Adalbert

Adalbert was a Gallic pseudo-mystic from the 8th century. He was declared a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church.

## History

According to a preserved fragment of his memoirs, he claims that his mother, while pregnant with him, thought she saw a calf emerging from her right side, which Adalbert claims was a sign that an angel had blessed him.

Some claimed that he was a worker of great miracles, while others said he was a follower of the tradition of Kabbalah. He was said to have distributed clippings from his nails and hair to his followers, calling them powerful preservatives. He claimed that an angel had come to him, granting him holy relics and powerful protective amulets. It is also claimed that he declared himself a god and had altars consecrated to himself.

He claimed to have received a letter from Jesus Christ, via the archangel Michael. De Plancy is implied in his work to believe that this letter was a forgery. This letter was published by Baluze in the appendix to his *Capitularies of the Frankish Kings*, the opening text of which is as follows:

"In the name of God, Here begins the letter of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who fell in Jerusalem, and who was found by the Archangel Michael, read and copied by the hand of a priest named John, who sent it to the city of Jeremiah to another priest named Talasius; and Talasius sent it to Arabia to another priest, names Leoban; and Leoban sent it to the city of Betsamine, where it was received by the priest Macarius, who sent it back to the mountain of the Archangel Saint Michael; and by means of an angel, the letter arrived at the city of Rome, at the sepulchre of Saint Peter, where are the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and the twelve priests who are in Rome have kept vigils for three days, with fasts and prayers, day and night, ..."

He is also said to have come up with his own prayer, which he taught to his disciples. The universal part of the prayer, which was followed by a personal request, goes as follows:

"Lord, Almighty God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Alpha and Omega, who art on the sovereign throne, on the Cherubim and the Seraphim, on the angel Uriel, the angel Raguel, the angel Cabuel, the angel Michael, on the angel Inias, the angel Tabuas, the angel Simiel and the angel Sabaoth, please grant me what I am about to tell you."

Eventually he became too much for the religious authorities to allow to continue as he was, and so he was arrested and imprisoned, wherein he died.

In short, most of what we know about him are in the form of rumours of questionable authenticity. What we do know for certain is that he was active in the 8th century, he himself believed that he was blessed by an angel, and that his actions angered the Roman Catholic Church to the degree that they had him imprisoned for the rest of his life.

## Works

* A memoir, which only exists now in fragments.

## Powers

According to rumour, he knew the future, could read minds, and know what sins people had committed just by looking at them.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Spence, L. (1920). *An Encyclopædia of Occultism*. 2 ed. pg. 2
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 de Plancy, J. C., (1863). *Dictionnaire Infernal*. 6ed. pg.6