Note 145 — BOOK II.

John the Scot is generally supposed to have died in France before A.D. 877, as the letter of Anastasius (Usher’s Sylloge, Ep. 24,) addressed to Charles the Bald, who died in that year, seems strongly to imply that he was not then living. There is, however, no positive notice of the time of his death. The story indeed has so much the air of one told in Asser of John abbat of Athelney, that one would almost suspect it was formed from it: especially as Malmesbury seems to speak in a very hesitating manner on the subject. V. Asser, à Wise, p. 62.