Claudius of Turin

Claudius of Turin (or Claude) (fl. 810–827)[1][2] was the Catholic bishop of Turin
Claudius of Turin
from 817 until his death.[3] He was a courtier of Louis the Pious and was a writer
during the Carolingian Renaissance. He is most noted for teaching iconoclasm,[3] a Bishop of Turin
radical idea at that time in Latin Church, and for some teachings that prefigured Church Catholic Church
those of the Protestant Reformation. He was attacked as a heretic in written works See Turin
by Saint Dungal and Jonas of Orléans.
In office 817–827
Personal details
Born unknown
Contents possible: Spain
Early career and the imperial court (until 817) Died 827
Episcopate (817–827) possible: Turin
Writings
References
Notes
Sources
External links

Early career and the imperial court (until

817)
Claudius is thought to have been from Spain. This belief may have its origins in the
accusations of Jonas of Orléans, who claimed Claudius was a disciple of Felix of
Urgel. Felix was a bishop in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees whom Claudius
may have known personally. The bishop had been condemned by Alcuin at the
Council of Frankfurt in 794 for teaching adoptionism.[4] It is now certain that
Claudius was not a disciple of Felix.[1] If he was from Spain, it is uncertain whether Louis the Pious, Holy Roman
or not he received his education there or in Lyon under the archbishop Leidrad.[5] It Emperor and for a time a chief patron
was probably Leidrad and, as Claudius himself tells it, his schoolmates and the of Claudius.

future emperor Louis the Pious who convinced Claudius to study exegesis and
concentrate on certain portions of Scripture.[5] Claudius also studied the Church
Fathers.

When Louis the Pious was still King of Aquitaine, he called Claudius to his court at Chasseneuil sometime before 811. In 813,
Emperor Charlemagne called Louis, his only surviving legitimate son, to his court. There he crowned him as his heir. The following
year, Charlemagne died and Louis was made ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. He brought Claudius to Aachen, the empire's capital
city.[5] There Claudius gave exegetical lectures to the emperor and the court and was even urged to put his lectures in writing by the
emperor himself.[6] Claudius was a member of an elite circle of secular and ecclesiastic politicians and authorities and a creatura
della corte di Aquisgrana ("creature of the court of Aachen").[1][6] In 817, he was sent by Louis to Turin to act as bishop.[3] It has
been suggested that the appointment of a theologian and scholar to a post such as Turin, which had attendant military duties due to
the threat of Saracen raids, was largely based on the need for an imperial supporter in Italy in light of the rebellion of Bernard.[6]
Bernard was the illegitimate son of King Pepin, the third son of Charlemagne. Louis gave Italy to his eldest son Lothair when the
empire was partitioned among his three sons in 817.[7] Bernard rebelled against his uncle with the support of Bishop Theodulf of
Orléans. The rebellion was put down, but the event reduced the emperor's prestige amongst the Frankish nobility and it became
important that the bishop of Turin be a man who was loyal to the emperor.[8][9]

Episcopate (817–827)
As bishop of Turin, Claudius found that men were often directed to go on pilgrimage to Rome for penance and that worshippers were
accustomed to venerate Christ and the saints by bowing before images and relics. Claudius, coming from an educated background,
was not greatly exposed to such provincial modes of worship.[10] He made attacks on the use of images, relics, and crosses, he
opposed pilgrimages to obtain absolution, and he had little regard for the authority of the pope due to his belief that all bishops were
equal.[3]

Claudius was a heretic in the view of Dungal and Jonas of Orléans, who later wrote to refute some of his teachings at the request of
the emperor.[3] The last recorded act of Claudius is in a charter of the monastery of St Peter at Novalesa in May 827.[1] He was dead
by the time Dungal finished his Responsa contra peruersas Claudii Taurinensis episcopi sententias late in 827, so it can be presumed
that he died that year.[1]

Writings
Claudius was both an author and a copyist.[10] Although most of his extant works
are simple biblical commentaries, his writings are very personal. He had a penchant
for divulging detail in an age when brevity and anonymity were more common.[6]
Around 811, Claudius prepared an exhaustive and encyclopaedic commentary on the
Book of Genesis at the request of the emperor.[1] This commentary was edited by
Johann Alexander Brassicanus in Vienna before it was first printed in Basel by
Hieronymus Froben in 1531.[1]

Claudius also wrote commentaries on the books of Leviticus, the historical books of
the Old Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, and all Pauline epistles,[11] of which the
commentary on the Epistle to Galatians shows some of his views prefigure those
expressed by both the Waldensians and Protestants centuries later. It was once
thought that he had in fact founded the Waldensians,[3] however this was disproved
in the 19th century. His epistles on 1 and 2 Corinthians, however, dedicated to
Theodemir, abbot of Psalmody, and a possible student of his, were sent to Aachen by
the dedicatee to be condemned by the assembled bishops of the realm.[10] The Claudius would have had access to
Corinthian commentaries were unpublished, though it was these commentaries that books such as the Aachen Gospels
[2] when writing his commentaries.
sparked the controversy concerning icons and pilgrimages.

Claudius introduced the "organic metaphor" of the state in his commentary on 1

Corinthians. He proposed that, as the church was the body of Christ, so the state was the body of the emperor.[12] The imperial court
would have been familiar with the work because Claudius later wrote that it had been well-received despite the attempts of his former
friend, Theodemir of Nismes, to have it condemned as heretical. None of Claudius' works were ever condemned and he tried
unsuccessfully to regain Theodemir's approval, but eventually had to pen a well known apology directed against Theodemir's
persistent attacks.[13]

Between 814 and 816, Claudius also wrote a Chronicle. It begins with a letter to a priest named Ado. This is followed by a diagram
of the genealogy of Jesus going back to Adam, accompanied by commentary. A final section, which was in fact composed first,
chronicles the Six Ages of the World based mainly on Bede. Claudius expends much effort in dating the events of the Old Testament
according to the Christian calendar.[14]

In 1950, Claudius was identified by P.Bellet as the author of some works previously attributed toPseudo-Eucherius.[15]
References

Notes
1. M. Gorman 1997, p. 279
2. S. F. Wemple 1974, p. 222
3. F. L. Cross; E. A. Livingstone, eds. (13 March1997). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition
.
USA: Oxford University Press. p. 359.ISBN 0-19-211655-X.
4. "Diocesan Museum of Urgell"(https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062109/http://www .museudiocesaurgell.org/las
eu/uk/sorigenv.htm). Archived from the original (http://www.museudiocesaurgell.org/laseu/uk/sorigenv.htm) on 2007-
09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
5. M. Gorman 1997, p. 280.
6. M. Gorman 1997, p. 281.
7. Altmann and Bernheim (1891).Ausgewahlte Urkunden(https://books.google.com/books?id=7JAP
AAAAYAAJ).
Berlin. p. 12.
8. Holmes, George (1992).The Oxford History of the Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 98.ISBN 0-19-
285272-8.
9. Deanesly, Margaret (1969). History of Early Medieval Europe 476–911. London: Methuen & Co Ltd. pp. 434&ndash,
435. ISBN 0-416-29970-9.
10. M. Gorman 1997, p. 282.
11. For the Tractatus in epistola ad Ephesiosand the Tractatus in epistola ad Philippenses, see the edition by C. Ricci (=
Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis 263), u Trnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2014 I(SBN 978-2-503-55266-
8).
12. S. F. Wemple 1974, p. 224.
13. M. Gorman 1997, p. 283.
14. M. I. Allen (1998), "TheChronicle of Claudius of Turin". in After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early
Medieval History (University of Toronto Pres), pp. 288–319.
15. P. Bellet (1950) 'Claudio de Turin, autor de los comentarios "In genesim et regum" del PseudoEuquerio', in Estudios
Biblicos 9, pp. 209-23

Sources
Gorman, Michael (April 1997). "The Commentary on Genesis of Claudius ofurin T and Biblical Studies under Louis
the Pious". Speculum. Speculum, Vol. 72, No. 2. 72 (2): 279&ndash, 329. doi:10.2307/3040972. JSTOR 3040972.
Noble, Thomas F. X. (2012). "Chapter Seven: Art and Argument in the Age of Louis the Pious". Images, Iconoclasm,
and the Carolingians. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 287–364.ISBN 0-8122-0296-1.
Wemple, Suzanne F. (April 1974). "Claudius of Turin's Organic Metaphor or the Carolingian Doctrine of
Corporations". Speculum. Speculum, Vol. 49, No. 2. 49 (2): 222–237. doi:10.2307/2856041. JSTOR 2856041.

External links
"The Apology of Claudius of Turin". Archived from the original on 5 October 2012.
Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
Commentary on Genesis by Migne Patrologia Latina (erroneously attributed to Eucherius ofyons)
L

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claudius_of_T

urin&oldid=850145229"

This page was last edited on 13 July 2018, at 22:45(UTC).

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.