 Eriugena’s first certain appearance in historical records occurs around 850/1 where mention is made, in a letter by Bishop Pardulus of Laon, of “a certain Irishman, named Johannes, who is at the palace of the king” (“Scotum illum qui est in palatio regis, joannem nomine”, Epistola ad ecclesiam Lugdunensem, in De tribus epistolis, PL 121: 1052a), who was engaged in a theological controversy with Gottschalk of Fulda. It is also certain that Johannes had been installed for some time at the court of Charles the Bald, the West Frankish king, but he was also associated with other ecclesiastical centers, including Rheims, Laon, Soissons, and Compigne. There is no direct evidence that he was a monk or cleric (he refers to his “frater in Christo” [“brother in Christ”], Periphyseon, PL 122: 1022a, Wulfad, who later became a bishop, but this appellation does not definitively confirm Eriugena’s own church status).