Wolfcoz I (''

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

'' first half of the 9th century) was a medieval

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

and painter of illuminated manuscripts, working in the

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes and ...

of the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot w ...

in present-day

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He entered the monastery some time before 813, and by 817 was a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

. He was apparently a confidant of Abbot

Gozbert of Saint Gall Gozbert (died 4 April 850 (?) in Rheinau, Switzerland, Rheinau) was abbot of the Abbey of Saint Gall from 816 until 837 and also abbot of Rheinau Abbey until 850. The beginning of his term of office in Rheinau is unknown. Life and works As monk ...

. 14 known documents by Wolfcoz' hand were created between 816 and 822, including parts of the so-called Wolfcoz Psalter and the Zurich Psalter. In Wolfcoz' time, the scriptorium of the abbey entered a golden age, producing manuscripts of high quality and establishing the

Abbey library of Saint Gall The Abbey Library of Saint Gall (german: Stiftsbibliothek) is a significant medieval monastic library located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 1983, the library, as well as the Abbey of St. Gall, were designated a World Heritage Site, as “an outst ...

as a centre of

Alemannic German Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alamanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxim ...

culture. The abbey library still has three manuscripts penned by Wolfocoz. He developed the Allemanic minuscule and also the decoration of

initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...

s. A later monk with the same name, also active as a scribe at the Abbey of Saint Gall, is sometimes referred to as Wolfcoz II.

References

{{RC-clergy-stub Medieval European scribes Monks at Saint Gall 9th-century Christian monks

See also

References