Life
Ekkehard was probably born in the Saint Gall area; he and his cousin Ekkehard III were nephews of Ekkehard I (Ekkehardus Decanus; 910–973), dean at the abbey and presumed author of the Waltharius poem. Ekkehard II was educated by his uncle and the monk Geraldus, who educated also his other nephews, Notker Physicus and Burkard, later abbot of the monastery. Ekkehard II likewise became a teacher at the monastery school. A number of his pupils joined the order; others became bishops.
Ekkehard III was a monk of the Abbey of Saint Gall and a nephew of Ekkehard I and a cousin of Ekkehard II. He shared the educational advantages of his cousin and, at his invitation, accompanied him to Hohentwiel to superintend and direct the studies of the local clergy. On his return to St. Gall he was made dean of the abbey, and is reported to have filled this office for thirty years. He died early in the eleventh century.
Waltharius, a Latin poem founded on German popular tradition, relates the exploits of the west Gothic hero Walter of Aquitaine.
Notker Physicus, sometimes called Notker II, was a physician, painter, and composer. Besides physicus, he was also nicknamed piperis granum on account of his strict discipline.
About 973 Dowager Duchess Hadwig of Swabia, the widow of Duke Burchard III called Ekkehard II to her seat at Hohentwiel Castle. Hadwig, a member of the Imperial Ottonian dynasty, was wont occasionally to visit St. Gall, and eventually asked for and obtained the services of Ekkehard as her tutor in the reading of the Latin classics. Nevertheless, he continued to render great services to his monastery, especially on the occasion of the differences between Saint Gall and the nearby Reichenau Monastery under Abbott Ruodmann; in many other ways also Ekkehard proved himself useful to the monks by the influence he had obtained as tutor of the duchess.
Burchard III, a member of the Hunfriding dynasty, was the count of Thurgau and Zürichgau, perhaps of Rhaetia, and then Duke of Swabia from 954 to his death.
Hohentwiel is an extinct volcano in the Hegau region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany The mountain is west of the city of Singen and 20 miles (30 km) from Lake Constance.
The Ottonian dynasty was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem duchy of Saxony. The family itself is also sometimes known as the Liudolfings (Liudolfinger), after its earliest known member Count Liudolf and one of its primary leading-names. The Ottonian rulers were successors of the Germanic king Conrad I who was the only Germanic king to rule in East Francia after the Carolingian dynasty and before this dynasty.
Ekkehard, erudite and eloquent, also socialised at the court of Emperor Otto I. Later he became provost of Mainz Cathedral, where he died in 990. He was buried in the church of St. Alban, outside the city gates. Ekkehard was the author of various ecclesiastical hymns, known as sequences, all of which are lost, except one (Summis conatibus nunc) in honour of Saint Desiderius. The attribution of several other works is uncertain.
Otto I, traditionally known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda.
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.
Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and pedestrianized market square of the city of Mainz, Germany. This 1000-year-old Roman Catholic cathedral is the site of the episcopal see of the Bishop of Mainz.
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Saint Gall, or Gallus according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Saint Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. Saint Deicolus was the elder brother of Gall.
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Notker the Stammerer, also called Notker I, Notker the Poet or Notker of Saint Gall, was a musician, author, poet, and Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall, now in Switzerland. He is commonly accepted to be the "Monk of Saint Gall" who wrote Gesta Karoli.
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Solomon III was the Bishop of Constance from 890 to his death. In 885, the Emperor Charles III made him archchancellor of the Empire, for Konstanz was then the greatest diocese in Swabia, which had been Charles' original kingdom and was still his home most of the time. As well as bishop, he was also abbot of Reichenau and Saint Gall, immensely powerful abbeys in Swabia and the Rhineland. Solomon founded a church in honour of Saint Magnus at Saint Gall.
Notker Labeo, also known as Notker the German or Notker III, was a Benedictine monk and the first commentator on Aristotle active in the Middle Ages. "Labeo" means "the thick-lipped one". Later he was named Teutonicus in recognition of his services to the German language.
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Ekkehard V, called Minimus, was a monk of the Abbey of Saint Gall. He is the last of the Saint Gall Ekkehards, and flourished towards the end of the twelfth, and the beginning of the thirteenth, century. No particulars are known concerning his life, and tradition is silent as to his origin, the year of his birth and of his death. He was dean of the abbey in the reign of Innocent III.
