815-877. Medieval philosopher. He was
probably Irish and, according to tradition,
travelled in Greece and Italy. The French
king Charles II (the Bald) invited him to
France (before 847), where he became head of
the court school. He is said to have visited
Oxford, to have taught at Malmesbury, and to
have been stabbed to death by his pupils. In
his philosophy, he defied church orthodoxy in
his writings on cosmology and predestination
and tried to combine Christianity with
Neo-Platonism.