John returned to England, taught in the abbey school at Malmesbury, the
famous school originated by Irish monks and illustrated by the fame of
S. Aldhelm, and there died. His chief work was the _de Divisione
Naturae_, in which he seems to anticipate much later philosophic
argument (notably that of S. Anselm and Descartes as to the existence
of God) and to have been the precursor if not the founder of Nominalism.

With John the Scot it is clear that both the old literature and
philosophy survived and were fruitful and that new interests, which
would carry theology into further developments, were arising. A
revival of learning was naturally the growth of the monastic system;
but that system was itself far from secure at the time of which we
speak.

[Sidenote: The Benedictine rule.]

The Benedictine rule did not win its way over Europe without some
checks; nor was it always able to retain its hold in an age of general
disorder. Much depended upon the abbat in each particular house. In
Gaul, the rule of S. Columban had made him absolute. But such a
submission was never accepted in central and southern Gaul. From the
end of the sixth century it is clear that monasticism was beginning to
slacken its devotion. The history of the monastery of S. Radegund as
given by Gregory of Tours shows this; so does the letter of Gregory the
Great to Brunichild. Nor did the milder rule of S. Benedict long
remain unaltered in practice.

A new revival is connected with the names of Odo and Cluny.

{172}

[Sidenote: The decay of monasticism in the ninth century.]

Saint Odo emerges from an age in which the most striking feature was
the reassertion of the imperial power and the imperial idea. The ninth
century, as it began, witnessed a remarkable revival, the revival of a
decayed and dormant institution--the Roman Empire--in whose ashes there
had yet survived the fire which had inspired the rulers of the world in
the past. The great idea of imperialism was reborn in the person of a
man of extraordinary physical and mental power, a sovereign who, while
he had not a little of the weaknesses of his age, had also in a
remarkable degree centred in himself its highest philosophic
aspirations. The early ninth century is dominated by the figure of
Charles the Great. The result was inevitable. Lay power, lay
over-lordship or supremacy, extends everywhere, intrudes into the
recesses of monastic life, and dictates even in things purely