Sedulius Scottus - Works

Works

Sedulius's most important works are his treatise De Rectoribus Christianis, a commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, or introduction to the logic of Aristotle, and a scriptural commentary Collectanea in omnes beati Pauli Epistolas. The first of these is a noteworthy contribution to Christian ethics. It is the first, apparently, of a long line of treatises written during the Middle Ages for the instruction of Christian princes and rulers, a dissertation on the duties peculiar to that state of life, a Mirror for Princes, as such works came to be called at a much later period.

Sedulius's work shows, among other traits, a deep moral feeling, a realization of the fact that the mission of the state is neither purely economic on the one hand nor exclusively ecclesiastical, on the other. The question of the relations between Church and State had, indeed, been raised, and Sedulius affirms the rights of the Church, to defend them. He is not on the side of those who, seeing in Charlemagne the ideal of a pontiff and ruler in one person, were in favor of the idea that the prince should in fact be supreme in matters religious. On the contrary, he is in favor of a division of temporal and spiritual powers and requires of the prince a careful observance of the Church's rights and privileges. The description of the qualifications of the Queen (pp. 34 sq. in Hellmann's ed.) is not only Christian in feeling and tone, but also humanistic, in the best sense of the word.

The commentary on the Isagoge was known in Western Europe in the Latin version only.

Not the least interesting of the writings of Sedulius are his letters, some of which are published in the "Neues Archiv", II, 188, and IV, 315. In them are narrated the vicissitudes of the Irish exiles on the Continent, and an insight is given into the attitude towards those exiles by the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, as well as by the people.