Erigena
JOANNES SCOTUS (e-rij e-nä), an eminent scholar and metaphysician; probably born in Ireland about 800-810. He spent a great part of his life at the court of Charles the Bald of France, and was placed at the head of the school of the palace. The king further imposed on him the double task of translating into Latin the Greek works of the pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite, and of composing a treatise against Godeschale on "Predestination and Free-will." This treatise, and another, other, "Of the Division of Nature," contained many views in opposition to the teachings of the Church. They were condemned by the councils of Valencia in 855 and of Langres in 859, and Pope Nicholas I. demanded the immediate disgrace of the culprit. He died in France about 875.