Hartmannus of Saint Gall

HARTMANNUS of SAN GALLO. - Benedictine, master in the abbey of S. Gallo, of which he became abbot in 924. He was a disciple of Notkero Balbulo and is mentioned in the chronicle Casus S. Galli by Ekkeardo IV, who calls him «praeter sapientiae doctrinalem dotem, religionis tenacissimus» (MGH, Scriptores, II, p. 102, 5).

About fifteen ecclesiastical hymns by him survive, in various metres and in the Latin language; among them is a noteworthy poem in honour of Christ, in Sapphic stanzas. Brief verses greet the arrival in S. Gallo of kings Corrado and Carlo III.
His namesake was a monk of the same abbey who, toward the end of the 10th century or the beginning of the 11th, following the example of Ekkeardo I, likewise wrote in Latin a life of St. Wiborada, a religious who had suffered martyrdom near S. Gallo during an invasion by the Hungarians in 925. This composition is judged by Corrado di Fabaria, continuator of the Casus S. Galli, to be «luculento satis sermone» (MGH, Scriptores, II, p. 166). To it must be added an epitaph in honour of the Saint, perhaps later in date.

BIBL.: ed. in MGH, Poëtae latini Medii Aevi, Poëtae latini aevi Carolini, IV, pp. 317-49. Studies: Manitius, I, p. 606; A. Schubiger, Die Sängerschule St. Gallens von achten bis zwölften Jahrh., Einsiedeln 1858. On the author of the life of St. Wiborada, MGH, Scriptores, IV, pp. 452-57; cf. Manitius, II, p. 208.

Lanfranco Fiore

Cite this article

“HARTMANNUS DI SAN GALLO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI (1951), p. 810. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/hartmannus-di-san-gallo.