Theodore of Tarsus

Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.01: English Writing and Culture: Old English, 500-1066.
Vol. editors: Richard William Dance (University of Cambridge), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

Born 602
Died 690
Activity c. 620-690

Places

Born in Turkey
Active in England; Italy; Turkey

Activities

Primary

Archbishop
Monk
Scholar

Resources

Theodore of Tarsus was the seventh archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most learned churchmen of the early Middle Ages. The school at Canterbury led by Theodore and his associate, the monk Hadrian (a Greek-speaking north African, who had been at Naples), is remarkable for the range and level of studies pursued, from highly sophisticated biblical exegesis, involving comparison of Greek and Latin texts, to astronomy, ecclesiastical computus, law and rhetoric. The Canterbury of Theodore was one of the great centres of learning not only of its day but of the whole early medieval period in western Europe, and its level of scholarship was hardly paralleled again in Anglo-Saxon England. A man of formidable energy and vision (he was sixty-…

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412 words

Citation: Magennis, Hugh. "Theodore of Tarsus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5190, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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