Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/291

Rh belongs to Bale. Fabricius in fact long ago found this out: 'Baleus hanc versionem libri de regimine principum male tribuit Ioanni Scoto Erigenae;' the real John was a Spaniard.   statement that John Scotus retired into England after the death of Charles the Bald has been the subject of much discussion, and, as usually happens, the dispute has been complicated by a good deal of what is no real evidence, and by much confusion of the real and the false. The following extracts will put the reader in possession of the materials on which to form an opinion with respect to at least an important section of the enquiry.

1. Bishop Asser of Sherborne says that king Alfred

legates ultra mare ad Galliam magistros acquirere direxit, indeque advocavit Grimbaldum sacerdotem et monachum, venerabilem videlicet virum, cantatorem optimum, et omni modo ecclesiasticis disciplinis et in divina scriptura eruditissimum, et omnibus bonis moribus ornatum; Iohannem quoque aeque presbyterum et monachum, acerrimi ingenii virum, et in omnibus disciplinis literatoriae artis eruditissimum, et in multis aliis artibus artificiosum; quorum doctrina regis ingenium multum dilatatum est et eos magna potestate ditavit et honoravit.

This record stands between the years 884 and 886, but in a digression of a general character relating more or less to Alfred's whole reign. Florence of Worcester, in quoting the passage, placed it as early as 872, and the only fact 