Alan (died 9 March 769) was an Aquitanian scholar, hermit and homilist who served as the sixth Abbot of Farfa in central Italy from 761. [1] Before taking over at Farfa, Alan composed the Homiliarium Alani, "one of the most successful homiliaries of the late eighth and early ninth centuries", traces of which may be found in the liturgical formulae scattered throughout Farfa's eighth-century charters. [2]
Alan may have been a native of Aquitaine or perhaps just a member of an Aquitanian family established in the Sabina. There is a charter dating to his tenure as abbot, from January 766, which refers to a certain Teuderisinus as the abbot's avus, that is, grandfather (or perhaps ancestor). This Teuderisinus held land at Rieti and also in the countryside. He gave half of the former, two rural casae, and an undefined property to Farfa sometime before 766. In the charter of January that year a certain Theodosius made an exchange of land at Mallianus with Farfa in which he received the lands formerly granted it by Teuderisinus. If Teuderisinus was indeed the grandfather of Alan, this implies "hitherto undreamt-of mobility and geographical scope among the landowning class, as well as strong and enduring connections between the Sabina and Gaul among the laity as much as the monastic clergy." [3]
According to Gregory of Catino, the eleventh-century historian of Farfa, Alan was elected abbot in 761 to replace the abbot Wandelbert, who was retiring or was forced to do so. [4] According to Gregory, Alan was selected for his moral and intellectual qualities. At the time he was residing in seclusion at a hermitage he had built beside the oratory (oratorium) dedicated to Saint Martin atop Monte Acuziano (Monte San Martino), overlooking the abbey. [5] He would spend much of his abbacy there also. [6] The first contemporary document in which he appears as abbot is dated to January of that year (the fourth indiction). [7]
In the first year of his abbacy Alan brought to an end an ongoing dispute with the local Audualdi family by extracting an oath from Corvillus and purchasing the land Maurus owned at Mallianus, locus of the dispute. [8] During his abbacy Alan also received twelve private donations (including oblations), purchased six properties, and made property exchanges with six others. He also received one promissio (promise of land). The overall picture of his administration is one of continued expansion of the abbey's lands but increased "rationalisation" of what it already held. [9] Alan also received from Duke Theodicius of Spoleto four grants of income and land between 763 and 767. On the first occasion (763) he received the tithes of two curtes ; on the second (765) a gualdus ; on the third (766) two casae (houses) and a casalis ; and on the final occasion (767) some pasture. [10] Alan was otherwise in conflict with the duke, who accused the abbey of encroaching on public land, estates it had in fact received from king Aistulf some years earlier. In 762 king Desiderius confirmed Farfa's entitlement to some other lands it had received from Aistulf. Alan did not or, perhaps of unfamiliarity with local politics was unable to, cultivate a relationship with the king that benefited the abbey, as that between Desiderius and the later abbot Probatus would. [11]
According to Gregory of Catino, Alan died on 9 March 769. [12] On the day of his death, perhaps already senile, he was convinced by a certain Guicpert to appoint him his successor. In the end the monks had to get the king to expel Guicpert and grant the abbey the right to elect a successor. They chose Probatus. [13]
Teuto was the Abbot of Farfa from about 883 until about 888. His abbacy is the first of a string of very unclear ones that cover the years down to 919 at Farfa. He is known to have succeeded Anselm and been succeeded by Nordepert, but little else is certain. The period of his abbacy had already become obscure when Gregory of Catino was chronicling the abbey's history and editing its charters in the late eleventh century.
Sichard was a 9th century Italian monk. He was the Abbot of Farfa from c.830 to 842. His abbacy corresponds with a drop in the number of property transactions involving Farfa, perhaps because "[its] wealth was by that time sufficient to cover major building at the abbey itself." Sichard added an oratory to the existing abbey.
Guicpert or Wigbert was the abbot of Farfa for eleven months in 769–770 and probably also the Bishop of Rieti in 778. According to the twelfth-century chronicler of the abbey, Gregory of Catino, Wigbert was an Englishman and already a bishop when he convinced the dying Abbot Alan of Farfa to name him as his successor. From a twelfth-century perspective, Wigbert's accession was invalid because it was not in accordance with the Rule of Saint Benedict, although that rule was neither strictly nor uniformly enforced at Farfa in the eighth century. Nevertheless, the monks found Wigbert's rule a "tyranny" and sought the king, Desiderius, to remove him and confirm their freedom to elect a successor, which he did.
Wandelbert was the Abbot of Farfa sometime between 757 and 761, one of a series of abbots from Aquitaine. His abbacy coincided with a troubled period in the abbey's history and the stormy reign of Duke Gisulf of Spoleto, who seems to have brought some stability to the abbey by the time of his death.
Thomas of Maurienne was the first abbot of the Abbey of Farfa, which he founded between 680 and c.700. Although the sources of his life are much later, and he is surrounded by legends, his historicity is beyond doubt.
Ragambald was the Abbot of Farfa from 781 until his death. According to the abbey's twelfth-century historian Gregory of Catino, Ragambald was born in a city in Gaul (Gallia), that is, Francia, but he does not explicitly call him a Frank. Succeeding Probatus, a local-born abbot, Ragambald was the first of a line of abbots from Francia, including Altpert (786–90) and Mauroald (790–802). The significance of the Frankish presence at Farfa and of Ragambald's abbacy is summed up:
.. . the ‘new’ abbeys of the time not only arose under Frankish influence but also infiltrated the religious life of Lombard Italy with ‘Frankish’ ideas and attitudes, providing a kind of ‘fifth column’ that prepared the way for Frankish military victory and a more ready acceptance of Frankish political domination.
Anselm (Zelmo) was the Abbot of Farfa between 881 and 883, succeeding John I. His short abbacy is reasonably well-sourced compared to the string of five abbots following him, beginning with Teuto, who were extremely obscure figures even to Gregory of Catino, the abbey's historian of the eleventh century.
Vitalis was the "surrogate" Abbot of Farfa in 888, between the death of Spento and the election of the long-serving Peter. The history of the period in Farfa's history, besides the barest chronological outline, has been obscure since it was first written down, by Gregory of Catino in the late eleventh century.
Ingoald was the Abbot of Farfa from 815, succeeding Benedict. At the beginning of his abbacy he vigorously protested the policies of Pope Leo III (795–816), which had resulted in the abbey's loss of property. Ingoald complained about not only the—illegitimate, as he saw it—seizure of Farfa's lands, but also the application of dubious laws of Roman origin in a zone that followed Lombard law. While Ingoald also fostered close contacts with the Carolingian rulers of Francia and Lombardy, he resisted secular encroachments on the abbey's privileges as staunchly as he resisted papal ones. The rate of property transactions at Farfa seems to have peaked under Ingoald, but the surviving documentary evidence is far from complete.
Mauroald was a Frankish monk from Worms and the Abbot of Farfa from 790. Farfa, at less than a century old, was still interested in accruing territories through grants and donations in order to support its building projects and the expansion of its site.
Peter was the long-serving Abbot of Farfa from about 890 until his death. He replaced the interim abbot Vitalis. His abbacy marked the return of stability after a period which saw four abbots in the space of two years.
Lucerius was the third Abbot of Farfa, succeeding Aunepert in 724 at the latest. He was originally from Provence and had been raised at Farfa by Thomas of Maurienne, the first abbot. Lucerius' abbacy was a period of growth and expansion on the part of the abbey. In his first year, he received a grant of a church with its (unspecified) lands from Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto. This church, dedicated to Saint Getulius, lay within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rieti, and according to the tenth-century Exceptio Relationum Thrasimund had to compensate the bishop for his loss.
Benedict was the Abbot of Farfa, Italy from 802 until his death. He is the first abbot mentioned in the eleventh-century history of the abbey written by Gregory of Catino whose origins were not known.
Altpert was the Abbot of Farfa from the death of Ragambald in 786 until his own death a few years later. He was described by Gregory of Catino, writing some three centuries later, as having been born in Paris "of the Gauls" (Galliarum), presumably meaning that he was a Romance-speaking subject of the Carolingians. He increased the patronage of the abbey compared to his predecessor, but Farfa was still less successful in seeking out grants and donations than it had been under the local abbot Probatus. Altpert received a donation of lands at Rabenno from Duke Hildeprand of Spoleto, two other donations and one oblation.
Fulcoald was the fourth Abbot of Farfa from 740. In 739 King Liutprand granted Farfa the right of freedom in abbatial elections, but we do not know if Fulcoald was the product of such a free election or not. Like his predecessor, Lucerius, Fulcoald hailed from Aquitaine, then in southern Francia. "With his abbacy, the quantity of our [historical] evidence dramatically increases [and d]evelopments in secular politics can now be seen to impinge on Farfa's land acquisitions." Fulcoald's abbacy can therefore be defined in terms of three objectives that are apparent in the surviving sources: (a) to extend its landholdings and secure its rights to its properties, (b) to promote a strict and disciplined monastic observance, and (c) to "steer as untroubled a course as possible through the choppy waters of Italian politics".
Nordepert was briefly the Abbot of Farfa in 888. He succeeded Teuto and was succeeded by Spento, but the exact dates of these abbacies were unknown as early as the eleventh century, when Gregory of Catino compiled the abbey's history. Nordepert appears to have been elected in the same year as he died.
Hugh was the Abbot of Farfa from 998. He founded the abbatial school and wrote its history from the late ninth through the early eleventh century under the title Destructio monasterii Farfensis. A later student of his school, Gregory of Catino, wrote a fuller history of the monastery partly based on Hugh's earlier account.
Probatus was the Abbot of Farfa from 770 until 781, and the first abbot native to the Sabina. He steered the abbey through the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards, trying to prevent the disastrous aggression of its last king, and kept it from falling under the jurisdiction of either the Papacy or the Papal States. With the benefit of his local connections he oversaw a great expansion of the abbey's properties through grants and purchases, and also rationalised its holdings to create a robust base for an early medieval monastic community.
Gregory of Catino was a monk of the Abbey of Farfa and "one of the most accomplished monastic historians of his age." Gregory died shortly after 1130, possibly in 1133.
The Libellus constructionis Farfensis, often referred to simply as the Constructio in context, is a written history of the Abbey of Farfa from its foundation by Thomas of Maurienne circa 700 until the death of Abbot Hilderic in 857. It is about the "construction" of a powerful abbey with vast landholdings. It was used as a source for two later histories, which are basically continuations: the Destructio monasterii Farfensis of Abbot Hugh and the Chronicon Farfense by Gregory of Catino.
