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Birth:          ABT  770 
Death:           814 

Notes
Abbe (Advocate?) of St. Ricquier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angilbert
Saint Angilbert (c.?760 – 18 February 814), sometimes known as Angilberk or 
Engelbert, was a noble Frankish poet who was educated under Alcuin and served 
Charlemagne as a secretary, diplomat, and son-in-law. He was venerated as a pre-
Congregation saint and is still honored on the day of his death, 18 February.
Life[edit]

Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the court of Charlemagne at the palace 
school in Aquae Grani (Aachen). He was educated there as the pupil and then friend 
of the great English scholar Alcuin. When Charlemagne sent his young son Pepin to 
Italy as King of the Lombards Angilbert went along as primicerius palatii, a high 
administrator of the satellite court.[1] As the friend and adviser of Pepin, he assisted 
for a while in the government of Italy. Angilbert delivered the document on Iconoclasm 
from the Frankish Synod of Frankfurt to Pope Adrian I, and was later sent on three 
important embassies to the pope, in 792, 794, and 796.[2] At one time, he served an 
officer of the maritime provinces.[3] He accompanied Charlemagne to Rome in 800[4] 
and was one of the witnesses to his will in 811.[2]

There are various traditions concerning Angilbert's relationship with Bertha, daughter 
of Charlemagne. One holds that they were married,[4] another that they were not.[3] 
They had, however, at least two sons, one of whom, Nithard, became a notable figure 
in the mid-9th century.[2] Control of marriage and the meanings of legitimacy were 
hotly contested in the Middle Ages. Bertha and Angilbert are an example of how 
resistance to the idea of a sacramental marriage could coincide with holding church 
offices. On the other hand, some historians have speculated that Charlemagne 
opposed formal marriages for his daughters out of concern for political rivalries from 
their potential husbands; none of Charlemagne's daughters were married, despite 
political offers of arranged marriages.

In 790, he retired to the abbey of Centulum, the "Monastery of St Richarius" (Sancti 
Richarii monasterium) at present-day Saint-Riquier in Picardy.[4] Elected abbot in 
794,[4] he rebuilt the monastery and endowed it with a library of 200 volumes.[1] It 
was not uncommon for the Merovingian, Carolingian, or later kings to make laymen 
abbots of monasteries; the layman would often use the income of the monastery as his 
own and leave the monks a bare minimum for the necessary expenses of the 
foundation. Angilbert, in contrast, spent a great deal rebuilding Saint-Riquier; when he 
completed it, Charlemagne spent Easter of the year 800 there. In keeping with 
Carolingian policies, Angilbert established a school at Saint-Riquier to educate the 
local boys.[5]

His Latin poems reveal the culture and tastes of a man of the world, enjoying the 
closest intimacy with the imperial family.[2] Charlemagne and the other men at court 
were known by affectionate and jesting nicknames. Charlemagne was referred to as 
"David", a reference to the Biblical king David.[6] Angilbert was nicknamed "Homer" 
because he wrote poetry,[3] and was the probable author of an epic, of which the 
fragment which has been preserved describes the life at the palace and the meeting 
between Charlemagne and Leo III. It is a mosaic from Virgil, Ovid, Lucan and 
Venantius Fortunatus, composed in the manner of Einhard's use of Suetonius.[2] Of 
the shorter poems, besides the greeting to Pippin on his return from the campaign 
against the Avars (796), an epistle to David (i.e., Charlemagne) incidentally reveals a 
delightful picture of the poet living with his children in a house surrounded by pleasant 
gardens near the emperor's palace. The reference to Bertha, however, is distant and 
respectful, her name occurring merely on the list of princesses to whom he sends his 
salutation.[2]

Works[edit]

Angilbert's poems have been published by E. Dummler in the Monumenta Germaniae 
Historica. For criticisms of this edition, see Traube[who?] in Roederer's[who?] 
Schriften für germanische Philologie (1888).


Marriage To ____ Berthe (Bertha) (ABT  772 - ABT  825)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Charlemagne (2 Apr  747 - 28 Jan  814)
OF VINZGAU Hildegarde ( 758 - 30 Apr  783)

Children by ____ Berthe (Bertha) ABT  772 - ABT  825
____ Nithard "the Chronicler" (ABT  795 - 14 Jun  833)

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