- Letters.^1192 There are seventy-one in all; many of them defective. They are mostly very
brief and on matters of business. Several are addressed to Louis and Lothair, and one to Servatus
Lupus on the death of his (Einhard’s) wife, which deserves particular attention.
§ 165. Smaragdus.
I. Smaragdus, abbas monasterii Sancti Michaelis Virdunensis: Opera omnia in Migne, Tom. CII.
cols. 9–980: with Pitra’s notes, cols. 1111–1132. His Carmina are in Dümmler, Poetae Latini
aevi Carolini, I. 605–619.
II. Hauréau: Singularités historiques et littéraires. Paris, 1861 (pp. 100 sqq.) H. Keil: De grammaticis
quibusdam latinis infimae aetatis (Program). Erlangen, 1868. Hist. Lit. de la France, IV.
439–447. Ceillier, XII. 254–257. Bähr, 362–364. Ebert, II. 108–12.
Of the early life of Smaragdus nothing is known. He joined the Benedictine order of monks,
and after serving as principal of the convent school was elected about 805 abbot of the monastery
on Mt. Castellion. Sometime later he moved his monks a few miles away and founded the monastery
of St. Mihiel on the banks of the Meuse, in the diocese of Verdun. He was a man of learning and
of practical activity. In consequence he was highly esteemed by the two monarchs under whom he
lived, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. The former employed him to write the letter to Pope Leo
III. in which was communicated the decision of the council of Aix la Chapelle (809) respecting the
adoption of the Filioque, and sent him to Rome with the commissioners to lay the matter before
the pope. He acted as secretary, and drew up the protocol. Louis the Pious showed him equal
consideration, richly endowed his monastery, and in 824 appointed him to act with Frotharius,
bishop of Toul (813837) as arbitrator between Ismund, abbot of Milan, and his monks. Smaragdus
died about 840.
His writings show diligence and piety, but no originality. His published works in prose are:
(1) Collections of Comments on the Epistle and Gospel for each holy day in the year,^1193 an uncritical
but comprehensive compilation from numerous ecclesiastical writers, prepared for the use of
preachers, and described by the author as a liber comitis. (2) The monk’s diadem,^1194 a collection
in one hundred chapters of ascetic rules and reflections concerning the principal duties and virtues
of the monastic life. It is for the most part a compilation. The sources are the Collectiones patrum
of Cassian and the writings of Gregory the Great. Smaragdus made it after his elevation to the
abbotship and enjoined its daily evening reading upon his monks.^1195 It proved to be a very popular
work, was widely circulated during the Middle Age, and has been repeatedly published.^1196 (3)
Commentary upon the rule of St. Benedict^1197 undertaken in aid of the monastic reforms instituted
(^1192) Epistolae in Migne, ibid. col. 509-538.
(^1193) Collectiones in epistolas et evangelia de tempore. et de sanctis. Migne, CII. col 13-552.
(^1194) Diadema monachorum, ibid. col. 593—690.
(^119598) "Et quia mos est monachorum. ut regulam beati Benedicii ad capitulum legant quotidie matutinum: volumus ut
iste libellus ad eorum capitulum quotidie legatur vespertinum (col. 693). "
(^1196) Paris, 1532, 16 40; Antwerp, 1540; Bibliotheca Maxima, Lyons, 1677, Tom. XVI. pp. 1305-1342, and Migne, Patrol
Lat., CI I., Paris, 1851.
(^1197) Commentaria in regulum Sancti Benedicti, Migne, CII. col. 689- 932.