Remigius of Auxerre

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Remigius (Remi) of Auxerre (ca. 850 — 908) was a Benedictine theologian and a prolific author, a collector of commentaries on works of classical Latin.[1]

[edit] Biography

Remigius was a disciple of Lupus of Ferrières and Heiric of Auxerre, who was himself a disciple of Johannes Scotus Eriugena.[2] He also borrowed heavily in his commentaries from the Irish teacher Dunchad of Reims, Eriugena, Sedulius Scottus, and Martin of Laon. "Usually, in accordance with Gresham's law of scholarship, Remigius' commentaries ultimately drove from the field those from which he had so generously borrowed," J.P.Elder has remarked.[3]

He taught at the monastery of Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, in Paris and at Reims. As a teacher, Remigius interested himself in the problem of universals, and seems to have attempted a compromise between the extreme Realism of Eriugena and the Anti-Realism of his teacher Eric.

He also investigated the problem of the origin of the universe and in his commentary on Martianus Capella gave a Christian interpretation to the passages in which Martianus Capella speaks of the invisible world of Platonic ideas.

[edit] Writings

He is the author of a number of glossaries and marginal commentaries on books of the Bible, such as Ennarationes in Psalmos, on the grammar of Priscian, the "Opuscula Sacra" of Boethius, and Martianus Capella. He wrote commentaries on Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae, Donatus, Eutyches, Beda, the Disticha Catonis, Sedulius and Phocas' Ars de nomine.[4]

His glosses, which borrowed freely from earlier scoliasts, are of very great interest to the student of medieval Latin philology.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Un commento del commento", according to C. Marchese, "Gli scoliasti di Persico" Rivita di Filologia39-40 (1911-12), noted by J. P. Elder, "A Mediaeval Cornutus on Persius" Speculum 22.2 (April 1947, pp. 240-248), p 240, note; 243f.
  2. ^ "Remigius of Auxerre". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  3. ^ J. P. Elder, "A Mediaeval Cornutus on Persius" Speculum 22.2 (April 1947, pp. 240-248), pp 243f.
  4. ^ M. Esposito, "A Ninth-Century Commentary on Phocas" The Classical Quarterly 13.3/4 (July 1919), pp. 166-169.


This article incorporates text from the entry Remigius of Auxerre in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

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