy". Lyon was also famous for the teaching of the liberal arts. In the 10th century, the reputation of the schools of Francia occidentalis -- then the Kingdom of France -- attracted pupils from foreign countries. Englishmen sent their children to Lyons according to a already ancient custom in the 11th century

St Alban of Mainz (Mainz, Germany)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., the school had been created by St Boniface and it was then led by "the learned" Lull. Like some others, it took a new luster again under Raban Maur and it turned hardly less famous than the school of Fulda. The studies were flourishing there. Raban Maur, who had become Archbishop of Mainz, wrote there and the letters were a little bit neglected after his death. That was the school of the monastery of St-Alban, located in the city, which took over the torch and the Diocese of Mainz became perhaps the place where the literature was cultivated with more success and, generally, the monasteries are where, in the bishopric of Mainz, the studies are the most cultivated. In St-Alban were Probus (friend and condisciple of Walafried Strabo, always busy writing or reading Cicero, Virgil and other authors of the "good Antiquity") and Altwin, both monks, the second teacher, as they acquired all kinds of knowledge and wrote. Probus was perhaps a poet and Altwin, who was the master of the school, sometimes used Loup to consult him on the grammatical difficulties. The decline of the scholl took time. Still at the end of the 9th century A.D., the school was under the direction of monk Rupert, scholar in Greek and Latin, skillful in verse and prose and who left works. And even at the beginning of the 10th century, the school was still vigorous under the direction of Adelberon, monk of Hirsauge. However, in general, the reputation of Mainz did not approach, in many ways, that of Fulda

Orléans

it had maybe a episcopal school. In the 8th century A.D., Charlemagne appointed Theodulf Bishop of Orléans by 798 A.D., who in the Regulations for his bishopric, asked the clerics to train themselves to be able to educate the laity. 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. Theodulf established free schools in boroughs and villages (the "small schools"). He also established 4 "more considerable" schools: in Orléans self, he established the cathedral School (Ste-Croix) and one in St-Aignan; a school in St-Lifard de Meung and one in Fleury or St-Benoît-sur-Loire. In the 9th century A.D., the episcopate of Theodulf continued, then the one of Jonas and they made the small schools to continue. Fleury (or St-Benoît-sur-Loire) where the relics of St Benoît were taken off from the Monte Cassino through some trick, and brought in: a school created by Theodulf, continued to honour the letters during the 9th century as they grew the letters with more splendor and success. Fleury kept to be a "famous academy" where came like students foreigners alike Frenchmen to learn all the sciences then in use. Charles the Bald made there a establishment and a liberality for the education of the young people of the nobility, which probably also contributed to support the letters (the fact is mentioned in 878 A.D. in a bull of Pope John VIII which confirmed the properties of the monastery). The school of the nobles was called "Porta" (or "door") because it was at the door of the monastery. The school of the nobles was still confirmed in October 900 A.D. by Charles the Simple. Came out of the school, in the 9th century A.D., several authors of some reputation: Adrevalde, Adalbert, Alderius, Gauzbert (some verses), Rabingue (Notes on St Paul). In the 10th century A.D., Abbo, who had studied in Paris and Reims, returned to teach in Fleury where he had begun his studies. The school was flourishing as soon as by the 9th century A.D. and it became even more illustrious during the 10th. This was probably due to the fact that Odo, Abbot of Cluny, reformed the monastery in 930 (with difficulty but with rapid and happy success) and science went along with piety. Under the abbacy of Odon, there came many foreigners both laymen and canons, and even bishops. He had copied the work of Paterius, the disciple of St Gregory the Great, and Anselle, monk, and devoted one of his writings to him and he was master of the schools. Fleury's library was to be very rich because, according to what is said, each pupil was obliged to place into it 2 copies of some old and modern work. In any case the library contained many good books and allowed to cultivate "various faculties of literature"; one found there works that no longer existed in the 19th century, like the Treaty of the Republic by Cicero. That reputation Fleury acquired under Odo, it kept it under his successors and it became so vivid thereafter that the Englishmen who wanted to learn about the most exact monastic discipline, came to look for it in Fleury (which they considered a "very pure source"): St Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, to practice, like his predecessors the Rule of St Benedict, made monks of Fleury to come in 942 A.D. to instruct him and make him a monk. In 960 A.D., St Oswald (then Bishop of Worchester and then Archbishop of York) and some other prelates animated with the same spirit as St Odon, came in person to Fleury to learn about how the letters were studied. St Oswald was so attached to Fleury's practices that once he became a bishop, he had some monks of the place to England, to spread the enlightenment of science (they granted him Abbo, master of the school and Oswald placed him in Rampsey where Abbo taught during 2 years, thus giving England back a part of what Alcuin, who had been issued from that monastery, had once brought to France). Abbo, once back to Fleury, resumed his studies and soon became abbot (continuing then also those, which gave him even more authority to bring the monks to studies because he considered that the letters were useful to piety. Like the master of the school he taught all the liberal arts but he gave a particular application to the rhetoric , dialectic, astronomy, geometry and "knowledge of times", increasing those "faculties of literature" into a greater light than they were. They also studied ecclesiastical sciences, which was seen at the time of the popular error which heralded the end of Times: Richard, abbot and Abbo fought it and succeeded into demonstrating its falsehood. In Fleury, they also knew the liturgical domains, good theology and and that was seen before the end of the 10th century A.D.: a dispute had erupted about what was the day when Advent was beginning when Christmas was on a Sunday (the canons of Orléans thought it started 4 whole weeks before but the monks of Fleury made it to begin a week later, and their reasons prevailed. That made that that usage settled and still is followed nowadays). So the school was very bright. A surplus of shine was brought by the end of the 10th century A.D. due to Gerbert. The new discoveries made by him were added to those of Abbo or, at least, close links established themselves between Gerbert and Constantine, monk of Fleury (Constantine was the new master of the schools and he had won the friendship and esteem of Gerbert, who praised him; Constantine, moreover, was the one who brought him the most support in his literary works). Constantine, therefore, by the letters sent to him by Gerbert was kept abreast of all the progress of the latter, like constructing spheres, dividing numbers, etc. Constantine, however, did not derive any personal work from it. Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, made also a great case of Constantine. It is almost impossible to make a fair list of all the great men who came out of Fleury in the 10th century (some, perhaps falsely, think that there might be up to 5,000 pupils at the same time in the monastery). First, of those, the 5 abbots who ruled between Odon and Abbo, all of them deserving and at the level of Fleury: Wlfade became bishop of Chartres; Richard was a man of wit and knowledge; Oylbold, the immediate predecessor of Abbo, wrote politely. And among the pupils: St Cadroé (since Abbot of Wassor and then of another monastery), Germain, monk, who became abbot of Ramsey in England, Prince Guerech, son of the Count of Nantes Alain Barbetorte, Bernard, then Abbot of Tulle and then Bishop of Cahors. Also pupils: Gauzlin, illegitimate son of Hugues Capet (Abbot "of the House" then Archbishop of Bourges), Hervé (Treasurer of St-Martin-de-Tours, a man of piety who urged Aimoin to write the life of Abbo, and dedicatee of the work), Bernon (Abbot of Reichenau; some writings especially for the 11th century A.D.; he was at Fleury at the time of the Advent quarrel, thus under Abbo who still was then the master of the schools), Aimoin, Helgald both historians and both students of Abbo, Oswald, monk of Worchester (his works made him one of the illustrious writers of England)

St-Amand (or Elnone; St-Amand-en-Pévèle, then St-Amand-les-Eaux; 20 km South of Tournai)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D. That royal abbey there is considered the center of the 'Franco-Saxon school', in the matter of artistic work in the scriptorium. 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. In the 9th century A.D., Milon, after 850, made in Elnone what Michon was doing in St-Riquier. He had as pupils Pippin and Drogon, the son to Charles the Bald (as they died there in 865 A.D.). Hucbalde succeeded him (he was his nephew by the women) and he taught with even more success. He was the one who, at the end of the 9th century, with Remi of Auxerre, during the profound decline of the letters at the time, contributed to "keep some leftovers" of them, to illuminate the 10th century (he had already had had the same role in the Church of Reims as well as in Paris and even in Nevers). In the 10th century, Hucbald (who lived after 930 A.D.) did not appear at the head of any school as he had done in the 9th century (he may have taught at Nevers but not enough evidence exist). It is more certain that he spent the remainder of his days in St-Amand, dedicated to the writing of his works

St-Denis (Paris)

that 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. Was to be flourishing as soon as by the end of the 8th century A.D. since Pope Hadrian was praising the light that shone there because a bishop gave lessons. At the beginning of the 9th century, Mothaire, a priest (of who Dungal left the epitaph), adorned the abbey by his knowledge. Vandermar was taken from St-Denis to preside over the young clerics of the royal chapel. The school of St-Denis was in a constant relationship with other abbeys in the Carolingian empire as it was granted by royal donations of objects and manuscripts, particularly under Charles the Bald. Afterwards, the discipline fell soon after but good studies maintained themselves: Hincmar (future Archbishop of Reims), for example, was educated there, Hilduin (literary productions) also; also issued from St-Denis were the authors of the collection of Miracles of St Denis, and Hildegaire, Bishop of Meaux (a life of St Faron). In addition, St-Denis worked to the transmission of some of the good books of the Ancients by copying (for example, antiphonal and sacramentary of St Gregory the Great, with additions and remarks). By the 10th century A.D., letters were continuing to be cultivated and, in addition to the small schools, the highest secular and sacred sciences were studied. Hiedemanne, monk, was trained there in both and became Archbishop of Sens (among others, a beautiful treatise on music, one on the compute)

St-Remi of Reims (Reims)

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 literary exercises were restored there in the 8th century A.D. In the 9th, the school was also led by 4 learned archbishops: Wflaire, Ebbo, Hincmar, Foulques. The height of Reims was attained under Abbot Ebbon, who was the foster brother, and the librarian, of 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. Under Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims, it was Placid who was master of the school (he copied a book of Gospels in golden letters). Haldouin, abbot, made in 852 A.D. a epitaph for the Tomb of St Rémi (but Hincmar substituted another one from his hand). Hincmar was formerly 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 and the height of the school of Reims kept under him. Hincmar himself made a great use of his pen and he participated into all the great events of the State and Church. Because of his occupations, he appointed a master for the school, Sigloard, and others whose names are unknown. Were students in Reims Hincmar (Bishop of Laon), Ansegise of Sens, the nephews of Isaac de Langres, Gozelin (Abbot of various monasteries), Bernon (a monk of St-Denis). The school of Reims was double, one for the local canons, one for the clerics of the surrounding countryside. Both schools declined under the bishopric of Foulques, but he was concerned about raising it back, calling two of the most learned scholars of the late 9th century A.D., Remi, monk of St-Germain-d'Auxerre and Hucbalde, of St-Amand. The letters continued there (several manuscripts). The main copyists under Hincmar, Abbot and Archbishop of Reims, were Leutbert and Adalolde (or Adelolde). Gibouin, Count of the Palace, had made himself a monk and he gave some manuscripts to enrich the library. In the 10th century A.D., Remi and Hucblad, having re-established the schools, they supported themselves with some reputation throughout the course of this century despite the frequent disturbances which affected the local Church and, at the end of the 10th century, they even became the most flourishing of France. Remi and Hucbald had as disciples: Seulfe (by his science and his integrity, he succeeded to Archbishop Hervé); Hildebolde (his great knowledge earned him the title of grammarian); Blidulfe (since Archdeacon of the Church of Metz). Frodoard (one of the most famous writers of the century), as far as he is concerned, was the pupil of their successors. The same for Berner, monk of St-Rémi de Reims, contemporary of the previous, who also fought by his erudition and his writings the ignorance of the century. Still shortly after 950 A.D., the school of Reims was still very famous (for example, Abbo de Fleury, already educated, came there to study philosophy, geometry and astronomy). Gerbert also came to Reims after having gone to learn mathematics from a Spanish bishop, and other knowledges in Italy, and from two trips to Rome. He was coming to retire in Reims. He was well received by Archbishop Adalberon, himself a scholar, Chancelor to the Kings of the time, and he made him the master of the cathedral School. Gerbert then taught and studied for himself the letters, mathematics and all other profane and sacred sciences including up to medicine. He composed, first, a rethoric and, for him and his pupils, he amassed books from all sides, making great expenses, with the help of his friends, to buy copies of the best authors or to have them copied (he collected the works of Cicero, Julius Caesar, Eugraphius -- who today is little or not known -- of Pliny, Suetonius, Stace, Demosthenes (the Gallic doctor), of Manilius, of Q. Aurelius, of Victorinus the Rhetorician, of Claudian, the dialectic and astrology of Boetius, as well as the writings of many others both sacred and profane. Gerbert did not neglect the modern either: Joseph (a Spaniard who had written on arithmetic), translation of a astrology treatise by Lupice of Barcelona. The fame of Reims then became general and students was rushing from everywhere: were pupils there Robert, son of Hugues Capet, Leoteric (who was Archbishop of Sens), Lambert and Brunon (both bishops of Langres and scholars), Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres and principal master of the 11th century scholars. Also of note in the bishopric of Reims, Hauvilliers, in the 9th century A.D., where several men of letters were present (which suggests good studies). Almanne, monk, is above all known for his lamentations in verse on the ravages of the Nordmen (other works also)

St-Gall (Switzerland, near the southern shore of the Lake of Constance)

St-Gall 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 and as soon as this period the learning work was cultivated along with the work of copying manuscripts. 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). By the 8th century A.D, St-Gall did not distinguished itself as much as the other schools at the beginning of the Renaissance Carolingian but it soon became a preeminent school. By the 9th century A.D., it was the abbey where, despite the troubles that stirred the Empire, studies perpetuated themselves and kept the best their level. That made that St-Gall had the chance, throughout the 9th century, to be governed by learned abbots. Gozbert, Abbot, worked to enrich the library with many good books --monks were copying the recentest manuscripts-- which Grimalde, his successor, continued to do. The same for Harmote (Dean, coadjutor and eventually abbot) who showed even more zeal for that. Syntramne, monk, seconded him by his talent of copyist (almost all monasteries a little famous of this part of the Empire had manuscripts copied by him; especially a book of the Gospels). He was also talented as a miniaturist. Monks of St-Gall, moreover, joined to letters several other fine arts: Winihard, monk, brother of Abbot Gozbert was a "other Daedalus," a excellent architect, or Isenric was another Bezeleel, as famous for his industry and dexterity. St-Gall had had his plan drawn under Louis the Pious. It counted, under Grimalde, 42 priests, 24 deacons, 15 subdeacons and 20 monks. Marc, a Bishop of Ireland, came to retire in St-Gall (he then left for St-Médard de Soissons) whose presence benefited the studies as well by the books by which he increased the library as by the people of his suite (including one of his nephews-whose barbaric name of Moëgal was changed to Marcel, or Eusebius, a scholar and also a Irishman). Marcel, who mastered the sacred and profane sciences, who excelled in music, became the master of the inner school (that of the monks) where he had illustrious disciples, like Notker the Stutterer. He wrote few. Two other Notkers, Eckhard, or Hartker also studied in St-Gall. From being a disciple, Notker became Marcel's colleague in the school and he taught with reputation. Ison, previously, had been the master of both the school of monks and of the laity. He was one of the most literate monks of the century and his fame made that Rudolf, Duke of Burgundy, asked him to go and instruct the monks of Grandsel. Ison spent the rest of his life there, carrying out what he had done in St-Gall. He was said to have the talent to make the studies understood to the most narrow-minded minds, and all those who wanted to learn came to Grandsel from all the places of France and Burgundy. He died in 871 A.D. At his pulpit of St-Gall, he was succeeded by three of his pupils: Tutilon, Notker and Ratpert, all famous by their knowledge and other qualities; they had learned the seven liberal arts and especially the music under Ison and Marcel and they taught them (for some of them even in the early years of the 10th century A.D.). In addition to letters Tutilon excelled in engraving, painting and the art of playing all kinds of instruments. Was also a great professor of St-Gall learned Werembert. He had studied at Fulda under Raban Maur and he made himself a monk in St-Gall as he taught under Abbots Grimalde and Harmote; he knew Greek, possessed perfectly the music, sculpture and he also became a skillful theologian, great historiographer and a good poet of the 9th century A.D. It was under him that the anonymous historian of St-Gall, who, around 883, composed on the order of Charles the Gros, the history of Charlemagne, was trained in letters. Were also pupils of St-Gall: Solomon, abbot of various monasteries and Bishop of Constance (we owe him glosses on Prudence), Helpidanne and Hermanne (writings), Wolon, son of a count of Kiburg (a monk changeable and unruly but who knew the literature well), Bernahard, Abbot after Harmote, who still remained a scholar. Thus, even at the end of the 9th century A.D., there were few places where letters remained as well studied as in St-Gall. St-Gall, at last, distinguished itself as much by its science than by its discipline. The studies did not seem to have decayed in the 10th century A.D. and the school gave Notger, Bishop of Liège. Some scholars who were officially born in Francia occidentalis still existed there at the beginning of the 10th century A.D. The abbey continued to provide scholars to some of the schools in Francia occidentalis, like Notger (Archbishop of Liège), Thierry or Diederic, Bishop of Metz (he had studied in St-Gall under Kerold, master of the schools), Victor (issued from a illustrious family, monk, had been trained in the letters under Notker and Gerald. He was called by Bishop Erkenbald, his parent, in Strasburg where he taught and made of the schools there flourishing schools. St-Gall was too an important step in the development of the plain-chant

St-Germain-d'Auxerre (France, northwestern Burgundy)

a strong relationship, dating back to Charles Martel, existed between St Germain d'Auxerre and Bavaria. The abbey originated from the small oratory built by St Germain, Bishop of Auxerre on Mount Brenn on the Yonne river's bank, where he placed the relics of St-Maurice d'Agaune. The site became a place also dedicated to St Germain after the latter's death and Queen Clotilde raised a basilica there at the beginning of the 6th century A.D., served by clerics from the cathedral's chapter. In the 8th century A.D., a Benedictine community settled there and freed itself from the authority of the bishop, aided by Pippin the Short who worried about the bishopric's temporal power. He formalized the withdrawal of the abbey from the authority of the latter and endowed it with land, making the abbey the concurrent of the bishop. Charlemagne restored the bishopric's property but he retained the abbey under his direct authority. In 840 A.D., Conrad, Count of Auxerre, nephew of Charles the Bald, was named lay abbot, and he recovered his sight after a night at the tomb of the saint. He financed the reconstruction of the basilica. Until about 900 A.D., the abbey became a intellectual home whose fame extended to the whole of Europe, attracting the Empire's young generation of the aristocracy. Little mentioned for the 8th (albeit being the other place, with Reichenau and Hirsanges, where sciences passed after Fulda; it contained the relics of the saint and it was highly famed over the Frankish empire) and 9th centuries A.D. (it was favoured by the emperor Charles the Bald (843-877)). St-Germain of Auxerre is the school that served the most to pass "some vestiges of literature" from the 9th in the 10 th century and to continue the chain of scholars (between 840 and 890 A.D., Auxerre turned one of the both or three main cultural centers of the Empire). Since long it was able to provide for the bishops of the city. St-Germain d'Auxerre indeed was the other pole of the Empire and several books written by masters of the school were widely spreaded in the main Carolingian large intellectual centers especially under Lupus Servatus, abbott of Ferrières-en-Gâtinais (840-862), known for its works like a philologist and that he collected numerous manuscripts which he had copied in the local scriptorium. 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. 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 who maybe came to the abbey due to the legend of St Germain like the master of St Patrick in England; 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 (after the first years of the reign of Charles the Bald, Auxerre's reputation was renewed under the direction of monk Heric; he had studied under two of the most skillful professors of then, Haimon (who became Bishop of Halberstat) and Loup, Abbot of Ferrières. Heric had as a pupil the old prince Lothar (who died prematurely when he had already made great progress "in the highest sciences"). Remi, one of his students, succeeded him as master of the school. It was Remi who spread "the doctrine" of the school into so much parts of France, which prevented barbarism of the 10th century from winning everywhere. Remi himself passed in Reims where he renewed the studies with Hucbalde; he also did the same in Paris where he founded the germ from which the famous school of the city was to be hatched). Grammarian Heribalde, on the other hand, went to bring the same doctrine in St-Michel (or St-Mihiel) in Lorraine, a doctrine which was carried by John (since Abbot of Gorze) who made it pass into this monastery. Still by the end of the 9th century A.D., St-Germain gave two saint and scholars bishops: Heribalde and Abbo; Christian would also be part of that, but we do not know the seat where he was a bishop. That time was that of such a great work in the letters that manuscripts from the 9th to the 16th century were still to be found. There, one found: Claude de Turin's comments on Paul's Epistles; Kings' capitularies; Canons of Isaac Bishop of Langres; the collection of homilies drawn up by order of Charlemagne. Was also undoubtedly formed at the school of Heric, Ebrard, a young monk (circa 865 A.D.), parent of Loup of Ferrières (the latter wrote to him not to separate the culture of the sciences from the love of the True Wisdom). Both the cathedral school and the monastic school were not interrupted during the entire 10th century A.D. Pupils of Remi and of blessed Heiric perpetuated their exercises and supported, at least in part, the reputation that the abbey had acquired. Gerland, Archbishop of Sens, had been trained there. Gui or Wido, scholar and Bishop of Auxerre, was himself the master of the school and, at about 925, it was to him that Herbert of Vermandois entrusted the instruction of his son Hugues (to whom he had obtained, albeit he was only 5 years old, the Archdiocese of Reims). Gui taught him for 15 years. In a obituary, one has the dates of the death of several famous masters of the cathedral school St-Stephen and the monastic school, showing the continuity, between the 9th and 11th century, of studies in both schools. Itier (monk and Doctor incomparable), Odo (he taught at the cathedral), Lambert (Deacon, excellent Doctor), Clement (who shone by all kinds of knowledge), Stephen (provost of the cathedral, priest, a extraordinary merit, excellent teacher of the Holy Scripture). By the end of the 10th century, one still saw John teaching (eloquent in the defense of Arnulf, Archbishop of Reims; his merit led him archdeacon and then Bishop of Auxerre). The St-Germain-d'Auxerre's library inspired Abott Mayeul de Cluny, who had came to reform the abbey and it was to lead to the Clunisian vision of the year Thousand, based upon the Fathers, of a law governing the organization of the Cosmos and upon which the society of men is adjusted. A Carolingian crypt remains in St-Germain of Auxerre

St-Germain-in-the-Fields (Paris)

little mentioned in the 8th century A.D., St-Germain-in-the-fields, in 838, had more than 120 monks. The secular and sacred sciences were also cultivated with some success: anonymous author of the relationship of the Miracles of St-Germain, Usuard (martyrolog), Aimoin, Abbo (a poet, disciple of the previous), Gilemar (Life of St Droctovée). In the 10th century A.D., studies supported themselves probably where they existed in the 9th century. Abbo, monk, as he had been educated by Aimoin, lived beyond 920 A.D. and he had the reputation of knowing a lot but had not a good talent to write. Bishops appealed to him to obtain instructions for the clergy of bishoprics. Letters, then, fell before the end of the 10th century. Guillaume of Volpiano, Abbot of St-Benign of Dijon, raised them back as he was doing elsewhere (he established there the "Institut de Cluny")

Abbey school of St-Martin-of-Tours

in the 8th century A.D., that school was going to serve like a "mother" to all the other schools because the pupils who came there, swarmed. The abbey of St-Martin of Tours had been under the Benedictine rule since the 7th century A.D., 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. The master of the school was Alcuin as he developed the scriptorium, the height of which was to be reached under Abbot Vivien. The fame of it was such at that time that it was entrusted imperial orders. From 796 A.D. onwards, Alcuin intended to make it a school as flourishing as that of York, from which he had been issued. He assembled disciples and teached grammar, fine letters, astronomy and "other parts of mathematics," the Holy Scripture. As a result of the abundance of students, he took Sigulfe with him, a pupil of York, to assist him in the direction of the school (Sigulfe allowed students to read Virgil, which Alcuin did not allow). The list is long of the illustrious pupils of Alcuin in Tours, which all distinguished in the letters or ecclesiastical dignities. They were to spread sciences elsewhere in the Frankish Empire by creating or developing, among others, other schools. Fridugise, Abbot of St-Martin, Joseph, Raganard, Waldramne, Adalbert, Aldric, Amalaire, priest of the Church of Metz, Raban, Abbot of Fulda, one of the most learned prelates of the 9th century, Hatto successor of Raban as Abbot of Fulda, Haimon, Bishop of Halberstad, Samuel, Bishop of Worms. There are also small schools after 850 A.D. and Archbishop Herard likely was also promoting the cathedral school. In the 9th century A.D., Fridugise succeeded Alcuin few years after the death of Charlemagne in 814 and the abbey declined. The abbey passed from 300 to 200 monks, which neglected both perpetual psalmody and the letters. Discipline relaxed, which brought the decadence of studies (the monks still able to teach made student paid for their lessons). The decline lasted until the zeal and generosity of Abbot Adalard, who succeeded Fridugise in 834 A.D. To restore order, he assigned income to canons Amalric -- then bishop for the service of the monastery and not for a bishopric -- Milon and Guichard on condition that they would be teachers for free -- except gifts -- in the school (that foundation was confirmed in 844 A.D. by Charles the Bald). St Odo had studied grammar there before the end of the 8th century A.D. and one can assume that the school still remained at the 10th century. The activity of Tours however had decayed once the monastery was plundered by the Vikings in 853

Stavelot (with Malmédy) (Belgian Ardennes)

Stavelot is little known in the 8th century A.D. By the 9th, in Stavelot and Malmédy, Christian Druthmar, the famous monk of Corbie, taught sacred letters in both monasteries, under Abbot Hauton (and he dedicated to the monks of the two monasteries his commentary on St Matthew, which he wrote in favor of his disciples and that he constituted explanations which he had given them viva voce). In the 10th century, Odilo came out of Gorze to be abbot of the abbey and he took a special care of the school. He summoned Notger to come from St. Gall (he became since Bishop of Liege) like the master of the school. Under Notger, studied Adelmann who made the ornament of the place by his knowledge and virtue. Eggihard, in the obituary, is termed priest and philosopher. Wolbodon, Bishop of Liège after Notger, might also have been a pupil of the school

St-Maximin-of Trier (Trier, Germany)

few known in the 8th century A.D., Archbishop Richbode, in the 9th, friend and condisciple of Alcuin, passionate about fine letters (he often gave too much time to the reading of Virgil) probably worried to maintain studies for the clergy. His successors, Amalaire and Hetti, scholars, likely did the same. In any case, at the end of the 9th century A.D., sciences were still in honor in several monasteries of the diocese

Schools Which Existed Only in The 9th Century A.D.

Amiens

bishop Jesse, in Amiens, created a episcopal school

Beauvais

bishop Odon, in Beauvais created a episcopal school

Condat (or St-Claude) (Jura, France)

Mannon, a illustrious philosopher, having left the Palace School -where he had taught- by the death of Louis the Stutterer, withdrew to this monastery where he became the provost (name that began to be given to who was at the head of a monastery without being the regular abbot). There he brought several rare manuscripts that enriched the library and he continued to cultivate the letters without, however, teaching them. He composed works (commentaries on Plato's Treaties of the Laws and the Republic; On Aristotle's Books of the Sky and the World and the Universal Morality)

Evreux

one thinks, that at least in the 9th century there was a episcopal school, perhaps the origin of copyists there

Figeac

Adalard, abbot, was copying books of the good Antiquity

Landevenec (in Armoric)

'almost at one of the extremities of the world;' they also were working to support shaky studies, but these efforts were not a great help. There appeared three writers both in verse and prose: Gurdistin (abbot in the middle of the 9th century; a new Life of St Guingalois), Clement, a monk (3 hymns to the same saint, but without beauty), Wrmonoc, priest, monk under Gurdistin (he wrote in 884 the life of St Paul, Bishop of Leon)

Le Mans

as St Aldric had become the bishop there for 24 years, it is assumed that he revived the taste for the study id the latter had fallen before. Under his bishopric, various clerics wrote the deeds of his predecessors

Metloc (bishopric of Trier)

since the end of the 8th century A.D., existed the seminary from which this great diocese usually drew its archbishops. He remained such in the 9th century and he maintained good studies

Paderborn (Bavaria)

still at the time under the authority of the 'French princes.' A episcopal school is created under the episcopate of Badurade (815-863) as 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. Badurade instructed the nobility and other states. Students there were the author of the translation in Paderborn of the Relics of St Liboire, Bishop of Le Mans

church of Poutières (bishopric of Langres)

The epitaph of Thierry, son of Gérard, Count of Roussillon, died at the age of 1, in the best verses of the century, shows that the beautiful letters were successfully cultivated here

Redon (Diocese of Vannes)

by the middle of the 9th century A.D., St Convoïon is abbot, and there is a school where 'a few men of letters' were trained

Réomé (or Montier-St-Jean, or Moûtiers-St-Jean)

(bishopric of Langres)

often considered to be the oldest monastery in Burgundy, it was named after a neighbouring stream and founded in the 5th century A.D. by Jean, the son of a 'Senator' in Dijon. The latter, reputed through his powers against the spirit of Evil, was considered holy before his death and he lived 120 years. He is held to have been one of King Clovis's godfathers. Letters were still being studied around 850 A.D. there and music was even more carefully cultivated than in many other places. The son of Charles the Bald received his first education at Réomé

St-Josse-sur-Mer

was dependent of Ferrières, and Loup had scribes whose chief was Lantramne, a skillful master. He ran the local school and had many disciples. Remi, a relative of him (not Remi of Auxerre), Héric, monk of St-Germain-d'Auxerre, Fridilon (of which Loup spoke in his writings). Adon, then Archbishop of Vienna was also a pupil there for some time

St-Matthias (formerly St-Euchaire) (bishopric of Trier)

also did a great deal of honor to literature. Monk Florbert, one of the most learned characters of his century (several writings), was the master of the school. He had a large number of disciples, all of them famous for their knowledge. Eberhard (as Florbert died in 885), priest and monk (some works) became master of the school for 24 years

St-Médard de Soissons

came from St-Gall Marc, the Irish bishop, and he inspired the love of study

St-Vaast of Arras

Radulfe, another famous 9th-century copyist, was enriching the library of St-Vaast. Alcuin, at the beginning of the Carolingian Renaissance, had urged the monks of St-Vaast to join science to piety, which they did. After some time there was a school whose master was Haimin, the guardian of the church and who was supposed to have been the pupil of Alcuin. He trained Milon of Elnone, Hubert, priest, and Wlfaïus (some books). After 850 A.D., Ulmar, trained in that school, wrote a relationship of the Miracles of St-Vaast and the invention of his body

Vienna

bishop Adon, in Vienna created a episcopal school

Schools Which Existed in 9th and 10th Centuries A.D.

Cambrai

by the 9th century A.D., Bishop Halidgaire created a episcopal school. In the 10th century, churches of Arras and Cambrai were reunited before their separation at the end of the 11th century. There were, at the end of the 10th century or at the beginning of the 11th, schools of grammar and chant where expressly clerics (for the ministry) and laity (for the government of the people) were educated. They had to be trained in the liberal arts, the science of religion and morality. About 960, under abbot Fulbert, these schools existed mainly in Arras and were even flourishing at the end of the life of St Vindicien. At Cambrai, 40 years before, Peter, Archdeacon, was a scholar and a man of good taste as Hucbald, from St-Amand, sometimes took him for censor of his works

Paris

as far as abbeys are concerned: Argenteuil (in the 9th century A.D., it is known by a epitaph that there was a Addalalde, Deacon and Master of music under Charlemagne or Louis the Pious (there was a school where singing was taught, probably the Gregorian brought from Rome in the 8th century). Argentueil, originally a abbey of women, was a double monastery. In addition to singing, the other sciences 'suitable for monks' were taught; St-Peter (now St-Maur-des-Fossés, and since a collegiate church of canons; in the 9th century several scholars trained too there under two learned abbots, Benoît (he had taught the "highest sciences" in Fontenelle) and then Eudes or Odon (some writings); Ste-Geneviève of Paris (the studies were renewed there in the 10th century). In the 9th century A.D., Bishop Aeneas created a episcopal school, that had begun with Remi of Auxerre at the end of the century. In the 10th century, as the kings of Francia occidentalis had made the city the one where they staid, that helped a lot to attract good masters in and, in any case, teaching did not stop there since that time. Shortly after 850 A.D., Abbo, who had begun his studies in his monastery of Fleury, came here to study dialectics, astronomy, geometry and rhetoric likely under the pupils of Remi's disciples. Before the end of the 10th century, Hubald or Hubold, a young canon of Liege, taught with great reputation. He made many friends, attached himself to the canons of Ste-Geneviève, and in a short time he formed there a large number of pupils ('disciples). However, as he had left Liege without the knowledge of Bishop Notger, the latter first recalled him, and then allowed him to return to Paris where he still taught for some time. One could still count as a teacher of the schools of Paris Brunon (since Archbishop of Cologne). As far as the University of Paris is concerned, it can be said that it does not go back to Charlemagne and Alcuin, but it began well before the end of the 9th century. Paris, since under roman Emperor Julian who had established his residence there circa 350 A.D., had become a theatre of scholars. Already since before, the cathedral already had its school and then the monasteries that appeared also had their own (but they were not yet Carolingian-type schools but a a 'public school' only for the instruction of the youth of the city and for foreigners who came to learn letters). The first school of type Carolingian is mentioned when St Odon, abbot of Cluny, before the age of 30, went to study at the school of Paris under Remi, monk of St-Germain-d'Auxerre, who taught dialectic and music (either before the end of the 9th century or at the latest, in the first years of the following century). At the same time and perhaps even before, Hucbalde, monk of Elnone, known as soon as by the time of Charles the Bald, restorer of the schools of Reims (like Remi had been), had come to Paris and had attached himself to the canons of Ste-Geneviève and, in a short time, he established several schools there (some place this fact instead about 922 A.D., under Capetian King Robert). The university, of the medieval type, as far as it was concerned, only was to appear by the 12th century)

Laon

by the 9th century A.D., Bishop Hincmar created a episcopal school (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 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) was 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. In the 10th century, the school of the abbey of St-Vincent (bishopric of Laon) appeared. Roricon, Bishop (949-976) was one of the most learned men of his time. Such a scholar undoubtedly favored the studies (and Laon was part of the metropolis of Reims where the studies were 'so well supported' throughout the 10th century). Roricon had the main part in setting up a school at the abbey of the city of Laon. He had passed there the Institute de Cluny via 12 monks issued from Fleury and the abbot was blessed Melchalan or Malcalene, and the new institution took care to link studies and worship according to houses reformed by Cluny. The Irish influence had took back in the middle of the 10th century, with an Irish monk, Mac-Allan, who became by 961 A.D. 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

Metz

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. By the 9th century A.D., the school was famous for the Gregorian chant. The school has the advantage of being led for a few years, under Louis the Pious, by Aldric, since Bishop of Le Mans, who had been a pupil at the Palatine School. They wrote there the Bible offered to Charles the Bald with three hundred elegiac verses, a evidence that at the end of the 9th century, good books were still being copied and fine letters were cultivated 'as much as the genius of that time allowed.' 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. Metz, by the mid-9th century A.D., was artistically vibrant into manuscript painting and ivory sculpting. In the 10th century, the school of the Cathedral of Metz appeared. Blidulfe had undoubtedly been of some help to, and Jean de Vendière studied there for some time. Mainly the science of chant, a area in which the abbey was distinguished from the reign of Charlemagne, was taught. At the beginning of the 10th century, it was Deacon Rotland, a man of piety, who presided over the exercises of singing. As the Church of Metz was later ruled by scholarly prelates, they had to maintain the good studies there. Are known like scholars, among others: Vigeric (for his science in general), Thierry (or Diederic; a great knowledge of ecclesiastical discipline). In the 10th century, are seen too other schools in Metz (both in churches or monasteries): St-Vincent (the master of the school was Adelbert, a scholar (a chronicle addressed to Bishop Adalberon with a list of all his predecessors); church of St-Sauveur (Deacon Bernacer was skillful in the science of chant and the art of copying; he had done a particular study of what was then called arithmetic); monastery St-Arnulf (Anstée, who became abbot in 945, passed into all the exercises of Gorze (which he had himself followed); he then had for pupil John (who succeeded him as abbot), author of a Life of Jean de Vendière (one of the best works of literature of the 10th century). The relief given to the school by John attracted the best of the city of Metz, but also made that students came from Saxony and Bavaria. The school then became a seminary of bishops and abbots

Micy (or St-Mesmin;) near Orléans) (bishopric of Orléans)

trained there in the 9th century A.D., two writers of merit, each of whom gave a life of St Maximim and some other productions, a proof that the letters were still cultivated with care. They did not neglect the good studies in the 10th century neither. Letald, a monk, is one of the most judicious writers of the century and he was educated there since he was a child, and, given his progress, the school had to be ruled by skilful masters. Letald was known towards the end of the 10th century and one of its confrères, monk, Peter, who also shone by his knowledge (he wrote collections of various histories he had reviewed and corrected, proving that to his erudition he joined in a critical sense). Gerbert, there too, was in a epistolary relation with some monks of the place and studies could improve somewhat from the discoveries of the master (among other things, Constantine, a scholar, who was dean and then abbot, and Albert, who was abbot in the 11th century, was then a pupil there (a letter to Pope John XVIII, one to John XIX)

Sens

by the 9th century A.D., Bishop Magnus created a episcopal school. In the 10th century, before Hiedemanne, Gerland had been Archbishop of Sens, also versed in all kinds of sciences. Gerland had been first a monk of St-Germain of Auxerre, and trained there by the disciples of Remi or Heiric. Candacher, a canon, about 850, passed for a great philosopher

Verdun

after 850 A.D, Berard, Bishop of Verdun in 879, took care of the school of St-Vanne. His main disciples were Dadon (his nephew and successor, who wrote a few pieces in verse and prose) and Berthaire (or Berchaire), priest (who wrote a abridged history of the bishops of Verdun). Under Dadon, in the 10th century, at the abbey of St-Vanne, there was a recluse, Humbert, who had the reputation of being poured into the sacred letters. In the 10th century, in St-Germain-de-Montfaucon (Verdun; formerly diocese of Reims, later turned collegiate of secular canons), Humbert, from St-Vanne, took a interest into the monastery and helped to revive the studies. Bishop Dadon granted asylum to André, a great scholar and several other English scholars who fled from the Normans, and they continued their work there. At the end of the 10th century A.D., studies were still 'in some vigour' (a abbot, anonymous, gave 2 letters of erudition). By the 10th century, the cathedral school of Verdun was less crowded than the schools of St-Arnulf. According to the abbreviated history of the Church of Verdun by Berthaire, priest, at the beginning of the 10th century, it is seen that there were people who were studying solidly at the cathedral school. Dadon, at that time, was one of the learned bishops of the time and sometimes a poet. After 850, he had like his successor, Vicfride, another bishop of knowledge and piety (of a illustrious birth, he had the deeds of his predecessors written so he could take model of them, as that book also might have served a model for the one about the bishops of of Toul)

Schools Born in The 10th Century A.D.

Aurillac

located in French Auvergne, it was founded towards the end of the previous century by St Gérauld. The abbey received the doctrine of Cluny and became the cradle of the main renewal of the letters in the 10th century AD. Gerbert, the author of this revival, made there his first studies as Raymond, master of the school and then abbot, taught him grammar. Despite his ascent, Gerbert always maintained his connections with Aurillac, which contributed even more to the study of both profane and sacred sciences. He communicated to his first master the new discoveries he made in the mathematical sciences. Aurillac was also known for his art of copying. Calston, abbot of Figeac in Quiercy, had a book written of chant following the Roman rite, as that could be a treaty by Raymond)

Baume

Odon, the future abbot of Cluny, coming from the School of Paris (under Rémi), carried there the doctrine of Paris and became the master of the school

Abbey of Blandinbergue (or St-Pierre of Ghent)

in Belgium. Great reputation for science and discipline. Thus, St Dunstan, forced to leave England, his homeland, chose the abbey for exile and his two-year stay was useful to the letters. Womar or Wlmar was abbot after 950 and he worked successfully to develop the studies. There was no neglect of poetry then, neither under his two successors. Adalard, monk, had been trained in letters in the abbey and, in 1006, he wrote a life of St Dunstan

Abbey of Brogne (Diocese of Namur)

Heribert, before becoming abbot of the place in 992 A.D., had been tutor and chaplain of Emperor Otto II, which suggests his knowledge was large and that he likely inspired to his monks the love of the letters and there too, the reformation by Cluny brought discipline, thus good studies

Abbey of Castres (Rouergue)

with Durand, abbot around 950 A.D., at least theology was studied. But other studies were being studied too: Aige, one of Durand's predecessors, wrote the history of the monastery

St-Pierre or St-Père of Chartres

at the end of the 10th century A.D., the studies were even more solid there than in Lyon. Fulbert, a scholar, was the master of the school; after having long teached in there, he became bishop of the city in 1007. He had studied there under Gerbert and learned science and fine arts. He knew medicine, as he even gave medication but he stopped when he became a bishop. He taught grammar, music, dialectics and especially theology. In addition to the lessons given at the school, he spoke in particular at night with his pupils in a small garden of the chapel, speaking "with so much tenderness, that often tears cut off his word." He exhorted his students to "follow the great path" and walk without a gap in the footsteps of the Fathers. From the school of Chartres emerged many scholars who made the glory of the 11th century and who spreaded the doctrine of Fulbert in various provinces of the Kingdom of France. As soon as under Fulbert, Herbert was shining. He was issued from Jewish parents but he himself had been Christian from his childhood, a codisciple of Prince Robert, who since became King of France and even Fulbert at the school of Gerbert. He was versed in all kinds of literature and excelled especially in the ecclesiastical chant (the harmony of his voice gave it a new relief). Before Fulbert was able to teach, there was a renewal of studies in the school through a colony of monks who were sent from Fleury by abbot Wlfalde (who became bishop of Chartres in 962 A.D.). It was from the work of these monks that "came several manuscripts of the 10th century, which are found between those of the same abbey"

Cluny

founded by 910 A.D. by Duke William the Pious of Aquitaine, descendant of St Guilhem, a Frankish nobleman who had chosen to finish his life as a monk in his founding of St-Guilhem-le-Desert. Bernon was the first abbot and established the discipline with monks taken from St-Martin of Autun that those of St-Savin in Poitou had reformed. The monastery, moreover, was immediate to the Pope. The radiance of Cluny was largely due to the calibre of the abbots who ruled there for 2 centuries. Under Odon, great-grandson of Louis the Pious, abbot in 927, Cluny, in a few years, became one of the most famous schools of all France and a nursery of saints. Odon composed a large number of works and showed the support that study brings to piety as that model was taken over by his successors down to St Peter Maurice. A large number of scholars and great prelates came out of Cluny and, throughout the 10th century, a large number of monks dispelled brilliantly the darknessess of time. Cluny's reputation also attracted bishops: Archbishop Gerald came to end his life in piety as others, like Turpion, Bishop of Limoges, already known for his piety and knowledge, came to perfect their knowledge. St Mayol and St Odilon at last, the successors to St Odon continued to be remarkable and popes, emperors and kings used their councils. The ways of doing swarmed from Cluny, including in the doctrine of the letters. St Odilon, abbot in 994 A.D., restored Santiago of Compostela, which had been destroyed in 997 by the Emir of Cordoba. He would introduce the Truce of God or the Feast of the Dead on the day after All Saints. Builders of Cluny were inspired by the architecture of St-Germain of Auxerre

Cormery (Bishopric of Tours)

a school where Guy, son of Count of Anjou Foulques and then bishop of the Puy, was educated in letters

Epternach (Luxemburg)

there was not a more continuous or flourishing school in the 10h century A.D. It was successively led by 3 masters which were scholars, Heribert, Rudiger, and Adelhaire. They trained a large number of disciples and left several books each. Marcquard, another scholar (various writings) was trained there since the beginning of the 10th century

Abbey of Gembloux (Belgium, Bishopric of Liege)

was in close union with Laubes and thus the uses of the latter passed there

Jumieges

under abbot Annon, since the end of the 8th century A.D., one was engaged in the study and copying

Abbey of La Réole

Gombald, Bishop of Biscay and the Duke William-Sancho, his brother, imitated Englishmen in their relationship to Fleury and submitted their abbey to the latter because of his reputation in terms of studies and of discipline alike

Langres

from there they to study in Luxueil but Langres had his own schools. A anonymous author, in a letter, urges the schoolmasters not to neglect also piety and pupils to progress every day. Brunon, Bishop of Langres (980-1015), who had studied in Reims and then acquired a great fund of knowledge, made himself a "capital" duty to re-establish the schools of his diocese. He took care of teaching himself his clerics in the sacred and profane sciences despite of his other tasks

Laubes or Lobbes (Liege)

long governed by the bishops of Liege. Bishop Etienne, Abbot of Laubes, developed the studies there as much as in his cathedral, and studies maintained themselves until the 11th century A.D. with a suite of scholarly men. Rathier, Bishop of Verona (where he worked to dispel thick darknessess of Italy) was trained there in 953. He became Bishop of Liege until 956, contributing to the schools. The most illustrious pupils, at the beginning of the 10th century, under Etienne, were: Rathier (one of the most learned men of his century but restless and turbulent; his reputation brought him to the court of Otto I where he shone among the other scholars; more than any other, he contributed to form Brunon, brother of the Emperor, Archbishop of Cologne, one of the most erudite prelates of his time and the most zealous to extend studies). Scamin, or Theoduin were also pupils at Laubes. When it was finally decided to give Laubes regular abbots, three distinguished themselves as soon as the 10th century: Aletran (eloquence, great sacred and profane erudition), Folcuin, Heriger (both known by their writings). Adelbolde, who became chancellor of Emperor Henry, Bishop of Utrecht, who had begun his studies at the school of Liege, continued to be trained in Laubes. St Burchard, Bishop of Worms (a collection of cannons) was also a pupil at Laubes. Olbert or Adelbert (especially known in the 11th century) was then directing the schools

Liege

in Belgium: Liege 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 Liege 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. Liege, 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 Liege, of them the cathedral school of St. Lambert. Those schools had been born of the scholarly relations established between the cathedral church of Liege 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 Liege, 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 Liege 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 Liege, 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, Liege remained a famed center of litterature and art. Studies flourished in Liege at the end of the 9th century A.D. Francon, bishop, of great birth (since 903) brought the studies which existed in the palace of Charles the Bald, there where he had been trained. He became a philosopher, rethor, a poet and skillful in music, adding a lively genius, a singular gift to speak and a lot of virtue. He himself ran his schools for a long time. He was succeeded by Etienne, another scholar prelate (music, chant, liturgy, fine letters, but he wrote poorly). As he was also abbot of Laubes he supported the cathedral school as well as the monastic school and studies maintained themselves until the 11th century A.D., with a suite of scholarly men (Hilduin, or Tasso, Bishop of Liège and then of Verona and Archbishop of Milan). Rathier, pupil of Etienne at Laubes, was useful to the schools of Liege when he became bishop there in 953-956. Studies however had suffered during the troubles that had stirred the Church of Liege and he could not repair the damage in such a short time. His most learned pupil Everacle him succeeded him after Baldric and he succeeded in this rehabilitation of the schools. He also sometimes taught himself in the schools. As he was often called to go near Emperor Otto II or Brunon, Archbishop of Cologne, he sent small pieces in verse to pique emulation. The school still acquired a new lustre under Notger, successor of Everacle. Everacle was one of the most studious prelates of the end of the 10th century, zealous for the instruction of his pupils and he had himself accompanied by some of them during his travels to train them himself. He was careful to give them good masters and to provide them with all the necessary things for study, including books (he had been a pupil in St Gall). Several great men then emerged from the schools of Liege, which spreaded their methods in France, Germany and other countries even farther afield still: St Maurille, Archbishop of Rouen, Gonter or Gontier, Archbishop of Salzburg, Rothard and Herluin, Archbishops of Cambrai, Heimon Archbishop of Verdun, Hezelon Archbishop of Toul, Adelbalde (of Utrecht), Durand (who then passed to the Church of Bamberg where he had the liberal arts taught), Vazon (of Liege), Otbert, reformer of the canons of Aachen, Hubald or Hubold (who taught in Paris and then brought studies in Bohemia)

St-Martial de Limoges

that abbey joined with the abbey of Fleury around 942 A.D. and as Fleury flourished in the letters then, one might think that that association occasioned a renewal of the studies. There were still many old manuscripts from that abbey in Modern Times

Montier-en-Der

Adson, master of the School of St-Evre, became abbot of Montier-en-Der and revived science and the monastic discipline

Abbey of Moyen-Moûtiers

likely a good school because there are still several ancient manuscripts from there, some of which contain various secular works

Narbonne (cathedral school)

Bernard, the nephew of archbishop Aymeric of Narbonne, was a grammarian and "philogramme" ("a man who loves and cultivates letters") towards 977 A.D.

St-Evre (abbey, Toul)

Adson, a monk of Luxeuil, renamed for his science and piety, although young, his reputation having arrived to Gauzlin, bishop of Toul, he brought him to come to the diocese in St-Evre and appointed him master of the schools. Those then became so famous that secular clerics came to study with the monks

St-Florent de Saumur

Absalon, a monk, a highly literate one, thus studies were not neglected

St-Pierre-le-Vif (bishopric of Sens)

flourishing studies there. It was one of the first abbeys where the reformation of Cluny was adopted

St-Savin (Poitou)

as the discipline there was good, one can assume that the studies were also. Children were raised in the letters alike in piety, like was St Hugues, of a very distinguished family of the country and then reformer of the Abbey of St-Martin of Autun

Strasbourg

cathedral schools were illustrated by Victor, monk of St Gall, parent of Bishop Erkenbald. Throughout the 10th century A.D., generally, the Church there had highly educated bishops, many of which enriched the library of the cathedral and wrote productions of their knowledge, lke Richwin (divine letters, virtues), Rothard or Rudhard (most skillful prelate of the time in sacred erudition)

Toul

albeit less busy than those of St-Arnulf, schools were even better supported than in Verdun. Einolde, before retiring to Gorze, shone there by a erudition both sacred and profane as Deacon Berner (who had a singular talent to speak well and the gift of persuasion) was the master of the schools. Jean de Vandière was his pupil for the grammar, the first parts of Donat and compute. St Gauzlin and St Gérard successively Bishops of Toul for more than 60 years (922-994), strong scholars as much as the century allowed, took care to make studies flourish. Gérard, while teaching his people, took care of himself teaching his clerics especially at the ministry of the Word. He succeeded so well that there was no Church in "Belgium" with more lights both among clerics and laity. Gérard was also instructing himself as, after his daily labor, people were preposed to read while he was in bed. There were Greek communities in his bishopric

Abbey of Tournus

first dedicated to St Valérien and then jointly harboring the remains of St Philibert and donated to his monks by Charles the Bald by 875 A.D. There was a school of which Absalon, monk of St-Florent of Saumur, was appointed the master of school when he retired to the abbey

St-Julien de Tours

a other monastery in a epistolary relation with Gerbert, which supported the studies there, as they had been revived by St Odon (of Cluny) who, in 937 A.D., had installed there his "Institute." Still at the end of the 11th century, Ecbert or Euvrard, abbot, had enriched the Gerbert's library

St-Mathias of Trier (Trier)

in the 10th century, Marcquard, of Epternach, was drawn from the latter place, to become the master of the school