Eloy of Noyon--The Library of Laon--Natural
History of Isidore of Seville--Elements of contemporary art--Details of
ornament--Symbolism--Luxeuil and Monte Cassino--Sacramentary of
Gellone--"Prudentius"--"Orosius"--Value of the Sacramentary of Gellone.
To reach the beginning's of these various degenerate and illiterate
attempts at book-work we have only to watch the last expiring gleams of
classic art beneath the ruthless footsteps of the barbarian invaders of
the old Roman Empire.
In the sixth century the light of the old civilisation was fast fading
away. Perhaps we may look upon the so-called splendour of the reign of
Dagobert in France as the spasmodic scintillations of its latest moments
of existence. The kingdom of Dagobert, after 631, was almost an empire.
For the seven years preceding his death, in 638, he ruled from the Elbe
and the Saxon frontier to that of Spain, and from the Atlantic Ocean to
the confines of Hungary. It was during his reign that we read of the
skill in metal-work of the celebrated St. Eloy of Noyon, the rival of
our own St. Dunstan.
St. Eloy or Eligius (588-659) began his artistic career as the pupil of
Abbo, the goldsmith and mint-master to Chlothaire II., and rose from the
rank of a goldsmith to that of Bishop of Noyon.
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