Ultan was an Irish

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

who later became an

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

. He was the brother of Saints

Fursey Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia. He reportedly experienced angelic visions of the ...

and

Foillan Saint Foillan (''Faélán, Faolán, Foélán, french: link=no, Feuillen'') is an Irish saint of the seventh century. Family Foillan was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursey. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursa, meaning that th ...

. He was a member of Fursey's mission from Ireland to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

in c. 633, and lived there both as a monastic probationary and later alone as an anchorite. In c. 651 he accompanied his brother Foillan to

Nivelles Nivelles (; nl, Nijvel, ; wa, Nivele; vls, Neyvel) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Mons ...

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only durin ...

where they continued their monastic life together.

Ultan, brother of Saint Fursa

The seventh century St. Ultan was a brother of

Saint Fursey Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia. He reportedly experienced angelic visions of the a ...

or Fursa, and of Saint Foillan. He was therefore apparently the son of the royal woman Gelges, herself a daughter of King Áed of Connacht (possibly

Áed mac Echach Áed mac Echach Tirmcharna (died 575) was a King of Connacht from the Uí Briúin branch of the Connachta. He was the son of Echu Tirmcharna mac Fergusso (died ca. 556). He came to the throne in the year 557 and ruled until 575. The slaying of ...

). The

Venerable Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdo ...

, in his ''

Ecclesiastical History of the English People The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'', relates that Ultan joined the mission led by Fursa which went from Ireland through British territory to

in around 633 AD, to the kingdom of King

Sigeberht of East Anglia Sigeberht of East Anglia (also known as Saint Sigebert), ( Old English: ''Sigebryht'') was a saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the first English kin ...

. The monastery of which he was a member there was established in the precinct of an old Roman stone-built shore-fort near the sea, at a place called

Cnobheresburg Cnobheresburg was a ''castrum'' in East Anglia, where in about 630 the first Irish monastery in southern England was founded by Saint Fursey, as part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission described by Bede. The Venerable Bede mentions Cnobheresburg in ...

. The King received them and endowed the monastery, and it was later re-endowed by King

Anna of East Anglia Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Angl ...

and his nobles. The site is commonly identified with

Burgh Castle Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, some west of Great Yarmouth and within the Norfolk Broads National Park. The parish was part of Suffolk until ...

(Norfolk) near the mouth of the river Yare, thought to be the Garianonum of the

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of ...

and of the geographical description of Britain by

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importan ...

. After several years in which he served a probation in the monastery at Cnobheresburg, Ultan went off to live alone in East Anglia as a hermit. In around 643 Fursey handed his duties to Foillan and went to join Ultan, taking nothing with him, and they lived for a year together by the labour of their hands in a life of contemplation and philosophy. However the kingdom was disturbed by inroads of heathens, and Fursey left East Anglia in around 644, entrusting the monastery in East Anglia and its brethren to his brother Foillan. After being welcomed by

Erchinoald Erchinoald (also ''Erkinoald'' and, in French, ''Erchenout'') succeeded Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Burgundy in 642 and remained such until his death in 658. Family According to Fredegar, he was a ...

at Péronne and by

Clovis II Clovis II (633 – 657) was King of Neustria and Burgundy, having succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanthild until her ...

and Queen

Balthild Balthild (; ang, Bealdhild, 'bold sword' or 'bold spear; around 626 – 30 January 680), also spelled Bathilda, Bauthieult or Baudour, was queen consort of Neustria and Burgundy by marriage to Clovis II, the King of Neustria and Burgundy (639� ...

, Fursey was granted an estate at Lagny on the Marne, where he built a monastery. A record preserved at

shows that Foillan and his brethren (including Ultan) fled the

Kingdom of East Anglia la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles , common_name = East Anglia , era = , status = Great Kingdom , status_text = Independent (6th centu ...

with the help of King

in 651, when the monastery was under attack from King

Penda of Mercia Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theo ...

, and King Anna himself was then exiled from his own kingdom. Foillan and Ultan took away the precious property and books of the monastery, and after unhappy dealings with Erchinoald they were received by Ste

Gertrude of Nivelles Gertrude of Nivelles, OSB (also spelled ''Geretrude'', ''Geretrudis'', ''Gertrud''; c. 628 – 17 March 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium. Life Family and childhood The e ...

and her mother

Itta Itta of Metz, O.S.B. (also ''Ida'', ''Itte'' or ''Iduberga''; 592–8 May 652) was the wife of Pepin of Landen, Mayor of the Palace of the Kingdom of Austrasia. After his death, she founded the Abbey of Nivelles, where she became a Colombanian ...

. Foillan went off to found a monastery at Fosse (now

Fosses-la-Ville Fosses-la-Ville (; wa, Fosse-li-Veye) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Fosses-la-Ville had a total population of 10,449. The total area is 63.24 km² which gives a popul ...

) near

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Na ...

with the encouragement and support of Itta, but was murdered with some companions not long afterwards by bandits, during a journey from Nivelles to Fosse.

Musician

According to Grattan Flood, "About the year 653, St. Gertrude, of Brabant, (daughter of Pepin, Mayor of the Palace), abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, sent for St. Foillan and St. Ultan, brothers of our celebrated St.

(Patron of Perrone), to teach

psalmody The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

to her nuns. These two Irish monks complied with her request, and built an adjoining monastery at Fosse, in the diocese of Liege."''A History of Irish Music'', p. 12, William H. Grattan Flood, Dublin, 1906.

Notes

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ultan 655 deaths 7th-century Frankish saints 7th-century Irish abbots Medieval Irish saints Medieval Irish musicians Irish expatriates in England Irish expatriates in France East Anglian saints Year of birth unknown