Theodulf

c.750-821. Bishop of Orléans. A Goth by descent who fled his native Spain, he joined the court of Charlemagne. His intimate friendship with court personages, including Alcuin,* is engagingly depicted in his Carmina, a book of poems. The king appointed him bishop of Orléans by 798 and also to several neighboring abbacies. His administration produced a scholarly edition of the Vulgate,* established schools, reformed worship, and left architectural and artistic masterpieces, especially lavishly produced Bibles. Versus contra judices poetically describes his 798 mission to Visigothic France, and recommends legal reform. He accompanied Charlemagne* to Rome in 800 to adjudicate in charges against Leo III.* He pleaded against Adoptianism and for the Filioque in De spiritu sancto, and wrote a treatise on baptism. “All glory, laud and honor,” a Palm Sunday hymn, is Theodulf's work. In 818 he was stripped of his benefices by Louis the Pious for alleged complicity in King Bernard of Italy's revolt.