Johannes Erigena, a Scotchman, in the Year 884

Johannes Erigena, a Scotchman, and therefore called Scotus, flourished, in the matter of his doctrine, in the time of the Emperor Louis the Pious and his son Lothaire, somewhere in one of the cities of France. He was exceedingly virtuous, learned, and eloquent, and therefore, for his outstanding gifts, highly celebrated and esteemed. For when Charles, one of the sons of the Emperor named above, wanted a good translation and exposition of the books of Dionysius the Areopagite, especially of the treatise Hierarchia,* John did it very commendably and with marked ability, so that a certain Anastasius, who was librarian at the time and wrote a preface to it, writes of him in this way: "It is astonishing how this barbarian (that is, foreigner or Scotchman), who comes from the farthest parts of the world, was able to grasp with his understanding such high things, and to translate them (that book of Dionysius) into another language, namely, from the Greek into the Latin; I mean Johannes the Scotchman, about whom I have heard that he is a very holy and godly man."

This is the testimony of even one of his adversaries concerning his learning and his godliness; so it is not necessary for us to bring in further testimony on this point from other authors, and we let this suffice.

Afterwards it seems he wrote a book on the Eucharist (that is, on the thank offering of the Supper), in which he very deeply and conclusively refuted the gross error of the papists in the matter of transubstantiation, or the essential change of the bread into the body of Jesus Christ; and also the mass and the sacrifice which is thereby offered in popery for both the living and the dead. This was the cause of his death, as what follows shows. [n349-1]

When he had written this book, it was greatly esteemed by some, among whom later was Berengarius, deacon of the church at Angiers, of whom it is stated that he took and learned his belief on this point (and perhaps also against infant baptism, since he strongly argued against it) from the writings of Johannes Scotus; about which we intend to speak more fully in the proper place. On the other hand, that book was exceedingly hated by those who were zealous defenders of the Roman superstitions, especially of transubstantiation and the mass; so much so that when it had come before Pope Leo the Ninth, the result was that both (as it appears) he and his book were condemned and anathematized as heretical; and this was done chiefly in the council of Vercellis.

When this had happened, and he had incurred the hatred of the pope and of many of the papists, he left the city of Paris, where he was rector of the University, and left France as well, and went to England, where he took up his residence at Meldum, supporting himself by teaching and instructing inexperienced young men. But after a few years, when the spite and hatred of some monks could tolerate him no longer, because of his faith against the Roman church, they stirred up his scholars against him, so that they stabbed him to death with awls and penknives.

Other writers hold that the monks did it themselves. Both may be true: the monks, having stirred up the young men, and probably finding them too timid, may have led off in the murder, and the young men followed with penknives, awls, and so on, so that this martyr lost his life at their hands. This much is certain, that he died a cruel death for his faith, and that the monks, by means of his scholars, were in no small measure the cause of it, as the records of his death tell us. Compare the account of A. Mellinus, second book, folio 343, columns 2 and 3, and folio 392, column 4, and folio 393, columns 1 and 2, taken from Trithem. de Script. Eccles., Item. Hist. Reg. Angl., in Alfredo, book 2. Hobed. Annal. parte Priore. Westmon., in For. Hist., in the year 883. Idem, Hist. parte Prima. Chron. Car., book 4, sub. Henr. 4, Seniore. Lanfranc., book de Euch., contra Bereng. Baron. Annal. volume 11, in the year 1059. Mamelsburi Regum Angl., book 2. Testibus. Lanfranco, Guytmando and Aliis.