2 169. WALAHFRID 8TRABO. 729
of the church year and (3) Miscellanies, "The Body and Blood of the Lord/'1 which is an extract from his commentary on 1st Cor., " Epitome of sacred history," 2 substantially though not entirely an extract from Ru finus' Latin translation of Eusebius' " Ecclesiastical history," and an ascetic piece in three books, " The love for the heavenly country." '
§ 169. Walahfrid Strabo.
I. WALAFRIDUS STRABUS, Fuldensis monachus: Opera, in Migne, Tom.
CXIII.-CXIV. His Carmina have been edited in a very thorough manner by ERXST DUMMLER : Poehe Latini cevi Carolini. Tom. II. (Berlin, 1884), pp. 259-473.
II. For his life see the Preface of DUMMLER and EBERT, II. 145-166. Cf. also for his works besides Ebert, CEILLIER, XII. 410-417 ; Hist. lit. de la France, V. 59-76 ; BAHR, pp. 100-105, 398-401.
WALAHFRID, poet and commentator, theologian and teacher, was born of obscure parentage in Alemannia about 809, and educated in the Benedictine abbey school of Reichenau on the island in Lake Constance. His cognomen Strabus or, generally, Strabo was given to him because he squinted, but was by him self assumed as his name.4 From 826 to 829 he studied at Fulda under Rabauus Maurus. There he formed a friendship with Gottschalk, and there he appears to have lived all alone in a cell, the better perhaps to study.5 On leaving Fulda he went to Aix la Chapelle, and was befriended by Hilduin, the lord chancellor, who introduced him to the emperor Louis tiie Pious. The latter was much pleased with him and appre ciating his scholarship made him tutor to his son Charles. The empress Judith was also particularly friendly to him. In 838 Louis the Pious appointed him abbot of Reichenau, but two years later Louis the German drove him from his post and he
1 De corpore et sanguine Domini, CXVITT. col. 815-818.
2 Histories sacrw Epitome, ibid. col. 817-874.
3 De varietate librorum, sive de amore coelestis patriot, ibid. col. 875-958.
* E. g. in preface to his epitome of Raban's commentary on Leviticus, Migne, CXIV. col. 795. •Ebert, p. 147.
730 FOUETH PEKIOD. A.D. 590-1049.
went to Spires, where he lived until 842, when the same Louis restored him to his abbotship, probably at the solicitation of Grimald, his chancellor.1 In 849 he went over to France on a diplomatic mission from Louis the German to Charles the Bald, but died on August 18th of that year while crossing the Loire, and was buried at Reichenau.2
Walahfrid was a very amiable, genial and witty man, pos sessed remarkable attainments in both ecclesiastical and classical literature, and was moreover a poet with a dash of genius, and in this latter respect is a contrast to the merely mechanical versifiers of the period. He began writing poetry while a mere boy, and in the course of his comparatively brief life produced many poems, several of them of considerable length.
His WHITINGS embrace
I. Expository Works. 1. Glosses,3 i. e., brief notes upon the entire Latin Bible, including the Apocrypha ; a very meritorious compilation, made especially from Augustin, Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, and Bede, with very many original remarks. This work was for five hundred years honored by the widest use in the West. Peter Lombard quotes it as " the authority " without further designation ; and by many its notes have been given equal weight with the Bible text they accompany. It was one of the earliest printed works, notwithstanding its ex tent.4 2. Exposition of the first twenty Psalms,6 rather alle gorical than really explanatory. 3. Epitome of Eabanus Maurus' Commentary on Leviticus.6 This work is an indication of Walahfrid's reverence for his great teacher. 4. Exposition of the Four Evangelists.7 It was formerly printed among the works of Jerome. The notes are brief and designed to bring
1 Diiramler, I. c. 261. 2 XV. Kal. Sept. Dummler, I. c. 261.
3 Glossa ordinaria, Migne, CXTIL-CXIV. col. 752.
* Bahr (pp. 398 sq ) gives the dates of nine editions between 1472 and 1634. 5 Expositio in XX. primos Psalmos, Migne, CXIV. col. 752-794.
* Epitome commentariorum Rabani in Leviticum, ibid. col. 795-850. T Expositio in quatuor Evangelia, ibid. col. 849-916.