ENGELBERT OF ADMONT

Abbot and scholar; b. Volkersdorf, Styria, Austria,c. 1250; d. Priory of Gallenstein Schloss, in the valley of the Enns, Austria, May 12, 1331. From a consequential family in Styria, he entered the benedictines c. 1267 at the Abbey of admont, a foundation with a proud tradition of scholarship. In 1271 he enrolled in the cathedral school of St. Vitus at Prague, where he studied under Gregory of Hasenberg (d. 1301), but was forced to leave there in 1274, when Ottokar II of Bohemia went to war with the Hapsburg Emperor Rudolph I. Engelbert returned to Admont, where he began a poem in honor of Rudolph's election to the imperial dignity. In 1278 he was at the University of Padua, where he spent the next nine years completing his studies, including four years of theology with the Dominicans. After returning to Austriac. 1287, he was elected abbot of the Abbey of sankt peter in Salzburg in 1288. Ten years later he was the compromise choice of Archduke Albert of Austria and the archbishop of Salzburg for abbot of Admont. He ruled there for 30 years, fought against the encroachments of the ministeriales on the abbey's rights, and, although he rarely left the cloister, was very active intellectually. He resigned his office in 1327 because of his age and retired to Gallenstein Schloss. He was buried in nearby Admont.

His writings cover a wide range of topics, including theology: De corpore domini and De gratiis et virtutibus beatae Mariae virginis; natural science: translations and commentaries on a number of Aristotle's works; ethics: De summo bono hominis in hac vita; politics: De regimine principum; history: De ortu, progressu et fine Romani imperii; and poetry: De electione regis Rudolfi. A number of his works are unpublished. Philosophically and theologically, Engelbert can hardly be labeled an enthusiastic follower of thomas aquinas; he was rather an eclectic, perhaps even in part a Scotist. Politically, he rejected Ghibelline claims (see guelfs and ghibellines) and also the gallicanism of john (quidort) of paris, against whom he drafted the official Church reply.

Bibliography: Works. De causis longaevitatis hominum in Thesaurus anecdotorum novistimus (Augsburg 1721–29), ed. b. pez, 1.1:439–502; De gratiis et virtutibus beatae Mariae virginis, ibid. 1.1:503–762; Tractatus de libero arbitrio, ibid. 4.2:119–148. Engelbert's letter listing his works, ed. g. b. fowler, in Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 29 (1962) 298–306; Speculum virtutum ad Albertum et Ottonem duces Austriae, ed. b. pez in Bibliotheca ascetica antiquo-nova, 12 v. (Regensburg 1723–40) 3:1–498; Tractatus de providentia Dei, ibid. 6:49–150; De passione Domini secundum Matthaeum, ibid. 7:65–112; Da statu defunctorum, ibid. 9:111–192; De summo bono hominis, ed. j. c. peez in Opuscula philosophica (Regensburg 1725); Dialogus consupiscentiae et rationis, ibid.; Utrum sapienti competat ducere uxorem, ibid; De ortu, progressu et fine Romani imperii in Maxima bibliotheca Patrum (Lyons 1668) 25:362–378; De musica in m. gerbert, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum (Milan 1931) 2:287–369; Tractatus de officio ancillari Beatae Mariae Virginis, ed. g. b. fowler, Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 62 (1954) 379–389. Ed. of E. of A's political writings by g. b. fowler, MGStaatsschriften des späteren Mittelalters v.1.2. Literature. f. stegmÜller, Repertorium Commentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi (Würzburg 1947) 2:2240–45. g. b. fowler, Intellectual Interests of Engelbert of Admont (New York 1947); "Engelbert of Admont's Tractatus de officiis et abusionibus eorum, '' in Essays in Mediaeval Life and Thought: Festschrift A. P. Evans, ed. j. h. mundy et al. (New York 1955) 109–122; "Engelbert of Admont and the Universal Idea," Fundamente 3 (1958); Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire, ed. m. viller et al (Paris 1932–) 4.1:745–747; "MSS of E. of A …," Osiris 11 (1954) 455–485; "Additional Notes on MSS of E. of A.," Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 28 (1961) 269–282; "A New Dedicatory Preface to the Commentary on Ps. 118 by E. of A.," ibid. 29 (1962) 306–312.

[b. j. comaskey]