Secondary Sources
New CBEL 1:646–47.
Manual 3:746–56, 903-08.
Burrow, J.A. “Hoccleve’s Series: Experience and Books.” In
Fifteenth-Century Studies: Recent Essays, ed. R.F. Yeager.
Hamden: Archon, 1984, pp. 259–73.
Burrow, J.A. Thomas Hoccleve. Aldershot: Variorum, 1994.
Greetham, D.C. “Self-Referential Artifacts: Hoccleve’s Persona
As a Literary Device.” MP 86 (1989): 242–51.
Mitchell, Jerome. “Hoccleve Studies, 1965–81.” In Fifteenth-
Century Studies: Recent Essays, ed. R.F. Yeager. Hamden:
Archon, 1984, pp. 49–63.
James Simpson
HRABANUS MAURUS
(ca. 780–February 4, 856)
The name Hrabanus derives from the Old High German
word for “raven”; Maurus is a nickname he acquired
later, perhaps from his teacher Alcuin, and it pays trib-
ute to his dutiful piety as a disciple: Saint Maurus was
Saint Benedict’s favorite pupil. For his encyclopedic
learning and the energy he manifested in administration
and teaching, Hrabanus Maurus was dubbed in early
modern times praeceptor Germaniae (the teacher of
Germany).
Born at Mainz around 780 of noble Frankish parents,
Hrabanus was given as a child to the monastery of Fulda.
There, he was ordained deacon (801) before being sent
for further education under Alcuin at Tours. He returned
to Fulda, fi rst as head of the cloister school and later as
abbot (822–842). Upon resigning as abbot, he went into
seclusion near Fulda at Petersberg. Later, he was named
archbishop of Mainz (847), an offi ce he held until his
death on February 4, 856.
Hrabanus made a major contribution in educating
young men, such as Otfrid von Weißenburg, Lupus of
Ferrières, and Walahfrid Strabo, who became the fore-
most churchmen, scholars, and poets of the next gen-
eration. Unfortunately, he is also remembered for one
major failure in mentoring: he fi rst forced Gottschalk of
Orbais, a monk at Fulda, to take the tonsure against his
will and later persecuted him, with severe beatings and
imprisonment, for his beliefs on predestination.
Many of Hrabanus’ numerous writings are derivative
compilations. He sought to make available the schol-
arship of earlier eras by taking extracts from original
works and knitting them together into a coherent whole,
so that students and churchmen who did not have ex-
tensive libraries at their disposal could fi nd in his works
the essentials they needed for building their faith and
extending their intellectual training.
De institutione clericorum (On the education of the
clergy) is typical of Hrabanus’ oeuvre in being replete
with excerpted material. The fi rst book sets forth the
various ecclesiastical grades, liturgical vestments, and
instruction to be given to catechumens; the second deals
with liturgy; and the third focuses on liberal education,
especially with the goal of training preachers.
Hrabanus wrote biblical commentaries on the his-
torical books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch), some
prophets (Jeremiah and Ezekiel), one of the Gospels
(Matthew), and the epistles of Paul. In his exegeses,
Hrabanus consistently excerpts patristic writers, such as
Isidore’s and Bede, and supplies little of his own writing
apart from allegorical and mystical interpretations.
Hrabanus’s erudition and writing ability perhaps
culminated in his encyclopedic De rerum naturis (later
called De universo), in which he relies on Isidore’s
Etymologies as both source and inspiration. As in his
exegeses, Hrabanus distinguishes himself from his pre-
decessor by supplying allegorical explications.
Among his poems, the most successful was the De
laudibus sanctae crucis, the fi rst book of which contains
a collection of twenty-eight carmina fi gurata (pattern or
fi gure poems) that are arranged to form intricate designs.
The second book offers a prose paraphrase.
Most of his other poems are conventional compo-
sitions in distichs and hexameters, but he also wrote
rhythmic poetry and hymns.
Hrabanus, although not original, was an erudite and
prolifi c scholar, whose efforts in extracting and synthe-
sizing the writings of earlier interpreters served well the
needs of his contemporaries and successors.
See also Charlemagne; Otfrid, Walafrid StraboFurther Reading
Brunhölzl, Franz. Histoire de la littérature latine du moyen âge,
vol. 1 “De Cassiodore à la fi n de la renaissance carolingienne”;
vol. 2 “L’époque carolingienne,” trans. Henri Rochais, with
bibliographic supplements by Jean-Paul Bouhot. Turnhout:
Brepols, 1991, pp. 84–98, 282–286.
Dümmler, Ernst, ed. Hrabani Mauri carmina. In: Monumenta
Germaniae Historica Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini 2. Berlin:
Weidmann, 1884, pp. 154–258.
Knöpfl er, Alois, ed. Rabani Mauri de institutione clericorum
libri tres. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Kirchenhistorischen
Seminar München. Munich: Verlag der J. J. Lentner’schen
Buchhandlung, 1900.
Kottje, Raymund. “Hrabanus Maurus.” In Die deutsche Literatur
des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, ed. Kurt Ruh, et al. 2nd ed.
Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1988, vol. 4, cols. 166–196.
Migne, J.-P., ed. Patrologiae cursus completus; series latina, 221
vols. Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1844–1864, vols. 107–112.
Jan M. ZiolkowskiHROSVIT OF GANDERSHEIM (10th c.)
Born in the fourth decade of the tenth century, Hrosvit
lived and wrote in the Gandersheim Abbey in Saxony,
during the abbey’s “Golden Age” under Gerberga II’s
rule. Her name, “Strong Voice (or Testimony),” ex-HROSVIT OF GANDERSHEIM