medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (25. May) is the feast day of:
Aldhelm (d. 709) Aldhelm was a West Saxon, a monk at Malmesbury who
became abbot of Sherborne in 705. A. was the first significant
English scholar, the writer of poetry in both English and Latin (only
some Latin works are extant).
Bede (d. 735) The second great English scholar, greatly
overshadowing Aldhelm. Bede was a child oblate at Wearmouth, in time
transferred to the sister monastery of Jarrow. He was a polymath,
one of the most learned men of western Europe in his time. His
biblical exegesis was very popular in the Middle Ages, he helped
establish the system of dating events from the birth of Christ, and
today is most famous for his Ecclesiastical History of the English
People. His cult was not really established before the Reformation,
but he became a doctor of the church in 1899.
Egilhard (d. 881) Egilhard was abbot of Benedict of Aniane's model
monastery of Kornelimunster near Aachen. While visiting Berchem
(Belgium) he was killed by raiding vikings; he's venerated as a
martyr.
Gennadius of Astorga (d. c. 936) Gennadius was a monk of Argeo (near
Astorga, Spain). He was the restoring abbot of San Pedro de Montes
and helped spread use of the Benedictine Rule in Leon and Galicia.
He spent six years as bishop of Astorga before retiring to be a
hermit.
Gregory VII (d. 1085) Many suspect Gregory is in a much warmer place
than heaven (one thread of Reformation polemic insisted he was the
Antichrist), but he was canonized in 1606. The monk Hildebrand
became part of the inner papal reform circle, serving five popes as
archdeacon before he became pope himself in 1073. He then proceeded
with inflexible clerical reform, based on a very high assessment of
pontifical authority, quickly coming into conflict with Henry IV of
Germany and fomenting a civil war in Germany that undermined imperial
power with devastating effectiveness. Gregory himself died in exile
in Salerno, but his pontificate is seen as the effective beginning of
the centralized power and claims of the later medieval papacy.
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