CHAPTER TWO

THE MONKS

What attention did the receive from the monks who developed biblical studies during the Middle Ages? In this chapter we concentrate on commentaries and expositions that were eventu­ ally published and were thus available to the scholar of the 16th century. The existence of some expositions that remained in manu­ script form and were therefore inaccessible to the general public, will be noted in some instances as well. This will enable us to acquire insight into the quantity of attention that the book of Ezekiel received and give us some idea of the contents and quality of the exposition of this prophet.

2.1 Schools like 's

In the , in the Carolingian period, the monasteries were the centre of theological learning. There were many monas­ teries spread all over Europe and various orders emerged. One such monastery was the Benedictine abbey of Fulda in Germany, founded in 744 by a disciple of St. Boniface. Since Boniface was buried there, his tomb made Fulda an important goal for pilgrims. Within a cen­ tury the monastery became one of the most important centres of Christian religious culture in Europe. Its rich library of classical and patristic texts gave Fulda a significant role in the preservation and transmission of the Fathers.

2.1. l Rabanus Maurus Rabanus Maur (c. 780-856) became master of the cloister school of Fulda in 818 and abbot of the monastery from 822 to 842. During these years Fulda reached its peak in wealth and influence. Rabanus composed commentaries on nearly all the historical books and the major prophets of the Old Testament. His Commentariorum in Ezechie­ lem Libri Viginti was completed in 842. Later in his life he became 40 CHAPTER TWO archbishop of . As a schoolmaster he wrote books on gram­ mar and the reckoning of time. His expositions are not regarded as original works, but as collections from the exposition of the Church Fathers. 1 Rabanus's commentaries are handed down through the cen­ turies by means of summary by , his pupil. From there his work entered the Glossa ordinaria. 2 But manuscripts of Raba­ nus's commentaries proper also circulated, many of which are still not printed. 3 No critical edition of his works exists, except for his letters, liturgical poems, and three ecclesiastical writings. His commenta­ ries were never printed independently before the edition ofJ. Pamelius and G. Colvenerius in Cologne, 1626-1627.4 Rabanus's commentary on Ezekiel opens with a letter from Lotha­ rius Augustus and a response by Rabanus Maurus. The king asked him to write a commentary on Ezekiel and then wrote how pleased he was on receiving the book and especially with Rabanus's expo­ sition of the great last vision. 5 He grants the author permission to publish this letter at the beginning of the commentary. The letter proves that the king read the book and that he understood Rabanus's following of Gregory in the tropological sense, even where the mate­ rial of Gregory's sermons expired and Rabanus had to give his own exposition. The author in return dedicates his work to his royal patron, thus giving it the desired status in the world of learning. Rabanus divided his material on Ezekiel into twenty books. In each chapter he starts with a short introduction, in which he sum­ marizes the contents. Then he quotes the passage in 's transla­ tion, the , but without Jerome's alternative renderings of single words within the text (given in the modern editions in brackets). As commentary Jerome is quoted literally and at great length (his pre­ faces are omitted). Rabanus's work is much more a re-editing of

1 A. Hauck, in: PRE 3, vol. 8, 407: "Das exegetische Verfahren ist hier [in his early commentary on Matthew, EAdB] bereits dasselbe, das Hraban auch ferner­ hin beobachtet hat; er erklarte in dcr Regel nicht selbststandig, sondern sammelte Erklarungen der alteren Vater; seine Gewahrsmanner waren hauptsachlich Hieronymus, Augustin, Gregor d. Gr.". See also W. Neuss, o.c., 109f. 2 B. Smalley mentions two late manuscripts with "a note stating that the scribe had wished to copy only the commentaries of Raban, but as he was not able to find them all, he had used Strabo, 'Raban's abbreviator"' (o.c., 58). :i B. Smalley, o.c., 227. 4 PL 110, 493-1084 (reprint of the Cologne edition by J. Pamelius - G. Colvenerius). Cf. ODCC, s.v. Rabanus Maurus, 1360. 5 PL 110, 496.