GOTTSCHALK
(ca. 803-ca. 867/69). Saxon theologian and poet, author of works on predestination that
aroused controversy in 9th-century France. Gottschalk was presented by his father,
Berno, as an oblate to the Benedictine monastery of Fulda. His boyhood was spent at
Fulda, where Rabanus Maurus was abbot, and at Reichenau. In 829, Gottschalk
petitioned a church synod at Mainz to be released from his monastic vows, claiming that
his profession had not been voluntary and was not binding since there had been no Saxon
witnesses present. The synod agreed that Gottschalk could return to secular life but did
not agree to return the inheritance given by his father to Fulda. Rabanus Maurus won a
reversal of that decision at a synod at Worms. Gottschalk spent the next ten years at
Orbais and Corbie, where he dedicated himself to a study of the writings of Augustine.
He was ordained a priest in the late 830s, apparently without the approval of the bishop
of Soissons, in whose jurisdiction such ordination rested.
During a pilgrimage to Rome in the 840s, Gottschalk taught and preached about
predestination in Italy and the Balkans and made visits to Count Eberhard of Friuli and
Bishop Noting of Brescia. News of Gottschalk’s teachings provoked Rabanus Maurus,
who compelled him to return to Francia. In 848, Gottschalk was condemned twice, at
synods at Mainz and Quierzy-sur-Oise. The second synod ordered him whipped and
imprisoned at the monastery of Hautvillers. His writings were burned, and his ordination
to the priesthood was revoked. Gottschalk continued to write, principally on
predestination, until his death. A number of influential theologians, including Florus of
Lyon, Prudentius of Troyes, and Ratramnus of Corbie wrote in support of Gottschalk’s
ideas on predestination, although these views were condemned by such important
ecclesiastical figures as Amalarius of Metz, Hincmar of Reims, Johannes Scottus
Eriugena, and of course Rabanus Maurus. On an official level, Gottschalk’s teachings
were repeatedly condemned: at the synod of Quierzy-sur-Oise in 853 and at numerous
other synods and national councils in the 850s and 860s. An appeal to Rome on
Gottschalk’s behalf made by Guntbert of Hautvillers in 866 was cut short by the death of
Pope Nicholas I.
The theological position that led to this drama is difficult to reconstruct because of the
fragmentary nature of Gottschalk’s extant writings. It seems to have been a logical
derivation from the late writings of Augustine, stressing the point that God had, from
eternity, not only foreseen but also predestined either the salvation and dam-nation of
every human being. What was absolutely unacceptable to his contemporaries was the
conclusion that Jesus therefore died only for the saved, and that the sacraments, even
baptism, were not efficacious for all.
In spite of the condemnation of his contemporaries and the increasingly harsh
treatment he received, Gott-schalk never renounced his position but continued to write,
with increasing complexity, until his death. His later works include speculation on the
eucharist, supporting the posi tion of Ratramnus of Corbie over that of Paschasius
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