LAMBERT OF SAINT-OMER

Encyclopedist; d. c. 1125; A canon at Saint-Omer as his father, Onulf, had been before him, Lambert was the author of an encyclopedia of general knowledge, the Liber floridus (Patrologia Latina 163:1003–31), completed in 1120. His work is a compilation of extracts from authorities, both ancient and contemporary, usually unacknowledged; it embraces most fields of learning, including history, geography, mathematics, astronomy, natural history, grammar, and orthography. His sources included Pliny, Seneca, Publilius Syrus, Orosius, Macrobius, Paulinus of Nola, Jerome, Isidore, Gregory of Tours, Rabanus Maurus, Peter the Painter, Einhard, Bede, and others. The work has many illustrations, maps, plans, and genealogical trees. There is much repetition of information. Nothing is known of Lambert's career. He is sometimes confused with lambert of saint-bertin, who is certainly a separate identity, but the two may have belonged to the same monastery of Sithiu, i.e., saintbertin.

Bibliography: The original MS of the Liber floridus is Ghent 92, s. xii. On the illustrations in this MS, see v. van der haeghen, "Le Manuscrit gantois du Liber floridus et ses illustrations, XIIe siècle," Bulletijn der Maatschappij van Geschieden Oudheidkunde te Gent 16 (1908) 112–118. For other MSS, see manitius 3:241–244. l. duchesne, ed., Liber Pontificalis (Paris 1886–1892) 1:clxxxv–clxxxvii. l. v. delisle, "Notice sur les manuscrits du Liber floridus " in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale et autres bibliothèques 38.2 (1906) 577–791. j. m. de smet, "L'Enégète Lambert, écolâtre d'Utrecht," Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 42 (1947) 103–110. b. smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (2d ed. Oxford 1952).

[p. b. corbett]