Editing Angilbert (section)

==Life==
[[File:BN lat. 13159, fol. 43r.jpeg|thumb|A page from the [[Psalter of Charlemagne]], copied between 795 and 800, and probably given by Charlemagne to Angilbert when the king visited Saint-Riquier for Easter 800<ref name=MH2001a>Michel Huglo, "The Cantatorium, from Charlemagne to the Fourteenth Century", in Peter Jeffery (ed.), ''The Study of Medieval Chant: Paths and Bridges, East and West'' (Boydell Press, 2001), pp. 89–104, at 89–92.</ref>]]

Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the court of Charlemagne at the palace school in [[:de:Aquae Granni|Aquae Granni]] ([[Aachen]]). He was educated there as the pupil and then-friend of the great English scholar [[Alcuin]]. When Charlemagne sent his young son [[Pepin of Italy|Pepin]] to Italy as King of the [[Lombards]], Angilbert went along as ''primicerius palatii'', a high administrator of the satellite court.{{sfnp|CE|1913}} As the friend and adviser of Pepin, he assisted for a while in the government of Italy. Angilbert delivered the document on [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|Iconoclasm]] from the Frankish Synod of Frankfurt to [[Pope Adrian I]], and was later sent on three important embassies to the pope, in 792, 794, and 796.{{sfnp|EB|1911}} At one time, he served an officer of the maritime provinces.{{sfnp|CITD|1998}} He accompanied Charlemagne to Rome in 800{{sfnp|EB|1878}} and was one of the [[Testament of Charlemagne|witnesses to his will in 811]].{{sfnp|EB|1911}}

There are various traditions concerning Angilbert's relationship with [[Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne]]. One holds that they were married,{{sfnp|EB|1878}} another that they were not.{{sfnp|CITD|1998}} They had, however, at least one daughter and two sons, one of whom, [[Nithard]], became a notable figure in the mid-9th century,{{sfnp|EB|1911}} while their daughter Bertha went on to marry Helgaud II, [[Count of Ponthieu]]. Control of marriage and the meanings of legitimacy were hotly contested in the [[Middle Ages]].  Bertha and Angilbert are an example of how resistance to the idea of a [[sacramental marriage]] could coincide with holding church offices. On the other hand, some historians have speculated that Charlemagne opposed formal marriages for his daughters out of concern for political rivalries from their potential husbands; none of Charlemagne's daughters were married, despite political offers of arranged marriages.

In 790, Angilbert retired to the abbey of Centulum, the "Monastery of St Richarius" ({{lang|la|Sancti Richarii monasterium}}) at present-day [[Saint-Riquier]] in [[Picardy]].{{sfnp|EB|1878}} Elected [[abbot]] in 794,{{sfnp|EB|1878}} he rebuilt the monastery and endowed it with a library of 200 volumes.{{sfnp|CE|1913}} It was not uncommon for the [[Merovingian]], [[Carolingian]], or later kings to make laymen abbots of monasteries; the layman would often use the income of the monastery as his own and leave the monks a bare minimum for the necessary expenses of the foundation. Angilbert, in contrast, spent a great deal rebuilding Saint-Riquier; when he completed it, Charlemagne spent Easter of the year 800 there. In keeping with Carolingian policies, Angilbert established a school at Saint-Riquier to educate the local boys.{{sfnp|EBE|2003}}