The Letter of Fredegisus of Tours on Nothingness and Shadow: A New Translation and Commentary

Abstract

“The Letter of Fredegisus of Tours on Nothingness and Shadow: A New Translation and Commentary.” Fredegisus of Tours was an Anglo-Saxon scholar who studied under Alcuin of York and later served at the court of Charlemagne. Although he was apparently well respected by his peers, specific details concerning his life are scarce. His only surviving work is a brief epistle entitled De Nihil et Tenebris . This article provides a new translation of the letter, based on Migne 1851 edition, along with biographical information about its author, a brief critical history of the text, and a commentary on Fredegisus’s significance in the history of Western philosophy. The author argues, against extant critical accounts, that Fredegisus evinces a much higher level of philosophical sophistication than is usually attributed to him. This is evidenced by certain crucial similarities between the De Nihil and Augustine’s De Magistro , as well as the decidedly Platonic overtones of Fredegisus’s doctrine of nothingness.