SEDULIUS SCOTUS (the YOUNGER). - A 9th-century writer, scholar, and theologian, known as Scotus or Scotus from his native land, Ireland, and as Junior to distinguish him from the 5th-century Christian poet. Some consider him a layman, others, more probably, a monk.
Around 848 he was in Liège, warmly received by Bishop Artgaire (840-54) with his companions, and there he founded the school of St Lambert, establishing the Circle of S., a focal point of culture that brought renown to the city. He befriended all the leading figures of his time and composed laudatory verses for various members of the royal family and nobility, showing himself to be « a good medieval type of educated courtier ». After 858 his traces are lost. According to G. Morin, he may have gone to Milan under Bishop Tado (860-68), where he would have revised the Ambrosian Psalter from the Greek text, which is preserved in ms. 343 of Munich.
Poet, grammarian, philosopher, and exegete. S. carried out varied literary activity. He wrote: *In grammaticam Eutichii*, a *Commentum super Priscianum*, and perhaps an *Expositio categoriarum*; he left a vast *Collectaneum* or collection of extracts from pagan and Christian authors, an anthology of moral maxims and literary models, including a *Liber proverborum graecorum* (dedicatory letter, edited by E. Dümmler, in *MGH, Epist.*, VI, p. 206). More important are his *Carmina*, critically edited by L. Traube (*MGH, Poët. Lat. aevi Carol.*, III, pp. 151-240), which employ a great variety of classical metres and have led S. to be considered the « Virgil of Liège » (cf. ibid., p. 153). Notable is his treatise *De rectoribus christianis et de convenientibus regulis quibus res publica rite gubernanda*, a fine example of the traditional *Specula principis*, divided into 20 chapters, each ending with a summary poem (PL 103, 291-332; ed. Hellmann, cited in bibliography, pp. 1-91); the poems, collected by Traube, present the entire treatise in verse (*MGH, Poët. Lat. aevi Carol.*, III, pp. 154-66, in 21 short poems). According to Hellmann, it may have been dedicated to Lothar II, but more probably to Charles the Bald. S. regards the art of governance as one of the most difficult things, but does not formulate a political technique. Theological works: *Collectanea in omnes b. Pauli epistolas* (PL 103, 9-270), S.’s major and best-known work; *Collectaneum in Matthaeum* (manuscript); *Liber de artibus Prophetarum* (manuscript); various introductory *Explanationes* to the Gospels, following the letter of St Jerome to Pope Damasus (PL 103, 271-90 and 321-52). A copy of the Greek Psalter survives from S., written in uncial script by himself with interlinear Latin translation and signed Σηδόλιος σκόττος ἔγω ἐγραψα (Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, ms. 8407). In his exegesis, S. draws on ancient authors, especially St Jerome and St Augustine, and also Pelagius, but distinguishes himself by a philological and careful exegesis, emphasizing Greek and Hebrew, and paying particular attention to the ordering of the text (PL 103, 15 A) and its context (ibid., 273 D). Hence his importance in the history of biblical exegesis, especially as S. was one of the most learned men of his time.