Hincmar, Notingus and Count Eberhard upon predestination. Epist. vii. to Louis the German; the
acts of the Mainz council of 848. Epist. viii. on Gottschalk, a synodical letter to Hincmar.
VII. Poems. Raban was no poetic genius; yet he had carefully studied prosody and he was
able to write verses to his friends and for different occasions.^1269 He also wrote some epitaphs,
including his own. His most extraordinary production is a long poem, "The praise of the Cross."
This was begun at the suggestion of Alcuin in Tours, but not completed until 815. It is a monument
of misdirected skill and patience. He presents twenty-eight drawings by his friend Hatto. Some are
geometrical, others are of persons or objects. The page on which is the drawing is filled in by a
stanza of the poem, the letters of which are regularly spaced and some are purposely arranged in
prominent and peculiar positions so that they catch the eye and form other words. Each stanza is
followed by an explanatory section in prose, and the second book is a prose treatise upon the subject.
The whole is prefaced by three poems; the first pleads for the intercession of Alcuin, the second is
the dedication to the Pope, and the third, "The figure Of Caesar" is the dedication to Louis the
Pious. Alcuin had written a poem, "On the Holy Cross," upon a somewhat similar plan. So that the
suggestion may have come from him, but the idea may be traced to Fortunatus. This poem of Raban
Maur was very popular in the Middle Age and was considered a marvel of ingenuity.
The hymns of Raban are few in number, for although many have been attributed to him his
right to most of them is very doubtful.
§ 168. Haymo.
I. Haymo, Halberstatensis episcopus: Opera, in Migne, Tom. CXVI.-CXVIII.
II. Paul Anton: De vita et doctrina Haymonis, Halle, 1700, 2d ed. 1705; C. G. Derling: Comm.
Hist. de Haymone, Helmstädt, 1747. Ceillier XII. 434–439. Hist. Lit. de la France, V. 111–126.
Bähr, 408–413.
Haymo (Haimo, Aymo, Aimo) was a Saxon, and was probably born about 778. He took monastic
vows at Fulda, was sent by, his abbot (Ratgar) with his intimate friend Rabanus Maurus in 803 to
Tours to study under Alcuin; on his return he taught at Fulda until in 839 he was chosen abbot of
Hirschfeld. In 841 he was consecrated bishop of Halberstadt. In 848 he sat in the Council of Mayence
which condemned Gottschalk. He founded at considerable expense the cathedral library of
Halberstadt, which unfortunately was burnt in 1179. He died March 27, 853. He was an excellent
scholar. As an exegete he was simple and clear, but rather too verbal.
His writings are voluminous, and were first published by the Roman Catholics in the
Reformation period (1519–36). They teach a freer and less prejudiced Catholic theology than the
Tridentine. Thus he denies that Peter founded the Roman church, that the pope has universal
supremacy, and rejects the Paschasian doctrine of transubstantiation. His works consist principally
of (1) Commentaries.^1270 He wrote or compiled upon the Psalms, certain songs in the Old Testament,
Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Canticles, Pauline Epistles and the Apocalypse.
(^1269) Carmina, ibid. col. 1583-1682.
(^1270) Migne, CXVI. col. 193-CXVII. col. 1220.