Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/304

 FREDE6IS

252

FREDERICK

information which is valuable because not to be found elsewhere. He is an impartial and veracious author whose testimony deserves to be received in general with great confidence. The third author, who brings the "Chronicon" to a conclusion, is a partisan of Grimoald, the "mayor of the palace" and a great admirer of the Carlovingian family. Chapters Ixxxiv to Ixxxviii and several interpolations are his. These rather important conclusions have been reached in recent times by the critical acumen of B. Krusch. Several points have been more precisely defined Ijy G. Schnurer, and their opinions taken together may be con.sidered definitive, although the last word on the subject has not been said.

Interest in the "Chronicon" of Fredegarius con- sist^ for us in the fact that it is the sole document which informs us in a continuous way concerning that period in the history of the Franks" which goes from 591 (the year in which the "Ecclesiastical History" of Gregory of Tours comes to a close) to 658. Apart from this work we have almost no knowledge of the period of Frankish history covered by it. All three writers exhibit, it is true, much barbarism in diction and in thought; we are all the more indebted to them for the serious effort they made to preserve some memory of the events of their times. The "Chroni- con" of Fredegarius was edited by B. Krusch in "Scriptores Rer. Merovingicarum", II (Hanover, 18S8).

Krusch, Die Chronxcce des sogenannten Fredegars in Neues Archiv, VII (1882); Idem, preface to his aforesaid edition; Schnurer, Die Verfasser der sogenannten Fredegar-Chronik (Fribourg, Switzerland, 1900) in Collectanea Friburgensia, IX; KuRTH, L'histoire de Clovis d'aprbs Freaegaire in Revue des questions historigues (1890), XhVll; Idem, La reine BTunehaul, ibid. (1891), L; Waptenbach, Deutschland^ Geschichtsquellcn (7th ed., Stuttgart, Berlin, 1894), I, 114-118; 141-142.

GODEFROID KuRTH.

Fredegis of Tours (FRiDUGisu.9or Fredegisds), a ninth-century monk, teacher, and writer. Fredegis was an Anglo-Saxon, b. in England towards the end of the eighth century; d. at Tours in 8.34. He was a pupil of Alcuin, first at York and afterwards at the court of Charles the Great. The proximate date of his birth is determined by a reference to him as "a boy" (puer) in a letter of Alcuin dated 798. He was a favourite pupil of Alcuin and was one of the group of distinguished scholars who formed the Schola pala- tina, in which he was known by the name Nathaniel. At that time he was a deacon. When, in 796, Alcuin became Abbot of Tours Fredegis seems to have re- mained at the court. According to some authorities he was Alcuin 's successor as Master of the Palace School. This is, however, improbable. In 804 he succeeded his teacher as Abbot of Tours, retaining at the same time his relations with the emperor. Among his contemporaries he enjoyed a reputation for great learning. He composed several poems and a short treatise in epistolary form, which deals with the nature of nothing and darkness, "De nihilo et tenebris". The epistle was written probably during the author's residence at Tours. It is addressed "to all the faith- ful and to those who dwell in the sacred Palace of the most serene prince Charles".

The occasion of the discussion of a problem which to the modern mind seems childish, namely, Are noth- ing and darkne.ss real things? was doubtless the Bibli- tal use of the words in the first chapter of Genesis. If the Bible uses the words nothing and darkness, it seemed in that naively realistic age that there must be things corresponding to those words. Fredegis ac- cepts llic realist ic :inswcr and delonds it both by argu- ments fvciiii .■lutlinrity and l)y arguments from reason. That his Kohiliiiii, however, was not generally ac- icptril is clear from the opening words of the treatise, in which he refers to the long prevailing divergence of opinion in (he matter. The importance of the trea- tise lies in the use which it makes of the dialectical

method which was afterwards developed into the scholastic method by Abelard, Alexander of Hales, and St. Thomas.

De nihilo et tenebris in P. L., CV, 751 and in Mon. Germ. Hist., Epp., V, 615; Ahner, Fredegis von Tours (Leipzig. 1878), 16. For Life etc. cf. Ahner, op. cit.; Endres in Philosophi- sches Jahrb. (1906). XIX, 4; MuLLiNGER, Schools of Charles the Great (London, 1877), 72; Turner, Hist, of Philosophy (Boston. 1903), 244.

William Turner.

Frederick I, surnamed Barbarossa, German Iving and Roman Emperor, son of Fretlerick of Swabia (d. 1147) and Judith, daughter of Henry the Black; born c. 1123; died 10 June, 1190. Connected mater- nally with the Guelphs, he seemed destined to effect a reconciliation between them and the Ghibellines. In II li; lie 1i:m1 :ilrc:ulv n.u,M<l piiMif attention by a

FUEDEIIICK BaKBAKiiSSA

Figure on the Monument of Emperor William I on the Kyffhauser.

determined and victorious war against Duke Conrad of Zahringen. On 4 March, 1152, after having been designated by Conrad III as his successor, he was elected German king, unopposed, and crowned at Aachen on 9 March. Taking Charles the Great as his ideal of a German emperor, Frederick determined to expand his supremacy to its utmost limits. This explains his ecclesiastical policy. With astonishing firmness his bold spirit pursued the aims it had once marked out for itself. Though no scholar, Frederick surprises us by the clearness and cleverness of his speech, by his rapid comprehension and decision, and by his well-reasoned and logical policy. A born ruler, he considered it his duty to secure for his subjects the blessings of peace. The majesty of his personal ap- pearance was combined with attractive kindliness. Though shrewd and calculating, he had at times fits of uncontrolled passion. However, he was sufficiently master of himself to restrain his anger if the object to be attained was endangered by an outburst. Such a man naturally excited the admiration and invited the confidence of his fellow-men.

The sense of national unity that grew out of the rivalries existing in the crusading armies found in him an ideal for its cnlliusiasui. In public opinion Fred- erick found the su])port which was lacking to his pred- ecessors, Lothair anil Conrad. The German people loved their king, who soon after his coronation visited