A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

CHAP. XVII. (Book 17)

Containing the Ecclesiastical History of the Lives and Martyro∣logies of the Saints.

THis Age had but few Writers, who attempted to give an account of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of it in General, but had an abundance of Authors, who compos'd the single Lives of several Saints.

Among the Ecclesiastical and Profane Historians of the first sort, which flourish'd in this Age, * 1.1 we may reckon Sergius, of whom Photius [Cod. 67] speaks; and assures us, That this Author wrote an History of all things memorable, both in Church and State, from the Time of Copronymus to the 8th Year of Michael Balbus, which was the 828th Year of Jesus Christ. It is evident that he was a Layman and a military Officer. Since he relates also the Actions of the Army, as well as his Thoughts concerning the Disputes, then on Foot, about Religion: We have not this Work. Photius observes, That his Style was clear, elegant and unaffected: He used very proper Words and Expressions; that his Composure was very curious and his Method pleasant, easie and Natural; which he judges the best Properties of an Ecclesiastical Historian.

Eginhardus, Secretary to Charles the Great, and founder of the Monastery of Selgenstat upon * 1.2 the Maine, in the Diocese of Mentz, Wrote the Life of Charles the Great, and the Annals [of the most observable Things done in the Reign of King Pepin, Charles the Great, and Lewis the Godly] beginning at the Year 741. and ending at 829. [Both these Works are printed toge∣ther at Cologn, 1521. quarto, at Francfort 1584. in fol. and 1594. in octavo.] We have also some Letters of his [viz. 62 put forth by Du Chesne, in his Appendix, Tom. 2.] a Treatise upon the Cross, and an account of the Translation of the Reliques of S. Marcellinus and S. Peter, which Ratlavius and Dicudo cunningly conveyed out of the Church of S. Tiburtius, near Rome. [This last Treatise is extant in Surius, June 2d. and the other is quite perished.]

Theganus, a Suffragan of the Bishoprick of Treves, hath written an History of Lewis the * 1.3 Kind [or Godly.] [Pithaeus hath put it out, with the French Writers of this Age, at Francfort, 1594. p. 291. And Du Chesne in his Collection of the same Writers, Tom. 2.] He flourished from the Year 810. to 840. or thereabouts.

Petrus Siculus, being sent, in 870. by the Emperor Basil to Tibrica, in Armenia, to procure * 1.4 the exchange of some Prisoners; and there having had some Conferences with the Manichees of that Country, call'd Paulitians, made a Treatise, containing The History of [the Rise, Progress and Downfal of] the Manichees, and the Doctrines which they maintained. This Treatise hath been translated by Raderus [a Jesuit] and Printed in Greek and Latin at Ingolstadt, in 1604. and in Biblioth. Patr. [Tom. 16.] It is dedicated to an Archbishop of Bulgaria. In it he reduces the Errors of the Manichees to six principal Heads, which are these. 1. That there are two Principles, a good one and an evil; the one the Creator and Governour of this World, the other of the World to come. 2. That Jesus Christ was not born of the Virgin. 3. That the Elements in the Sacrament, are not converted into the very Body and Blood of Christ. 4. That they contemn and disgrace the Cross. 5. That they reject the Books of the Old Testament and S. Peter's Epistles. 6. That they account the Ecclesiastical Ministery of Priests and Elders unnecessary. He then relates the Story of Manes and his Sect. All that he says is taken out of the Catechises of S. Cyril of Jerusalem and Epiphanius. He promised a Confu∣tation of these Errors, but hath not done it in that Treatise. F. Sirmondus saw a Confu∣tation of two of these Articles, by several Texts of Scripture, in a MS. in the Vatican Library.

But, of all the Ecclesiastical Authors of this Age, there is none more famous than Anasta∣sius, * 1.5 an Abbot and Library-Keeper of the Church of Rome, who flourished under the Pope-doms of Nicolas I. Adrian II. and John VIII. He was sent by Lewis II. Emperor of Italy, to Basil Emperor of the East [to obtain a Marriage between his Master's Daughter and Basil's Son] and was present at [the last Session of] * 1.6 the VIII. Council; where he was of great use to the Pope's Legates, because he understood both the Greek and Latin Tongues well. He hath translated the Acts of this Council, and of the VII. [at Nice] with several other Records of the Greek Church, [which are extant in Tom. 7 and 8 of the Councils;] as also a a three-fold Chronology; containing [a Collection of such Ec∣clesiastical Matters as are related in] the Chronica of Nice-Phorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, Georgius Syncellus and Theophanes, from the Beginning of the World to the Reign of Leo Armenus [put out by Fabrotus, at Paris, 1649. with his own Notes.] A Collection of several Pieces concerning the History of the Monothelites, published by F. Sirmondus [at Paris]

in 1620. [and in the Biblioth. Patr. To. 12. p. 831.] The Life of S. John the Alms-giver, Patriarch of Alexandria, mentioned by Sigibert and Trithemius [is not extant] and the Mar∣tyrdom of S. Demetrius, published by F. Mabillon, in his Analects, Tom. 1. [p. 65.] His Translations have all Prefaces to them, made by him, and very well written: But his most excellent one is that which he hath prefixed to the Version of S. Dionysius the Areopagite, made by Erigenes, where he speaks of the Scholia which he had translated. He is commonly thought to be the Author of the Popes Lives, which bear the Name of Pope Damasus, but falsly, and they are printed under Anastasius's Name at Mentz, in 1612. [1602.] But 'tis doubtful whe∣ther they are all his, and many believe that they are a Composure, taken out of several Au∣thors. F. Labbe assures us, That he saw a MS. written in Charles the Great's Time, which contain'd the Lives of the first Popes; which, if it be true, this Work cann't be all Ana∣stasius's. I am of Opinion, that the Lives of the first Popes, as far as Damasus, were written by a more ancient Author, who put them out under Damasus's Name: But the latter are Ana∣stasius's, who reviewed them, and put them in that Form they now are in, and concluded them with the Life of Nicholas I. for I take the Lives of the five following Popes to be writ∣ten by William, who succeeded Anastasius in the Office of Library-keeper, in the Church of Rome. Nevertheless Anastasius might write the Life of Adrian II. for he certainly outliv'd him: And perhaps he lived long enough to write the Lives of the four following Popes. He wrote tolerable good Latin, and was a learned Man for his Time. He was a good Polititian, and studied the Interest of the Church of Rome.

There remains only the Author of the Treatise, called Liber Synodicus, whose Name is * 1.7 unknown. His Work is, An Abridgment of the first Councils, commonly called, The little Synodical Book: It ends with the Council held by Photius in 877. which is accounted the VIII. General Council, which makes it probable that he lived about the end of the IX. Age, This Work hath been Printed at Strasburg in 1601 [in quarto,] and since is put by F. Labbe into the last Collection of the Councils. It is a very short and plain Abridgment, and contains nothing considerable or extraordinary about the History of the Councils.

The number of the Historians of this Age, which have written the Lives and Panegyricks * 1.8 of the Saints, is very great; The chief of them are these that follow: Michael Syncellus of the Patriarch Nicephorus; and, after his Death, designed for his Place, by the Empress Theo∣dora: But he refused to accept that Dignity. He wrote the Life of S. Dionysius [the Areopagite] and made a Panegyrick in Honour of the Holy [Archangels and] Angels: In which, after he hath invoked them, and distinguished their several Orders, he speaks of their good Offices, which they perform to Men, and relates several Examples to prove it out of Holy Scripture. Lastly, he makes several Exclamations, by way of Encomium. There is an Hymn at the end of this Discourse, published by F. Combefis [in his Auctuar. Nov. Tom. 1. p. 1525.] and is found in the Biblioth. Patr. The Style of it is lofty, full of great Words and affected Epithets.

Methodius, preferr'd to the Patriarchate of the Church of Constantinople in 842. is also the Author of S. Dionys's Life, which is extant at the end of the Works of that Father [printed * 1.9 at Antwerp in 1634. Tom. 2. 'Tis also printed alone at Florence, 1516. Paris 1562.] Some Fragments also of two Sermons, printed by Gretzer [in his Tom. 2. de Cruce] are attributed to him: The one is concerning the Benefit of the Death of Christ, and the Reasons why he would dye upon the Cross. The other is against those that are ashamed of the Cross of Christ. To these we may add, The Encomium of S. Agatha, translated into Latin by F. Combefis, in his Biblioth. Concionat. Patr. and is said to be in MS. in the Library of S. Mark at Venice. Some also attribute to him a Sermon upon S. Simeon; and another upon the Sunday, called Domi∣nica in Ramis [or Palm-Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter-day] which F. Cambefis hath printed among the Works of the elder Methodius [who flourished in 290. at Paris in 1644.] although it be very doubtful whether they be so ancient, as we have observed in speaking of the Elder Methodius. He dyed in 847. [in Balsamon's Collection of the Greek Canon we meet with some penitential Canons, attributed to Methodius, but the Learned judge them not to be his.]

To Methodius we may joyn Hilduinus, the Patron of the Fable of S. Dionysius the Areo∣pagite's coming into France. He was Abbot of S. Medard at Soissons, of S. German and * 1.10 S. Dionys [near Paris] and chief Chaplain to the Emperor Lewis the Godly. He made a Reformation in the last of these Monasteries, in 829. and settled Monks there instead of the Canons, formerly there. He took Lotharius's part against his Father, and was banished into Saxony. But he was again restored, and after his Restauration he wrote his Book of the Areopagite, by the Command of Lewis the Godly. In it he undertakes to prove, That Diony∣sius, the Apostle of France, was the Areopagite: But this Work is full of abominable False∣hoods and gross Forgeries. He proves his Opinion by Records of so small Authority, That his Writing discovers the weakness of the Cause he maintains, and his own inability to do it. This Work was printed at Cologn in 1563. and is put by Surius among the Lives of the Saints [Octob. 9.] with a Letter from Lewis the Godly to him, and his Answer. Hilduin dyed, ac∣cording to the Opinion of some, in 838. and of others in 842.

David Nicetas, surnamed Paphlago, because he was a Bishop in Paphlagonia, altho' he was * 1.11 also Patriarch of Constantinople, was a great admirer of the Patriarch Ignatius, and wrote a long History of his Life [which is extant, with the Acts of the VIII. Council at Ingolstadt, 1604, quarto. and Tom. 8. of the Councils. p. 1179.] He hath also composed several Panegyricks, in honour of the Apostles and other Saints [viz. S. Mark, S. Mary, S. Gregory the Divine, S. Hyacinthus, Eustatheus, Agapius and Theopistus] printed by F. Cambesis in his last continuation of the Biblioth. Patrum [at Paris in 1672.] His Style is elegant and pleasant; his Relations are simple and plain, without being tedious. He often turns his Speech to the Saints; he commends and makes Acclamations in their Honour, according to the Custom of his Time.

Leo the Wise, Emperor of the East, may be reckoned among the Panegyrists of the Saints. * 1.12 He succeeded his Father Basilius in 886. and reigned till 911. He took great pleasure in com∣posing Sermons. Baronius hath published a List of 33. [ad Annum 911. numb. 3] which are found in a MS. in the Vatican Library, Gretzer hath published 9. printed at Ingolstadt in 1600. and since, F. Cambesis hath inserted 10 in the first Tome of his Auctuar. Biblioth. Patrum. Besides these, we have a Discourse upon the Life of S. John Chrysostom, among the Works of that Father [Tom. 8.] of Savil's Edition, and a Sermon upon S. Nicolas [Bishop of Myra] printed at Toulouse in 1644. and some Predictions [viz. 17] concerning the State of Constanti∣nople, Printed by Codinus [at the end of his Antiquities, at Paris in 1655.] Baronius mentions other Works of Leo, which are in MSS. in the Vatican Library, viz. several Discourses, Mo∣ral Precepts, Riddles or mystical Sayings, Constitutions, and [† 1.13 his Tacticks, or] a Treatise of the manner of Ranging an Army in Battalia. The Sermons printed by F. Cambefis are upon the Nativity, Purification and Annuntiation of the Virgin, Palm-Sunday, the Incarnation, the Burial, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ; upon the Feast of Pentecost and Death of the Virgin, which he calls her Repose, maintaining, That she, as well as others, paid the last Debt to Nature, leaving us in doubt, whether her Body was afterwards re-united to her Soul, or whether she was put into some place to be reserved there to the General Resurre∣ction.

Theophanes, surnamed Cerameus [or the Potter] Bishop of Tauromenium in Sicily, liv'd about * 1.14 the End of the IX. Age. He hath composed several Homilies upon the Gospels and yearly Festivals, which are Printed in Greek and Latin at Paris, in 1644. Gretzer hath put out two upon the Cross. Another Bishop of the same Place, nam'd Gregory * 1.15, hath composed several Homilies upon the same Subjects, but they are not yet printed.

Georgius Monachus, the Keeper of the Records of the Church of Constantinople, and after∣wards Archbishop of Nicomedia, was one of Photius's great Friends. He composed several Homilies upon the Feasts of the Virgin, published by F. Cambefis, in vol. 1. of his Auctuar. Biblioth. Patrum. They are in a copious Style, and full of Common Places, of little Benefit and tedious.

Nor doth the West furnish us with fewer Historians, who wrote the Lives of the Saints of their Time, than we have seen the Eastern Empire to have done, viz.

Ludgerus, the Scholar of S. Gregory of Utrecht, having spent much Time and Labour in * 1.16 converting the Infidels in England and Swedeland, was made Bishop of Munster in Westphalia, in 802. He wrote the Life of his Master S. Gregory, Bishop of Utrecht, which is published by Brower [at Mentz, 1615.] who hath joyned with it a Relation of the Beginning of S. Bene∣dict's Mission. This Life is in Tom. 2. Saec. Benedict. III. published by F. Mabillon. Surius and Bollandus have published a Letter under Ludgerus's Name, dedicated to Rixfridus Bishop of Utrecht; which contains a Relation of the Life and Miracles of S. Switbert [but it is proved by Cointe, in his Ann. Eccl. Fran. ad ann. 779. n. 31. & 754. n. 78. by many Argu∣ments, not to belong to this Author.] He died in 809. and his Life is written by Alfridus, the third Bishop of Munster.

[Aegil or] Eigil, fourth Abbot of Fulda, governed that Monastery from 818. to 822. He * 1.17 hath written a Relation of the most eminent Actions of his Master S. Sturmio [his Predecessor in the Abbacy of that Monastery:] It is put out by Brower [at Ingolstadt in 1616.] and is also in Tom. 2. Saec. Benedict. III. The Life of S. Aegil is written by a Monk of the same Abby, named Candidus, and published by the same Authors. * 1.18

Vufinus Boetius, Bishop of Poictiers, flourished from the Time of Lewis the Godly to the year 830. He wrote the Life of S. Junianus Abbot of Maire, which is extant in Tom. 1. Saec. Benedict. put out by F. Mabillon.

Hermenricus, a Monk of Elwangen, a Monastery in Germany, was chosen Abbot of it in 846. He wrote the Lives of S. Magnus and S. Sola, with a Dialogue about the Foundation of his Monastery. The Life of S. Sola was written about the Time that Rabanus was chosen Bishop of Mentz, about 847. It is dedicated to Rodolphus, a Monk of Fulda, under whom Ermenricus had studied. These two Lives are published by F. Mabillon.

Eulogius, whom some believe to have been chosen Archbishop of Toledo, suffer'd Martyrdom * 1.19 at Corduba in 859. in the Persecution [of the Christians in Spain] by the Saracens. He wrote the Martyrdom of the Christians which suffered for the Faith of Jesus Christ, before him, in that City. This Treatise is entituled, Memoriale Sanctorum [or. An Account of the Sufferings

of the Martyrs of Corduba] and is divided into three Books. Afterward he composed an Apo∣logy [or Defence] of the same Martyrs, against those who denyed them that Title and Honour, for 3 Reasons. 1. Because they never did any Miracles, as the ancient Martyrs did. 2. Be∣cause they did not suffer variety of Torments, but were put to Death presently. 3. Because those that put them to Death, were not Idolaters, but Mahometans, who worship the true God. He answers these Objections, and continues the History of those Martyrs. These 4 Books are followed by an Exhortation, or Instruction, which he made in Prison, and dedicated to two Virgins, Mary and Flora, who also were Prisoners. [In which he gives all the Christians then in Bonds for Christ's sake, Arguments and Encouragements to suffer constantly, and adds] a Prayer for them to use in their present Condition. He hath also composed a Writing, dedicated to [Wilifindus] Bishop of Pampelona, when he sent him some Relicks of the ancient Martyrs of Corduba, which he had desired of him, when he was at Pampelona. In it he speaks of the Per∣secution of the Christians of Corduba, and sets down the Names of the Martyrs, and the days of their death. He sent his Instruction to Flora, and his Memoir of the Martyrs to his Brother Alvarus, who was then in Banishment in Germany, and wrote two Letters to him about the same matter, which Alvarus answered. Afterward he sent him an Account of the Martyrdom of those two Virgins, as he did also to Baldegosena, Flora's Sister. We have these Letters, with the Works of Eulogius, in the Biblioth. Patr. [Tom. 15. p. 242.] and in the IV. Tome of the Spanish Writers [p. 213.] Ambrosius Moralis also hath printed all together with his own Notes at Complutum in 1554. [which was the first Edition of Eulogius's Works, but Maluenda finds fault with it, because he hath left out several things concerning Mahomet and his Doctrines, in the first and second Books of his Memoir of the Martyrs, which Eulogius had written. Where∣fore Poncius Leo put out a more correct Edition at the same place in 1574. but continued Mo∣ralis's notes.] Surius also hath printed his Lives of the Martyrs of Corduba.

Alvarus, Brother of Eulogius hath written, besides the Answers to his Brother Eulogius's Letters before-mentioned [which are among Eulogius's Letters] the History of his Brother's * 1.20 Martyrdom [which is prefixed before Eulogius's Works in the Complutensian last Edition, and in the Biblioth. Patr. and Surius-March. II. Vossius attributes to this Author two other Trea∣tises, viz. Scintillae Patrum, which is a Collection of Moral Sentences out of the Fath•…•… and * 1.21 Indiculus Luminosus, but they are not yet commonly received for his by Learned Men.]

Herricus or Erricus, born at a Village of the same name, viz. Hery, two Leagues from Aux∣erre, was a Benedictine Monk of the Abby of S. Germans in that City. He had for his Masters * 1.22 Haymo [of Halberstadt] and Lupus of Ferrara, as he himself tells us in the Preface to his Colle∣ction of Maxims and Things remarkable, taken out of the Holy Fathers and other ancient Writers, dedicated to Hildebald Bishop of Auxerre, of which we have only the Preface in Tom. 7. of Mabillon's Analect. Besides this Work, he composed two Books in Prose concerning the Miracles of S. German Bishop of Auxerre, printed by F. Labbe in the first Tome of Biblioth. MSS. Six Books also in Verse, containing the Life of Caesarius, undertaken by the order of Lotharius the younger and dedicated to Carolus Calus, printed at Paris [in 1543. Octavo,] with the Poem of Marius Victorinus upon Genesis. He undertook to compose an History of the Bishop of Auxerre, with Rainogalus and Alogius, Canons of that Church. He made also [many] Homilies, of which we have three among the Homilies of Paulus Diaco∣nus.

Anscharius, a Monk of Corby, the Apostle of Denmark and those Northern Countries, and after made Bishop of Hamburg and Breme, hath written the Life of Willihadus first Bishop of * 1.23 Breme, which was printed at Antwerp in 1642. and in the 2d part of F. Mabillon's Saec. Bened. III. Anscharius went into Denmark in 836. and was made Bishop of Hamburg in 842. and the Bi∣shoprick of Breme was added to it in 849. He died in 865. [Anscharius's Psalter is extant in Cranzius Metrop. l. 1. c. 42. but his Epistles, of which he wrote many, are lost.]

Rudulphus or Rudolphus, a Scholar of Rabanus, a Priest and Monk of Fulda, the Preacher, and Confessor to Lewis King of Germany, passed for a very learned Man for his time. In the An∣nals * 1.24 of Fulda he hath given him the Title of an excellent Historian and Poet, and of a Man very well vers'd in all humane Sciences. He writ the Lives of Rabanus and S. Lioba, Abbesni of Priscofhten, which are in F. Mabillon's Saec. Benedict. and in Surius and Bollandus's Acts of the Lives of the Saints. The last of these Lives was composed out of the Records and Colle∣ctions of a Priest named Mago, who had conversed with four of the Scholars of S. Lioba [viz. Agatha, Thecla, Nana, and Eoliba. This Author died in 865. * 1.25

Iso, a Monk of S. Gallus, wrote about the year 860. two Books containing the Lives and Miracles of S. Othmarus, Abbot of S. Gallus, which are also put out in Tom. II. Saec. Ben. III. He died in 871.

Alfridus and Orthegrinus, of which the first was Bishop of Munster, and the other a Monk of Werthin, have each of them written the Life of S. Ludgerus the first Bishop of Munster. They are both printed in the Saec. Benedict. Alfridus was the third Bishop of Munster after Ludgerus, succeeding to Jeffrey the Nephew of this Saint in 839. and died in 849. Orthegri∣nus or Hildegrinus, wrote before him.

Ermentarius, Abbot of Noicmontier, wrote an History of the Translation of the Body of S. Philibert, which the Monks of that Abbey were forced to carry into several places, to keep

it from the burning of the Normans. 'Tis published by F. Chiffletius, and since by F. Ma∣billon.

Milo, called Sigebert, a Monk of S. Amandus, hath composed, in Verse, the Life of that * 1.26 Saint, and a Treatise of Sobriety, dedicated to King Charles. We have this Life of Amandus, divided into 4 parts, with a Supplement to another Life of the same Saint, and the History of the Translation of his Relicks, in the Acts of Bollandus. Surius hath published an Homily under his Name upon the Life of Principius Bishop of Soissons. F. Audin hath published a piece, in Verse, of this Author's, which is a Dialogue between the Spring and Winter. [He died in 872. * 1.27 and is buried in his Monastery. His Epitaph celebrates him for the Author of his Treatise of Sobriety and Life of Amandus.]

Aimonius, of whom we are speaking in this Paragraph, is a different Person from the Author * 1.28 of the History of France. This last was a Monk of S. German de Prez, the other was the Ab∣bot of Fleury. The one wrote at the end of the 9th Age, and the other at the beginning of the 11th. This, of whom we are speaking, hath described the Finding and Translation [of the Body] of S. Vincent, and made two Books upon the Miracles of S. German Bishop of Paris. A Book upon the Translation of the Martyrs S. George the Monk, S. Aurelius and S. Natalia, and two Books of their Miracles. These Works are printed by F. Mabillon in Saec. Benedict. [33 and 4.] and in other Collections [viz. Surius, July, 25. &c.]

We must distinguish the two Abbo's as well as the two Aimonius's. The first was a Monk * 1.29 of S. German de Prez [or de Pratis] as well as the first Aimonius, and lived at the same time with him; the other was co-temporary with the second Aimonius, and a Monk of the same Abby of Fleury. This last is the Author of a Poem divided into two Books, containing the History of the Siege of Paris by the Normans, in 886, and 887. This Work is dedicated to Goscelinus (not the Bishop of Paris, but a Deacon of the same name) and hath been printed seve∣ral times in the Collections of the French Historians. He hath a third Book, which is not yet printed. This Author hath made some Sermons, which are in MS. at S. German de Prez, of which F. Dacherius hath chosen out 5. and printed them in Tom. 9. Spicil. with an Adver∣tisement to the Reader, in which he says, That he made these Sermons at the request of Frota∣rius Bishop of Poictiers and Fulradus Bishop of Paris, That the Clergy might make use of them to instruct the ignorant Laity. Four of these Sermons are upon Holy Thursday. In them Ab∣bo observes, That this was the day on which Jesus Christ celebrated the Passover with his Dis∣ciples, and gave them the sacred Memorials of his Body and Blood; That the Bishops conse∣crate the Holy Oyl and the Altars, and the Pavements of the Churches are washed, and those Penitents absolved and received to Communion, who had been excommunicated at the begin∣ning of Lent. And upon this last Point it is that he chiefly enlarges in those Sermons, exhorting the Penitents to turn unto God with all their Hearts, that they may receive the benefit of Ab∣solution, to renounce their Sins, and lead a Christian Life for the future. The third is ad∣dressed to the Penitents before their Asolution. He comforts them under the delays of Abso∣lution, telling them, That the Bishop can't absolve them till they have performed their Pen∣nance, and shewed a real sorrow for their Sins. Nullus est certe Episcopus, qui possit absoluti∣onem dare, nisi post poenitentiam factam, & dignam satisfactionem. He exhorts them earnestly to observe the Lent-Fast. The fourth is directed to the absolved Penitents. He compares the state they were in before Reconciliation to that they are now in, and exhorts them not to make their Repentance of no advantage to them, by relapsing into their Sins. The last Sermon is upon the settlement of the Christian Religion, whose excellency he commends by the price it cost. For the sake of this it was that Jesus Christ died and rose again, that the Apostles la∣boured and suffered so much, that so many just Men have been martyred, that so many Con∣fessors have given such Examples of Virtue, and dispersed that Light in the World; that so many Men have retreated into Monasteries, founded and establish'd by the piety of the Kings and Princes of the Earth. This gives him an occasion to inveigh against those, that take away the Revenues of Churches and Monasteries. He comforts the Christians that suffered Wrongs, and shews them, That they ought to content themselves with a few worldly Things, and la∣bour for a Celestial Treasure, where these Extortioners, which spoil the Church, the Normans, who plunder and rob to enrich themselves, must expect the Torments of Hell.

Wolfardus or Wolfadus, a Priest and Monk of Hatennede in the Diocese of Eicstat, composed, * 1.30 about the end of the 9th Age the Life of S. Walpurga, and dedicated it to Erkenwald Bishop of Eicstat [by whose Command he made them] and three Books of Miracles of that Holy Woman. He promised a Dialogue concerning that Saint, which we have not. Other of his Books are printed in the Collections of Canisius, Bollandus and F. Mabillon.

Hugbaldus [Hucbaldus or Hubaldus] the Nephew and Scholar of Milo, a Monk of S. Amandus, * 1.31 flourished in the 9th Age, and was very long-lived. He was accounted a Man of great Learn∣ing in his time. He made a Poem of 300 Verses, dedicated to Charles the Bald, in com∣mendation of Baldness, of which almost all the Verses begin with the Letter C. But 'tis not for the sake of this Work [tho' it hath been thought worth the printing at Basil in 1516. and 1546. and at Frankfort in 1624.] that we mention this Author; nor for the sake of his Book of Musick [spoken of by Sigebert] but because he composed the Lives of S. Aldegondes Abbess of Malbod, S. Rictrudres Abbess of Marchieme, and S. Lebwin, a Priest, printed by Surius and Bollandus on May 12. and Mabillon [Saec. Bededict II.] Sigebert speaks of this Author, and

attributes to him the Lives of several other Saints, [in his Book De Script. Cap. 108.]

Alfredus, or Elfridus [or Aluredus] King of Englund, was sent by his Father Ethelwolf, * 1.32 [King of the West Saxons] to Rome, where he was Crowned in the year 872, by Pope Leo IV. He was a great lover of Learning and Learned Men; He Translated several Latin Authors into the Saxon Tongue, and published them in his own name, viz. Bede's History of England, Paulus Orosius's History, S. Gregory's Pastoral, &c. He composed some Laws. The Saxon Translation of Bede's History was Printed at Cambridge in 1644, with his Laws and Prefaces to S. Gregory's Pastoral and P. Orosius. His Laws also are inserted in Spelman's Councils, and in the 9th. Tome of the Councils, p. 582. The 1. commands the payment of Tythes. The 2. Is against those that rob Churches. The other are about Civil matters. This King died in the year 900. Father Collet hath Published his Will [out of Asserius Menevensis.]

Rembertus, Arch-bishop of Breme, wrote the Life of his Predecessor Anscharius, Printed at * 1.33 Cologne, with the Lives of the other Bishops of that Church. 'Tis also in the Collections of Bollandus and Father Mabillon. Rembertus was chosen Bishop after the Death of Anschcarius, in 865, and died in 888.

Herembert, [or Erchempert,] a Monk of Mount Cassin, lived at the end of the 9th. Age; he made a Chronicon, printed at Naples, in 1626, by the care of Caracciolus a Theatin * 1.34 Priest.

Almannus, a Monk of Hautevilliers in the Diocese of Reims, Compiled at the request of Theudonus his Bishop, the Life of S. Memnus the first Bishop of Chalons. Father Mabillon in Tome 2. Analect, hath put out a Letter of that Bishop to him, and his Answer with an Ex∣tract of the Register for Burials in the Abby of Hautevilliers; which shew that this Author made the Lamentations of France Ravaged by the Normans, and the Lives of S. Nivard Arch-bishop of Reims, Sindulphus a Recluse and Priest, the Empress S. Helena, and the History of the Translation of her Relicks [from Rome] to the Monastery of Haute-villiers, with several other Works.

Adelinus, [or Adelelinus, or Adelmus] succeeded Hildebrand in the Bishoprick of Seez after 877, and govern'd that Church till the Year 910. He wrote the Life of S. Opportuna the Ab∣bess, * 1.35 Sister of Godegrand the first Bishop of Seez. It was published by Surius, Bollandus, in April 22, and by F. Mabillon in Tome 2. Saec. Benedict. III.

Otfredus, a Benedictine Monk of the Abby of Weissenburg, and Scholar of Rabanus, Com∣pos'd * 1.36 an History of the Gospel in the Teutonick Tongue, that the People that did not under∣stand the Greek nor Latin, might read and understand the Gospel. He divided this Work in∣to five Books, which contain'd the principal circumstances of the Life of Jesus Christ, taken out of the Four Evangelists, and digested into the order of Time. He Dedicated it to Luctber∣tus Arch-bishop of Mentz, by a Latin Letter which he used instead of a Preface; it is Printed in the Bibliotheca Patrum; but the Work it self is not yet made Publick. Trithemius makes mention of some other Treatises of this Author, Dedicated to King Lewis, Bishop Solomon, and the monks of S. Gallus. Three Volumes upon the Psalms; a Treatise of the last Judgment; another of the Joys of Heaven, several Letters, and many pieces of Poetry.

Aldrevaldus [Aldelbertus] and Albertus, a Monk of Fleury lived towards the end of the 9th. Age. He wrote an History of the Translation of S. Benedict and S. Scholastica, and a Book of * 1.37 the Miracles of S. Benedict. These works are in the Library of the Monastery of Fleury.

Asserius, [Menevensis] Bishop of [Sherburn in] England, flourished about 890, and died in 909. He wrote the History of the Acts of Alfredus his King, which was Printed in 1602 at Francfort, with other English Historians; [Bale says he wrote the Annals of England, some Homilies, and some other Works, but we have them not. He is accounted an Author of good Credit.]

We must not forget the Martyrologies which were perfected in this Age. In the beginning of the last Century, venerable Bede took much pains in this matter, and made two Martyrolo∣gies, the one in Prose, the other in Verse, but both of them being Imperfect, Florus a Dea∣con * 1.38 of the Church of Lyons, made several Additions to Bede's Martyrology, in the Age we are speaking of, and put it almost into that form it is at present in, as is observed by Bollandus, who hath published the true Martyrology of Bede, with Florus's Additions, in his 2. Tome of March.

Wandelbert, a Deacon and Monk of Prom, a Monastery in the Diocese of Treves, composed * 1.39 about the year 850, a Martyrology, in [Heroick] Verse, taken out of Bede and Florus. Sigebert and Trithemius make mention of him. It has been Printed under the name of Bede at the end of Bede's Ephemerides in the Basil Edition, and afterwards by Molanus at the end of Usuardus's Martyrology. But F. Dacherius hath Printed it more exact and correct in Tom. 3 Spicileg.

About the same time also Rabanus Composed a Martyrology, Published by Canisius, in the * 1.40 VI Tome of his Ecclesiastical Antiquities.

After him Ado, Arch-bishop of Vienna Composed a Work of the same nature more exact than * 1.41 any of the former: He modeled it by an ancient Martyrology, which he found at Aquileia, brought thither from Rome, which contain'd the Names, Qualities, and various Tor∣ments of the Saints that suffer'd Martyrdom. He hath put at the beginning of his Martyro∣logy

a small Tract of the Festivals of the Apostles, in which he writes the History of their Mar∣tyrdom. The same Author hath made a short Chronology from the beginning of the World to the Birth of Charles the Simple, the Son of Lewis the Stammerer, which was in 879 of our Account. He divides the duration of the World into six Ages; The 1. is from the Creation of the World to the Flood. The 2. From the Flood to the Birth of Abraham. The 3. From Abraham to David. The 4. From David to the Captivity in Babylon. The 5. From the Captivity to the Birth of our Saviour. And the 6. From the Nativity of Jesus Christ to the end of the World. This Chronology is Printed with the Works of Gregory Bp. of Tours at Paris, in 1512, and 1567, and at Basil 1568, [and by it self at Paris in 1522.] It is also inserted in the Biblioth. Patr. [Tome 16, p. 768.] His Martyrology is Published by Lippomannus in the Lives of the Fathers; and after by Bollandus in his Supplement to Surius, and last of all by Rosweidus, who first Printed the ancient Martyrology which Ado had put before his Works [at Antwerp in 1613, and at Paris in 1645.] There are also two Lives which bear the name of Ado; the one is of Desiderius Arch-bishop of Vienna, put out by Canisius in his Antiquities; and the other is of S. Theudorius an Abbot of the same City, published by F. Mabillon in Tome 1. of his Saec. Benedict. Some think this Author Died in 814. which makes some say, that he ad∣ded some years to his Chronology; but to me it seems not probable. It is most agreeable to Truth to six his death a little after 879.

Lastly, Usuardus a Monk of S. Germans de Prez, a 1.42 hath composed a Martyrology more con∣siderable * 1.43 than any of the former, under the Reign of the Emperor b 1.44 Charles the Bald, to whom he Dedicated it in 870. This Work being much larger and more perfect than any that were writ∣ten before upon the same Subject, was much approved and well accepted in all Churches which began to make use of it in their Offices. Some think also that the Church of Rome took it into their Services and used it, before they had one of their own. This Martyrology hath been Printed at Antwerp in 1538t and at Lovain in 1568 [with Molanus's Notes and Additions] and since in several other places [as Antwerp 1583, with Hissel's Censure; but all that was displeasing to the Papists, is left out of this Edition, as Usher tells us in his Biblioth. Theol. M S.]

To thse Author's might have been added Gildas, who made a Kalendar of the Saints, of which * 1.45 Bishop Usher hath Printed the Preface, [in Epist. Heb. Syll. p. 55,] and some other Authors of the IXth Age, which are purposely omitted, as well as some Historical matters of little or no Consequence, which we could not think necessary to put into this Work; for it is not our design to make compleat Annals year by year, but only to explain the most important Matters treated of in this Age, which is the principal and most profitable part of Ecclesiastical History; for in that our particular Enquiry ought not to be after a meer Narration of Mat∣ters of Fact, which is of little use, but what concerns the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church, and upon Questions and Works of that nature it is that we have chiefly insisted: That our Reader may have a competent knowledge of them, we shall account it a very great happiness if this Work may be serviceable in any measure to clear the difficult Questions and confirm the important Doctrines of the Christian Religion. But how severe so ever others Censures may be up∣on it, it will be always some comfort to us that we have laboured in and aimed at so good a Design; and we hope that though our pains may not have the wish'd for Effect among Men, yet it shall be of some real advantage to us with him who knows and rewards the good In∣tentions as well as the good Actions of Men, according to the words of S. Bernard Ep. 360, Laboravimus, quantum potuimus, & si quo minus impetravimus, quod optavimus, manet tamen fructus Laboris nostri, apud Deum, apud quem nullum bonum irremuneratum est in fine.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Sergius.
• * 1.2

  Eginhar∣dus.
• * 1.3

  Theganus
• * 1.4

  Petrus Siculus.
• * 1.5

  Anastasius Bibliothe∣carius.
• * 1.6

  This Council, which passes for the 8th General Council in Coriolanus's Collection, is rejected both by the Greeks and Romanists, for an unlawful one, being called without the Consent of the Western Emperors, and managed by the Iconolatrae, or Image-Wor∣shippers, with Force and Cruelty, against Iconomachi, especially the great Photius, who was deposed from his See of Constantinople, and Ignatius put into it.
• * 1.7

  The Anony∣mous Au∣thor of the Liber Sy∣nodicus.
• * 1.8

  Michael Syncellus.
• * 1.9

  Methodius
• * 1.10

  Hilduinus Abbot of S. Medard at Soissons, S. German and S. Da∣vid.
• * 1.11

  David Ni∣cetas Paphlago.
• * 1.12

  Leo the Wise, Em∣peror of the East.
• † 1.13

  They are Printed at Basil, in 1554. and Leyden, in 1612. and 1613.
• * 1.14

  Theopha∣nes, Bishop of Tau∣romeni∣um.
• * 1.15

  Dr. Cave places him in 1040. Georgius Charto∣phylax.
• * 1.16

  Ludgerus, Bishop of Munster.
• * 1.17

  Aegil Ab∣bot of Ful∣da.
• * 1.18

  Candidus. Vufinus Boetius, Bishop of Poictiers. Hermen∣ricus, Ab∣bot of El∣wangen.
• * 1.19

  Eulogius the Martyr.
• * 1.20

  Alvarus.
• * 1.21

  Voss. de Hist. Lat.
• * 1.22

  Herricus a Monk of S. Ger∣mans at Auxerre.
• * 1.23

  Anschari∣us, a Monk of Corby.
• * 1.24

  Rudol∣phus, a Monk of Fulda.
• * 1.25

  Iso, a Monk of S. Gallus. Alfridus Bishop of Munster, and Orthe∣grinus, a Monk of Werthin. Ermenta∣rius Abbot of Noic∣mantier.
• * 1.26

  Milo, a Monk of S Aman∣dus.
• * 1.27

  Voss. de Hist Lat.
• * 1.28

  Aimonius, a Monk of S. German de Prez.
• * 1.29

  Abbo, a Monk of S. German de Prez.
• * 1.30

  Wolfadus, a Monk of Haten∣nede.
• * 1.31

  Hugbaldus a Monk of S. Aman∣dus.
• * 1.32

  Alfredus King of England.
• * 1.33

  Rember∣tus Arch-bishop of Breme.
• * 1.34

  Herimber¦tus, a Monk of Mount Cassin. Almanus a Monk of Hautivil∣liers.
• * 1.35

  Adelinus Bishop of Seez.
• * 1.36

  Otfredus a Monk of Weissem∣burg.
• * 1.37

  Aldreval∣dus a Monk of Fleury. Asserius Bishop of Sherburn.
• * 1.38

  Florus, a Deacon of Lyons.
• * 1.39

  Wandel∣bert, a Monk of Prom.
• * 1.40

  Rabanus of Mentz.
• * 1.41

  Ado Arch-bishop of Vienna.
• a 1.42

  A Monk of S. Germans.] Some make him the Abbot of Fulda and others the Abbot of S. Saviours, but it is evident that he was a Monk of S. Germans, by an ancient Manuscript of that Abbey. Some call him Isuard
• * 1.43

  Usuardus, a Monk of S. Ger∣mans de Prez.
• b 1.44

  Charles the Bald] His Book was Dedi∣cated to Charles, some have thought it was to Charles the Great; but Aimonius a Monk of S. Germans, in his Translation of the Martyrs, Gregory, Aurelius, &c. observes, that Usuard lived in 858, and we find in that Martyrology, the Names of Eulogius and other Martyrs that suffer'd in Spain, in 857. In an anci∣ent Manuscript of this Martyrology which may be thought the Original, we find the Death of Queen Hermentruda set down in the first place, and Charles in the second, which shews that 'twas Written af∣ter the year 869, in which the Queen died, and before 875, in which the death of Charles the Bald happened.
• * 1.45

  Gildas.