Clement of Ireland, St.
CLEMENT OF IRELAND, ST.
Irish grammarian and master of the palace school under charlemagne and Louis I the Pious; b. Ireland, mid-eighth century; d. on the Continent, after 828. He was probably at the Carolingian court before 796 when alcuin became abbot of Saint-Martin's, Tours, and Clement succeeded him as head of the palace school. Irish influence on the studies there was attacked by theodulf of orlÉans, alcuin, and einhard, but Clement retained his position at least until 826, when he was present at court at the baptism of the Danish King Harold. Modestus of Fulda and the future emperor, lothair i, were among Clement's pupils. An entry in a wÜrzburg necrology—IV Kal. Junii Clementis Magistri Palatini —suggests that he may have died there on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. kilian of wÜrzburg. Clement wrote (c. 817–20) an Ars grammatica, dedicated to Lothair, which is valuable for its extensive quotations from earlier authors. It contains three parts: De philosophia (the grammatical part proper), De metris, and De barbarismo; the entire text was first published in Philologus (Supplementband 20; 1928).
Feast: Mar. 20.
Bibliography: m. cappuyns, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 12:1430.
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