of those of the unfortunate Gottschalk. The cause he defended was a just and noble one, and his
failure to stem the tide setting toward anarchy in Church and State was fraught with far-reaching
consequences.
His Writings.
His writings reveal his essentially practical character. They are very numerous, but usually
very short. In contents they are designed for the most part to answer a temporary purpose. This
makes them all the more interesting to the historian, but in the same degree of less permanent
importance. The patristic learning they exhibit is considerable, and the ability great; but the
circumstances of his life as prelate precluded him from study and quiet thought, so he was content
to rely upon the labors of others and reproduce and adapt their arguments and information to his
own design. Only the more important can be here mentioned. Some twenty-three writings are known
to be lost.^1388
I. Writings in the Gottschalk Controversy.^1389- The first was in 855, Divine Predestination and the Freedom of the Will. It was in three
books. All has perished, except the prefatory epistle to Charles the Bald.^1390
- At the request of this king he wrote a second treatise upon the same subject.^1391
- In 857 he refuted the charge made against him by Gottschalk and Ratramnus that in
altering a line of a hymn from "Te, trina Deitas," to "Te, sancta Deitas," he showed a Sabellian
leaning.^1392
II. Writings in the Hincmar of Laon Controversy.^1393 They consist of letters from each
disputant to the other, formal charges against Hincmar of Laon, the sentence of his deposition, the
synodical letter to Pope Hadrian II. and the letter of Hincmar of Laon to the same.
III. Writings relative to political and social affairs.
- The divorce of king Lothair and queen Theutberga.^1394 This treatise dates from 863 and
is the reply to thirty questions upon the general subject asked Hincmar by different bishops. It
reveals his firm belief in witches, sorcery and trial by ordeal, and abounds in interesting and valuable
allusions to contemporary life and manners.^1395
- Addresses and prayers at the coronation of Charles the Bald, his son Louis II. the
Stammerer, his daughter Judith, and his wife Hermintrude.^1396
- The personal character of the king and the royal administration.^1397 It is dedicated to
Charles the Bald, and is avowedly a compilation. The Scriptures and the Fathers, chiefly Ambrose,
(^1388) See Hist. Lit. de la France, l.c. The philosophical treatise De diversa et multiplici animae ratione (Migne, CXXV. col.
929-952) is probably falsely attributed to him. Cf. Ebert, l.c. p. 250.
(^1389) See pp. 528 sqq.
(^1390) Migne, CXXV. col. 49-56.
(^1391) De Praedestinatione, ibid. col. 55-474.
(^1392) Collectio de una et non trina Deitate, ibid. col. 473-618.
(^1393) Opuscula et epistolae in causa Hincmari Laudunensis, Migne, CXXVI. col. 279-648.
(^1394) De divortio Lotharii regis et Tetbergae reginae, Migne, CXXV. col. 619-772.
(^1395) See especially Inter. vi., xvii., xviii., ibid. col. 659-673, 726-730.
(^1396) Coronationes regiae ibid. col. 803-818.
(^1397) De regis persona et regio ministerio, ibid. col. 833-856.