MARIANUS SCOTUS

The name of two Irish monks on the Continent. Marianus Scotus of Mainz, chronicler; b. Ireland, 1028;d. Mainz, Germany, Dec. 22, 1082 or 1083. Marianus (in Irish Móel Brigte) entered the monastery of Mag Bile (Moville, Co. Down) when he was 24 years old. He left Ireland in 1056, during the abbacy of Tigernach Bairrcech, who apparently banished him for some trifling fault. He next appeared on the Continent, at the Irish monastery of St. Martin in Cologne. In 1058 he was in fulda; in 1059, having been ordained priest at the Irish church of St. Kilian at Würzburg, he had himself walled up as an incluse. In 1069, however, he was moved to Mainz by order of the abbot of Fulda and the bishop of Mainz. There he continued as an incluse in the monastery of St. Martin until his death. He left behind him a chronicle, preserved in MS Vat. Pal. 830, which is, in part, apparently his own autograph. A work of great value for the history of the Irish in Germany in the 10th and 11th cen turies, it is also of some importance in the history of annals and chronicles and was used extensively by sigebert of gembloux and later writers.

Marianus Scotus of Regensburg, Bl., monastic founder, scribe; b. County Donegal, Ireland; d. Regensburg, Germany, April 24, 1088 (feast, Feb. 9). Marianus (in Irish Muirchertach Mac Robartaig) came from a learned family. In 1067 he set off on a pilgrimage to Rome with two companions, John and Candidus. Having spent some time at the monastery of Michelsberg at Bamberg, they proceeded to Regensburg (1072–73). There they were persuaded by an Irish incluse named Muirchertach to take up a permanent abode. Inspired perhaps by the example of Muirchertach, John chose to become an incluse at Göttweich in Lower Austria. The abbess of Obermünster gave Marianus the priory of Weih-Sankt-Peter, outside Regensburg, which he restored (c. 1076). His community increased, and he built another monastery. He spent his life copying the Scriptures and works of devotion, not only for monasteries but also, as an act of charity, for anyone in need. Of the many manuscripts he must have written, there is certain knowledge of only one that is extant. It is a copy of the Epistles of St. Paul according to the Vulgate text (MS Vienna 1247) that contains the spurious Epistle to the Laodiceans.

Bibliography: M. S. of Mainz. Stenzel, "Über Marianus Scotus," Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, 5 (1824) 768–779. g. waitz, "Hersfelder Annalen. 2. Annales Fuldenses, Lobienses, Monasterienses, Marianus Scotus," ibid., 6 (1838) 670–675. j. f. kenney, Sources for the Early History of Ireland 605, 614–616, 786. l. gougaud, Christianity in Celtic Lands, tr. m. joynt (London 1932) 172. o. doerr, "Das Institut der Inclusen in Süddeutschland," Beiträge zur Geschichte des alten Mönchtums und des Benediktinerordens, fasc. 18 (1934) 19, 27, 53, 57, 69, 107, 126, 135. M. S. of Regensburg. For his life, written by an Irish monk of Regensburg about a century after his death and the extant MS, see j. f. kenney, Sources for the Early History of Ireland 618–619. d. binchy, "The Irish Benedictine Congregation in Medieval Germany," Studies 18 (1929) 198–199. l. gougaud, op. cit. 180–182. m. dÖrr, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2 7:52–53.

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