ERMOLDUS NIGELLUS, or ERMOLD THE

BLACK  , was a monk of Aquitaine, who accompanied King Pippin, son of the emperor Louis I., on a campaign into Brittany in 824 . Subsequently he was banished from Pippin's court on a charge of inciting the king against his father, and retired to Strassburg, where he sought to regain the emperor's favour by writing a poem on his life and deeds . About 83o he obtained his recall, and has been identified with Hermoldus, who appears as Pippin's chancellor in 838 . Ermoldus was a cultured man with a knowledge of the Latin poets, and his poem, In honorem Hludovici imperatoris, has some historical value . It consists of four books and deals with the life and exploits of Louis from 781 to 826 . He also wrote two poems in imitation of Ovid, 'which were addressed to Pippin .. His writings are published in the Monumenta Germaniae historica . Scriptores, Band 2 (Hanover, 1826 fol.); by J . P . Migne in the Patrologia Latina, tome Io5 (Paris, 1844); and by E . DiImmler in the Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Band 2 (Berlin, 1881-1884) . See W .

O . Henkel, Ober den historischen

Werth der Gedichte des Ermoldus Nigellus (Eilenburg, 1876) ; W . Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, Band I (Berlin, 19o4); and A . Potthast, Bibliotheca historica, pp . 430-431 (Berlin, 1896) .