ENGELBERT D'ADMONT. — Benedictine, born c. 1250 at Steiermark in Stiria, died 12 May 1331. His family name was Pötsch. Abbot of Admont (1297–1327), he relinquished the office in the final years of his life. Versatile and multifaceted in intelligence, although not original, he was one of the most learned men of his time. His extremely abundant output extended into every field of contemporary knowledge.
His 40 works were collected and for the most part published by B. Pez O. S. B., in Thesaurus anecdotorum novizinus, I, part 1 (Augsburg 1721), cols. 427–762; IV, part 2 (there 1723), cols. 119–48; and in Bibliotheca ascetica antiquomana, III (Regensburg 1724); VI (there 1724), pp. 49–150; VII (there 1725), pp. 65–112; IX (there 1726), pp. 111–92. His political works were more highly esteemed. Worthy of note is De oris, progress et fine imperii Romani, composed between 1308 and 1313 and published by G. Brusch (Basel 1555, and several times thereafter). In it the author sets forth his ideas on the State—its origin, forms, development, and relations; he discusses the Holy Roman Empire, which he considers a continuation of the ancient Roman Empire, its mission, the relations between Church and State, and the end of the Empire and of the world, which he foretells as imminent, together with the consequent coming of the Antichrist.
