Ermoldus Nigellus
Ermoldus Nigellus, German: Ermold the black (? * Unknown; † 838 ) was a poet and confidant of King Pepin I of Aquitaine.
Life and work
We are taught mainly by scattered allusions in his own poetry about his life. He came from Aquitaine and was among the courtiers of King Pippin I. 824 he participated in a campaign to Brittany Pippin's part. Shortly thereafter, however, he fell into disgrace because he was accused of King Pepin against his father, Louis the Pious stir. He was exiled to Strasbourg, where he was kindly received by Bishop Bernold.
In exile he wrote in honorem Augusti Caesaris Hludowici christianissimi, an elegiac couplets poem penned in on Ludwig in four books. The poem is preceded by an elaborate acrostic in 35 hexameters. The climax of the last book is the glamorous, but supposedly only three-day lightning visit of the Danish king Heriold ( = Harald Klak ), the Ludwig asked for help and was baptized along with his entourage. For various annals shows that the political negotiations were well settled in the Ingelheim Imperial Palace, where there is also a delegation of Heriolds opponents stayed, but the baptism took place in Mainz, perhaps for lack of a suitable church in Ingelheim. The panegyric account of this Taufbesuches should bring the hope expressed that Ludwig Danish by baptism this ( remote ) Small king had the terrible Norman danger of those decades finally banned.
Ermoldus sent the total of 2649 verses comprehensive work on the Emperor Louis, the Empress Judith and King Pepin. When the desired result is not forthcoming, he sent two Carmina in Laudem gloriosissimi Pippini registered by. These are also written in elegiac couplets and exile literature Ovid ( Tristia, Epistulae ex Ponto ) modeled. His seals are evidence of high classical education, but are - because of their artistic design - as historical sources problematic, especially as regards the alleged appearance of the Palatinate in Ingelheim.
It is uncertain whether Ludwig has ever taken his poetry and note whether Ermoldus could return home from exile, because there is about his life after 830 no secure messaging. From some he is identified with a Hermoldus, the three documents signed as Chancellor of Pippin 838; with an abbot Hermoldus, the Ludwig 834 sent to Pippin to prompt this the return of plundered church property ..
An immediate aftermath of his work can not be ascertained, it remained for centuries largely ignored. It is recorded in two manuscripts, dating from the 10th century Codex Vindobonensis 614 in the Austrian National Library in the possession of the humanist Wolfgang Lazius and Codex Harleianus 3685 in the British Museum ( 15th century, from the possession of Konrad Peutinger ). The Editio princeps by Lodovico Antonio Muratori was 1726.