They waylaid him in church, and fell upon him with swords so that he nearly died. In regard to this passage it may be argued from the specification scilicet Ealdsaxonem genere[1] that the author is introducing a new person whom he wishes to distinguish from the John already mentioned; at any rate Asser's words do not necessarily identify John the Saxon with John the comrade of Grimbald. It is, however, commonly held that the latter inference has a predominant probability. The two stories we find repeated by Florence of Worcester without any attempt at combining them.
3. Hitherto we have had no mention of John Scotus. It is evident that he may be the John whose name is associated with that of Grimbald; but it is impossible that he be John the Saxon. To combine the three was first attempted in the spurious compilation,–'undoubtedly a monkish forgery,' as it is described by sir Thomas Hardy,–which goes under the name of abbat Ingulf of Croyland. Its author invents a mode of reconciling the different nationalities by making John not an Old Saxon, but simply summoned from Saxony.
Hinc sanctum Grimbaldum, artis musicae peritissimum et in divinis scripturis eruditissimum, evocatum e Francia, suo novo monasterio quod Wintoniae construxerat praefecit in abbatem. Similiter de veteri Saxonia Iohannem, cognomine Scotum, acerrimi ingenii philosophum, ad se alliciens, Adelingiae monasterii sui constituit praelatum. Ambo isti doctores literatissimi, sacerdotes gradu et professione monachi sanctissimi erant.
The forger has merely confused Asser by importing into his narrative the name of John Scotus, which he knew, evidently, from the story long before made popular by William of Malmesbury.
- ↑ Ealdsaxo means a Saxon of continental Saxony as distinguished from a Saxon of England. Gregory the Second, when recommending saint Boniface to his future converts, addressed the letter 'universo populo provinciae Altsaxonum,' Jaffé, Biblioth. Rer. Germ. 3. 81; and Asser himself elsewhere mentions 'regionem antiquorum Saxonum quod Saxonice dicitur Ealdseaxum,' p. 484 A.
