Alan of Farfa

Who is Alan of Farfa?

Alan was an Aquitanian scholar, hermit and homilist who served as the sixth Abbot of Farfa in central Italy from 761. Before taking over at Farfa, Alan composed "one of the most successful homiliaries of the late eighth and early ninth centuries", traces of which may be found in the liturgical formulae interposed among Farfa's eighth-century charters.

Alan may have been a native of Aquitaine or perhaps just a member of an Aquitanian family established in the Sabina. There is a charter dating to his tenure as abbot, from January 766, which refers to a certain Teuderisinus as the abbot's avus, that is, grandfather. This Teuderisinus held land at Rieti and also in the countryside. He gave half of the former, two rural casae, and an undefined property to Farfa sometime before 766. In the charter of January that year a certain Theodosius made an exchange of land at Mallianus with Farfa in which he received the lands formerly granted it by Teuderisinus. If Teuderisinus was indeed the grandfather of Alan, this implies "hitherto undreamt-of mobility and geographical scope among the landowning class, as well as strong and enduring connections between the Sabina and Gaul among the laity as much as the monastic clergy."