Ekkehard

Ekkehard the name of several learned monks of St. Gall. The first of the name, about the middle of the 10th century, was the director of the convent school, and subsequently dean of the convent. He laid the foundation of the literary celebrity of St. Gall, wrote several ecclesiastical hymns, and is honorably mentioned in the history of German literature. Another Ekkehard, a nephew of the former, was also a director of the convent school, and subsequently a chaplain of emperor Otto II. He also composed ecclesiastical hymns, and is supposed to have been familiar with stenography. He died April 23, 990. A third Ekkehard, born about 980, was a pupil of Notker Labeo, and became distinguished for his knowledge of Latin, Greek, German, mathematics, astronomy, and music. Aribo, archbishop of Mentz, appointed him superior of the cathedral school of that city. He continued the Annals of St. Gall, which a monk by the name of Ratpertus had begun and carried to the year 883. This work, Casus Monasterii Sancti Galli (printed in Monumenta Germaniae histor. Scriptor. 2:74-163) is of great importance for the Church history of the 10th century. Ekkehard also compiled a collection of ecclesiastical hymns, under the title Liber Benedictionum. He wrote a poem, De ornatu dictionis, and translated a life of St. Gall, in German verses by Ratpertus, into Latin. He died in 1036. A fourth Ekkehard, who lived at the beginning of the 12th century, wrote a Vita Sancti Notkeri. — Herzog, Real- Encyklop. 3:745. (A.J.S.)