REMIGIUS OF AUXERRE

Carolingian humanist and theologian; b. c. 841; d. Paris, 908. Remigius (Remi) became a Benedictine at the monastery of Saint-Germain at Auxerre where heiric of auxerre was his teacher. When Heiric died, Remi assumed his teaching post. He later taught at Reims (after 862) and at Paris, where he had odo of cluny as his pupil.

Remi's labors, the fruit of earlier Carolingian learning, continued the work of reviving classical letters begun by alcuin, "Dunchad," and john scotus erigena. Since he was trained in the methodology of Laon, Reims, and Auxerre, which called for compiling, commenting, and writing glosses, Remi was the author of numerous glosses and commentaries on Latin authors (Cato, Terence, Vergil, Juvenal, prudentius, Sedulius, Persius, and bede), on several late ancient grammarians (Priscian, Donatus, Phocas, and Eutyches), and on the liberal arts, especially the De Nuptiis of Martianus Capella. John, the biographer of Odo of Cluny, appears to be the source for the claim that Remi also wrote glosses on the pseudo-Augustine's Dialectica (cf. Manuscript in Paris Bib. Nat. Lat. 12949, f. 12–22 v).

As a theologian Remi expounded the Opuscula Sacra of boethius, wrote a commentary on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae, explained Genesis and the Psalms, and wrote homilies on St. Matthew. It is not clear just where Remi stood on the much-disputed question concerning universals, but his glosses on Martianus Capella suggest a position inclining to and influenced by that of Erigena. The latter's influence is also pronounced in Remi's exposition of Boethius's Opuscula Sacra.

Bibliography: Opera, j. p. migne, ed., Patrologia latina, 217v. (Paris 1878–90) 131:52–970. "Epistolae," Monumenta Germaniae Historica, (Berlin 1826–) 7.2:635–640. m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literature des Mittelalters, 3 v. (Munich 1911–31) 1:504–519; 2:808–809; 3:1063. c. e. lutz, ed., Remigii Autissiodorenis Commentum in Martianum Capellam, Libri I–II (Leiden 1962). m. cappuyns, "Le Plus ancien commentaire des Opuscula Sacra …" Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale (1931): 237–272. j. r. geiselmann, "Der Einfluss des Remigius von Auxerre auf die Eucharistielehre des Heriger von Lobbes," Theologische Quartalschrift 114 (1933): 222–244. a. vaccari, "Il genuino commento ai Salmi di Remigio di Auxerre," Biblica 26 (1945): 52–99. p. courcelle, "Étude critique sur les commentaires de la Consolation de Boèce," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen-âge 14 (1939): 56–65; "La Culture antique de Remi d'Auxerre," Latomus 7 (1948): 247–254. r. b. c. huygens, "Remigiana," Aevum. Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e filologiche 28 (1954): 330–344. c. e. lutz, "Remigius' Ideas on the Classification of the Seven Liberal Arts," Traditio 12 (1956): 65–86. m. l. w. laistner, Thought and Letters in Western Europe, A.D. 500 to 900 (New York 1957). l. scheffczyk, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 8: 1223–1225.

[l. e. lynch]