Wandelbert

Wandelbert a saint of German extraction, was born A.D. 813, and became a monk in the monastery of Prüm. He was a learned theologian and Latin scholar, whose attainments not only won for him the position of master in the school of his convent, but also gave him literary celebrity and earned for him the notice of the emperor Louis the Pious. Wandelbert was a devoted educator and scholar, and also a busy writer. He left numerous works at his death, both in prose and verse, only two of which are still extant. The first, entitled Vita et Miracula S. Goaris Presbyteri, was published at Mayence in 1489, and afterwards incorporated by Surius and Mabillon in their respective Acta. It originated in the desire to perpetuate the fame of St; Goar, whose cell on the Rhine was given to the monastery of Prüm by kings Pepin and Charlemagne, and is valuable for a correct apprehension of the conditions of Carlovingian times. The second work; a Martyrologium, is more important. It was written in verse, and completed about A.D. 850. A preface in prose was prefixed, which describes the different meters employed by him, but otherwise not in general use in his age; and upon this follow six lyrics whose burden is the invocation of God, an address to the reader, a dedication to the emperor Lothlaire, a statement of the plan of the work, and a survey of the different parts of the year. The martyrology itself begins with Jan. 1, and describes in brief the life, character, and death of one or more saints for each day in the year. The conclusion of the work is made by Hymnus in Omnes Sanctos in Sapphic verse; and two other hymns on the seasons and pastoral occupations, etc., in heroic verse. These poems cannot be regarded as successful essays in poetry so much as- they must be considered noteworthy productions of the learned culture of that time. The martyrology, unaccompanied by the minor poems above described, was first published in 1536 by Bede, and afterwards by Molanus, in Usuard, and completely by D'Achery, in the Spicilegium, 5, 305 sq. Wandelbert died probably in the year 870. See Trithemius, De Scriptoribus Eccl. p. 281 sq.; Oudinus, Comment. de Scriptoribus, 2, 149 sq.; Fabricius, Bibl. Med. et Inf. Latin. 6:314 sq.; Hist. Lit. de la France, 5, 377 sq.; Bihr, Gesch. d. rom. Lit. in karol. Zeitalter, 114 sq., 229 sq.; Schröckh, Kirchengesch. 23:215 sq.; Rettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, 1, 465, 482. — Herzog, Real-Encyclop. s.v.