Joseph or Josephus Scottus[1] (died between 791 and 804), called the Deacon, was an Irish scholar, diplomat, poet, and ecclesiastic, a figure in the Carolingian Renaissance.
At York he met and befriended Liudger, a Frisian and future Bishop of Münster, whom he mentions in a poem requesting a "polished staff".
Joseph was at the Frankish court during a period (790s) of rising anti-Irish sentiment (often expressed in verse), but he seems nonetheless to have established a bond of trust with both Alcuin and Charlemagne.
In 787 or 788 Charlemagne sent Joseph and several others on a diplomatic mission to Rome to deal with the Papacy and to Spoleto and Benevento, the capitals of two Lombard duchies opposed to Frankish overlordship.
The only other work which certainly belongs to Joseph is an abridgement of a commentary on Isaiah by Jerome (Abbreuiatio or Epitome commentarii (Sancti) Hieronymi in Isaiam), which was apparently ordered by Alcuin.