Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
,
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
. He was born around 735 and became the student of
Archbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the
Carolingian court, where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. Before that, he was also a court chancellor in Aachen. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according to
Einhard
Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...
's ''
Life of Charlemagne'' (–833), he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the
Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. It occurred from the late 8th century to the 9th century, taking inspiration from the State church of the Roman Emp ...
. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.
During this period, he perfected
Carolingian minuscule
Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one reg ...
, an easily read manuscript hand using a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters. Latin
paleography
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
in the eighth century leaves little room for a single origin of the script, and sources contradict his importance as no proof has been found of his direct involvement in the creation of the script. Carolingian minuscule was already in use before Alcuin arrived in Francia. Most likely he was responsible for copying and preserving the script while at the same time restoring the purity of the form.
Alcuin wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. In 796, he was made abbot of
Marmoutier Abbey, in
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
, where he remained until his death.
Biography
Background
![AT 13763 Roof figures at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna-8](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/AT_13763_Roof_figures_at_the_Kunsthistorisches_Museum%2C_Vienna-8.jpg)
Alcuin was born in
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
, presumably sometime in the 730s. Virtually nothing is known of his parents, family background, or origin. In common hagiographical fashion, the ''Vita Alcuini'' asserts that Alcuin was "of noble English stock", and this statement has usually been accepted by scholars. Alcuin's own work only mentions such collateral kinsmen as Wilgils, father of the missionary saint
Willibrord
Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg.
Early life
His fathe ...
; and
Beornrad (also spelled Beornred), abbot of Echternach and bishop of Sens. Willibrord, Alcuin and Beornrad were all related by blood.
In his ''Life'' of St Willibrord, Alcuin writes that Wilgils, called a ''paterfamilias'', had founded an oratory and church at the mouth of the
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...
, which had fallen into Alcuin's possession by inheritance. Because in early Anglo-Latin writing ''paterfamilias'' ("head of a family, householder") usually referred to a ("churl"),
Donald A. Bullough
Donald Auberon Bullough Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSAScot Royal Philatelic Society London, FRPSL (13 June 1928 – 26 June 2002) was a British historian who taught and published on the cultural and political history of Italy, England ...
suggests that Alcuin's family was of ("churlish") status: i.e., free but subordinate to a noble lord, and that Alcuin and other members of his family rose to prominence through beneficial connections with the aristocracy. If so, Alcuin's origins may lie in the southern part of what was formerly known as
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
.
York
The young Alcuin came to the
cathedral church
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral ...
of York during the golden age of Archbishop
Ecgbert and his brother, the Northumbrian King
Eadberht. Ecgbert had been a disciple of the
Venerable Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, who urged him to raise York to an
archbishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
. King Eadberht and Archbishop Ecgbert oversaw the re-energising and reorganisation of the
English church, with an emphasis on reforming the clergy and on the tradition of learning that Bede had begun. Ecgbert was devoted to Alcuin, who thrived under his tutelage.
The York school was renowned as a centre of learning in the liberal arts, literature, and science, as well as in religious matters. From here, Alcuin drew inspiration for the school he would lead at the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
court. He revived the school with the
trivium
The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...
and
quadrivium
From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the ''quadrivium'' (plural: quadrivia) was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in the ...
disciplines, writing a
codex
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
on the trivium, while his student
Hraban wrote one on the quadrivium.
Alcuin graduated to become a teacher during the 750s. His ascendancy to the headship of the York school, the ancestor of
St Peter's School, began after
Aelbert became Archbishop of York in 767. Around the same time, Alcuin became a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
in the church. He was never ordained a priest. Though no real evidence shows that he took monastic vows, he lived as if he had.
In 781, King
Elfwald sent Alcuin to Rome to petition the pope for official confirmation of York's status as an archbishopric and to confirm the election of the new archbishop,
Eanbald I
Eanbald (died 10 August 796) was an eighth century Archbishop of York.
Early life
Eanbald was a fellow student at York with Alcuin under Æthelbert, his predecessor at York. Alcuin called him a "brother and most faithful friend."Duckett ''Alcu ...
. On his way home, he met Charlemagne (whom he had met once before), this time in the Italian city of
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
.
Charlemagne
Alcuin's intellectual curiosity allowed him to be reluctantly persuaded to join Charlemagne's court. He joined an illustrious group of scholars whom Charlemagne had gathered around him, the mainsprings of the
Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. It occurred from the late 8th century to the 9th century, taking inspiration from the State church of the Roman Emp ...
:
Peter of Pisa
Peter of Pisa ( la, Petrus Pisanus; it, Pietro da Pisa; 744 – 799 AD), also known as Petrus Grammaticus, was an Italian grammarian, deacon and poet in the Early Middle Ages. In 776, after Charlemagne's conquest of the Lombard Kingdom, Peter was ...
,
Paulinus of Aquileia
Saint Paulinus II ( 726 – 11 January 802 or 804 AD) was a priest, theologian, poet, and one of the most eminent scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance. From 787 to his death, he was the Patriarch of Aquileia. He participated in a number of synod ...
, Rado, and
Abbot Fulrad. Alcuin would later write, "the Lord was calling me to the service of King Charles".
Alcuin became master of the
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
School of Charlemagne in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
() in 782. It had been founded by the king's ancestors as a place for the education of the royal children (mostly in manners and the ways of the court). However, Charlemagne wanted to include the
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
, and most importantly, the study of religion. From 782 to 790, Alcuin taught Charlemagne himself, his sons
Pepin and
Louis Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
, as well as young men sent to be educated at court, and the young clerics attached to the
palace chapel. Bringing with him from York his assistants Pyttel, Sigewulf, and Joseph, Alcuin revolutionised the educational standards of the Palace School, introducing Charlemagne to the liberal arts and creating a personalised atmosphere of scholarship and learning, to the extent that the institution came to be known as the 'school of Master Albinus'.
In this role as adviser, he took issue with the emperor's policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe." His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.
Charlemagne gathered the best men of every land in his court, and became far more than just the king at the centre. It seems that he made many of these men his closest friends and counsellors. They referred to him as 'David', a reference to the Biblical king
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
. Alcuin soon found himself on intimate terms with Charlemagne and the other men at court, where pupils and masters were known by affectionate and jesting nicknames. Alcuin himself was known as 'Albinus' or 'Flaccus'. While at
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, Alcuin bestowed pet names upon his pupils – derived mainly from
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
's ''
Eclogues
The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil.
Background
Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...
''. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "He loved Charlemagne and enjoyed the king's esteem, but his letters reveal that his fear of him was as great as his love."
[
]
Return to Northumbria and back to Francia
In 790, Alcuin returned from the court of Charlemagne to England, to which he had remained attached. He dwelt there for some time, but Charlemagne then invited him back to help in the fight against the Adoptionist heresy, which was at that time making great progress in Toledo, the old capital of the Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
and still a major city for the Christians under Islamic rule in Spain. He is believed to have had contacts with Beatus of Liébana
Saint Beatus of Liébana ( es, Beato; 730 – c. 800) was a monk, theologian, and geographer from the former Duchy of Cantabria and Kingdom of Asturias, in modern Cantabria, northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa mountains ...
, from the Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of V ...
, who fought against Adoptionism. At the Council of Frankfurt
The Council of Frankfurt, traditionally also the Council of Frankfort, in 794 was called by Charlemagne, as a meeting of the important churchmen of the Frankish realm. Bishops and priests from Francia, Aquitaine, Italy, and Provence gathered in ''F ...
in 794, Alcuin upheld the orthodox doctrine against the views expressed by Felix of Urgel
Felix (died 818) was a Christian bishop and theologian. He served as the bishop of Urgell (783–99) and advocated the christology known as Spanish Adoptionism because it originated in the lands of the former Visigothic Kingdom in Spain. He was con ...
, an heresiarch
In Christian theology, a heresiarch (also hæresiarch, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary''; from Greek: , ''hairesiárkhēs'' via the late Latin ''haeresiarcha''Cross and Livingstone, ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' 1974) ...
according to the Catholic Encyclopaedia. Having failed during his stay in Northumbria to influence King Æthelred
Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to:
Anglo-Saxon England
* Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary prin ...
in the conduct of his reign, Alcuin never returned home.
He was back at Charlemagne's court by at least mid-792, writing a series of letters to Æthelred, to Hygbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...
, and to Æthelhard
Æthelhard (died 12 May 805) was a Bishop of Winchester then an Archbishop of Canterbury in medieval England. Appointed by King Offa of Mercia, Æthelhard had difficulties with both the Kentish monarchs and with a rival archiepiscopate in sou ...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
in the succeeding months, dealing with the Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
attack on Lindisfarne in July 793. These letters and Alcuin's poem on the subject, , provide the only significant contemporary account of these events. In his description of the Viking attack, he wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain. Behold the church of St Cuthbert
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...
, splattered with the blood of God's priests, robbed of its ornaments."
Tours and death
In 796, Alcuin was in his 60s. He hoped to be free from court duties and upon the death of Abbot Itherius of Saint Martin at Tours, Charlemagne put Marmoutier Abbey into Alcuin's care, with the understanding that he should be available if the king ever needed his counsel. There, he encouraged the work of the monks on the beautiful Carolingian minuscule script, ancestor of modern Roman typefaces.
Alcuin died on 19 May 804, some 10 years before the emperor, and was buried at St. Martin's Church under an epitaph that partly read:
The majority of details on Alcuin's life come from his letters and poems. Also, autobiographical sections are in Alcuin's poem on York and in the ''Vita Alcuini'', a hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
written for him at Ferrières in the 820s, possibly based in part on the memories of Sigwulf, one of Alcuin's pupils.
Carolingian Renaissance figure and legacy
Mathematician
The collection of mathematical and logical word problems entitled ''Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes'' ("Problems to Sharpen Youths") is sometimes attributed to Alcuin. In a 799 letter to Charlemagne, the scholar claimed to have sent "certain figures of arithmetic for the joy of cleverness", which some scholars have identified with the ''Propositiones.''
The text contains about 53 mathematical word problems (with solutions), in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are: four that involve river crossings A river crossing is a means to get from one river bank to the other and may refer to:
* A ford (crossing)
* A bridge
* A tunnel
* Any type of ferry
** A cable ferry
** A reaction ferry
** A water taxi
* an overhead line crossing
See also
* Ri ...
, including the problem of three anxious brothers, each of whom has an unmarried sister whom he cannot leave alone with either of the other men lest she be defiled (Problem 17); the problem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage (Problem 18); and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19). Alcuin's sequence In mathematics, Alcuin's sequence, named after Alcuin of York, is the sequence of coefficients of the power-series expansion of:
: \frac = x^3 + x^5 + x^6 + 2x^7 + x^8 + 3x^9 + \cdots.
The sequence begins with these integers:
: 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, ...
is the solution to one of the problems of that book.
Literary influence
Alcuin made the abbey school into a model of excellence and many students flocked to it. He had many manuscripts copied using outstandingly beautiful calligraphy
Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
, the Carolingian minuscule based on round and legible uncial
Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one ...
letters. He wrote many letters to his English friends, to Arno, bishop of Salzburg and above all to Charlemagne. These letters (of which 311 are extant) are filled mainly with pious meditations, but they form an important source of information as to the literary and social conditions of the time and are the most reliable authority for the history of humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
during the Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
age. Alcuin trained the numerous monks of the abbey in piety, and in the midst of these pursuits, he died.
Alcuin is the most prominent figure of the Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. It occurred from the late 8th century to the 9th century, taking inspiration from the State church of the Roman Emp ...
, in which three main periods have been distinguished: in the first of these, up to the arrival of Alcuin at the court, the Italians occupy a central place; in the second, Alcuin and the English are dominant; in the third (from 804), the influence of Theodulf the Visigoth is preponderant.
Alcuin also developed manuals used in his educational work – a grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
and works on rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
and dialectics
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to ...
. These are written in the form of a dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
, and in two of them the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He wrote several theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
treatises: a ''De fide Trinitatis'', and commentaries on the Bible. Alcuin is credited with inventing the first known question mark
The question mark (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages.
History
In the fifth century, Syriac Bible manuscripts used ques ...
, though it did not resemble the modern symbol.
Alcuin transmitted to the Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
the knowledge of Latin culture, which had existed in Anglo-Saxon England. A number of his works still exist. Besides some graceful epistles in the style of Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerate ...
, he wrote some long poems, and notably he is the author of a history (in verse) of the church at York, ''Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae''. At the same time, he is noted for making one of the only explicit comments on Old English poetry
Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work ''Cædmo ...
surviving from the early Middle Ages, in a letter to one Speratus, the bishop of an unnamed English see
See or SEE may refer to:
* Sight - seeing
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Music:
** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals
*** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See''
** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho
* Television
* ...
(possibly Unwona
Unwona (also Unuuona, Unwano) was a medieval Bishop of Leicester (ancient), Bishop of Leicester.
Unwona was consecrated between 781 and 785. He died between 801 and 803.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 218
Unwona appears as a w ...
of Leicester): ("Let God's words be read at the episcopal dinner-table. It is right that a reader should be heard, not a harpist, patristic discourse, not pagan song. What has Ingeld
Ingeld or Ingjaldr (Old Norse: ) was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legend ...
to do with Christ?").
Use of homoerotic language in writings
Historian John Boswell
John Eastburn Boswell (March 20, 1947December 24, 1994) was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. ...
cited Alcuin's writings as demonstrating a personal outpouring of his internalized homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
feelings. Others agree that Alcuin at times "comes perilously close to communicating openly his same-sex desires", and this reflects the erotic subculture of the Carolingian monastic school, but also perhaps a 'queer space' where "erotic attachment and affections may be safely articulated". According to David Clark, passages in some of Alcuin's writings can be seen to display homosocial desire, even possibly homoerotic imagery. However, he argues that it is not possible to necessarily determine whether they were the result of an outward expression of erotic feelings on the part of Alcuin.
The interpretation of homosexual desire has been disputed by Allen Frantzen Allen J. Frantzen (born 1947 or 1948) is an American Medieval studies, medievalist with a specialization in Old English literature. Since retiring from Loyola University Chicago, he has been an emeritus professor.
Education and career
Frantzen grew ...
, who identifies Alcuin's language with that of medieval Christian ''amicitia'' or friendship. Douglas Dales and Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...
say "the use of language drawn y Alcuin
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some auth ...
from the ''Song of Songs'' transforms apparently erotic language into something within Christian friendship – 'an ordained affection.
Alcuin was also a close friend of Charlemagne's sister Gisela, Abbess of Chelles Gisela (757, Aachen, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany – 810–11, Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France) was a Frankish princess and abbess. She was the daughter of Pepin the Short and his wife Bertrada of Laon. She was the siste ...
, and he hailed her as "a noble sister in the bond of sweet love". He wrote to Charlemagne's daughters Rotrudis and Bertha, "the devotion of my heart specially tends towards you both because of the familiarity and dedication you have shown me". He dedicated the last two books of his commentary on John's gospel to them both.
Despite inconclusive evidence of Alcuin's personal passions, he was clear in his own writings that the men of Sodom had been punished with fire for "sinning against nature with men" – a view commonly held by the Church at the time. Such sins, argued Alcuin, were therefore more serious than lustful acts with women, for which the earth was cleansed and revivified by the water of the Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
, and merit to be "withered by flames unto eternal barrenness".
Legacy
Alcuin is honored in the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and in the Episcopal Church on 20 May
Events Pre-1600
* 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
* 491 – Empress Ariadne (empress), Ariadne marries Anastasius I Dicorus, Anastasius I. The widow ...
the first available day after the day of his death (as Dunstan
Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restor ...
is celebrated on 19 May).
Alcuin College
Alcuin College is a college of the University of York located on Siward's Howe in the English city of York in the county of Yorkshire.
It is one out of ten colleges of the university, being the nearest to the library on the Heslington West part ...
, one of the colleges of the University of York
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
, is named after him. In January 2020, Alcuin was the subject of the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
programme ''In Our Time In Our Time may refer to:
* ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid
* ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema"
* ''In ...
''.
Selected works
For a complete census of Alcuin's works, see Marie-Hélène Jullien and Françoise Perelman, eds., ''Clavis scriptorum latinorum medii aevi: Auctores Galliae 735–987. Tomus II: Alcuinus.'' Turnhout: Brepols, 1999.
Poetry
* ''Carmina'', ed. Ernst Dümmler
Ernst Ludwig Dümmler (2 January 183011 September 1902) was a German historian.
Biography
Ernst Ludwig was born in Berlin, the son of (1777–1846), a Berlin bookseller. He studied law, classical philology and history, among other things, at ...
, MGH ''Poetae Latini aevi Carolini'' I. Berlin: Weidmann, 1881. 160–351.
** Godman, Peter, tr., ''Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance''. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. 118–149.
** Stella, Francesco, tr., comm., ''La poesia carolingia'', Firenze: Le Lettere, 1995, pp. 94–96, 152–61, 266–67, 302–307, 364–371, 399–404, 455–457, 474–477, 503–507.
** Isbell, Harold, tr.. ''The Last Poets of Imperial Rome''. Baltimore: Penguin, 1971.
* Poem on York, ''Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Euboricensis ecclesiae'', ed. and tr. Peter Godman, ''The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.
* ''De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii'', "On the destruction of the monastery of Lindisfarne" (''Carmen'' 9, ed. Dümmler, pp. 229–235).
Letters
Of Alcuin's letters, just over 310 have survived.
* ''Epistolae'', ed. Ernst Dümmler, MGH ''Epistolae'' IV.2. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895. 1–493.
* Jaffé, Philipp, Ernst Dümmler, and W. Wattenbach, eds. ''Monumenta Alcuiniana''. Berlin: Weidmann, 1873. 132–897.
* Chase, Colin, ed. ''Two Alcuin Letter-books''. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975.
** Allott, Stephen, tr. ''Alcuin of York, c. AD 732 to 804. His life and letters''. York: William Sessions, 1974.
** Sturgeon, Thomas G., tr. ''The Letters of Alcuin: Part One, the Aachen Period (762–796)''. Harvard University PhD thesis, 1953.
Didactic works
* ''Ars grammatica
An ''ars grammatica'' ( en, italic=yes, art of grammar) is a generic or proper title for surveys of Latin grammar. The first ''ars grammatica'' seems to have been composed by Remmius Palaemon (first century CE), but is now lost. The most famous '' ...
''. PL 101: 854–902.
* ''De orthographia'', ed. H. Keil, ''Grammatici Latini'' VII, 1880. 295–312; ed. Sandra Bruni, ''Alcuino de orthographia''. Florence: SISMEL, 1997.
* ''De dialectica''. PL 101: 950–976.
* ''Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico'' "Dialogue of Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, with the Teacher Albinus", ed. L. W. Daly and W. Suchier, ''Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Epicteti Philosophi''. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1939. 134–146; ed. Wilhelm Wilmanns, "Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico". ''Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum'' 14 (1869): 530–555, 562.
* ''Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus sapientissimi regis Carli et Albini magistri'', ed. and tr. Wilbur Samuel Howell, ''The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne.'' New York: Russell and Russell, 1965 (1941); ed. C. Halm, ''Rhetorici Latini Minores''. Leipzig: Teubner, 1863. 523–550.
* ''De virtutibus et vitiis'' (moral treatise dedicated to Count Wido
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...
of Brittany, 799–800). PL 101: 613–638
transcript available online
. A new critical edition is being prepared for the ''Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis''.
* ''De animae ratione (ad Eulaliam virginem)'' (written for Gundrada, Charlemagne's cousin). PL 101: 639–650.
* ''De Cursu et Saltu Lunae ac Bissexto'', astronomical treatise. PL 101: 979–1002.
* (?) '' Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes'', ed. Menso Folkerts, "Die alteste mathematische Aufgabensammlung in lateinischer Sprache: Die Alkuin zugeschriebenen ''Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes''; Überlieferung, Inhalt, Kritische Edition", in ''idem'', ''Essays on Early Medieval Mathematics: The Latin Tradition.'' Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.
Theology
* ''Compendium in Canticum Canticorum'': Alcuino, ''Commento al Cantico dei cantici – con i commenti anonimi Vox ecclesie e Vox antique ecclesie'', ed. Rossana Guglielmetti, Firenze, SISMEL 2004
* ''Quaestiones in Genesim
''Quaestiones in Genesim'' is a commentary on the biblical Book of Genesis by the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin, addressed to his protege Sigewulf, comprising 281 questions and corresponding answers about Genesis. It has been dated by Michael Fox to a ...
''. PL 100: 515–566.
* ''De Fide Sanctae Trinitatis et de Incarnatione Christi; Quaestiones de Sancta Trinitate'', ed. E. Knibbs and E. Ann Matter (Corpus Christianorum – Continuatio Mediaevalis 249: Brepols, 2012)
Hagiography
* ''Vita II Vedastis episcopi Atrebatensis''. Revision of the earlier ''Vita Vedastis'' by Jonas of Bobbio
Jonas of Bobbio (also known as Jonas of Susa) (Sigusia, now Susa, Italy, 600 – after 659 AD) was a Columbanian monk and a major Latin monastic author of hagiography. His ''Life of Saint Columbanus'' is "one of the most influential works o ...
. ''Patrologia Latina'' 101: 663–682.
* '' Vita Richarii confessoris Centulensis''. Revision of an earlier anonymous life. MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 4: 381–401.
* ''Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis'', ed. W. Levison, ''Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici''. MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 7: 81–141.
See also
* ''Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes The medieval Latin manuscript ''Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes'' ( en, Problems to Sharpen the Young) is one of the earliest known collections of recreational mathematics problems.Carolingian art
Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the ...
* Carolingian Empire
The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...
* Carolingian period
* Correctory
A correctory (plural correctories) is any of the text-forms of the Latin Vulgate resulting from the critical emendation as practised during the course of the thirteenth century.
Antecedents
Owing to the carelessness of transcribers, the conjectura ...
* Codex Vindobonensis 795
The Codex Vindobonensis 795 (Vienna Austrian National Library Codex) is a 9th-century manuscript, most likely compiled in 798 or shortly thereafter (after Arno of Salzburg returned from Rome to become archbishop). It contains letters and treatises ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
* Allott, Stephen. ''Alcuin of York, his life and letters''
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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* Dales, Douglas J. 'Accessing Alcuin: A Master Bibliography' (James Clarke & Co., Cambridge, 2013),
*
*
* Diem, Albrecht, 'The Emergence of Monastic Schools. The Role of Alcuin', in: Luuk A. J. R. Houwen and Alasdair A. McDonald (eds.), ''Alcuin of York. Scholar at the Carolingian Court'', Groningen 1998 (Germania Latina, vol. 3), pp. 27–44.
*
* Duckett, Eleanor Shipley. ''Carolingian Portraits'', (1962)
*
*
*
* Ganshof, F.L. ''The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy''
*
* Godman, Peter. ''Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance''
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Lorenz, Frederick.
The life of Alcuin
' (Thomas Hurst, 1837).
*
* McGuire, Brian P. ''Friendship, and Community: The Monastic Experience''
* Murphy, Richard E. ''Alcuin of York: De Virtutibus et Vitiis, Virtues and Vices.''
*
*
* Stehling, Thomas. ''Medieval Latin Love Poems of Male Love and Friendship''.
* Stella, Francesco, "Alkuins Dichtung" in ''Alkuin von York und die geistige Grundlegung Europas '', Sankt Gallen, Verlag am Klosterhof, 2010, pp. 107–28.
*
*
* Throop, Priscilla, trans. ''Alcuin: His Life; On Virtues and Vices; Dialogue with Pepin'' (Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2011)
*
* West, Andrew Fleming.
Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools
' (C. Scribner's Sons, 1912)
*
*
External links
*
Alcuin's book, ''Problems for the Quickening of the Minds of the Young''
* ttp://www.alcuinsociety.com/ ''The Alcuin Society''
''Anglo-Saxon York on History of York site''
* ttps://archive.today/20121204163129/http://kaali.linguist.jussieu.fr/CGL/index.jsp Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum: complete texts and full bibliography
The Life of Alcuin by Dr. Frederick Lorenz
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