FOLCWIN OF LOBBES

Benedictine abbot, chronicler; b. c. 935; d. 990. In 948 he became a monk at saint–bertin, near Thérouanne, where Saint folcwin, his great uncle, was bishop. In 965, designated abbot of lobbes by Bp. Everaclus of Liège, he is supposed to have received the abbatial blessing at Cologne on Christmas Day in the presence of Emperor Otto I. Only in 1881 was it rediscovered that Folcwin of Saint-Bertin and Folcwin of Lobbes were the same man. His intelligent use of documentary evidence and his distrust of mere oral tradition give him special importance as a writer. His works include a history of the abbots of Saint-Bertin, written 961–962 (Patrologia Latina 136:1181–1278; Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 13:606–634); a life of Saint Folcwin of Thérouanne, written between 970 and 972 (Patrologia Latina 137:535–542; Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 15.1:424–430); a history of the abbots of Lobbes, written between 972 and 980 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 4:54–74); and a history of the miracles of Abbots ursmar and Erminus of Lobbes, written c. 980 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 15.2:832–842).

Bibliography: j. warichez, L'Abbaye de Lobbes depuis les origines jusqu'en 1200 (Tournai 1909), passim. m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Munich 1911–31) 2:210–214. a. dumas, Catholicisme 4:1407. g. baader, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–65) 4: 193.

[w. e. wilkie]