Autpert (Ausbertus, or Ansbertus), Ambrose

Autpert (Ausbertus, or Ansbertus), Ambrose a Benedictine, was born in the south of France, probably Provence, in the early part of the 8th century. He was brought up in the court of king Pepin, whence he passed into Italy, and took the vows in the Convent of St. Vincent,:on the Volturno, in the diocese of Venafro, Italy, of which he was afterwards, about 777, made abbot; which office, however, was disputed with him by Poton, who had also been elected by the Lombards. The case was carried before pope Adrian for decision, who ordered both parties to come to Rome; but Autpert died on the road, July 19, 778. Tritheim (1546) had been able to find only the following of Autpert's writings: In Cantica Canticorum Lib. I:-Epistolarum ad Diversos Lib. I:-De Cupiditate Lib. I:-In Apocalyps in Joannis Lib. X. The Battle of the Virtues and Vices, included among the works of St. Augustine, and which goes under the name of St. Ambrose in some MSS., has been attributed to Autpert. He also wrote some Lives and Homilies, and a tract On Concupiscence, which is in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in MS. But this second list has been almost entirely assigned, by Gave, to the abbot of Monte-Casino. See Dupin, Hist. of Eccles. Writers, ii, 39.-Landon, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Smith, Dict. of Christ. Biog. s.v.