Haito

HAITO (HATTO): Abbot of Reichenau and bishop of Basel; b. 763; d. at Rsichenau 836. He descended from the Swabian lineage of the counts of Saulgau. In his fifth yearwith his brother Wadileoz he was sent to the monastery of Reichenau, where he remained in different positions until the end of his life. He stands at the head of the group of learned men who established the scholarly fame of Reichenau in the ninth century and made it by the side of St. Gall the most important institution of training and education for the nobility of Swabia. He became principal of the monastic school at Reichenau and later abbot of Reichenau and bishop of Basel. Like Waldo, his predecessor, he enjoyed the favor of Charlemagne, and was sent to Constantinople to complete negotiations of peace with the emperor of the East. He introduced the Benedictine rule in his diocese, and it is very probable that he was the author of the so-called Murbach statutes, twenty-seven chapters of which appear in the resolutions of a synod at Aachen in 816, concerning monastic reforms, which were received into the Cqpitulare monaaticum of 817. He is certainly the author of twenty-five chapters which formed the rule for the official conduct of the clergy of Basel. They are of historical importance, since they give an insight into the low state of education among the clergy and at the same time show the efforts of the authorities to elevate the clergy spiritually and morally and give the people a Christian education. About 820 Haito was in Rome. In 823 a severe illness compelled him to abdicate his offices and retire as a simple monk to Reichenau. His pupil Erlebald succeeded him.

(Friedrich Wiegand.)

Bibliography: The Capitufaria are in MGH, Leg., i (1835), 439-441, and ib., Leg., Section II., Capitularia, i (1883), 382-380; and in MPL, cv.

Sources are; Heriman, Chronicon, in MGH, script., x (1844), 87-183; Walafrid 13trabo, De roisionibus WetNni, in MGH, Poetm Latini ovi Carob, ii (1884),287-275, 425-428; Einhard, Vita Caroli, chap. mtiii.; and a letter from Frothar, presumably to Haito, is in MGH Epiet., v (1898), 279. Consult: A. Ebert, Allpemeine Geschichte der Littaratur des Mittelalters, ii. 144-152, Leipsic, 1880; Histoire littéraire de la France, iv. 523 ®qq.; Ceillier, Auteum sales, :ii. 330-337, 390; Rattberg, RD, ii. 9390; Wattenbach, DGQ, i (1893), 288--280; Hauck. RD, ii. passim.