Leidrad: Difference between revisions

Leidrad did not finally take up his episcopal duties until 799.{{sfn|Tafel|1925|p=51}} Two letters of Alcuin refer to him as bishop elect before this.{{sfn|Bennett|1882}} In 799, he was appointed along with Archbishop [[{{ill|Nimfridius|fr|lt=Nebridius of Narbonne]]}} and Abbot [[Benedict of Aniane]] to investigate the charge against Bishop [[Felix of Urgell]] that he was an adoptionist. The commission went to Urgell, where they convinced Felix to attend a [[Council of Aachen|synod at Aachen]]. Alcuin defeated Felix in a debate before the synod and the latter recanted. He was, however, deposed from his bishopric and consigned to the custody of Leidrad in Lyon for life.{{sfn|de Jong|2005|p=127}}{{sfn|Cavadini|1993|p=82}} He is mentioned in a letter Felix wrote that year.{{sfn|Bennett|1882}} Alcuin in a letter asks Leidrad to send him a copy of Felix's treatise ''Against the Saracen'' if indeed he has a copy.{{sfn|Cavadini|1993|p=184}} In 804, Lyon was raised to an archbishopric.{{sfn|de Jong|2005|p=104}}

Under Leidrad, Lyon emerged as a centre of learning in the [[Carolingian Empire]]. He paid special attention to the education of his clergy, the regulation of the liturgy and the building up of his library.{{sfn|McKitterick|1983|p=205}} At least five manuscripts bear his ''[[ex voto]]'', having been donated by him to the church: [[Rufinus of Aquileia]]'s translation of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]]; [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s ''Opuscula''; Augustine's ''Contra Faustum''; a miscellany of logic and creeds; and [[Jerome]]'s commentary on ''[[Isaiah]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Tafel|1925|pp=51–52}}, gives their respective shelfmarks[[shelfmark]]s as Lyon 599 (515), Lyon 608 (524), Lyon 610 (526), Bibliothèque Pères Maristes de Sainte-Foi 128 and Paris lat. 152.</ref> According to his aforementioned report to Charlemagne, he established a schools of [[cantor]]s and [[lector]]s, ensuring that the latter were capable of [[biblical exegesis]]. For his reformed chant, he instituted "the usage of the sacred palace", i.e., Charlemagne's [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen|palace chapel at Aachen]].{{sfn|de Jong|2005|p=103}} He also looked to [[Chrodegang of Metz]] for guidance. His reform of the liturgy appears to have been limited to the chant and the readings at Mass.{{sfn|de Jong|2005|pp=118–119}}

Besides his letter to Charlemagne, a letter Leidrad wrote to his sister on the death of her son also survives.{{sfn|McKitterick|1994|p=34}} At Charlemagne's request in 812, he also composed a theological treatise, ''Liber de sacramento baptismi'' ("Book on the Sacrament of Baptism").{{sfn|de Jong|2005|p=104}}{{sfn|Cramer|1993|pp=159–170}} The text presents "a skein of Biblical references" woven together.{{sfn|Cramer|1993|pp=159–170}} In one 10th-century manuscript from [[Girona]], the text is erroneously attributed to Jerome.{{sfn|Tischler|2019|p=78 n. 30}}

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*{{cite encyclopedia |first=S. A. |last=Bennett |year=1882 |title=Leidradus |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines |editor1=William Smith |editor2=[[Henry Wace (priest)|Henry Wace]] |volume=Vol. 3 |pages=644–645 |publisher=Murray |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012875640&view=1up&seq=660}}

*{{cite journal |first=Matthias M. |last=Tischler |title=Using the Carolingian Past in a Society of Transformation: The Case of Early Medieval Septimania/Catalonia in the Long Tenth Century (900–1050) |journal=Medieval Worlds |volume=10 |year=2019 |pages=72–86 |doi=10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s72 |url=https://medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x003b0d70.pdf|doi-access=free }}

*{{cite book |last=van Renswoude |first=Irene |authorlink = Irene van Renswoude|title=The Rhetoric of Free Speech in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019}}

[[Category:8th-century Frankish bishops]]

[[Category:9th-century Latin writers in Latin]]

[[Category:Writers offrom the Carolingian Empire]]