Vita Hludovici

"[1] He held office at the court of Louis the Pious, and his cultural and religious references suggest that he was not a churchman.

[2] It has been conjectured, based on evidence within the text, that the author was born around AD 800 and that his nationality was not Gothic or Frankish.

[3] The author's attitude to his subject is clearly subordinate and one of admiration, yet he does not idealise Louis in the same way as, for example, Einhard does in his Life of Charlemagne.

[5] Max Buchner, the author of one of the most influential modern studies of the Astronomer's work in 1940, identified him as Hilduin [fr], the chancellor of Pippin II of Aquitaine and Charles the Bald.

[6] Tischler has most recently tried to make a case that the Astronomer was Jonas of Orleans but the Hilduin theory remains more popular amongst historians.