Notes and Queries, Number 08, December 22, 1849

Excerpt

WHAT BOOKS DID OTLOH WRITE?

Sir,—In Dr. Maitland's able vindication of the Dark Ages (p. 419. 1st ed.), he concludes his interesting extract from the scribe Otloh's account of himself by saying:—"One would like to know what books they were which Otlohnus thus multiplied; but this, perhaps, is now impossible." I have it accidentally in my power to identify two at least of the number; and if it was his universal practice to subscribe his name, as he does in these instances, a search into the principal repositories of MSS. would, no doubt, give a large list. A valuable MS. volume in my possession has been thus described by a learned Benedictine: "Codex Membranaceus constans foliis 223 numerando; sæculis ix. desinente, x. et xi. incipiente, variis manibus scriptus, per partes qui in unum collectus, ex scriptis variis natidæ scripturæ carlovingicæ, varia continens: 1° Vita et Passio, seu Martirium S. Dionisii; scripta fuit ab Hilduino Abbate Coenobii S. Dionisii in Francia sub Ludovico Pio." It is said that Hilduinus was the first writer who gave the marvellous story of the saint carrying his own head in his hand for nearly two miles after his decapitation. But he tells us that he abridged his narration ex Græcam et Latinorum Historiis.

2° Revelatio facta S. Stephano Papæ de consecratione altaris SS. Petri et Pauli ante Sepulchrum S. Martirii Dionisii quæ consecratio facta fuit v. kal. Aug. 754. This part of the MS. is remarkable for containing in one place the date written in Roman ciphers, thus—dccLiiii. v. kl. aug.; a circumstance so rare in MSS. of this age, as to have astonished the learned diplomatists Papebroch and Germon.

3° Historia S. Simeonis Trevirensis Solitarii. Of whom it is recorded that he lived sub Poppone Episcopo Trevirense, in quædam cellula ad portam nigram sitâ. At fol. 36. an interesting account of the death of the saint is given by the author, who was present, and with the assistance of two other monks, piously performed his obsequies. It appears that the abbey of S. Maximin was about 120 paces from the cell of the saint at Treves, and it is therefore most probable that the writer was a monk of the Benedictine order then belonging to that foundation; but he puts his name out of doubt by the following couplet, inscribed at the end of the narrative:—

"Presbiter et monachus OTLOH quidam vocitatus

Sancte tibi librum BONIFACII tradidit istum."

This dedication of his labours to S. Boniface may only indicate his veneration for the national saint; but, as he tells us he worked a great deal in the monastery at Fulda (of which S. Boniface was the patron saint and founder), may not this have been one of his labours there? At a subsequent period, it appears, he revised and amplified Wilibald's Life of Boniface.

I must summarily indicate the other contents of this interesting MS., which are: 4. Passio SS Sebastiani et Vincentii. 5. Vita S. Burchardi. 6. Vita et Passio S. Kiliani (genere Scoti). 7. Vita S. Sole. 8. Vita S. Ciri. 9. Depositio S. Satiri....