Lupus Servatus
Encyclopedia
Lupus Servatus, also Servatus Lupus (c. 805 – c. 862), in French Loup (means 'wolf', as Lupus in Latin), was a Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...

 Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 abbot of Ferrières
Ferrières Abbey
Ferrières Abbey was a Benedictine monastery situated at Ferrières-en-Gâtinais in the arrondissement of Montargis, in the département of Loiret, France.-History:...

, member of Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

's court and noted theological author of the ninth century. He is sometimes regarded as the first humanist of the Early Middle Ages because of the quality of his literary style, his love of learning, and his work as a scribe and textual critic.

Early life

Lupus, was born into an influential family within the diocese of Sens. Many of his family held influential positions in the Church or court. His father was Bavarian and his mother Frankish. He assumed the surname of Servatus in commemoration of his miraculous escape from danger either in a serious illness or on the battlefield. He began his education at the monastery of Saints Mary, Peter and Paul in Ferrières-en-Gâtinais
Ferrières-en-Gâtinais
Ferrières-en-Gâtinais is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loiret department...

 under Aldric. Here he was educated in the trivium and quadrivium
Quadrivium
The quadrivium comprised the four subjects, or arts, taught in medieval universities, after teaching the trivium. The word is Latin, meaning "the four ways" , and its use for the 4 subjects has been attributed to Boethius or Cassiodorus in the 6th century...

. Lupus was not fond of the required learning but developed a passion for Classical studies. Aldric saw fit to send him to deepen his theological education at Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

 under Rabanus Maurus
Rabanus Maurus
Rabanus Maurus Magnentius , also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis . He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible...

. Spending years in study and writing he developed a reputation as a scholar. Rabanus made use of his pupil having him translate and compose bodies or works. During his residence at Fulda (c. 830–36) he became an intimate friend and disciple of the learned Einhard
Einhard
Einhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni, "one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."-Public life:Einhard was from the eastern...

, whose Vita Karoli magni
Vita Karoli Magni
Vita Karoli Magni is a biography of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, written by Einhard.-Literary context:...

 he was one of the first to read and praised it because of its style (epist. 1, 5). He had written a letter to Einhard expressing his admiration and asked for a loan of Einhard's secular works (this would become a common practice of Lupus). His opinion was that education should be esteemed and intended not for a certain purpose, but as a good of its own value (epist. 1, 5). He was interested therefore not only in Christian but also in pagan classical authors and even those who not belonged to the reading canon of the Carolingian schools like Suetonius
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

, of whom he was one of very few readers in the early Middle Ages, and Cicero, whose nearly entire work he seems to know, not only as usual his rhetorical writings, and whom he mentions and cites very often. He borrowed manuscripts from Einhard (epist. 1, 6) and from the library of the monastery of Fulda and corresponded therefore with Abbot Markward (epist. 10, 4; 91, 4). Even before he returned to France he had become favourably known at court and was especially esteemed by the Empress Judith, the second wife of Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

. Lupus did return to Ferrieres in 836 and served as a monk until his nomination and election as abbot several years later. He had become recognized as the literary leader of Ferrieres. To Judith and her son Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

, whose political interests he always defended, he owed his nomination as Abbot of Ferrieres (22 November, 840).

Lupus as Abbot

After Louis the Pious died in 840 there were widespread uprisings and rivalries. Lothar, recently named as emperor invaded the western territories of Louis heir Charles the Bald. The current abbot of Ferrieres, Odo was uncertain which ruler had rights to his fealty. Eventually Odo supported Lothar because he seemed for likely to provide support for Ferrieres or because he saw him as the legitimate heir and representative of the unity of the empire. When the Truce of Orléans was made lothar gave up to Charles the authority over the land where Ferrieres was situated. As a result of Odo's past support of Lothar Charles had him removed from the abbacy. Lupus was left in charge of the abbey in Odo's absence. His position of abbot was formalized because of an election prompted by Charles the Bald because of Lupus' positive past with his family. Subsequently he took a prominent part in contemporary political and ecclesiastical events. As abbot of Ferrieres he devoted himself to the spiritual and earthly concerns of the monastery. He waged a war of letters to try and regain the land of Ferrieres which had been handed over to a private owner thereby causing the monastery's revenue to drop.

Military service

In these days it was common for abbots to serve as soldiers if the king decided to go to war. Ferrieres was one of these monasteries that had to provide soldiers and accommodate them. Lupus was not fond of leading soldiers into battle. He wrote a letter to the bishop of Pordalus begging him to use his authority to influence the king so that he could carry on as an abbot, not as a military leader. During the war between Charles the Bald and Pepin I of Aquitaine
Pepin I of Aquitaine
Pepin I was King of Aquitaine.-Biography:He was the second son of Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye....

 he was captured at the battle of Toulouse and held prisoner. Shortly after his capture he was ransomed with several other high ranking men.

Public affairs

In 844 he was sent to Burgundy to carry out the monastic reforms decreed by the Synod of Germigny (843), and attended the Synod of Verneuil
Verneuil
-Places in France:*Verneuil, Charente, in the Charente département*Verneuil, Cher, in the Cher département*Verneuil, Marne, in the Marne département*Verneuil, Nièvre, in the Nièvre département...

 on the Oise, the canon had been written by him. He was also present at several other councils, notably that of Soissons
Soissons
Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones...

 in 853, and played an important part in the contemporary controversy regarding predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...

. He believed in a twofold predestination, not indeed in the sense that God predestined some men to damnation, but that he foreknew the sins of men and foreordained consequent punishment. "Lupus not only took part in the most lively ecclesiastical controversy of his age, but also, by the method of his treatment, showed himself a skilled dialectician at the time when dialectics were still very imperfectly developed." In 847 Lupus accompanied Charles the Bald to the First Conference of Meersen where the three brothers swore peace with each other again. He was sent to Pope Leo IV in 849. Following the invasion by Nominoe the governor of Brittany
Governor of Brittany
This page is a list of royal governors of Brittany during the Ancien Regime.*Nominoe, 9th century*Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy from 1380*Jean de Laval, husband of Françoise de Foix, 16th century*Louis III de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier 1569-1582...

 Lupus composed the letter of censure. His last civic appearance was in 862 at the Synod of Pistes where he drew up a sentence against Robert archbishop of Mans.

The closing years of the life of Lupus were saddened by the threatened devastation of his monastery by the invading Normans. He occupies a prominent place in medieval literary history, being one of the most cultured and refined men of the ninth century.

Writings

During the reign of Charles the Bald an enormous amount of written material was produced. Lupus' letters, of which 132 remain, are distinguished for literary elegance and valuable historical information. Most of these letters were written to church officials, monks in neighboring monasteries, clergymen, Popes Benedict III
Pope Benedict III
Pope Benedict III was Pope from September 29, 855 to April 17, 858.Little is known of Benedict's life before his papacy. He was educated and lived in Rome and was cardinal priest of S. Callisto at the time of his election. Benedict had a reputation for learning and piety. He was elected upon the...

 and Nicholas I
Pope Nicholas I
Pope Nicholas I, , or Saint Nicholas the Great, reigned from April 24, 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority and power, exerting decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe.He...

, Charles the Bald and the emperor Lothair. His own writings show him as a classicist and admirer of the Ciceronian style. He made his vast translation of Cicero's letters serve as a code of communicating with other well-read individuals.

Was requested in 839 by Waldo the abbot of St. Maximin of Treves to write the Life of St. Maximin Bishop of Trier (d. 349) and a "Life of St. Wigbert", Abbot of Fritzlar
Fritzlar
Fritzlar is a small German town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. It can reasonably be argued that the town is the site where the Christianization of northern Germany began and the birthplace of the German empire as a political entity.The...

 in Hesse (d. 747). He also wrote his Epistolae in which almost on every page had forms of direct quotations and paraphrases revealing his familiarity of the Vulgate edition.

In the controversy on predestination he wrote his "De tribus quaestionibus", a work which treated of the threefold question of free will, predestination, and the universality of redemption. To illustrate the teaching of the Church on these topics he brought together pertinent passages from the Fathers in his "Collectaneum de tribus quaestionibus".

Literary contribution

Lupus made a tireless quest of manuscripts of classic authors, as it has long been known to readers of his letters. It is because of his passion for copying and preserving manuscripts so that they may be passed on that he is regarded as an influential literate figure and the first humanist. Though his personal works and letters discuss theological matters it was not his chief interest. Philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 was his desired area of expertise. Scholars have increasingly become aware of the detailed examination that Lupus undertook when studying his acquired texts.The scholar E.K. Rand of Harvard University reveals:

"...no less than five manuscripts that contain the corrections or collations of Lupus and one that is entirely written by that scholar himself."

These manuscripts are rewrites of Cicero's De Oratore, De Inventione, Letters, Commentary
Commentary (philology)
In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and...

 on Virgil
(whom Lupus directly knew) and a revision of Codex Bernisis 366 and his Epistolae.
Over the years modern scholars have made investigations as to what Lupus had participated in. Charles H. Beeson
Charles H. Beeson
Charles Henry Beeson was an American classical scholar. His book A Primer of Medieval Latin: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry has remained since its publication in 1935 one of the leading texts used by students learning post-classical Latin. In addition, he was an active researcher and reviewer,...

has been the foremost scholar on Lupus Servatus. Beeson took to studying the different handwriting styles of manuscripts according to area of the Early Middle Ages. He concluded that Lupus had written or been a part of copying texts more than originally thought. Lupus had a rigid adherence to the rules of the Roman grammarians for the division of syllables, whereby any pronounceable group of consonants is placed with the following vowel. Lupus conformed to this rule in his personal practice, but made the texts that he collected adhere to the style.

Secondary sources

  • Beeson, Charles H. (1948). Classical Philology Vol. 43, No.3. The University of Chicago Press
  • Graipey, Robert J. (1967). Lupus of Ferrieres and the Classics. The Monographic Press
  • Laitner, M.L.W. (1931) Thought and Letters in Western Europe-A.D. 500-900. New York
  • Nelson, Janet L. (1992). Charles the Bald. Longman Group
  • Rand, E.K. (1931). Speculum Vol. 6, No.3. Medieval Academy of America
  • Regenos, Graydon W. (1966). The Letters of Lupus Servatus. Martinus Nijoff. The Hague
  • Rodgers, R.H. (1987). Speculum Vol. 62, No.1. Medieval Academy of America

External links

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