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WALAFRID 1 STRABO (or Strabus, i.e. "...

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 251 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WALAFRID 1 See also:

STRABO (or Strabus, i.e. " See also:squint-eyed ") (d. 849)  , See also:German See also:monk and theological writer, was See also:born about 8o8 in See also:Swabia . He was educated at the monastery of See also:Reichenau, near See also:Constance, where he had for his teachers Tatto and See also:Wettin, to whose visions he devotes one of his poems . Then he went on to See also:Fulda, where he studied for some See also:time under Hrabanus Maurus before returning to Reichenau, of which monastery he was made See also:abbot in 838 . There is a See also:story—based, however, on no See also:good See also:evidence—that Walafrid devoted himself so closely to letters as to neglect the duties of his See also:office, owing to which he was expelled from his See also:house; but, from his own verses, it seems that the real cause of his See also:flight to See also:Spires was that, notwithstanding the fact that he had been See also:tutor to See also:Charles the Bald, he espoused the See also:side of his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Lothair on the See also:death cf See also:Louis the Pious in 84o . He was, however, restored to his monastery in 842, and died on the 18th of See also:August 849, on an See also:embassy to his former See also:pupil . His See also:epitaph was written by Hrabanus Maurus, whose elegiacs praise him for being the faithful See also:guardian of his monastery . Walafrid See also:Strabo's See also:works are theological, See also:historical and poetical . Of his theological works the most famous is the See also:great exegetical compilation which, under the name of Glosa ordinaria or the Glosa, ,emained for some 500 years the most widespread and important See also:quarry of See also:medieval biblical See also:science, and even survived the Re-formation, passing into numerous See also:editions as See also:late as the 17th See also:century (see Hist. litteraire de la See also:France, t. v. p . 59 ff.) . The See also:oldest known copy, in four See also:folio volumes, of which the date and origin are unknown, but which is certainly almost entirely Walafrid's See also:work, gives us his method . In the See also:middle of the pages is the Latin See also:text of the See also:Bible; in the margins are the " glosses," consisting of a very full collection of patristic excerpts in See also:illustration and explanation of the text . There is also an exposition of the first twenty See also:psalms (published by Pez in Anecdota nova, iv.) and an See also:epitome of Hrabanus Maurus's commenta:y on See also:Leviticus .

An Expositio quatuor Evangeliorum is also ascribed to Walaf rid . Of singular See also:

interest also is his De exordiis et incrementis rerum ecdesiasticarum, written between 84o and 842 and dedicated to Regenbert the librarian . It deals in 32 chapters with ecclesiastical usages, churches, altars, prayers, bells, pictures, See also:baptism and the See also:Holy Communion . Incidentally he introduces into his explanations the current German expressions for the things he is treating of, with the See also:apology that See also:Solomon had i In the oldest See also:MSS. this is always spelt " Walahfrid."set him the example by keeping monkeys as well as peacocks at his See also:court . Of See also:special interest is the fact that Walafrid, in his exposition of the See also:Mass, shows no trace of any belief in the See also:doctrine of See also:transubstantiation as taught by his famous contemporary Radbertus (q.v.); according to him, See also:Christ gave to his disciples the sacraments of his See also:Body and See also:Blood in the substance of See also:bread and See also:wine, and taught them to celebrate them as a memorial of his See also:Passion . Walafrid's See also:chief historical works are the rhymed Vita sancti Gatti, which, though written nearly two centuries after this See also:saint's death, is still the See also:primary authority for his See also:life, and a much shorter life of St Othmar, abbot of St See also:Gall (d . 759).2 A See also:critical edition of them by E . See also:Dummler is in the Monumenta Germaniae hist . Poetae See also:Latini, ii . (1884), p . 259 if . Walafrid's poetical works also include a See also:short life of St Blaithmaic, a high-born monk of See also:Iona, murdered by the Danes in the first See also:half of the 9th century; a life of St Mammas; and a Libor de visionibus Wettini .

This last poem, like the two preceding ones written in hexameters, was composed at the command of " See also:

Father " Adalgisus, and based upon the See also:prose narrative of Heto, abbot of Reichenau from 806 to 822 . It is dedicated to Wettin's brother See also:Grimald . At the time he sent it to Grimald Walafrid had, as he himself tells us, hardly passed his eighteenth See also:year, and he begs his correspondent to revise his verses, because, as it is not lawful for a monk to hide anything from his abbot," he fears he may be beaten with deserved stripes . In this curious See also:vision Wettin saw Charles the Great suffering purgatorial tortures because of his incontinence . The name of the ruler alluded to is not indeed introduced into the actual text, but " Carolus Imperator " See also:form the initial letters of the passage dealing with this subject . Many of Walafrid's other poems are, or include, short addresses to See also:kings and queens (Lothair, Charles, Louis, See also:Pippin, See also:Judith, &c.) and to See also:friends (See also:Einhard, Grimald, Hrabanus Maurus, Tatto, Ebbo, See also:archbishop of See also:Reims, Drogo, See also:bishop of See also:Metz, &c.) . His most famous poem is the Hortulus, dedicated to Grimald . It is an See also:account of a little See also:garden that he used to tend with his own hands, and is largely made up of descriptions of the various herbs he grows there and their medicinal and other uses . See also:Sage holds the See also:place of See also:honour; then comes See also:rue, the antidote of poisons; and so on through melons, See also:fennel, lilies, poppies, and many other See also:plants, to See also:wind up with the See also:rose, " which in virtue and See also:scent surpasses all other herbs, and may rightly be called the See also:flower of See also:flowers." The curious poem De Imagine Tetrici takes the form of a See also:dialogue; it was inspired by an equestrian statue of See also:Theodoric the Great which stood in front of See also:Charlemagne's See also:palace at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle . For a bibliography of Walafrid's historical works, and of writings dealing with them, see See also:Potthast, Bibliotheca hist. med. aevi (See also:Berlin, 1894), p . 1102 if . Walafrid's works are published in See also:Migne's Patrologia See also:Latina, vols. cxiii. and cxiv .

For further references see the See also:

article by Eduard See also:Reuss and A . Hauck in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie (See also:Leipzig, 1908), xx . 790 .

End of Article: WALAFRID 1 STRABO (or Strabus, i.e. " squint-eyed ") (d. 849)
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