heir
opponents still stigmatised them as Pelagians, although they had
departed from the system advocated by the British monk.

The controversy continued to occupy the mind of the Church during
the latter part of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries.
In A.D. 475 a synod held at Arles sanctioned the views of the Semi
-pelagians, and compelled the presbyter Lucidus, who was an earnest
advocate of Augustinianism, to recant. Another synod, held at
Lugdunum in the same year, put also its imprimatur upon them. But
there was not complete agreement, and the divines who had been
banished by the Vandals from northern Africa held a council in A.D.
523, and under their auspices Fulgentius of Ruspe composed a defence
of Angustine's views; (Kurtz, p. 213)

For a considerable time after this the controversy may be said to
have remained quiet, but broke forth with great fury in the ninth
century. Gottschalk, the son of a Saxon count, had been dedicated by
his parents to the service of religion, and in due course entered
the monastery of Fulda. He did not take to cloister life, and
petitioned an assembly held at Metz to be released from his monastic
vows. His request was granted, but Rabanus Maurus, who was the
abbot, appealed to Lewis the Pius, and endeavoured to show that all
_oblati_ (lay brethren dedicated to the service of the Church) were
bound to perpetual obligation. Lewis revoked the decision of the
assembly, and Gottschalk had to go back to cloister life, which he
did by entering the monastery of Orbais. Here he became an ardent
student of the writings of Augustine, and sought to propagate his
views. "He affirmed a _proedestinatio duplex_, by virtue of which
God decreed eternal life to the elect, and the elect to eternal
life; and so also everlasting punishment to the reprobate, and the
reprobate to everlasting punishment, for the two were inseparably
connected" (Neander, Vol. VI., p. 180).

On returning from a pilgrimage to Rome Gottschalk happened to meet
Noting (Bishop of Verona), and expounded to him his views. Sometime
after this meeting the bishop had a conversation with Rabanus (who
was now Bishop of Mayence), and informed him regarding Gottschalk's
opinions. Rabanus promised to send a reply, which shortly afterwards
he did, in two "thundering epistles." The controversy now waxed
warm, too much so for the monk. He was condemned, imprisoned, and
scourged. He threw his treatises into the fire, but intimated h