Colman Nepos Cracavist
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Colman (''
floruit ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
'' ),M. Esposito (1932), "The Poems of Colmanus 'Nepos Cracavist'; and Dungalus 'Praecipus Scottorum'," ''Journal of Theological Studies'', 33, 118, assigns him the early ninth century. called nepos Cracavist ("grandson of Cracavist"), was a Hiberno-Latin author associated with the
Carolingian Renaissance The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne's reign led to an intellectual revival beginning in the 8th century and continuing throughout the 9th ...
. His poetry is full of classical allusions and quotations of
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
. He may have been a
cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
at Rome, as the manuscript which nicknames him states; there were several such Colmans at Rome in the ninth century. He may be one of those responsible for spreading the cult of Saint Brigid in Italy. One manuscript suggests he was a bishop.


Connections with Bobbio

On the basis of similarity in prosody, he has also been identified as the composer of certain poems traditionally assigned to Columban, the saint and founder of
Bobbio Abbey Bobbio Abbey (Italian: ''Abbazia di San Colombano'') is a monastery founded by Irish Saint Columbanus in 614, around which later grew up the town of Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is dedicated to Saint Columbanus. ...
. These are ''Columbanus Fidolio'', ''Ad Hunaldum'', ''Ad Sethum'', ''Praecepta vivendi'', and the ''celeuma''. Since the former was in manuscript by c.790 and the latter was probably used by
Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...
(d.c.800), their poet's dates are set to the late eighth century. It is possible that Colman was merely the imitator of Columban. He would certainly have had access to the latter's works if he lived in Italy. There survives a notice of some books gifted by a priest named Theodore to Bobbio (''Breve de libris Theodori Presbyteri'') that lists: ''Martyrologium Hieronymi, et de arithmetica Macrobii, Dionisii, Anatolii, Victorii, Bedae, Colmani, et epistolae aliorum sapientum liber i''. It is unknown whether this Colman is the same as the poet "nepos Cracavist" or if he is a different person entirely. Likewise it is unknown if the books he donated were by Colman nepos Cracavist.


Poem of Saint Brigid

Colman wrote a 34-
hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...
lyrical vignette which is the earliest poem about Saint Brigid,
incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...
''Quodam forte die caelo dum turbidus imber'' ("One day, when a rain-storm happened to be raging in the heavens"). It survives in two manuscripts now at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
. The better reading is in BN lat. 18095, where his poem is titled "Versus Colmani episcopi de sancta Brigida" (Verses of bishop Colman of saint Brigid). This manuscript, place of origin unknown, was for some time in Notre-Dame-de-Paris. The other, BN nouv. acq. lat. 1615, a ninth-century manuscript from
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (, literally ''Saint-Benoît on Loire'') is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Monastery This town hosts the '' Abbaye de Fleury'', also known as the ''Abbaye de Saint Benoît'' (Saint Benedic ...
called the ''Liber sancti Benedicti Floriacensis'', is a compilation of
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
in which Colman's verses are found under the
rubric A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the Latin , meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or ...
"Colmanus nepos Cracavist in Roma virtutem hanc sanctae Brigitę praedicavi" in a section titled "De peritia cursus lunae et maris". In the composition of his vignette, Colman relied on the prose sources Cogitosus and the '' Vita Brigidae prima'', as can be seen from his conflation of their accounts of Brigid's hanging her robe from a sunbeam: Cogitosus says as if from beam, the ''Vita'' as if on a rope. Colman uses both similes to describe the miracle. The poem may have been designed for use by a biographer composing a ''vita'' of Brigid.


Envoi to Colman

Colman also wrote a short farewell poem to a fellow Irishman, also named Colman, who was returning to Ireland. He himself wrote the title for the piece in two hexameters: ''Colmano versus in Colmanum perheriles / Scottigena ficti patriae cupidum et remeantem''. Colman expresses regret that he will be left behind, but the poem is absent the personal pleading and admonition typical of its genre (and exemplified by fellow Carolingian poets Walahfrid Strabo and
Gottschalk of Orbais Gottschalk of Orbais (, ''Gotteschalchus''; c. 808 – 30 October 868) was a Saxon theologian, monk and poet. Gottschalk was an early advocate for the doctrine of Predestination (Calvinism)#Double predestination, double predestination, an issue t ...
). Colman speaks of himself as an old man at the time of this writing, though his countryman is young. This poem is found alongside the Brigid piece in the manuscript known as BN nouv. acq. lat. 1615 and also in Reg. 15 B. xix in the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, London. This last manuscript was written at
Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
in the ninth century and was for a long time MS no. CCV at the Abbey of Saint-Remi.Esposito, 116. Wilhelm Meyer published this version, with amendations, in ''Ériu, the Journal of the School of Irish Learning'', iii (Dublin, 1907), 186–89.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman nepos Cracavist Hiberno-Latin poets 9th-century Irish poets 8th-century births 9th-century deaths 9th-century writers in Latin Irish expatriates in Italy Irish male poets