SEDULIUS SCOTTUSNelson, E. Charles, and Roger Stailey. “Medieval naturalism
and the botanical carvings at Corcomroe Abbey (County
Clare).” Gesta XXVIII/2, 1989, 165–174.
Roe, Helen M. Medieval Fonts of Meath, 1968.
See also Altar-tombs; Architecture; Carolingian
Influence; High Crosses; Iconography
SEDULIUS SCOTTUS
Few dates can be assigned with any reliability to this
important figure, who, during the Renaissance and
even afterwards was conflated with the late Roman
poet (Caelius) Sedulius, author of the Carmen pas-
chale. Sedulius Scottus flourished in the middle of the
ninth century at Liège, where he was the nominal head
of a circle of Irish scholars. His special patron was
Bishop Hartgar of Liège to whom Sedulius dedicated
a number of poems, including a lament on his death.
He also addressed poems to King Louis, King Charles
(the Bald), and to Emperor Lothar and Empress
Ermingard. Beyond these he mentions a number of his
Irish friends, some of whose names appear in ninth-
century manuscripts as contributors of glosses or scho-
lia, notably Fergus and (Bishop?) Marcus.
As with John Scottus Eriugena, we do not know a
great deal about Sedulius’s early education in Ireland.
Traces of Irish influence can be seen in his use of
material found also in the Collectio canonum hibern-
ensis, and the use of Pelagius. It is also possible that
Sedulius gained a rudimentary knowledge of Greek
in his homeland. However, his command of a variety
of classical metres was almost certainly not acquired
at home, nor was his exceptional knowledge of clas-
sical Latin literature (which far exceeded that of John
Scottus).
Sedulius’s activities as a writer and scholar were
richly diverse. He wrote biblical commentaries, com-
mentaries on three grammarians (Priscian, Eutyches,
and Donatus’s Ars minor and maior), numerous poems,
and a long treatise entitled De rectoribus christianis
(“On Christian Rulers”). He was also responsible for
the Collectaneum, a large anthology of selections from
classical and patristic writers that affords a glimpse
into the state of learning during the third generation
of the Carolingians. Sedulius also wrote scholia on
classical poets.
Two major works of scriptural scholarship are the
work of Sedulius: Collectaneum in omnes beati Pauli
epistolas, based prominently but not exclusively on
Pelagius and Jerome, and the Collectaneum in
Mattheum, a miscellany of commentary on the Gospel
of Matthew. Shorter works include a commentary on the
Eusebian Canons, Expositio in epistolam Hieronimi ad
Damasam papam and the Expositio argumenti Hieron-
imi in decem canones, as well as the Explanatiuncula
in argumentum secundum Matthaeum, Marcum, Lucam.
Another significant contribution to biblical studies
is his autograph copy of the Greek psalter (not
glossed or translated, Paris, Bibliothéque de l’Arsénal,
MS 8407).
Sedulius’s Collectaneum on Paul has been espe-
cially valuable to modern scholars interested in recon-
structing Pelagius’s commentary on the Apostle’s
writings; it further demonstrates the enduring interest
of the Irish in Pelagius’s work. Sedulius’s text of Paul
was probably not Pelagius’s own version, as once
thought, but a variant of the type of biblical text trans-
mitted in Ireland. In the prologue he outlines the sub-
ject of the Epistles according to the seven circumstantiae
(persona, res, causa, tempus, locus, modus, materia sive
facultas), a type of accessus found in several other
ninth-century Irish commentaries.
The grammatical commentaries, now in modern
editions, tell us much about Sedulius’s reading and
erudition. In commenting on Donatus’s Ars maior, for
example, Sedulius cites the opinions of other gram-
marians on the use of grammatical terms, or other
grammatical questions. He often seizes the opportunity
to explain a lemma with a Greek equivalent, or to
expand a mythological reference, even to give full
argumenta of literary works cited. Biblical passages
are cited alongside secular ones. The commentary on
Priscian’s Institutiones is another testament to ninth-
century Irish interest in that grammarian. In addition
to the commentary by John Scottus Eriugena (as yet
unprinted), there are several glossed manuscripts of
the Institutiones from the ninth century written in Irish
hands, of which the most famous is St. Gall (904,
recently edited). An interesting feature of the commen-
tary on Eutyches is evidence for the continuing use of
Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, whose text tradition
originated in Ireland.
The De rectoribus christianis is an example of a
Fürstenspiegel (“mirror of princes,” i.e., treatises that
give advice to rulers). Several of these were written in
the Carolingian period (by Smaragdus of St. Mihiel,
Jonas of Orléans, Dhuoda, and Hincmar of Reims).
Sedulius’s De rectoribus is unusual in that it is a pro-
simetrum, the metrical forms being almost as diverse
as those found in Boethius’s Consolatio, which doubt-
less served as its formal model. The work is more a
showpiece of erudition than a political tract. Many of
the texts cited in the work were also used in Sedulius’s
other Collectaneum (to be distinguished from the bib-
lical commentaries with the same title). This last is a
collection of excerpts from classical and patristic writ-
ers. The selection of works seems clearly to have been
based on their relevance to moral questions and prac-
tical wisdom; some of the excerpts also appear in the
Collectio canonum hibernensis. Examples of secular