ADALARD, ST.

Carolingian abbot of Corbie, author (known also as Adalhard of Corbie); b. c. 750; d. January 2, 826. The grandson of charles martel and the nephew of King pepin iii, Adalard was educated at the Frankish court. At the age of 20, in protest over charlemagne's repudiation of his wife, the daughter of the Lombard king desiderius, Adalard left the court and entered the Benedictine monastery of Corbie. But for ascetic monastic, and perhaps, dynastic reasons he soon transferred to Monte Cassino. Later, probably c. 780, the monks of Corbie in conjunction with Charlemagne himself brought Adalard back to the Frankish kingdom and made him abbot at Corbie. Thenceforth Adalard, himself an important representative of the carolingian renaissance, was in active intellectual contact with paul thedeacon, alcuin, angilbert of saint-riquier and others, and was reputed to be one of the more influential advisers of Charlemagne. In 809 and 810 Adalard was in Rome on the emperor's business and met with Pope leo iii to consider the differences between Rome and the Franks on the filioque question. Possibly chief minister of the young King Pepin of Italy even at this time, Adalard was the tutor of Pepin's son Bernard, and was Charlemagne's missus to the Lombard Kingdom from 811 to 814, the year he was banished by Emperor louis the pious for unknown reasons (perhaps at the instigation of benedict of aniane). He was not recalled from the island monastery of Noirmoutier until 821. Thenceforth he was active in the reorganization of his Abbey of Corbie, in founding (with wala) the new Abbey of Corvey in Saxony, and as adviser to Louis the Pious on questions of ecclesiastical policy (e.g., his penance at Attigny, 822). As monk and abbot, Adalard enjoyed great prestige (whence his sobriquet "Antonius"), but he preserved some practices of the monastic regula mixta and came out, sometimes rather sharply, against Benedict of Aniane. His remains were elevated Oct. 10, 1040; since then he has been locally venerated as a saint. Adalard's writings include De ordine palatii, now lost [but see M. Prou in Bibl. de l'École des Hautes Etudes 85 (Paris 1885) and Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Capitularia 2:517–530]. His De ratione lunae paschalis is also lost (cf. Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae 4:566.9 and Flodoard of Reims in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 13:531). Extant are Adalard's Statuta seu brevis Corbeiensis monasterii [ed. J. Semmler, Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum 1 (Siegburg 1963) 355–408] and his Capitula … de admonitionibus in congregatione (ed. J. Semmler, ibid. 408–418).

Feast: Jan. 2

Bibliography: Vita by paschasius radbertus, Patrologia Latina 120:1507–56; Charlemagne's cousins: contemporary lives of Adalard and Wala, tr. a. cabaniss (Syracuse, N.Y. 1967). Vita II and Miracles, j. mabillon, Acta sanctorum ordinis S. Benedicti 5:289–355. b. kasten, Adalhard von Corbie (Düsseldorf 1986). h. peltier, Adalhard, abbé de Corbie (Amiens 1969). s. abel and b. von simson, Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reiches unter Karl dem Grossen, 2 v. (v.1 2d ed. Leipzig 1883–88), passim. b. von simson, Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reiches unter Ludwig dem Frommen, 2 v. (Leipzig 1874–76), passim. j.l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bien-heureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes 1:35–38. d. a. bullough, "Baiuli in the Carolingian Regnum Langobardorum and the Career of Abbot Waldo," Eng Hist Rev 77 (1962) 625–637. j. schmidt, Hinkmars De ordine palatii und seine Quellen (Diss. Frankfurt 1962). a. e. verhulst and j. semmler, "Les Status d'Adalhard de Corbie de l'an 822," Moyen-âge 68 (1962) 91–123, 233–269. l. weinrich, Wala: Graf, Mönch und Rebell (Lübeck 1963). h. peltier and h. wiesemeyer, in Corbie, abbaye royale (Lille 1963) 61–94, 105–133. j. semmler, "Die Beschlüsse des Aachener Konzils im Jahre 816," ZKirchgesch 74 (1963) 15–82, esp. 76–82. c. brÜhl, "Hinkmariana," Deutsch v.1 (Düsseldorf 1965) 81.

[j. semmler]