Theodulf of Orléans
Encyclopedia
Theodulf of Orléans was the Bishop of Orléans (ca. 798 to 818) during the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 and Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

. He was a key member of the Carolingian Renaissance
Carolingian Renaissance
In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated...

 and an important figure during the many reforms of the church under Charlemagne, as well as almost certainly the author of the Libri Carolini
Libri Carolini
The Libri Carolini , Opus Caroli regis contra synodum , also called Charlemagne's Books or simply the Carolines, are the work in four books composed on the command of Charlemagne, around 790, to refute the supposed conclusions of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea , particularly as...

, "much the fullest statement of the Western attitude to representational art that has been left to us by the Middle Ages". He is mainly remembered for this and the survival of the private oratory or chapel made for his villa at Germigny-des-Prés
Germigny-des-Prés
Germigny-des-Prés is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-Carolingian architecture:The oratory at Germigny-des-Prés was built by Bishop Theodulf of Orléans in 806 as part of his palace complex within the Gallo-Roman villa in Germaniacus...

, with a mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 probably from about 806.

Life

Theodulf was born in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, probably Saragossa, between 750 and 760, and was of Visigothic descent. He fled Spain because of the Moorish occupation of the region and traveled to the South-Western province of Gaul called Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

, where he received an education. He went on to join the monastery near Maguelonne in Southern Gaul led by the abbot Benedict of Aniane
Benedict of Aniane
Saint Benedict of Aniane , born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer, who left a large imprint on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire...

. During his trip to Rome in 786, Theodulf was inspired by the centres of learning there, and sent letters to a large number of abbots and bishops of the Frankish empire, encouraging them to establish public schools.

Charlemagne recognized Theodulf’s importance within his court and simultaneously named him Bishop of Orléans (ca. 798) and abbot of many monasteries, most notably the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 abbey of Fleury-sur-Loire
Fleury-sur-Loire
Fleury-sur-Loire is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 263. On 1 January 2007, the estimate was 240.-References:*...

. He then went on to establish public schools outside the monastic areas which he oversaw, following through on this idea that had impressed him so much during his trip to Rome. Theodulf quickly became one of Charlemagne’s favoured theologians alongside Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...

 of Northumbria and was deeply involved in many facets of Charlemagne’s desire to reform the church.

He was involved in editing numerous translated texts that Charlemagne believed to be inaccurate and translating sacred texts directly from the classical Greek and Hebrew languages. Charlemagne died in 814 and was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious.

Louis’ nephew, King Bernard of Italy
Bernard of Italy
Bernard was the King of the Lombards from 810 to 818. He plotted against his uncle, Emperor Louis the Pious, when the latter's Ordinatio Imperii made Bernard a vassal of his cousin Lothair...

 sought independence from the Frankish empire and raised his army against the latter. Bernard was talked into surrendering, but was punished by Louis severely, sentencing him to have his sight removed. The procedure of blinding Bernard went wrong and he died as a result of the operation. Louis believed that numerous people in his court were conspiring against him with Bernard, and Theodulf was one of many who were accused of treason. He was forced to abandon his position of Bishop of Orléans in 817 and was exiled to a monastery in Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

 in 818 where he spent the next two years of his life. After he was released in 820, he tried to reclaim his bishopric in Orléans but was never able to reach the city because it is believed that he was poisoned during the trip. Theodulf of Orléans died on January 18, 821 and his body was brought back to Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

 where it was buried.

Villa at Germigny-des-Prés

The oratory at Germigny-des-Prés (Loiret, Orléanais), an example of Carolingian architecture
Carolingian architecture
Carolingian architecture is the style of north European Pre-Romanesque architecture belonging to the period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries, when the Carolingian family dominated west European politics...

, was built by Bishop Theodulf in 806 as part of his Gallo-Roman villa in Germaniacus. Theodulf was also abbot of the neighboring monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.This town hosts the Abbaye de Fleury, also known as the Abbaye de Saint Benoît . Founded around 630, it is one of the oldest abbeys of the Benedictine rule...

. His complex at Germigny-des-Prés was in a general sense modelled on Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen
Palace of Aachen
The Palace of Aachen was a group of buildings with residential, political and religious purposes chosen by Charlemagne to be the centre of power of the Carolingian Empire. The palace was located at the north of the current city of Aachen, today in the German Land of North Rhine-Westphalia...

, the center of the Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

 at that time.

All except the oratory was destroyed by the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 (then just emerging from the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s) within a century of construction. The villa had fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

s of the Seven liberal arts, the Four Seasons
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...

, and the Mappa Mundi
Mappa mundi
Mappa mundi is a general term used to describe medieval European maps of the world. These maps range in size and complexity from simple schematic maps an inch or less across to elaborate wall maps, the largest of which was 11 ft. in diameter...

, and the mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 in the oratory is virtually the only Carolingian mosaic
Carolingian art
Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about AD 780 to 900 — during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs — popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the court circle and a group of...

 to survive, though over-restored in the 1860s, when the oratory was given what is generally agreed to have been a disastrous over-restoration and reconstruction. The subject of the mosaic, the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...

 with attendant angels, is otherwise only found in early Jewish bibles (usually as the sole illustration), and probably relates to the Libri Carolini, where the Ark, with its golden cherubim, is mentioned as a significant proof of divine approval of religious images.

Capitularies

As Bishop of Orléans (798-818), Theodulf wrote two important capitularies
Capitulary
A capitulary was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of the first emperor, Charlemagne...

.

1. Capitula ad presbyteros parochiae

The first capitulary was a reminder to the priests of his diocese of the importance of manual labour, studying, prayer and chastity.

2. Capitula altera Theodulpho episcopo Aurelianensi adscripta

The second capitulary focused on his code of penance where he lists the consequences of murder, adultery, fornication, incest, thievery, usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...

 and other infractions.
It is divided in ten main parts:
  • De ammonitione sacerdotum
  • De adulteriis et incestis et fornicationibus
  • De confessionibus laicorum
  • De homicido
  • De mulierum delictis
  • De furto et falso testimonio
  • De inrationabili fornicatione
  • De adultero presbytero publice et occulte
  • De usurariis
  • De inquisition octo vitiorium ad confessionem

Libri Carolini

Theodulf was also almost certainly responsible for composing the Libri Carolini
Libri Carolini
The Libri Carolini , Opus Caroli regis contra synodum , also called Charlemagne's Books or simply the Carolines, are the work in four books composed on the command of Charlemagne, around 790, to refute the supposed conclusions of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea , particularly as...

(ca. 793) which served as a rebuttal to a faulty translation of the Second Nicene Council of 787 which was mistakenly interpreted as saying that the worship of images was now acceptable in the church. It therefore suggested that an end was to be put to the iconoclastic period which had led to the destruction of many sacred images in the church, especially in Constantinople. This translation made its way from Rome to the court of Charlemagne where it infuriated the Frankish emperor and his loyal theologians, including Theodulf. Theodulf was ordered to write the Libri Carolini under Charlemagne's name in a way that portrayed him as the sole representative of the Western world and defender of the church against idolatry.

Hospitality

Theodulf brought fresh ideas and an open mind to the period known as the Carolingian Renaissance. He believed in always keeping the door open and never refusing pilgrims, travelers or the poor if they needed a meal or a place to stay for the night. He believed that you had to offer the less fortunate a seat at your dinner table if you one day wished to have a seat at the banquet of God. These ideas were highly influenced by his readings of Augustine. He often referred to himself as the poor traveler or stranger, being born in Spain and of Visigothic descent, and being accepted with open arms by the royal court of Charlemagne.

Literature and the liberal arts

Theodulf was an avid reader of Christian literature and some of his favorite writers are listed in one of his letters to the Pope Leo III which include mentions of texts by Gregory the Great, Augustine, Jerome and Isidore. He also mentions in his letters that he enjoyed reading pagan literature including poems by Virgil and Ovid which he thought may seem filled with heresy at first, but underneath the surface had useful morals which could be applied to Christian morality. He was also very fond of the Seven Liberal Arts and they were depicted in fresco in his dining room so that his spirit and body could be fed simultaneously.

Education

Theodulf was a pioneer in the realm of public education during the Carolingian Renaissance in the Frankish empire under the reign of Charlemagne. He believed that everybody had the right to an education, and that money should not be a factor which restricts people from learning. He was in part responsible for the boom in public schools which were built beside monastic lands or adjacent to the local churches.
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