Interpreting the Hexaemeron: Honorius Augustodunensis De Neocosmo

Abstract

Introduction During his lifetime, Honorius Augustodunensis tried to conceal his identity, and he succeeded. Five hundred years of scholarship have not uncovered the secret of the enigmatic presbyter and scholasticus, nor yet identified with certainty the "imperial hill" from which his name derives. The work of V.I.J. Flint and M.O. Garrigues over the past decade has, however, narrowed the field of inquiry and made possible a fairly precise identification of the intellectual and controversial milieu in which he wrote. From internal evidence in his writings and on the basis of manuscript distribution, it can be concluded that during the first decades of the twelfth century, he was active somewhere in the Danube valley, probably at or near Regensburg. Both authors agree that he may well have been a Benedictine monk. Indeed, Valerie Flint goes so far as to suggest that his involvement in the Benedictines’ struggle to preserve their right to priestly service and the care of souls may be the key to the place and purpose of his works.