o 
 
 1 
 
THE LETTERS o/ALCUIN 
 
 BY 
 
 ROLPH BARLOW PAGE, A.M., 
 
 Sometime Fellow in European History in Columbia University 
 New York City 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Faculty of Political Science 
 Columbia University 
 
 1909 
 
v^^ 
 
 Copyright, 1909, by R. B. Page 
 
 The Forest Press, New Tork 
 
TO MY WIFE 
 
 191004 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The life of Alcuin has been written many times ; and the 
 CaroHngian Age in which he played no mean part has often 
 been fully treated. The present work is concerned with 
 neither of these, primarily, yet both will necessarily be dis- 
 cussed in some measure in connection with its m.ain pur- 
 pose, which is to determine how far Alcuin's life and works 
 mirror forth his age, and to what extent they influenced the 
 events of that time. 
 
 The author wishes to thank his colleagues in the New 
 York High School of Commerce, Messrs. Carleton, Lewis 
 and Wharton, for the valuable assistance they have given 
 him in the final preparation of the manuscript. To Pro- 
 fessor James T. Shotwell, at whose instance the author 
 entered Columbia University, he is especially indebted for 
 many kindnesses and for many helpful suggestions in the 
 writing and revising of this work. His sincerest thanks 
 are due to Professor James Harvey Robinson, at whose 
 suggestion this work was undertaken, and without whose 
 encouragement it would never have been completed. 
 
 R. B. P. 
 
 New York City, April, 1909. 
 
CONTENTS X 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The value of Alcuin's letters as sources for the age of 
 Charles the Great — Alcuin's early life and career in Eng- 
 land; his birth and education at York — His teaching at 
 York — His pilgrimage to Rome — Meeting with Charles 
 the Great and invitation to Frankland— Master of the 
 Palace School — Alcuin returns to England to make peace 
 between Charles the Great and Offa, king of Mercia — His 
 return to Frankland ; opposition to Adoptionism and Image- 
 Worship — Abbot of Tours ; his quarrel with Theodulph of 
 Orleans and King Charles — His restoration to favor and 
 peaceful death. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 alcuin's theological role 
 
 The general nature of Alcuin's theology; his attitude 
 towards the Church Fathers — His struggle against the 
 Adoptionists ; dogmatic works against the latter ; nature 
 and origin of Adoptionism ; course of the struggle ; its sig- 
 nificance. Other dogmatic works — Part played by Alcuin 
 in the controversies over filioque and Image-Worship — 
 Exegetical works of Alcuin; their nature and purpose — 
 The Commentaries ; his method of interpretation ; influence 
 and importance of his exegetical works — Moral and bio- 
 graphical works; their lack of originality — Conclusion. 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 
 
 The Papacy as portrayed by Alcuin; its difficulties, its 
 weakness — Relations with the Prankish power — The 
 Prankish Church and Charles the Great; his ecclesiastical 
 policy and reforms ; Alcuin's influence upon these — The 
 Empire; Alcuin's conception of it — Social conditions in 
 Prankland in Alcuin's day — The clergy, princes and com- 
 mon people — Social conditions in England ; internal strife ; 
 devastations by the Northmen — Remedial measures — 
 Conclusion. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 
 
 General condition of learning in the seventh and eighth 
 centuries — The educational aims of Alcuin and Charles — 
 Lack of schools, teachers and books; a mediaeval librar}' — 
 The sclTools of Charles the Great — Alcuin and the Palace 
 School — The subjects taught; the Seven Liberal Arts; 
 Alcuin's educational works — Alcuin's attitude toward the 
 classics ; his literary style, methods and discipline — Results 
 and conclusions. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the following pages an attempt will be made to form 
 
 an estimate of some of the more important phases of the 
 
 work of Alcuin, from the traces which have come down to 
 
 us in his own works and in those of the men with whom he 
 
 came most in contact. The principal source used is his 
 
 correspondence supplemented by his other works, dogmatic, 
 
 exegetical, moral and didactic. Where these have proved 
 
 inadequate, further evidence has been sought in the Caro- 
 
 lingian Capitularies and other contemporary sources. The 
 
 correspondence of Alcuin, as preserved, includes not merely 
 
 his own letters, but the replies of others, and sO' especially 
 
 commends itself by reason of its scope and nature. In all, 
 
 there are in the collection three hundred and eleven letters,^ 
 
 (i) For the earlier editions of Alcuin's correspondence see 
 Potthast, Wegweiser, p. 34. A modern and very excellent edition is the 
 one prepared by Jaffe, and published by Wattenbach and Dnemmler 
 in 1873 in the sixth volume of the Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicanim. 
 This has a decided advantage over the preceding editions in that it 
 has incorporated with the 306 letters which it contains the three most 
 valuable sources for the life of Alcuin. These are, the Vita Alchuini 
 Aiictore anonyDW, probably written by Sigulfus (cf. Jaffe op. cit. p. i), 
 and the Vita Sancti Willibrordi, and Versus de Sanctis Eboraccnsis 
 Ecclesia, written by Alcuin himself. However, in view of the investiga- 
 tions of Sickel, and of Duemmler himself, the edition was soon in 
 need of revision so far as the arrangement of the letters was concerned. 
 Moreover, though the editors had heartily approved of the major part cf 
 the work prepared by their dead friend Jaffe, it had not been entirely 
 satisfactory to them. Accordingly, Duemmler prepared a new edition 
 which was published in 1895 in the Mouitmcnta Gcrmanicc Historica, 
 Epistolarum, Volume IV, pps. 1-493. It is based very largely on that 
 of Jaffe, but it rejects one or two untrustworthy sources used by the 
 latter. Duemmler has also revised the dates of many of the letters 
 and has rearranged the whole correspondence. Moreover, while omit- 
 ting six of the letters inserted in tlie edition of Jaffe he has made 
 considerable additions to four others, (Epp. 3, 28, 49, 145) and has 
 incorporated in his own edition eleven letters which were not known 
 to JafTe or rejected by him. It is to this edition that references will 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 penned by the choicest spirits of the age, among them such 
 men as Angilbert, Adalhard, Leidrad, ThemUilph. Bene- 
 dict of Aniane, Pauhnus, Arno and Charles the Great him- 
 self. As an intimate friend and zealous co-laborer with 
 these in an endeavor to elevate the whole Prankish people 
 to the level of that civilization which still lingered on in 
 some of the more fortunate places of the realm. Alcuin's 
 correspondence with each and all of them is well-nigh in- 
 dispensable to those who would obtain a proper concep- 
 tion of the political and social history of his day. Therein 
 the whole inner life of the Carolingian Age is reflected for 
 our inspection. The Prankish nobility, as Alcuin knew it 
 at the court and in the Palace School, vigorous, but un- 
 tutored; the Prankish clergy, unorganized, vitiated by 
 ignorance and sloth, impelled to reform by the genius of its 
 king; the struggling Papacy, beset by foes within and with- 
 out ; barbarian peoples accepting Christianity and civiliza- 
 tion at the point of the sword ; a great Christian empire 
 in the making — all these stand out in the correspondence 
 of Alcuin in a way that is most illuminating. Moreover, 
 an especial significance and value attaches to Alcuin's 
 letters, by reason of the fact that he regards himself as a 
 mentor and father-confessor to the foremost people of his 
 time. He assumed to write with the confidence of a pope 
 to every region, parish, province and state of his world, 
 exhorting and admonishing the people after the fashion of 
 the holy fathers.^ As a matter of fact, there is scarcely a 
 
 be made in these pages. See also. Sickel, Th., Alcuinstudicn in 
 Sitzungsberichte der Philosophisch-Historischcn Classe dcr Wiener 
 Akademie. Vol. LXXIX. Sybcl's Historischc Zritsclirift. Vol. XXXII, 
 pp. 352-365. Duenmilcr E.. Zur Lcbciisgcschichtc Alcuins in Neucs 
 Archiv, Vol. XVIII. pp. 51-70. Diieniniler, E., Introduction to Alcuin's 
 Letters, M. G. H., Epistolariim, Vol. IV, pp. i ct scq. 
 
 (i) "Et littcris sub eius (papac) sancli nominis auctoritate per 
 diversas niundi rcgiones populos parrochias civitates et provincias 
 hortari ; ct catholicae fidei rationes plurioribus exponere personis." 
 Ep 179. 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 question of the day of any importance in church or state 
 on which Alcuin does not express an opinion. It is hisj 
 sense of varied . personal responsibihty which makes | 
 his letters so rich in material, and therefore so valu- 
 able a supplement to the other scanty sources for this time. 
 
 The data for the life of Alcuin are very scanty. The 
 exact time of his birth cannot be fixed ; but it would appear 
 that he was born in Northumbria between the years 730 and 
 735 A. D.^ According to the statement of his biographer, 
 he was of noble birth,- and he himself claimed that he v;as 
 related t(\ St. Willibrord's father, a nobleman of Northum- 
 bria.^ His early life, according to his own testimony, was 
 spent in the monastery at York, where he was most kindly 
 treated by his masters, Egbert and Aelbert.* Here, in com- 
 pany with other youths of noble birth, he was instructed 
 by the good Aelbert in all the learning of the Seven Liberal 
 Arts.*^ He evinced the liveliest interest in his studies, 
 especially in Virgil, and soon became the best pupil in the 
 school. As such he was the recipient of an unusually 
 large share of that affection which his master Aelbert was 
 wont to lavish on all his pupils. 
 
 Consequently, when Aelbert made a pilgrimage to Rome, 
 
 after the fashion of scholars of the time, to find something 
 
 new in the way of books and studies,® he v/as accompanied 
 
 (i) Frobenius, Mabillon and Lorentz, whom most of the later 
 biographers follow, state that Alcuin's birth could not have occurred 
 earlier than 735 ; Duemmler, on the other hand, argues that Alcuin was 
 probably born about 730. Cf. Lorentz Alktiin. p. 9: Duemmler, E., Znr 
 Lebensgeschichte Alchuins in Gesellschaft fiir altere Deutsche Ge- 
 schichtskunde, Neues Archiv, Vol. XVIII, 1893, p. 54 
 
 (2) Vita Alchuini Auctore anonymo, chap, i, apud Jaffe, Biblotheca 
 Rerum Germanicarum, Vol. VI, p. 6. 
 
 (3) Vita Sancti Willibrordi, chap. i. Jafife, op. cit., pp. 40, 41, 76. 
 Epp. 20. 19, 43, 47. 
 
 (4) Ep. 42. Versus de SS. Ebor. Eccles. op. cit., vv. 1648-1652. Cf. 
 Epp. 114, 121, 116, 143, 148. 
 
 (5) Versus de SS. Ebor. Eccles. op. cit., vv. 1430-1452, 1515, 1522, 
 1530. 
 
 (6) "Hie quoque Romuleam venit devotus ad urbem." Versus de 
 SS. Ebor. Eccles. op. cit., vv. 1457, 1458. Cf. "Quos (libellos) habui 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 by his favorite pupil, Alcuin. The two Anglo-Saxon 
 monks, master and pupil, passed through Frankland, and 
 such was the impression made upon the latter that he de- 
 sired to remain with the Alsatian monks of Murbach.^ 
 Though Alcuin dismisses the subject of his sojourn in 
 Rome with a short but reverential mention,^ there is little 
 room to doubt that the ancient home of the Caesars made 
 a great impression upon him. Their journey had some 
 noteworthy incidents ; at Pavia, ^ley heard Peter of Pisa 
 hold a disputation with a certain Lullus, and later on they 
 met King Charles himself.^ 
 
 On their return to York, Alcuin continued to aid Aelbert 
 in the work of the school. Soon a change came; Aelbert 
 succeeded to the archbishopric on the death of Egbert in 
 766, while Alcuin became master of the school, and was 
 given express care of the books, those invaluable treasures 
 which he and his master had been at such infinite pains to 
 collect.* Alcuin's reputation as a teacher and scholar 
 attracted many pupils to his school at York. Among these 
 were some from abroad, and others whom he frequently 
 mentions in his letters.^ He taught them what he himself 
 had studied, namely, the Seven Literal Arts.® Like 
 Aelbert, he was a successful teacher ; his pupils ever remem- 
 bered him with gratitude and affection. Indeed, at this 
 stage of his career, his lines were cast in pleasant places, 
 and later he speaks of this period of his life with regret. 
 
 in patria per bonam et devotissimain magistri mci industriam vel etiam 
 mei ipsius qualemcumque sudorem," Ep. 121. Cf. Alcuin's Epitaph on 
 Aelbert, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I p. 206. 
 
 (i) Epp 172, 271. (2) Versus dc SS. Ebor. Ecclcs. op. cit., vv. 
 1457, 1458. (3) Ep. 172. 
 
 (4) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., ^lap. 5. Cf. Ep. 121. 
 
 (5) Among these were Eanbald, the Second, Archbishop of York, 
 and Sigiilfus, who followed him to France. Oiief among those from 
 abroad were Liudger, and .Mbert. sent from Gregory of Frisia. Vita 
 Alchuini op. cit.. chap. 11. Cf. Vita S. Liudgcri, M. G. H. SS. II, p. 
 407. Cf. Epp. 112. 290. 
 
 (6) Versus dc SS. Ebor. Eccles. op. cit., vv. 153S-1561. 
 
INTRODUCTION U 
 
 When not engaged in teaching, he spent his leisure time 
 with his old master, Aelbert, whom he honored as a scholar 
 and loved as a father/ When Aelbert died in 788 A. D., 
 Alcuin mourned him with the most touching sorrow, and 
 it may be, as one of his biographers suggests, that the death 
 of his old master was one of the factors which determined 
 him to go to Frankland. 
 
 In 781 he went to Rome to obtain the pallium for Ean- 
 bald." During the journey he met Charles at Parma, was 
 invited to make his home in Frankland, and, after hesitat- 
 ing until he should obtain the consent of his archbishop 
 and of his king, he betook himself with their permission 
 to the palace of Charles at Aachen in 782. Here he received 
 a warm welcome from the king,^ and was shortly after 
 given charge of certain abbeys.* 
 
 The motive which induced Alcuin to leave England was 
 probably not so much the death of his beloved master as 
 his recognition of the fact that conditions there were 
 far from conducive to the advancement of learning.^ 
 And then it must be remembered that Frankland had a 
 great fascination for our English scholar. He was an en- 
 thusiastic admirer of Charles, whom he regarded not only 
 as the defender of the Church, but as a mighty conqueror 
 extending his conquests to enlarge the domain of civiliza- 
 tion. Again, Frankland offered a splendid opportunity for 
 work as well as for glory. The monasteries had been de- 
 stroyed or their property devastated ; learning had decreased 
 
 (i) Ep 148, p. 239. Cf. Versus de SS. Ebor. Eccles. op. cit., vv. 
 1589-1595-. 
 
 (2) Vita Alchuini op. cit., chap. 5, p. 17. Cf. authorities quoted in 
 Jaffe VI. op. cit., p. 17, note I. 
 
 (3) Vita Alchuini op. cit., chap. 5, p. 17. Cf. Einhard, Vita Caroli 
 impcratoris, chap. 25, M. G. H. SS. II. p. 456: Theodulph Carmen 25, 
 Ad Carolum Regem, vv. 131-140, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. Vol. 
 I. p. 486. 
 
 (4) Epp. 153, 154, 232. 
 
 (5) Epp. loi, 102, 109, 122. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 from generation to generation; the very language had been 
 debased ; the manuscripts, even those relating to the saints, 
 had been neglected or mutilated. Alcuin, as might have 
 been expected, seems to have regarded his mission to 
 Frankland as an apostleship of religion, rather than of 
 learning. "I have not come to Frankland," he says, "nor 
 remained there for love of money, but for the sake of re- 
 ligion and the strengthening of the Catholic faith. "^* 
 
 Alcuin's first and most important work in Frankland 
 was to act as Charles' chief co-laborer in the restoration 
 of letters — a herculean task, the consummation of which 
 the king regarded as second only to the maintenance of the 
 kingdom itself. For this task, Alcuin was eminently fitted 
 by his learning, his affiliations with the church,^ and a1x)ve 
 all, by his practical turn of mind and his admiration for 
 the genius and plans of King Charles. He began his work 
 by teaching the Seven Liberal Arts in the Palace School. 
 The pupils were the youths of the court, young men des- 
 tined for high office in church and state. Charles, himself, 
 and his elders were wont to participate in the discussions, 
 when the affairs of state were not too urgent.^ 
 
 His position as master of the Palace School was no sine- 
 cure. He had a mixed class, old and young, men and 
 wom.en ; all of them curious, eager, insistent, plying him 
 with questions that at times must have been most discon- 
 certing. Not the least of his difficulties was that his pupils 
 gloried in the martial supremacy of their race, and could 
 
 (i) Epp. 178, 198, 171, 41, 217, 43. Cf. Alcuin's Adversus Elipandiim, 
 bk. I, chap. 16, Migne CCI. p. 251. 
 
 (2) His biographer states that though he had never taken vows, yet 
 he lived a life no less self-denying than the most strict adherent of 
 the Benedictine Rule. Cf. Vita Alchuini op. cit., chap 8. In this 
 connection see Gaskoin's article "Was Alcuin a Monk?" Appendix i 
 Gaskoin "Alcuin" pp. 249-252; Hauck, Kirchcngcschichtc Dcutschlands, 
 II. p. 125, note I. 
 
 (3) Einhard, Vita Caroli impcratoris, chap. 25, M. G. H. SS. II. pp. 
 456-457. 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 ill brook the intellectual supremacy of their Saxon master; 
 at times, they drove him to seek the protection of Charles 
 from their jealous levity/ Nor was this all. Alcuin was 
 wearied by the frequent journeyings of the court, by the 
 excitement of successive wars, and by the care of the abbeys 
 entrusted to his charge. He was discouraged at times by 
 the lack of books, and his righteous soul was vexed by the 
 lax morals of the court.^ 
 
 In view of these circumstances, the Prankish court 
 could have no permanent attraction for Alcuin, He had 
 been practically a recluse in England, was already past 
 middle age, and must have longed for retirement and re- 
 pose. He sought it in England, whither he returned in 
 790, probably intending to end his days as the abbot of a 
 small monastery on the banks of the Humber. His hopes 
 were not to be realized; he found himself more than ever 
 embroiled in secular matters. In the first place, he had to 
 act as peacemaker between Charles and Offa, king of 
 Mercia, whose relations with each other had become 
 seriously strained.^ Upon his arrival at York, he effected 
 a reconciliation between these two potentates,* but he found 
 that the political conditions in his native state of Northum- 
 bria were such as to preclude all idea of repose or study. 
 Despairing of accomplishing anything in England, he be- 
 gan to think once more of returning to France, Accord- 
 ingly, when Charles called upon him for aid in combating 
 the heresy of Adoptionism, he set out again for Aachen.^ 
 This was in 792, and, much as Alcuin loved his native land, 
 he was never destined to return to its shores. 
 
 (i) Carmen, 42, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I. p. 254. 
 
 (2) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chaps. 6, 8. Cf. Epp. 121, 80, 244. 
 
 (3) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chaps. 6, 8. Cf. Epp. 53, 150, 155, 
 121, 80. 
 
 (4) Ep. 244. (5) Cf. Duemmler, Zur Lebensgeschichte Alchuim, 
 op. cit. Neues Archiv. Vol. XVIII, p. 62, note ^4: Hauck, op. cit., 
 Vol. II, p. 123. Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chap. 6. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 After his arrival in Frankland, Alciiin wrote several 
 letters to the leaders of that Adoptionist heresy which he 
 had returned to oppose. Neither these, nor the treatises 
 which he wrote a little later, proved effectual in stemming 
 the tide of heresy. Soon after, however, at the Council of 
 Frankfort in 794, he had the satisfaction of silencing the 
 Bishop of Urgel, one of the chief protagonists of Adop- 
 tionism.^ And it was a source of no little gratification to 
 him that the works which he had written against Adop- 
 tionism were used as a weapon by the commission which 
 succeeded in uprooting that 'pestilent' heresy in Spain.' 
 Just how much he had to do with the controversy over 
 image-worship which came up at the same Council of Frank- 
 fort, is a matter of debate; but it is very probable that he 
 assisted Charles in writing his protests to the Papacy 
 against the doctrine of image-worship.' 
 
 It was perhaps as a reward for his meritorious services, 
 that Charles made him Abbot of Tours in 796.* It is evi- 
 dent that he did not seek this honor. Some time before, 
 indeed, anxious to be entirely free from all further partici- 
 pation in secular affairs, he had requested the king to allow 
 him to retire to Fulda, but Charles set him over Tours in 
 order to reform the monks and re-establish learning there. 
 Here he was destined to spend the remainder of his days, 
 disciplining the monks, administering the great possessions 
 
 (i) Epp. 73, 23, 207, 208. 
 
 (2) "Quos nostra parvitas, quantum potuit, scriptis ecclesiasticis 
 adiuvabat ; maxime eo libello, quem nuper edidimus contra libellum 
 illius Felicis." Ep. 207. Cf. Epp. 208, 200. 
 
 (3) As is well known, he brought a memorial against the Nicene 
 Decrees to Charles from the bishops and princes of England. Autiales 
 Nordhumbrani, M. G. H. SS., op. cit.. Vol. XIII, p. 155, note 3. Cf. 
 Hauck, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 324, 330: Hefele, ConcilieHgcscliichte, Vol. 
 III., pp. 651-673. 
 
 (4) Vita Alchuitti, op. cit., chap. 6. Cf. Epp. loi, 247, 121, 143, 172. 
 Afwalcs Laurisscnscs Minores, M. G. H. SS. I, p. 119. 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 of the abbey, teaching- in the school^ and writing to his 
 friends when his multifarious duties permitted. 
 
 In the meantime, events were happening on the conti- 
 nent which gave Alcuin an excellent opportunity for the 
 exercise of his self-imposed task of mentor. In the 
 first place, the crusade against the heresy of Adoption- 
 ism, begun at the Councils of Narbonne, Ratisbon and 
 Frankfort, was still being vigorously prosecuted in Spain 
 by a commission which Charles had appointed for that 
 purpose. Alcuin became the head and centre of the 
 attack upon this heresy. Such leaders of the orthodox 
 party as Leidrad of Lyons, Nefridius of Narbonne, and 
 Benedict of Aniane sought the aid of his counsel and of 
 his pen." Then the attack of the Roman mob upon Pope 
 Leo III roused him, and he called upon Charles to aid the 
 Pope and chastise his enemies.^ Furthermore, there was 
 the coronation of Charles as emperor. Alcuin wrote con- 
 gratulating him upon his accession to the imperial dignity, 
 and offered as a worthy tribute 'to the new imperial power* 
 a beautiful copy of the Gospels.* 
 
 Not a little of Alcuin's time at Tours was spent in wri- 
 ting commentaries on the Bible. In addition to the revision 
 of the Scriptures which he prepared at Charles' request,' 
 he commented upon a number of the books, both of the 
 Old and New Testament.® Thus, teaching, writing, cor- 
 
 (i) Duemmler, Zur Lebensgeschichte Alcuins, op. cit., Neues Archiv. 
 Vol. XVIII, p. 67. Cf. Vita Alchnini, op. cit., chap. 8. Cf. Epp. 
 loi, 247, 146, 150. 
 
 (2) Epp. 149, 207, 208. 
 
 (3) Ep. 174. Cf. Ep. 179, wherein he exhorts his friend Arno to 
 chairrpion the Pope's cause. 
 
 (4) "Sed quaerenti mihi et consideranti nihil dignius pacatissimo 
 honori vestro inveniri posse [videbatur] quam divinorum munera 
 librorum." Ep. 261. Cf. Epp. 262, 217. 
 
 (5) "Totius forsitan evangelii expositionem direxerim vobis, si me 
 non occupasset domni regis praeceptum in emendatione veteris novique 
 testamenti." Ep. 195. Cf. Epp. 196, 209, 213, 214. 
 
 (6) Epp. 261, 262. Cf. Vita Alchnini, op. cit., chap. 12. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 responding, did Alcuin spend many useful, happy hours; 
 and we can readily believe that he would fain have em- 
 ployed all his time in this way; he never speaks with 
 pleasure of the broad acres which his abbey ruled and 
 owned, though he delighted in dispensing his hospitality 
 to the numerous guests who were attracted there by reason 
 of its wealth and its reputation.^ However, with advanc- 
 ing age, the secular duties which his office entailed proved 
 more and more irksome to him. "We are well-nigh over- 
 whelmed by the burden of worldly affairs and the respon- 
 sibilities of wealth," he writes to Arno.^ Other letters 
 written at this stage of his career are eloquent of his desire 
 to have done with the active affairs of this world. Sickness 
 and feebleness oppressed him and he longed for rest.* 
 Even the kind attentions of the king failed to rouse him; 
 and though the latter tried to induce him to visit the palace, 
 he preferred to remain amid the 'smoky roofs of Tours.' 
 In a touching letter to Charlemagne, he plead with him 
 to be allowed to retire, and when his request was granted, 
 he expressed his satisfaction again and again to his most 
 intimate friends.* 
 
 Unfortunately, the peaceful close which Alcuin contem- 
 plated was not yet to be his, for a most unhappy quarrel 
 with his friend Theodulph, Bishop of Orleans, came to sad- 
 den his last days. It seems that Alcuin gave asylum to a 
 certain delinquent whom Theodulph had tried and im- 
 prisoned, A quarrel ensued, and both of them appealed 
 to Charles. To Alcuin's great sorrow, the emperor not 
 only sided with Theodulph, but, angered at Alcuin's 
 temerity in opposing his authority, cast aspersions on the 
 monks of St. Martin's, even hinting that Alcuin's disci- 
 
 (l) On one occasion in 800 A. D., Charles honored him with a 
 visit. £/>. 165. (2) Epf. 53. 150. 156, 159. 167, 70, 113. 
 
 (3) Epp. 192, 229, 238, 253, 254, 240. 266. 
 
 (4) EfP- 178, 170. Cf. Epp. 237, 233, 234, 235, 239, 240. 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 pline must have been lax.^ However, it is pleasing to note 
 that Charles forgave him, partially at least, and cheered 
 his declining years with some marks of his favor. The 
 former intimacy was renewed; Charles wrote asking for 
 explanations of his difficulties in theology and as- 
 tronomy, and Alcuin showed his keen appreciation by 
 dedicating to him most of his exegetical works written at 
 that time.^ Furthermore, agreeable to Alcuin's wish, the 
 emperor appointed Fridugis as his successor, and invited 
 Alcuin himself again and again to the court. These invi- 
 tations were humbly but firmly declined, the old scholar 
 pleading the infirmities of age.' A little later, a year or 
 more before his death, he took a dignified and pathetic fare- 
 well of Charles, thanking him for all his kindness and re- 
 minding him of the importance of preparing for death and 
 the judgment. About the same time he wrote to Pope Leo 
 III, asking him to pardon his sins.* As he neared the end 
 of life, he was filled with a strange dread of death. "I 
 tremble with terror at the thought of the Judgment Day," 
 says he, "lest it find me unprepared."^ He expressed a 
 desire that he might die on Pentecost, and yearned 
 with an intense longing to be buried by the side of St. 
 Boniface at Fulda. He was far too weak to admit of his 
 being taken to Fulda; but part of his wish was fulfilled, 
 for his life went out in a beautiful close just as the matins 
 had been sung on Whitsunday, May 19th, 804 A. D.^ 
 
 (i) _ When Theodulph demanded that the delinquent be delivered 
 into his hands, he seems to have been acting as a missus of the king. 
 E^. 247. Cf. Epp. 245, 249. 
 
 (2) Epp. 257, 261, 306, 136, 304. Cf. Ep. 242, edition of Jaffe, 
 
 (3) Epp. 178, 238, 239, 240, 241. 
 
 (4) Epp. 234, 238. 
 
 (5) Epp. 239, 252, 242, 266. 
 
 (6) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chaps. 14, 15. Ad Annales Petavianos, 
 M. G. H. SS., Vol. Ill, p. 170. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 alcuin's theological role 
 
 To the historian of dogma, the CaroHngian Age does 
 not offer much, unless he wishes to study the appropria- 
 tion of old and familiar material rather than the evolution 
 of new doctrines. For the first creative period of Chris- 
 tianity, after it had come under the influence of Greek 
 philosophy, was much anterior to that age; nor had it yet 
 entered upon its second phase, scholasticism. The philos- 
 ophy and theology of the patristic period, handed down 
 in part through compendia, was being propagated in new 
 abridgments. Those who wished to attain to the highest 
 theological culture read Augustine and the other Latin 
 fathers ; but very few scholars of the CaroHngian Age went 
 back of Gregory the Great and Isidore of Seville, and none 
 of them, with the possible exception of Johannes Scotus, 
 was able to probe that patristic intellectual world in its 
 deeper ideas and perceptions and make it a part of their 
 own experience.^ 
 
 Thus we need look for nothing new in the theology of 
 Alcuin's period; deeply distrustful of itself, slavish in its 
 adherence to authority, it gropes after the traditions of the 
 past ; yet it is not without interest, owing to its tendency to 
 mysticism on the one hand, and to materialistic for- 
 
 (i) Harnack, History of Dogma, translation by N. Buchanan, Vol. 
 V, p. 275. Cf. Ueberweg, History of Philosophy from Thales to 
 Present Time, translation by George Morris, Vol. I, p. 355. Hatch, 
 Introductory Lecture on the Study of Ecclesiastical History, 1885. 
 
 19 
 
20 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 malism on the other. These were so much in harmony with 
 the spirit of the age and so insidious in their influence as 
 to have been either unnoted by the most enhghtened men 
 of the day, or, if so, to have been viewed without distrust 
 and even with equanimity. In matters of practice, there 
 had long been a tendency to formaHsm which was marked 
 by a steady decHne of rehgion into a ceremonial service, 
 and a beHef in the miraculous. The growing influence of 
 Rome over the west in matters of faith and practice, fur- 
 thered as it was by the ecclesiastical reforms of Charles the 
 Great, was a very potent factor in promoting uniformity 
 and formalism as well as orthodoxy; while the tendency 
 to mysticism combined with the woful ignorance and super- 
 stition which characterized the people of the day, will ac- 
 count in a large measure for their inveterate love of the 
 miraculous. 
 
 Alcuin shares the tendencies of his age. Like his con- 
 temporaries, and his predecessors for several centuries, he 
 is but an echo of preceding writers ; he knew no philosophy, 
 no theology save what he found in the Church Fathers, or 
 in an allegorically interpreted Bible. He makes tliis very 
 clear in a letter to Gisla and Rodtruda^ wherein he explains 
 that, as a physician doth compound out of many drugs and 
 herbs a specific for the healing of the sick, so he himself, 
 for the spiritual upbuilding of the faithful, doth glean 
 truths from the Fathers as 'veritable flowers of the field.'" 
 Nor does he presume to trust his own judgment. "Rather," 
 says he, "have I been careful to follow the beaten path of 
 the Fathers, imploring the aid of Divine Providence that 
 I might interpret their meaning aright."^ 
 
 Alcuin's theological works may be roughly classified as 
 
 (1) Sister and daughter, respectively, of Charles the Great. 
 
 (2) "Florida rura peragranda inihi esse video." Ep. 213, p. 357. 
 
 (3) "Magis horuin omnium sensibus ac verbis utens, quam meae 
 quicquam praesumptioni committens." Ibid. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 21 
 
 exegetical, moral, liturgical and dogmatic.^ In a large 
 measure, they were called forth by the exigencies of the 
 time. This is especially true of the liturgical and dogmatic 
 works; they are quasi-official in character, the former hav- 
 ing been written to further Charles' plan of making the 
 liturgy of Frankland conform to that of Rome, and the 
 latter to defend the orthodox church against heresy. Of all 
 his theological works, the dogmatic are certainly the ablest 
 and possibly the most important. These consist of three 
 treatises ^ and of a number of letters, all of them written 
 against the heresy of Adoptionism and its leaders, Felix 
 of Urgel and Elipand of Toledo. They evince a direct- 
 ness and force not found in his other works; possibly, be- 
 cause Alcuin here found a subject after his own heart, a 
 subject which furnished him with an opportunity for the 
 display of his biblical and patristic lore, as well as for the 
 vindication of his orthodoxy. 
 
 From the dogmatic standpoint, the chief importance of 
 Adoptionism lay in the fact that it was really an assertion 
 of a duality in the personality of Christ.^ According to 
 Alcuin, one of their chief opponents, the Adoptionists main- 
 tained the unity of the divine person, but they believed in 
 distinguishing strictly between the divine and the human 
 natures of Christ, asserting that Christ, as God, was the 
 natural, and as man, the adopted, Son of God.* That is 
 to say, they maintained that He was born once by natural 
 birth as the Son of God, and again, by a process beginning 
 with baptism and culminating in the resurrection, as the 
 adopted Son of God. Thus they emphasized His humanity; 
 
 (1) West's Alcuin, appendix, pp. 187, 188. 
 
 (2) The Beati Alciiini Advcrsus Felicia Haeresin; the Beati Alcuini 
 contra Felicem Urgellitanum Episcopum Lihri VII, and the Adversus 
 EUpandum Tolitanum Libri IV, in Migne, CCI, pp. 83-299. 
 
 (3) Cf. Gaskoin Alcuin, p. 140. 
 
 (4) "Dicis itaque quod unus homo duos patres naturales non possit 
 habere, et alterum adoptivum," et seq. Adv. Eel. Book III, chap. 2. 
 Migne CCI, p. 163 : Cf. Ep. 23 ; Harnack op. cit. V, pp. 282-285. 
 
22 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Christ was a Son no less in His humanity than in His 
 divinity; but His nature as the Son of man was different 
 from that He possessed as the Son of God. Accordingly, 
 those who asserted that in His human natures He was 
 properly and strictly the Son of God, confounded His two 
 natures and denied that any difference existed between God 
 and man, the Word and the flesh, the Creator and the 
 creature/ 
 
 The origin of Adoptionism has long been a disputed 
 point. It does not lie within our province to discuss it.^ 
 Suffice it to say, that the term Adoption had lingered on 
 from early times in the Spanish Church, where it had been 
 perpetuated by some passages in the so-called Mozarabic 
 liturgy. It did not become a burning question in Spain 
 until its chief protagonist, Elipand, Bishop of Toledo, tried 
 to subject the province of Asturias to his ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction.^ It became a matter of great moment to the 
 whole of Western Europe, when Felix, Bishop of Urgel, 
 came forward as its champion. Now, Felix's diocese lay 
 within the borders of Frankland, and Charles the Great, 
 realizing that Felix and his new doctrine were becoming 
 disturbing factors among his newly conquered people, re- 
 solved to repress them both. His first expedient was to 
 have Adoptionism condemned by the councils of the church. 
 That proved ineffectual, although Felix was forced to re- 
 cant at Ratisbon, and Adoptionism was condemned at the 
 Council of Frankfort.^ 
 
 At this juncture, Alcuin became prominent in the con- 
 troversy. He had been received into the Council of Frank- 
 fort, and it is possible took part in its deliberations. ° How- 
 
 (1) Adv. Fcl. Ill, 17; Mi.erne CCI. pp. 171-17.^ 
 
 (2) Cf. Harnack, op. cit. V., pp. 278-28.3 and footnotes; Hefele, op. 
 cit. Ill, pp. 642-632; Hauck, op. cit. II, p. 290, note 2. 
 
 (3) Mocller, Huxtorv of Christian Church, pp. 130-132. 
 
 (4) Hcfcle, op. cit. "ill, pp. 661, 671. 678. 
 
 (5) Aniiales Einhardij M. G. H. SS. I., p. 351. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 23 
 
 ever, it was not until it had become apparent that the coun- 
 cils had failed in their purpose that Alcuin would seem to- 
 have been singled out by King- Charles to cham.pion the 
 orthodox faith. Not long after the Council of Frankfort, 
 Alcuin wTote to Felix adjuring him to renounce hi? errors. 
 Failing to convince him, he wrote a tract against him.^ 
 This was followed somewhat later by his larger work 
 against Felix, the Adversus Felicem,^ as well as by his tract 
 against Elipand. 
 
 In these works, Alcuin drew largely upon his patristic 
 knowledge and taxed his ingenuity to the utmost in his 
 effort to refute the Adoptionists. In the first place, he 
 strove to crush his opponents by the sheer weight of tradi- 
 tion, declaring that their doctrine was an innovation,^ with- 
 out authority in the Scriptures, the Fathers, the decrees of 
 councils, or the practices of the Roman Church. "Why," 
 he asks Felix, "why do you wish to impose a new name 
 upon the church ? Has God revealed it unto you, amid the 
 Spanish mountains, during these latter days of the faith? 
 Think you that, in contravention to the apostolic teaching 
 and that of the Fathers, you shall be permitted to rear a 
 new church in a remote comer of the earth ?"* And Alcuin 
 goes on to state that the Fathers of the Church, the 
 Prophets, Apostles and Evangelists, the Angels at the 
 Nativity, as well as the Angel of the Annunciation, nay, 
 the Father himself, on the occasion of Christ's baptism and 
 
 (i) The Beati Alcuini adversus^ Felicis Haeresin, mentioned in 
 Ep. 172 and 145. Cf Adv. Pel, op. cit. II, chap. 2, Migne CCI, pp. 
 154-155. 
 
 (2) The Beati Alcuini contra Felicem Urgellitanum Episcopum 
 Libri VII, written between the years 798 and 799, and approved by 
 the bishops and the King after the Synod of Aachen. Cf. Epp. 172, 
 202, 207. 
 
 (3) Epp- 23, 166, 193. Cf. Adv. Elip., op. cit. IV, bk. 2, chap. I. 
 Migne CCI, p. 256. Cf. Adv. Pel., op. cit. 1, chap, i, Ibid., pp. 127- 
 129. 
 
 (4) Cf. Adv. Pel. op. cit. I, chap. 2. Migne CCI, p. 129. Cf. 
 Adv. Pel op. cit. II, chap. 5, Ibid., p. 150. Cf. Epp. 23, 166. 
 
24 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 transfiguration, one and all have borne testimony to the 
 divinity of Christ from the very moment of His concep- 
 tion. Surely no man in his right senses would gainsay the 
 authority of these doctors of the Holy Catholic Church; 
 and most assuredly none save the most presumptuous 
 would contradict the testimony of Holy Writ.^ On the 
 other hand, what had the Adoptionists to offset this tes- 
 timony save their own opinions, together with, several 
 phrases of the Mozarabic liturg}-, and a few citations of 
 doubtful authority from certain Spanish writers?" Where 
 fore, he implores Felix and his friends to abjure that con- 
 tentious obstinacy which converts error into heresy.^ 
 
 If his opponents are not overwhelmed by such a cloud of 
 witnesses, Alcuin is prepared to prove, not alone that the 
 arguments with which they support their contention are 
 inconsistent and unsound, but that their doctrine of Adop- 
 tionism is but the ancient heresy of Nestorianism in a new 
 guise.* Furthermore, he declares that the Adoptionist doc- 
 trine in regard to the Incarnation is most degrading to 
 Christ, and subversive of the faith, in that it ascribes to 
 Him a servile condition reducing Him to the level of man- 
 kind.^ Accordingly, he arraigns the Adoptionists for their 
 presumption in attempting to search out the hidden mys- 
 teries of God, and to set a limit to the Divine Omnipotence. 
 
 (i) "Si tantum hominis, reclamant tibi apostoli, reclamant prophetae 
 rcclamat denique ipse, per queni facta est conceptio, Spiritus sanctus. 
 Obruitur iinpudcntissitnum os tuum cunctis divinoruni apicum testi- 
 moniis; obruitur sacris voluminibus Sanctis testibus ; obruitur denique 
 ipso Dei Evangelic." Adv. Pel. II, 3. Migne CCI, p. 148. Cf. ibid., 
 infra caps. 7, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. 
 
 (2) "Sed post haec veritatis testiinonia novum nomen Dei Filio 
 cum paucis, Hispanias, non dico doctoribus, sed vertitatis desertoribus, 
 imponere pracsumis." Adv. Pel. II, 3, Ibid., p. 148. Cf. "Nisi forte et 
 eorum dicta sicut et in caeteris solebas, depravaris," — ibid., bk. 7, 
 chap. 13, Migne CCI, p. 226. 
 
 (3) "Non est hereticus, nisi ex contentione." Ep. 23. 
 
 (4) Adv. Pel. op. cit.. Ill, 1-2; I, 12; II, 2; I. 13; III, 7; V, 3; 
 III, 2, 3; I, I ; IV, 5; VII, 11; Vii, 2, 9; Adv. Elip., op. cit. IV, s; 
 Ep. 23. 
 
 (5) Adv. Pel, op. cit. IV, 9; VI, i, 2. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 25 
 
 The Catholic Church of the West was hardly in a position 
 to understand, much less to favor, the view of the Adoption- 
 ists. The latter, by emphasizing the humanity of Christ, had 
 demonstrated a way whereby the man Christ could be appre- 
 hended as man and as intercessor. This did not appeal to 
 Alcuin and his contemporaries, partly because it was an 
 "innovation,"^ partly because they had no appreciation of 
 the humanity of Christ. Deeply inoculated with the mys- 
 ticism of the Greeks," they saw everywhere the mystery of 
 deification; and as was inevitable, orthodox churchmen 
 soon ceased to regard Him in any sense as a human being. 
 
 \Miile the controversy was at its height, Alcuin was 
 most indefatigable in his efforts against Adoptionism. He 
 first of all tried to refute its able champion, Felix, whom he 
 adjured to renounce his error, lest after a life of piety, self- 
 sacrifice and devotion, he should endanger the unity of 
 Mother Church and his own soul's salvation.^ His appeal 
 was in vain. Felix persisted in his heresy, and won so many 
 converts that the Church was put upon the defensive. Alcuin 
 was somewhat despondent; his letters of this period give 
 evidence of a rancor and bitterness which we should hardly 
 have expected in a man of his temperament. He girded 
 himself manfully for combat with the old dragon of heresy, 
 which was once more raising its envenomed head amid the 
 briars and caves of Spain. ^ Soon after the Council of Frank- 
 fort, he wrote his first tract against Felix, and sent it by 
 his friend, Benedict of Aniane, to the monks of Gothia to 
 warn them against Felix. The latter was contumacious 
 enough to write a reply, containing, according to Alcuin, 
 worse heresies and more blasphemies than those in his pre- 
 
 (i) Epp. 23, 166. (2) Harnack, op. cit., p. 289. 
 
 (3) Alcuin speaks of him as a man of blameless life and remarkable 
 sanctity. Epp. 23, 166. 
 
 (4) "Nunc iterum antiquus serpens de dumis Hispanici ruris, et 
 de speluncis, venenatae perfidise contritum, non Herculea sed evan- 
 gelica clava, caput relevare conatur." Ep. 139. Cf. Epp. 137. 148. 
 
26 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 vious works. "Truly," says Alcuin, "the tract ought to be 
 answered since it asserts that Christ is not the true Son of 
 God."^ His suggestion met with the approval of the king, 
 and he was commissioned to write a second tract against 
 Felix. At his request, Paulinus of Aquila, and others, were 
 to co-operate with him. And it appears that he and Paulinus 
 carried out their part of the program.^ These polemics, 
 however, were no more effectual against Felix than previous 
 ones had been. 
 
 The next move of the orthodox party was to inveigle 
 Felix into a debate before King Charles in open court. In 
 an evil hour, he allowed Leidrad of Lyons to persuade him 
 to appear at the Palace in defense of his cause.^ His op- 
 ponent was Alcuin ; in the disputation which ensued, the lat- 
 ter's triumph was complete. Felix, awed by his isolation 
 in the presence of his enemies and borne down by the argu- 
 ments of his foe, at last abjured his error. Later he wrote 
 a profession of the Catholic faith for his clergy, and became 
 reconciled with Alcuin and to the Church.* 
 
 Alcuin next turned his attention to Elipand, who had re- 
 mained obdurate and defiant in spite of Felix's recantation. 
 As early as July, 799, Alcuin had written him, imploring 
 him to renounce his innovations and to use his good offices 
 in reclaiming the Bishop of Urgel from error.^ Elipand's 
 reply was abusive in the extreme. He addressed Alcuin as 
 ■"a servant of anti-Christ, begotten of the devil, all reeking 
 with the sulphurous fumes of the pit."® Thereupon, Alcuin 
 
 (1) Ep. 148. 
 
 (2) Paulinus wrote the Contra Felicem Urgellitanuvi Episcopum 
 Libri tres, Migne XCIX, pp. 343-468. Alcuin mentions this in Ep. 208. 
 Cf. Ep. 148, p. 241. 
 
 (3) Vita Alctiini op cit.. chap. 7. Cf. Epp. 193, 194, 208 Adv. Elip., 
 bk. I, chap. 16. Migne CCI, pp. 299, 304. 
 
 (4) Epp. 207, 208, 199. Yet his recantation was either forced or 
 insincere. Agobard declared that Felix still believed in Adoptionism 
 at the time of his death. Liber Advcrsus Fcliccm, bk. i. Migne CIV, 
 
 ^' (5) Ep. 166. (6) Epp. 182. 183. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 27 
 
 wrote his Adversus Elipandum against his fiery opponent. 
 This, together with his letter to EHpand and his Adversus 
 Felicem, he dedicated and sent to the commission v/hich had 
 been appointed to teach and preach against Adoptionism.^ 
 Supphed with such a weahh of Hterature, armed with the 
 authority of the Emperor, and blessed by the Pope, the com- 
 mission of which we have just made mention had every 
 reason to hope for success. And succeed they did. Alcuin 
 proudly boasted that twenty thousand people, bishops, 
 priests, monks, and laymen, had abjured their error, and re- 
 turned to the bosom of Mother Church.^ Thus did ortho- 
 doxy triumph, yet the struggle had all but exhausted the 
 resources of the Church and had taxed its scholarship to the 
 utmost. 
 
 During the Adoptionist struggle, the Prankish church, 
 the Prankish king, and the Pope had worked in unison to 
 effect the extirpation of a heresy which not only interfered 
 with their work of organization, but also ran counter to the 
 spirit of the times. The other controversies of our period 
 did not have the same tendencies, nor was there the same 
 co-operation between the papacy on the one hand, and the 
 Prankish church and King Charles on the other. On two 
 occasions, at least, the latter lagged behind their guides. 
 They rejected image-worship and supported the filioque. 
 The last-mentioned doctrine was peculiar to the Latin fath- 
 ers, having originated in the Augustinian theolog}\' It had 
 been inserted in the Spanish creed, whence it had come to 
 the Prankish kingdom, though opinions differed as to 
 whether it should be inserted in the symbol which had by 
 
 (i) The commission consisted of Leidrad of Lyons, Nefrid of 
 ivarbonne, Benedict of Aniane. Ep. 200. 
 
 (2) Ep. 208. 
 
 (3) Cf. Augustine's De Trinitate, IV. 20-Migne,Vol. XLII, pp. 906- 
 
28 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 degrees obtained in the Prankish church.^ Charles was in 
 favor of so doing, as were also Alciiin and Theodulph.* 
 And at the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 809, the Prankish 
 church decreed that the iilioquc belonged to the symbol. 
 
 Alcuin was also drawn into the third controversy of the 
 period — that over Image-worship. While it cannot be es- 
 tablished that Alcuin was one of the authors of the Libri 
 CaroUni,^ it does not seem unlikely that he assisted in the 
 writing of this famous refutation of image-worship.* Cer- 
 tainly he was present at the Council of Frankfort where the 
 Nicene decrees were condemned. It is equally cenain that 
 while he was in Northumbria he received a copy of the 
 Nicene decrees relating to image-worship, together with a 
 request that he draw up a refutation and bring it with him 
 indorsed by the authority of the princes and bishops of his 
 count^)^ Alcuin complied with the king's wishes.^ Purther- 
 more, according to some historians, it was upon this work 
 that Charles and his theologians based their memorial.* 
 This, however, cannot be proved with the evidence at hand. 
 
 So far as the controversy itself was concerned, the most 
 
 (i) Gieseler, Ecclesiastical History, translated by Davidson, Vol. 
 II, p. 277, and authorities there cited. 
 
 (2) Cf. Alcuin's Liber de processione Spiriti Sancti, Migne jZCl, 
 pp. 63-83. 
 
 (3) The Libri Carolini were composed under Charles' name some 
 time between September, 789, and September, 791, in opposition to the 
 Decrees of the seventh council of Nicaea. They are not to be con- 
 fused with the memorial of 85 chapters, which Angilbert took ta 
 
 ■Rome. Cf. £/>. ^:i, JafFe VI, op. cit.. p. 245. x^or the te.xt, see Migne, 
 vol. XCVIII, pp. 999-1248. Upon the Libri Carolini was based the 
 Capitulary de hiiaginibus, published by the Council of Frankfort in 
 794. Hauck, op. cit.. II, pp. 315-316. 
 
 (4) Cf. Hampe, Neues Archiv., Vol. XXI, p. 86; JaflFe, op. cit., VI, 
 p. 220 and footnote; Gieseler, op. cit., II, p. 267 (footnote 2) ; Hefele, 
 op. cit., Ill, p. 697; Hauck favors Angilbert as the author of the Libri 
 Carolini. Vol. II, p. 316. 
 
 (5) M. G. H. Leges, sect. II, I, p. 78. Cf. Simeon Dtinehnensis 
 ann. 792 ; Haddon and Stubbs, Church Councils of Great Britain, III. 
 p. 469. 
 
 (6) Hauck. op. cit., II, p. 315 (note i) ; Hampe, Neues Archiv., 
 Vol. XXI, p. 86; Moeller, op. cit., II, p. 127. 
 
^' 
 
 t'N'(VCr?3ITY 
 
 ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 29 
 
 remarkable thing was the self-rehance and power evinced 
 by the Prankish church. Affecting an indifference towards 
 images, they contended that no one was bound either to 
 worship or to destroy them. Hence, while they condemned 
 the teaching of the Icondules as superstitious and idolatrous, 
 they deplored the excesses of the Iconoclasts. The chief sig- 
 nificance of the whole controversy lies in the fact that the 
 higher and more cultured Prankish clergy were not yet pre- 
 pared to adopt the worship of images. Though the people 
 and the lower clergy would probably have preferred image- 
 worship, the higher clergy set themselves against this phase 
 of the materialism which was sweeping over the West. 
 What measure of their opposition was due to the desire to 
 advance the political purposes of their king, and what to 
 their conscientious scruples, it would be hard to say. Be 
 that as it may, it is largely due to their efforts that image- 
 worship has never been domesticated thoroughly in tlie 
 West. There it has remained largely an accessory, whereas 
 in the Past it is an expression of religious faith. ^ 
 
 The dogmatic works with which we have dealt thus far, 
 make it very evident that Alcuin achieved little in the way 
 of constructive work. However, he wrote one treatise in 
 which he made an effort to evolve a system of theology. 
 This is the De Fide Sanctae Triiiitafis.~ Dealing as it does 
 with the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Spirit, and the Resur- 
 rection, the De Fide is an attempt to give an orderly account 
 of Christianity. Unfortunately for Alcuin's reputation as a 
 theologian, the work is entirely lacking in originality, being 
 based on a treatise of Augustine. Probably the most sig- 
 nificant thing about the whole work is the dedication, where- 
 in he declares that one of his objects in writing it is to 
 prove Augustine's dictum, that dialectic is essential to the 
 
 (i) Harnack, op. cit., V, pp. 306, 307. 
 (2) Migne, CCl, pp. 9-63. 
 
30 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 proper study of theolog}'.^ This, and certain other passages 
 in his letters, wherein he defends the employment of dialectic 
 in theological discussions, would seem to foreshadow the 
 later scholasticism.^ 
 
 The exegetical works of Alcuin are even less original, and 
 certainly less important, than his dogmatic treatises. For 
 the most part, they consist of commentaries on the Bible. 
 In composing these, his sole aim is 'to cull' the best 
 thoughts from the earlier commentators, and then to ex- 
 pand them into one continuous exposition of the passage 
 under discussion. It was far from his purpose to lay before 
 the reader any original ideas about the texts under consider- 
 ation. The Fathers are infallible ; it is not for him to criti- 
 cise but to understand the truth as they explain it. In the 
 dedication of his commentary on the Gospel of St. John, to 
 which we have referred, he makes this very clear."* It may 
 be noted that the first eleven chapters of this same com- 
 mentary on St. John are taken word for word from that of 
 Bede on the same subject. The same plagiarism character- 
 ises his other works. His commentary on Genesis is de- 
 rived partly from Jerome, partly from Augustine; that on 
 the Penitential Psalms, as he himself avows, is little more 
 than a reproduction of the expositions of Augustine and 
 Cassiodorus. The commentary on Ecclesiastes was based 
 on Jerome; and his exposition of the epistles of Titus and 
 Philemon are a reproduction of a similar work by the same 
 Father. The commentary on the Songs of Solomon is de- 
 rived from Bede. For his work on the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, he obtained most of his material from Chrysostom 
 (in a Latin version). For the Apocalypse, he drew heavily 
 
 (i) For the content of the Dc Fide Sanctac Trinitatis, see Gaskoin, 
 Alcuin, pp. 159-163. 
 
 (2) Cf. "Bcatum Paulum leginius cum Stoicis disputare, ut eorum 
 eos disciplinis ab errore in viam veritatis transduceret," et seq. Ep. 307, 
 p. 470. Cf. Ep. 136, and Grammatka, Migne CCl, p. 854. 
 
 (3) £^ 213, p. 357- 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 31 
 
 from Bede, Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine. In his ex- 
 egesis of St. Matthew, he departs to some extent from his 
 method of excerpting ; he expresses his own ideas occasion- 
 ally, though oftener than not he is satisfied with rearran- 
 ging the homilies of Bede on the same subject.^ 
 
 All of these commentaries are practical manuals or cate- 
 chisms, designed to aid his pupils in their own spiritual 
 progress or in the practical work of preaching. His inter- 
 pretation is three-fold — literal, allegorical, and moral. In 
 connection with the second of these he gives free rein to 
 his fancy; and is particularly fond of elaborating the mys- 
 teries of numbers.^ Sometimes also, as in the case of the 
 commentary on Genesis, he throws his exposition into the 
 form of a dialogue.^ 
 
 Alcuin's exegesis pursues the well-beaten path of alle- 
 gory which had been followed by the earliest Fathers in 
 their attempts to reconcile the Old Testament with the Gos- 
 pels. In this respect, the northern imagination, bred amid 
 the lingering myths and legends of Anglo-Saxon barbarism, 
 showed itself to be almost the equal of the long-trained 
 Greek intellects of Alexandria. In the old Saxon literature, 
 every thought assumed a form, every emotion found ex- 
 pression, the forces of evil took on tangible shape. Their 
 imagination conjured up a fantastic people — dwarfs, giants, 
 Valkyries ; stronger, cleverer than men and lying in wait for 
 their souls. Alcuin's works were full of such allegorical 
 figures. According to his biographer, Alcuin himself came 
 into contact with the devil. "He awoke in the night," says 
 the anonymous writer of the Vita, "the door of his cell 
 opened, and he saw the terrible form of the evil one come 
 
 (i) Cf. Monnier. Alcuin. pp. 206-208; Hauck, op. cii., II, p. 137; 
 Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great, p. 90; Gaskoin, Alcuin, 
 op. cit., p. 135. 
 
 (2) See Chap. 3, p. 90. (3) Migne, CC, p. 515, et scq. 
 
32 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Stalking through."^ He gives the old fantastic time-honored 
 interpretations to various passages of Scripture. Thus, the 
 'seven eyes' mentioned in Revelations, chapter v, verse 6, 
 he thinks may refer to the Fathers of the church who have 
 illuminated it with the light of their knowledge." And the 
 word abyss, so often encountered in Holy Writ, he explained 
 as the 'waste of waters,' 'the heart of man,' 'the ineffable 
 wisdom of God.'^ Moreover, in one of the least important 
 of his works, Intcrpretationcs Nomimim Hcbraicorum^ 
 starting from the assumption that Christ was descended 
 from all the patriarchs, he concluded that the mere enumera- 
 tion of these ought to incite the faithful to virtue. Accord- 
 ingly, he proceeded to mention the names of the Old Testa- 
 ment worthies ; and along with them he gave a literal, moral 
 and allegorical interpretation of each name.* 
 
 Likewise, in attempting to explain the passages of 
 Scripture relating to the two swords, ° he gives another ex- 
 ample of his three-fold interpretation. The epistle in which 
 he does so is written to Charlemagne, and is well worth some 
 consideration in view of the fact that it suggests the mental 
 attitude and foreshadows the method of the later scholastics. 
 Thus, he first states the problem, the nodus vero proposifae 
 qiuiestionis, as he expresses it. This is none other than to 
 harmonize two passages of Scripture seemingly incongruous 
 and irreconcilable. To render the problem more difficult 
 and so to add more zest to its solution, he quotes four other 
 relevant passages." The result is a Gordian knot impossible 
 of solution to any less skilled than Alcuin himself. "If the 
 sword is the Word of God," says Alcuin, "and the Lord 
 used it in that sense when He commanded His disciples to 
 
 (i) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chap. 13. 
 
 (2) CommcntariiDH in Apocalypsin, bk. i, Migne CC, p. 1098. 
 
 (3) Ep. 38. 
 
 (4; Migne CC, pp. 72^729. 
 
 (5) Luke xxii, 36; Matt. xxvi. 52. 
 
 (6) Eph. vi, 17; Luke xxii, 38; Luke xxii, 50; John xviii, 10. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 33 
 
 buy it, then it follows that those who receive the Word of 
 God shall perish by that same Word ; for, did not Christ 
 himself say "For all they that take the sword shall perish 
 with the sword' ?"' 
 
 Having stated his problem, Alcuin proceeds to the literal 
 interpretation, "We must bear in mind," says he, "that 
 ''sword' has many possible interpretations, such as the 'pas- 
 sion of Christ,' or 'division,' or 'vengeance,' 'judgment' or 
 *the Word of God.' "- Thus with wearying prolixity and 
 far-fetched analogies, he wanders with keen enjoyment from 
 one irrelevant quotation to another. Finally, having dis- 
 posed of these men of straw, he comes back to the problem 
 in hand — the reconciliation of the above passages. He states 
 as a premise for the solution of the problem, that sword has 
 always been used in these passages with a two-fold meaning. 
 Following the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, lest his 
 own "may seem presumptuous,"^ he explains that "sword" 
 is used in one of two senses, signifying, first, "the Word of 
 God," and, second, "an instrument of vengeance."* 
 
 Then follow the allegorical and moral interpretations. 
 Thus, the "two swords" may refer to the body and the soul. 
 These co-operate through faith ; for the latter, latent in the 
 soul, showeth itself outwardly in works. Hence, also, the 
 ■"two swords" may not inaptly be interpreted as faith and 
 works. This interpretation gives him an opportunity to 
 point his moral. "Let each one," says Alcuin, "look to the 
 secret intents of his soul, and see to it that he bring forth 
 good works. Let the priests be shining lights to their peo- 
 ple, feeding them on the Bread of Life. Above all, let those 
 in high places in the church labor through faith and good 
 
 (i) Eph. vi, 17; Matt, xxvi, 52. 
 
 (2) Cf. Luke ii, 35; Matt, x, 34; Romans xiii, 4; Isaiah xxxiv, 5; 
 Deut. xxxii, 41 ; Eph. vi, 17. 
 
 (3) "Ne quid nostra parvitas praesumptiose dicere videatur." Ep. 
 136, p. 207. (4) Matt, xxvi, 52; Luke xxii, 51. 
 
34 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 works to effect the salvation of their flocks, knowing that 
 those who labor most will reap the greatest reward."^ 
 
 Thus Alcuin's exegesis is commonly naive and puerile. 
 The commentaries are dull and lifeless, unrelieved by any 
 sudden or agreeable turn, such as meets us in the tracts 
 against Adoptionism. With the exception of a few passages 
 in his commentaries on St. John and on St. Matthew, there 
 is no personal note, no color to relieve the tedium. Further- 
 more, there is no speculation ; nothing in short but an inter- 
 pretation of the truth as Alcuin saw it through the medium 
 of the Fathers. Yet, his exegetical works exercised a cer- 
 tain influence on his successors. His system of 'culling' 
 from the Fathers served as a model both as to ideal and 
 method for the commentators of the next century. More- 
 over, he was in some slight measure a precursor of the later 
 scholastics, since there are passages in his works which 
 foreshadow the method and attitude of the later dialecti- 
 cians.^ 
 
 The moral works of Alcuin have no more claim to recog- 
 nition as original treatises than his exegetical writings. 
 They are largely based on St. Augustine's works ; and we 
 find in them the same ideas and the same manner of treat- 
 ment. This is very noticeable in the Dc Animac ratione, 
 where Augustine's three-fold division of the function of the 
 soul is reproduced. The moral treatises are three in num- 
 ber. The first of these, the De Virtutibus et Vitiis, was 
 composed for the use of Count Wido.^ It begins in a char- 
 acteristic way by asserting that obedience to God is the only 
 true wisdom. The second work, the Dc A)ii)iiac ratione,^ 
 deals with a kindred subject ; it is dedicated to Gundrada 
 or Eulalia. "The love of God,'' he says to the latter, "is 
 
 (1) Ep. 136. 
 
 (2) Cf. his Dialcctica and introduction to De Fide Sanctae Trini- 
 tatis. Cf. Ef>p. 136, 307. 
 
 (3) Migne, CCI, pp. 613-639. (4; Ibid., pp. 639-649. Ep. 309. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 35 
 
 the highest good. Your chief duty consists in loving this 
 same highest good, and you will attain to excellence only in 
 so far as the love of God is implanted in your soul. For it 
 is rational to love one's neighbor, the soul itself, and the 
 body.^ The passions which would else overturn and destroy 
 this order are to be controlled if not suppressed by the four 
 cardinal virtues." So far as the origin of the soul is con- 
 cerned, it remains a mystery known to God alone. Further- 
 more, it is immaterial, impalpable, and invisible; there are 
 found in it only the functions of understanding, will, and 
 memory.^ 
 
 Alcuin's third moral work was a brief treatise on con- 
 fession. It was intended as a corrective against a certain 
 indifference among the Franks with respect to the con- 
 fessional. In a letter to the boys of St. Martin he writes, 
 "All sins are known to God; there is no concealing them; 
 therefore, confess and do penance for your sins. Verily, 
 confession is as medicine to the soul ; by it you will foil your 
 adversary, the devil, and save your souls.^ But if ye will not 
 confess to the priest," he says elsewhere, "neither will ye 
 confess to God. The priest has the power of binding or 
 loosing and of reconciling man with God ; but how can his 
 good offices avail those whose sins he knoweth not ? Hence," 
 he concludes, "have recourse to the specific of confession, 
 and cleanse thyself with the medicine of penance that thou 
 mayest be saved."* 
 
 In connection with the moral treatises, the biographical 
 works may be mentioned. In aim and characteristics, they 
 bear a strong resemblance to those with which we have just 
 been dealing. They are four in number, and for the most 
 
 (i) Ep. 309. Cf. Migne CCI, p. 641. 
 
 (2) "Si totas non habet, quia haec omnia ad unum charitatis in- 
 tendunt preceptum, quae sola in catholicae fidei veritate, dignam efficiet 
 animam habitatione sanctae Trinitatis." Migne CCI, p. 646. Cf. Ep. 
 ■^09. De Trinitate, X, 12, Migne XLII, p. 984. 
 
 (3) Ep. 131 ; Cf. I\Iigne CCI, pp. 649-655. (4) Ep. 138. 
 
36 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 part are adaptations or abridgments from an earlier biog- 
 rapher/ Full of unbounded admiration for the saints whose 
 lives he is depicting, he not only dilates on their heroic ca- 
 reers, their virtues and their sanctity, but he accepts and 
 passes on to posterity a goodly number of unauthenticated 
 miracles and prodigies, which tradition or preceding biog- 
 raphers have ascribed to them.^ These are modeled for the 
 most part upon the miracles of Christ and of the Apostles. 
 St. Martin and St. Riquier, St. Vedast and St. Willibrord, all 
 have the gift of prophecy and of miraculous power. St. 
 Willibrord, for example, produces from four flasks wine 
 enough to satisfy forty persons. All of these holy men heal 
 the sick, restore the lame, the halt and the blind, and bring 
 the dead back to life. A helpless paralytic recovers health 
 and vigor through the saving grace of St. Willibrord f three 
 dead men, one of them the son of a widowed mother, are re- 
 stored to their friends by the miraculous power of St. Mar- 
 tin.* Nor is the human interest lacking. Alcuin does not fail 
 to appeal to the martial spirit of his age. These same saints, 
 who with self-sacrificing devotion bare their heads to the 
 assassin's sword, upon occasion rise in righteous indigna- 
 tion, and, with the courage of Berserkers, rush into the midst 
 of the heathen, firing their temples or putting them to flight 
 w'hile revelling in some ungodly orgy.° Such stories as these 
 aroused the imagination of the Saxon and of the Frank, and 
 incited them to emulation. They subserved Alcuin's pur- 
 pose, which was to edify rather than to inform; and the re- 
 sult is a homily rather than a biography. In fact, following 
 the biography proper, there invariably comes a homily, 
 wherein the author dilates upon the resplendent virtues and 
 
 (i) Gaskoin, Alcuin, op. cit., p. 139. 
 
 (2) Dc Vita Sancti Martini Turoncnsis, chaps. 8, 12 — Migne CCI, 
 pp. 657-664. 
 
 (3) Vita Sancti Willibrordi, chap. 28, Jaffe, op. cit., VI, p. 58. 
 
 (4) Vita S. Martini, op. cit., chap. 5, Migne CCI, p. 660. 
 
 (5) Ibid., ct infra. 
 
ALCUIN'S THEOLOGICAL ROLE 37 
 
 the godlike deeds of his heroes. As a fitting cHmax there is 
 an account of the translation of each of the saints to the 
 beatific joys of heaven/ 
 
 From this short survey of Alcuin's theological works, it 
 is apparent that his predominant characteristic is an exag- 
 gerated veneration for the past. Like his contemporaries, he 
 is wofully ignorant when compared with the writers of an- 
 cient and of modern times ; but he had sense and intelligence 
 enough to perceive his limitations. His feeling of weakness 
 and helplessness created in him a deep distrust which made 
 all original work impossible. For Alcuin and his contem- 
 poraries, it was a paramount necessity to defend the faith 
 in that form in v/hich it had been delivered to them by the 
 saints. What the Scriptures taught, what the fathers and 
 the church had sanctioned, that they believed, nothing more, 
 nothing less. Tertullian's credo lit intelUgmn was the basic 
 principle of their spiritual life. Their unquestioned accept- 
 ance of tradition was so complete as well-nigh to devitalize 
 faith ; for they accepted dogmas without hesitation, and 
 failed to bring them into connection with that religious mo- 
 tive which must inspire spiritual life. Yet there is com- 
 pensation. For if their theology is formal, utterly lacking in 
 originality or force, their trust is sublime, the sincerity of 
 their faith unmistakable. 
 
 (i) St. Willibrord was borne to heaven by angels. "Nam vidisse 
 se testabatur animam sanctissimi Patris sui cum magna luminis clan- 
 tate, cum consona canentium laude, ab angelicis exercitibus ad coelorum 
 regna port^ri." Chap. 26, Jaffe, op cit., VI, p. 58. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 
 
 Although to the theologian the Carohngian Age has lit- 
 tle to offer in the way of constructive work, to the historian 
 of civilization the whole era is interesting. In the earlier 
 part of the period, during the reign of Charles the Great, 
 the organization of the Prankish kingdom and church was 
 being completed. Then, too, as a fitting consummation to 
 Charles' career of conquest, the Empire was re-established 
 in the West. Likewise, that other universal power, the 
 Papacy, under the protection of the Prankish king, was 
 laying the foundations for its future growth and develop- 
 ment. At the same time, there was emerging and develop- 
 ing the Peudal System, in a sense the enemy of both Church 
 and State, of Papacy and of Empire. In fact, society was 
 already taking on many of those characteristics which dis- 
 tinguished it during the Middle Ages. 
 \ One of the institutions to which Alcuin devotes consider- 
 \ able attention is the Papacy. As portrayed by him, it was 
 \ as yet weak and dependent, but very ambitious. Hadrian 
 ; and Leo III, the bishops of Rome, its incumbents during 
 his time, were aware both of the limitations and the possi- 
 bilities of the papal power, and pursued a consistent policy 
 toward the temporal rulers of their time. Beset with foes 
 in Italy and in Rome itself, deserted by the Eastern Empe- 
 rors, they saw the absolute need for maintaining the alliance 
 with the powerful Prankish kings. Yet, with a growing 
 
 38 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 3^ 
 
 prescience of the digiiity and possibilities of their own power, 
 they were quick to seize every vantage point which would 
 increase the prerogatives of the Papal See. And on several 
 occasions, notably during the well-known controversies over 
 Image- Worship and the fiUoqitc, they upheld the preten- 
 sions of the Papacy so persistently as to incur the anger of 
 Charles, thereby endangering the alliance between it and the 
 Prankish kings. 
 
 However, circumstances w-ere such as to force the popes 
 of Alcuin's time to cling to the Prankish alliance. The en- 
 croachments of the Arian Lombards, together with the 
 popes' uncertain position in Rome itself, had first forced 
 them to appeal for aid to the Prankish kings. The w^ell- 
 known conspiracy of Campulus and Paschalis against Pope 
 Leo III is a case in point. When a rumor reached Alcuin to 
 the effect that a Roman mob had set upon the pope and mal- 
 treated him, Alcuin w^as greatly dismayed and angered. "O, 
 perverse people," he exclaims fiercely, "ye have blinded your 
 own head." And he at once implored Charles to make 
 peace with the Saxons so that he might be able to go to Rome 
 and reinstate the Pope.^ After Charles had gone to Rome^ 
 and the Pope, owing to his good offices, had triumphed 
 over his foes, Alcuin broke forth into a veritable pzean of 
 thanksgiving and praise.^ But it is most significant that 
 the Pope was restored to his position only after what w^as 
 practically a trial on charges.^ Indeed, Alcuin hints that 
 for a time Charles actually contemplated asking Leo to re- 
 sign.* A more humiliating position for the 'Servant of the 
 Servants of God' can hardly be conceived ; seldom in all its- 
 
 (i) Epp. 173, 174, 179- . , . 
 
 (2) "O dulcissime, decus populi christiani, o defensio ecclesiaruin 
 Christi, consolatio vitae praesentis." Ep. 177. 
 
 (3) It would appear that neither Alcuin nor Charles were sure of 
 Pope Leo's innocence. Cf. Epp. 179, 184, 214, 216, 218. Einhardi 
 Annales, M. G. H. SS. I, pp. 188-199. 
 
 (4) Alcuin dissuaded Charles from so doing. Cf. Epp. 178, 179. 
 
40 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 existence has the Papacy furnished a more striking- example 
 of pitiable dependence upon the temporal power. 
 
 Pope Leo realized that his position had been greatly 
 weakened by these events. In his subsequent letters to 
 Charles/ he confessed that as God had made the Prankish 
 king the guardian of the ecclesiastical peace, the Pope looked 
 to him not alone to defend the temporality of the Church, 
 but to maintain its spiritual prerogatives as well." On the 
 other hand, he held it to be the duty of the Church to second 
 Charles in all his plans, while he felt it incumbent on him- 
 self to communicate to the emperor anything of importance 
 which might affect the imperial power of Italy or through- 
 out the West.^ Under such circumstances Charles was not 
 likely to resign a single prerogative in favor of the Papacy.* 
 There were times when he actually usurped that which the 
 Papacy confidently expected him to protect. In a letter to 
 Pope Leo III, he roughly delimited the respective spheres of 
 influence of the papal and ttmporB.\ powers as follows, "It 
 is our task," he says, "to protect the Holy Church of Christ 
 from the heathen wdio assail it abroad, as well as to enforce 
 a recognition of the Catholic faith within our borders. It is 
 your duty, O Holy Father, to support our warlike service 
 with hands uplifted to God, so that the Christian people, led 
 of God and aided by your prayers, may triumph every- 
 where.'"* Thus, there was little left to the Papacy save the 
 { exercise of the purely spiritual functions." 
 
 (i) Ten letters in all. Hanipe in M. G. H. Epistol. Vol. V, pp. 
 
 85-104. 
 
 (2) "Ad hoc omnipotens et invisibilis Deus noster vestram a Deo 
 protcctam imperialem potentiam sanctae suae ecclesiae fecit esse cus- 
 todem. . . . Ep. 9. M. G. H. Epistol. Vol. V, pp. 100. (3) Ihid., 
 Epp. 2, 6. 7, 8, M. G. H. Epist., Vol. V. 
 
 (4) Hauck, Kirchcngcschichte Dcutsclilands, op. cit., II, pp. 109, 
 110. 
 
 (5) Codex Carolinae, Ep. 10. M. G. H. Epistol. Vol. V, pp. 100. Cf. 
 Introduction to Admonitio Gcneralis, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, Vol. I, 
 
 P- 54- 
 
 (6) "A TEmpereur Taction, au Pope la priere." Kleinclausz, L'Em- 
 pire CaroHngien scs origincs ct ses transformations, p. 213. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 41 
 
 The great men of Alcuin's day acquiesced in Charles' con- 
 ception of the relations of the Papacy to the temporal pow- 
 ers. Alcuin, though a firm and loyal friend of the Pope, is 
 in substantial agreement with the views of Charles. To 
 him the Pope is the Head of the Church, opening to the 
 faithful the gates of Paradise; he is the heir of all the 
 Fathers of the Ages and sitteth in their place; upon his 
 shoulders their mantle of authority and of power hath 
 fallen.^ He is the light of life, the chief ornament of re- 
 ligion, the vicar of the Apostles and the anointed of God.^ 
 From these expressions, it is evident that Alcuin is a firm 
 upholder of the Petrine tradition; in matters of doctrine 
 the authority of Rome is paramount. Further than this, 
 however, he does not go ; he makes no claim for the Papacy 
 save that of precedence.^ On the contrary, recognizing its 
 dangers and needs, he seeks rather to draw it and the tem- 
 poral powers together as necessary to each other and to 
 the Church.* 
 
 "Power," says Alcuin on one occasion, "is divided be- 
 tw^een the spiritual and temporal powers; the latter must 
 be the defenders of the fonner, and, as such, are instru- 
 ments of vengeance rending their adversaries and punishing 
 the wicked for their evil deeds; whereas the spiritual, full 
 of saving grace and power, doth open the portals of Heaven 
 to the faithful and doth give joy never ending to the good."^ 
 Again, he writes to Charles : "Hitherto, there have been 
 three powers, pre-eminent above all others. First of all, 
 there is His Eminence the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, w'ho, 
 
 (i) E/>. 234. Cf. Epp. Q4, 127, 125, 137, 117, 179. 
 
 (2) "Ecce tu, sanctissime pater, pontifex a Deo electus, vicarius 
 apostolorum heres patrum, princeps ecclesiae, unius inmaculatae co- 
 lumbae nutritor. £/>. 94. Cf. Epp. 27, 125. (3) Ep. 242, Jaffe, op. cit., 
 Cf. Ep. 174. 
 
 (4) "Illi sint, id est saeculares, defensores vestri, vos intercessores 
 illorum." Cf. "Divisa est potestas saecularis et potestas spiritalis; ilia 
 portat gladium mortis in manu, haec clavem vitae in lingua." Ep. 17. 
 
 (5) Ep- 17- 
 
42 THE LETTERS OF A ECU IN 
 
 though even now most grievously ill-treated, (as we know 
 from your letter), is wont to rule as the successor of Peter, 
 the Chief of the Apostles. In the second place, cometh the 
 head of the secular powers, the Emperor, who of late, as 
 everyone knoweth, hath been most impiously deposed by his 
 own people. In the third place, there is the royal power, to 
 which dignity it hath pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to ele- 
 vate thee, vouchsafing thee more power, more wisdom and 
 more glory than to the other two potentates."^ Elsewhere 
 he describes the Papacy as the successor to St. Peter, the 
 heir to a great power, the light of wisdom, the shepherd of 
 the flock, feeding it upon the bread of life, nurturing it with 
 the fiowers of virtue and the Word of God, bearing His 
 messages to the people, and interceding with Him for their 
 sins.^ The temporal ruler, on the other hand, is an active, 
 militant force, enforcing the decrees of the Pope, propagat- 
 ing Christianity, regulating and disciplining the clerg)' and 
 protecting the Church against heretic and heathen.^ It is 
 highly probable that Alcuin's training is partially responsi- 
 ble for his attitude. For the Anglo-Saxon monks and clergy, 
 though zealous adherents of the Roman Church, had allowed 
 their enthusiasm to find its chief vent in an advocacy of Ro- 
 man doctrines and Roman liturgy.* They were far from 
 being a unit in favor of the dominating and immediate influ- 
 ence of the Papacy over the national church in England.^ 
 Moreover, the English, though Romanic in religion, were 
 Teutonic in all things else, in literature, language and law. 
 So Alcuin may well have inherited such a preference for 
 national independence and for a strong national church as 
 
 (i) Ep. 174- 
 
 (2) "Huius te, excellenlissime pater, ut vicarium sanctissimae scdis 
 .agnosco, ita et niirificae potestatis heredem esse fatcor." Ep. 27. 
 
 (3) Epp. 174- Cf. Epp. 238, 17, 41, 148. 
 
 (4) Cf Synods of Cloveshoe and Pincanhale, Haddan & Stubbs, 
 Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and 
 Ireland, Vol. Ill, pp. 360, 361, 443. 
 
 (5) Haddan & Stubbs, Remains, pp. 208, 209, 223. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 43 
 
 to induce him to support Charles in his assumption of su- 
 premacy in ecclesiastical matters. 
 
 Charles was but reaping- the advantages of the ecclesias- 
 tical policy of the Merovingians. The latter had practically 
 feudalized the Church, despite its protests and in utter dis- 
 regard of its canons.^ During the rule of the first of the 
 mayors of the Palace, the secularization of the Church had 
 gone on at such a pace that the clergy found it all but use- 
 less to protest." Boniface himself, the most uncompromis- 
 ing advocate of ecclesiastical privilege, received his archi- 
 episcopal see of Mainz from his royal patrons. It is clear, 
 then, that Charles had the right of investiture both by tradi- 
 tion and by prescription. It is equally evident from the 
 official documents of the time, as well as from the testimony 
 of the clergy themselves, that he used this prerogative to the 
 full.^ Alcuin undoubtedly received his benefices of St. Loup, 
 of Ferrieres and of Tours from the king. Later in life, he 
 had these preferments in mind when he thanked the emperor 
 for all the kindnesses which the latter had shown him.* 
 And when, in 803, the emperor conceded to the people and 
 the clergy the right to elect their own bishops, it was a favor 
 granted, not an acknowledgment of a pre-existing privi- 
 lege.^ 
 
 In other respects, Charles' mastery over the Prankish 
 church is even more evident. He was disposed to regard 
 the disciplining of the clergy as his own special prerogative. 
 In his capitularies, he enumerated their vices, mapped out 
 their line of conduct, berated their negligence, and held them 
 
 (i) Cf. Concil. Paris III, ann 557, canon 8, Hefele, Concilicnge- 
 schichte, III, p. 13. Concil. Paris V, ann 614, canons 2 and 3, ibid., p. 
 68. Concil. Reniens, ann. 625, canon i, ibid., p. 75. Concil. Cabillon, 
 ann. 644, canon 10, ibid., p. 03. 
 
 (2) Hefele, op. cit., Ill, pp. 518-521. 
 
 (3) Altfridi, Vita S. Liudgeri, caps. 19, 20, M. G. H. SS. II, pp. 410- 
 411. Vita S. Bonifatii, cap. 10, ibid., p. 347. (4) Ep. 238. 
 
 (5) Lea, Studies in Church History, p. 93, and authorities there 
 cited. 
 
44 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 up to their duties. It is evident, too, from the letters of the 
 bisliops, that they accepted him as the head of the Prankish 
 Churcli. They humiliated themselves, accused themselves 
 of negligence, and of idleness; they blessed the emperor for 
 having aroused them from their indifference; they pro- 
 claimed the necessity of obeying his orders, which, like his 
 person, they considered as holy.^ They seemed to have re- 
 garded his consecration as king and emperor as having con- 
 ferred upon him special prerogatives over the Church.^ 
 Moreover, it is a well-known fact, that the Councils of the 
 Prankish Church met at his bidding, discussed the matters 
 which he put before tliem, and, what is more, decided them 
 according to his will. "He issued his rescripts on ecclesias- 
 tical matters with fully as much authority as when legislat- 
 ing on matters purely secular."'' It is very significant, too, 
 that contemporaries, including the clergy, should have recog- 
 nized the king's right to approve the doctrines as well as to 
 regulate the policy of the Prankish Church. Alcuin. for ex- 
 ample, dedicated to him his tract on the Trinity as the one 
 best fitted to judge of its merits;* nor did he presume to 
 publish his larger tract against Pelix until Charles had 
 deemed it worthy to be presented to the clergy.^ Thus the 
 Prankish king was complete master of the Prankish Church, 
 appointing its bishops, disciplining its clergy, confirming its 
 
 (i) Epistolae Carolinae, Epp. 26-44. Cf. especially Epp. 28, 34, 27t 
 38, 42, in Jaffe op. cit., IV, pp. 335-430. 
 
 (2) Thus Leidrad in his Liber dc Sacramento Baptismi, says : "In 
 quibus quoque verbis nolandiim est quod post unclioncni inio per 
 unctionem dirigatur spiritus domini in David, sicut in Ecclcsia credi- 
 nuis per chnsniatis unctionem ct manus impositionem dari Spirituni 
 sanctum." Migne, XCIX, p. 864. Cf. Theodulph, Ep. 24, M. G. H. 
 Epistol. IV, p. 534. 
 
 (3; Hcfele, op. cit., II, pp. 678-693 and 721. Cf. Lea, Studies in 
 Church History, op. cit., p. 62. 
 
 (4) "Ncque enim quemquum magis dccct vel mcliora nosse vel 
 plura quam imperatorcm, cuius doctrina omnibus potest prodesse 
 subjectis." Ep. 237, P- 4I5- 
 
 (5) Ep. 202, p. 335. Cf. Epp. 203, 201. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 45 
 
 doctrines/ For the most part, he used his great power with 
 wisdom and discretion ; he directed his efforts along several 
 lines, notably, the revision of tlie liturgy, the organization 
 of the Frankish clergy, and the reform of their morals and 
 those of the people in general. 
 
 The nature and scope of Charles' liturgical reforms were 
 determined by his desire to secure a uniformity in the 
 Church commensurate with that which he was trying to 
 secure in the realm of political affairs. The Frankish Church 
 with its numberless local 'uses' could not be expected to 
 furnish the requisite model. Accordingly, he decided to 
 adopt the Roman use, so that the Frankish and Roman 
 Churches, one in doctrine and in faith, should be one in 
 form and in ritual. The Roman chant, the Roman sacra- 
 mentary, the Roman calendar and the Roman form of bap- 
 tism were all to be approved.^ In carrying out his sweeping 
 policy of reform, Charles was at once confronted by a diffi- 
 culty. The Frankish uses were in the field ; they could not 
 be ousted by a mere command ; they must be gradually modi- 
 fied, revised and brought into uniformity with the use of 
 Rome. To execute this task required a man of great tact 
 and ripe scholarship, who, while recognizing the difficulties 
 of the work in hand, and the need for moderation, would 
 yet be in hearty sympathy with its purpose. Such a man 
 w^as Alcuin. 
 
 Alcuin wholly approved of Charles' efforts to make the 
 Frankish liturgy conform to that of Rome. Yet his train- 
 ing and experience had been such as to counsel moderation. 
 In his own land, there had been a struggle between two rival 
 liturgies, and knowing the history of that struggle from the 
 compromise under Theodore of Tarsus to the ultimate tri- 
 
 (i) Kleinclausz, op. cit., p. 212. Fustel de Coulanges Les Trans- 
 formations de la Royaute, p. 524. 
 
 (2) Duplex Icgationis Edictum, chaps. 23, 24. M. G. H. Leg., Sect. 
 II, I, p. 64. 
 
46 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 umph in his own day of the Roman purists at the Councils 
 of Cloveshoe and Pincanhale/ he was not Hkely to be too 
 arbitrary nor too radical in dealing with a similar question 
 in Frankland. This is very evident from a reply to Eanbald, 
 Archbishop of York, who had requested him to compile a 
 new sacramentary. "Have you not an abundance of sacra- 
 mentaries in the Roman style," says he, "and yet others of 
 a larger size, representing an older use?" "And," adds he, 
 very pertinently, "I would fain have had you teach your 
 clergy something of the Roman Order ... so that the 
 ecclesiastical ceremonies might be performed in an orderly, 
 respectful way."' Manifestly, while Alcuin's love of order 
 led him to prefer the Roman service-books, he was willing 
 to supplement them by the local uses. It was in such a 
 spirit of compromise that he composed the liturgical works 
 ascribed to him. 
 
 Alcuin's liturgical works may be classified, first as official, 
 or quasi-official, and second as unofficial. To the first class 
 belong the homiliary, a lectionary and a sacramentary, all 
 designed for use in public worship. About the origin of 
 these, we know all too little. Indeed, it is by no means cer- 
 tain that any copy of the homiliary survives, for the so-called 
 homiliary of Alcuin, printed under his name in the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries, was the work of Paulus Diaconus.* 
 Alcuin's homiliar}^ appears to have consisted of two volumes 
 of sermons collected from the Fathers ;* consequently it filled 
 a long-felt need by thus supplying sermons ready to hand 
 
 (i) Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit., Ill, pp. 367-368. 
 
 (2) "Numquid non babes Romano more ordinatos bbellos sacra- 
 torios abundanter? Habcs quoque et veteris consuetudinis sufficienter 
 sacramentaria maiora. Quid opus est nova condere, dum vetera suffi- 
 ciunt?" Ep. 226, p. 370. 
 
 (3) Recent researches have discovered a manuscript of the twelfth 
 century, which has on the back of the last leaf of it the inscription 
 "Omilie Alcuini de dominicis per anni circulum et de quibusdam aliis 
 diebus." This would appear to be Alcuin's homiliary. Cf. Gaskoin, 
 op. cit., pp. 222, 22^. Morin, L'homclaire d'Alcuin rctrouve. 
 
 (4) Vita Alchuini, op. cit., chap. 12. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 47 
 
 to those of the clergy who were too ignorant to write their 
 own/ Alcuin's second liturgical work was the 'compan- 
 ion' or lectionary, which, in its present form, contains two 
 hundred and forty-two epistles for reading on Sundays, fast 
 and holy days." The third and last of Alcuin's official works 
 was the sacramentary. It consisted of the Gregorian sacra- 
 mentary, followed by a so-called preface and a supplement.* 
 Through these liturgical works, and especially through his 
 sacramentary, he did much to restore order in the cere- 
 monies of the church as well as to bring about conformity 
 with the liturgy of Rome. 
 
 Besides his official works, Alcuin wrote a number of other 
 treatises on liturgical subjects. Among them is his Liber 
 Sacramentonim; it is a collection of masses and was in- 
 tended for monastic rather than for general use.* The same 
 is true of the De Psalmorum Usii. This classified the Psalms 
 according to their subject matter, and showed their appro- 
 priateness to various moods and circumstances.^ Another 
 work, the OfRcia per Ferias, or Breviarum, as it is some- 
 times called, was written for Charles the Great himself, or 
 for his son and namesake. It contains a number of Psalms 
 assigned in seven portions, according to their contents, to 
 the seven days of the week; a collect follows every psalm, 
 and there is a litany of saints for each day. Considerable in- 
 terest attaches to this work in view of the fact that it is 
 said to have brought the word 'brevarium' into general use.* 
 
 (i) Epp. 136, no, 113, 116, 173. 
 
 (2) Gaskoin, op cii., pp. 225-231. For the text, see Ranke, E., 
 Perikopensystem, appendix, iv-xxvi. 
 
 (3) Gaskoin, op. cit., pp. 226-227. 
 
 (4) For text, see Migne CGI, pp. 445-466. 
 
 (5) Suitable prayers were interspersed throughout the work, and 
 a tabulation of these under fourteen heads concluded the work. Ibid., 
 pp. 465-508. 
 
 (6) Alcuin uses the word Breviarium in his introduction : ''Quia 
 vos rogastis, ut scriberemus vobis breviarium comatico sermone," et 
 seq. Ep. 304. Cf. Migne CGI, p. 509. Batiflfol, History of the Roman 
 Breviary, p. 205. For text, see Migne, GGI, pp. 509-612. 
 
48 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Along with his liturgical works we may mention his 
 treatise on baptism, written to a priest called Odwin, and 
 designed as a warning to the monks of Septimania against 
 the various malpractices of the Spanish Church, notably the 
 substitution of single for trine immersion.^ This work, to- 
 gether with those mentioned alx)ve, contains the form of 
 worship, both general and special, for ecclesiastical services, 
 
 Alcuin's liturgical works, based as they were principally 
 upon the older Roman liturgies, must have greatly aided 
 Charles' plans for establishing ecclesiastical uniformity 
 throughout the Prankish Church. Moreover, though it can- 
 not be very definitely proved, there is some evidence to show 
 that Alcuin played a role in carrying out another part of 
 Charles' ecclesiastical program, namely, the revision of the 
 Scriptures. In dedicating his Commentary on the Book of 
 vSt. John to Gisla and Rodtruda, he writes, "I should have 
 sent you the whole Commentarv on St. John, had I not been 
 fully occupied in complying with the king's command to 
 amend the versions of the Old and New Testaments."- And 
 again, in one of his carmina he writes : "Receive, O king, 
 this little gift, token of the great love thy Alcuin bears thee. 
 The great ones of earth bring thee precious stones, but I in 
 my poverty bring thee these two little books, lest on that 
 great day I should come empty-handed into thy presence, 
 O most pious and revered king.^ These I have carefully 
 corrected and bound together in one great volume and have 
 sent them to you through the medium of our very dear son, 
 our faithful servant."* Thus there is some ground for ac- 
 cepting the tradition that the Carolingian revision of the 
 Bible was the work of Alcuin. 
 
 (i) Efy^. 134. 137- (2) Epp. 195, 262. 
 
 (3) Carmen, 65, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., op. cit., I, p. 283. 
 
 (4) Carvicn, 65, 69, ibid., pp. 283. 284, 288. It appears that three 
 Bibles were revised by him or under his inspection. Cf. Dedicatory 
 Poems, Carmen, 65, ibid., I, pp. 283-285. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 49 
 
 A large measure of Charles' success in his ecclesiastical 
 reforms was due to the effective control which he exercised 
 over the Prankish clergy. This was made possible in the 
 first place by his assumption of the right to appoint the 
 higher clergy. But his mastery could not be complete until 
 he had effected such an organization as would extend his 
 disciplinary power over every phase of ecclesiastical activity. 
 This was a difficult task to perform. Owing to the inter- 
 ference of the Merovingian kings, the whole church had 
 tended to disintegrate ; the system of metropolitans and pro- 
 vincial synods was gradually dying out in western Europe;^ 
 the diocesan bishops were becoming more and more inde- 
 pendent ; while the clergy, especially that portion which may 
 be called 'unattached,' were less and less inclined to obey 
 their Bishop. The unattached clergy were very numerous ; 
 they served a church which had been founded upon an estate 
 by its owner and were appointed, paid and removed by him ; 
 they were thus exempt from outside interference, civil or 
 ecclesiastical.^ Under such circumstances, discipline was 
 clearly impossible. 
 
 Charles the Great sought a remedy. He bent his energies 
 to secure, first, the subordination of the clergy to the bishop 
 in the chief city of their district; second, to co-ordinate the 
 bishops of a province into a single body with the metropoli- 
 tan at their head; and third, of course, to secure the de- 
 pendence of the latter upon the royal or imperial power. 
 The administrative machinery, he contemplated, was almost 
 perfect in theory. However, evidences are not lacking to 
 show that it was far from being so in actual practice. In his 
 circular letter to his vassals and administrative officers, 
 
 (i) Hatch, op. cit., pp. 124-126. 
 
 (2) Men sold churches and transferred them. "De Ecclesiis quae 
 ab ingenuis hominibus construuntur ; Hcet eas tradere, vendere. . . ." 
 Capitulary Francofurt., 794 A.D., cap. 54, M. G. H. Leg., op. cit., II, 
 I, p. 78. 
 
50 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Charles complained that some of his clergy had presumed to 
 disobey their bishops, contrary to the laws and the canons, 
 and that some of the priests had been installed in churches 
 without episcopal consent/ 
 
 As a remedial measure, looking- especially to the enforce- 
 ment of discipline, Charles ordered the priests to report to 
 the bishops once a year, while the latter were also required 
 to visit every priest's church annually.^ There were three 
 purposes subserved by these visitations. In the first place, it 
 gave the bishops an opportunity to preach — an important 
 duty which they commonly neglected, as is evident from the 
 letters of Alcuin. The latter never lost an opportunity to 
 exhort them to preach, never failed to praise them for so 
 doing, nor forgot to reprove them when they failed in this 
 respect.^ In the second place, the visitation of the bishop 
 enabled him to check those heretical practices which tended 
 to creep into the administration of the sacraments, especially 
 in those of confirmation and baptism. Alcuin, for example, 
 in view of the heresies of the Spanish Church, deemed it 
 necessary to give the most complete and definite instructions 
 as to how the sacrament of baptism was to be administered 
 to catechumens.* The third purpose served was that of dis- 
 cipline. From the time of Charles, the bishop in his tour 
 of visitation acted partly as an officer of the church, partly 
 as an officer of the state. He was commonly invested with 
 power to investigate and adjudge cases of murder, adultery, 
 pagan-worship, and other wrong-doings contrary to the laws 
 of God and man. Indeed, there were times when these 
 
 (1) M. G. H. Leg., op. cit., II, I, pp. 80, 52-62. 
 
 (2) Hatch, op. cit., p. 34. 
 
 (3) "Et maxime praedicatores ecclesiae Christi caritatem redemp- 
 toris nostri per verba scdulae praedicationis populis ostendant." Ep. 136. 
 Cf. Epp. 301, 291, 169, 311, 114. 
 
 (4) Ep. 113. Cf. Ep. 68, Jaffe, VI, op. cit. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 51 
 
 administrative and judicial duties left the bishop little time 
 for his spiritual functions.^ 
 
 Another feature of the organization of the Prankish 
 Church in Alcuin's day was the development of the parochial 
 system. Two sets of causes operated to establish it. The 
 first of these centres around the sacrament of baptism. 
 Owing to the disorganization, incident to the disruption of 
 the Roman empire, the elaborate ceremonial which had once 
 attended the performance of this sacrament had almost died 
 out, inasmuch as it had become increasingly difficult for the 
 catechumens to assemble at one place and at one time, as 
 they had done formerly.- Consequently, there was a great 
 lack of uniformity and much irregularity in the administra- 
 tion of this sacrament. Hence it became necessary 
 to restrict preaching at the celebration of the sacra- 
 ments of baptism, mass and confirmation, to certain 
 churches.^ These were called 'baptismal' churches, and 
 they naturally obtained precedence and developed into the 
 parish church. 
 
 The second cause v^^hich contributed to the establishment 
 of the parish was the tithes. The latter, as a Christian in- 
 stitution, would seem to date from the eighth century; they 
 are hardly mentioned during the first seven centuries; the 
 regulations of councils practically ignore them, and there 
 are no civil enactments in regard to them.'* They came from 
 the state to the church and were originally rents paid for 
 the church lands with which the Prankish kings rewarded 
 
 (i) "De angustia mentis vestrae pro servitio saeculari adversus 
 sanctitatis vestrae dignitatem, ita ut non liceat melioribus instare of- 
 ficiis, ne animarum gregis Christi lucris inservire." Ep. 265. 
 
 (2) Hatch, op. cit., pp. 83, 84. 
 
 (3) Concil. Vernense, c. 7, 755 A.D. Hefele, op. cit., Ill, p. 589. 
 Cf. Ep. 68, Jaffe, VI, p. 316. 
 
 (4) The first special mention of them occurs in a letter of Pope 
 Zachary in 748 A.D. Jaffe Regesta, No. 2161. The fir.st civil enact- 
 ment in regard to them is Charles' Capitulary Rhispacensia et Frisingen- 
 sia, c. 13, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, p. 228. 
 
52 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 their soldiers. It was this which made Charles so anxious 
 to enforce their collection, but this was not his only mo- 
 tive. The fact that they were paid only to the 'baptismal' 
 churches tended to develope the parochial system, and 
 strengthen greatly the episcopal authority. Hence, Charles 
 was particularly desirous that the Saxons and other bar- 
 barians should pay tithes, inasmuch as they furnished him 
 with the means of organizing and of supporting the church 
 upon which he relied for help in civilizing these people. 
 However, it is evident from Alcuin's lukewarm support of 
 tithes that they were as yet far from being a fixed tradition 
 in the church. "It may be questioned," says he, "whether 
 tithes were anywhere exacted by the apostles ; and if we our- 
 selves, born and bred in the faith, do not care to give tithes, 
 how much more must the fierce barbarians, lately converted, 
 resent their exaction."^ So far as the latter were concerned, 
 he felt that it would be wise to relinquish them for a time, 
 "even at the expense of the public need."^ 
 
 Alcuin's objection was well taken. The whole ecclesias- 
 tical policy of the great king towards the barbarians lacked 
 something of that spirit of moderation which marked his 
 dealings with his own people. He wished to make the 
 bounds of Christendom coterminous with those of his 
 kingdom ; in accomplishing this end he was impatient, harsh 
 and unscrupulous in his dealings with the barbarians. Thus, 
 prisoners of war who forswore paganism and accepted bap- 
 tism, were restored to liberty and freed from tribute: while 
 those who refused to do so were beheaded.^ Alcuin deplores 
 this policy and ventures to suggest to Charles that he entreat 
 the barbarians gently as "the first fruits of the faith," 
 
 (i) Ep. no, p. 158. 
 
 (2) "Quia forte melius est, vel aliquanto spatio ut remittatur pub- 
 lica necessitas, donee fides cordibus radicitus inolescat." Ep. 174, p. 289. 
 Cf. Ep. no, p. 158. 
 
 (3) Vita Stunttii. M. G. H. SS., op. cit., II, p. 376. Cf. Epp. 107, 
 no, HI, 113, and JafFe, op. cit., VI, Ep. 68, pp. 3n-3i8. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 53 
 
 teaching them and encouraging them with words of advice 
 and comfort.^ "If," says he, more boldly, elsewhere, "the 
 same pains had been taken to preach to them the easy yoke 
 and light burden of Christ as has been done to collect tithes, 
 and to punish the slightest infringement of the laws on their 
 part, then they would no longer abhor and repel baptism."^ 
 
 However mistaken Charles' policy towards the barbarians, 
 there can be no question but that he exercised a salutary in- 
 fluence on the Prankish Church in general. Under his im- 
 pelling genius, the Church of the West acquired, in a large 
 measure, that organization which characterized it during the 
 Middle Ages. The parochial system took shape and form, 
 the jurisdiction of the bishops was extended, and their au- 
 thority greatly strengthened. The latter, in turn, were sub- 
 jected to the metropolitan. But the system was not carried 
 to its logical conclusion; for the metropolitans, contrary to 
 the plan of St. Boniface, were the subordinates, not of the 
 Papacy, but of the King and Emperor. The archbishops 
 and the provincial council, except in matters of internal dis- 
 cipline, were superseded by the nation. And the great 
 Frankish Church he had organized was controlled by the 
 national assemblies, to which he summoned laymen and 
 ecclesiastics alike. 
 
 The third institution of which Alcuin treats is the Em- 
 pire. Though there is nothing in his letters that sheds new 
 light upon the circumstances of its founding, they serve well 
 as an illustration of the conception of the empire which ob- 
 tained in his day. Contemporaries are at one in regarding it 
 as a glorious acquisition of the Frankish kingdom. Alcuin 
 speaks of the "right noble Charles who governed the king- 
 dom of the Franks most gloriously."^ He and his con- 
 
 (i) £/>. 113. (2) Ep. III. 
 
 (3) "Qui modo cum triumphis maximis et omni dignitate gloriosis- 
 sime Francorum regit imperium." Vita Sancti Willihrordi, cap. 23, 
 Jaffe, op. cit., VI, p. 56. Cf. '"Qui regnum Francorum nobiliter am- 
 
54 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 temporaries view Charles as king and emperor from the 
 /.standpoint of the Old Testament ideal. To them he is a 
 prophet-priest, a warrior-king.^ Chosen of God to lead His 
 faithful people, he is their weapon and defence, their law- 
 giver and judge." Divinely inspired, he uses his marvellous 
 gifts to humble the proud, to defend the lowly and to in- 
 struct all his people in the ways of truth, of justice and of 
 virtue. Before his terrible face, the pagans flee in terror; 
 under his overshadowing wing, a Christian people rest in 
 peace. In his hand he holds a conquering sword, from his 
 mouth he proclaims Catholic doctrine.^ Christianity follows 
 in the wake of his army ; he makes the bounds of Christen- 
 dom coterminous with those of his kingdom and of his em- 
 pire, and by enlarging both of these he secures peace and 
 safety for his subjects. To these glorious ends, he has been 
 endowed with the government of the Church and of the 
 world.* Like unto Joshua, he recalls the people to the wor- 
 ship of the true God by means of his warnings and of his 
 punishments.^ He is a second David, a mighty prince and 
 ruler, decreeing laws for his people, defending the oppressed, 
 cherishing the foreigner, doing justice to one and all, and 
 enlightening his people with the light of knowledge and of 
 truth." His greatest glory, Alcuin says, consists in this, 
 that he has most earnestly striven to lead the people en- 
 
 pliavit." Vita Caroli, chap. 31, M. G. H. SS.. op. cif., II, p. 460. 
 "Propter dignitatem imperii quam avus regno Francorum adiecerat." 
 Nuhard, IV, chap. 3, ibid., p. 669. Cf. Ennoldi Nigclli, bk. 2 vv. 63, 
 64, 67, 68. ibid., pp. 479, 480. 
 
 (1) Ep. 174. Cf. Epp. 170. 171. 41. 217. 177. 
 
 (2) Ep. 174. Cf. Ep. 242. Jaffe. VI. Cf. Angilbert, Carmen, VI, 
 vv. 63-64, 92. 93. M. G. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., I, pp. 366-369. 
 
 (3) Epp. 41, 171, 217. Ep. 242 (Jafife). 
 
 (4) Ep. 242. Jaffe, VI, p. 779, 780. 
 
 (5) Admonitio Gcncralis, M. G. H. Leg.. Sect. II, I, p. 54. 
 
 (6) "Ita et David olim praecedentis popiili rex a Deo electus, et 
 Deo dilectus et egregius psalmista Israheii victrici gladio undique gentes 
 .<;iibiciens, legisque Dei e.ximius praedicator in populi extitit." Ep. 41. 
 Cf. Epp. 171, 198, 309. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 55 
 
 trusted to his care out of the depths of darkness into the 
 great hght of the true faith. 
 
 When we turn from the Empire itself to the people, we 
 find that the picture which Alcuin presents is a very gloomy- 
 one. "The times are perilous," he writes, "tribulation fol- 
 loweth hard upon tribulation ; the people are in poverty ; the 
 rulers in distress ; the church beset with anxiety ; its priests 
 in dissension; there is nothing stable; all things are in a 
 state of unrest."^ Though he penned this letter to Arno 
 in a moment of despondency, it is nevertheless a tolerably 
 accurate picture of social conditions in his day. 
 
 The clergy, who were the natural guides of the people, 
 were far from being examples of piety and good-living. The 
 'true bill' which has been found against them by historians 
 is made out not from the recorded instances of the miscon- 
 duct of individuals, but is based on the fact of repeated leg- 
 islation, as well as on the testimony of the most noteworthy 
 contemporaries of that day. In both these sources, the ref- 
 erences to the shortcomings of the clergy are clear and in- 
 controvertible. Alcuin complains that they are vain, ex- 
 travagant in dress, and haughty in bearing, utterly worldly 
 in fact ;- they listen to plays rather than to the Scriptures ; 
 they prefer the 'cithara' to the sweet music of the Psalms.' 
 Too ignorant to write their own sermons, they have recourse 
 to homiliaries.* They share the worst superstitions of the 
 people, believing in auguries and incantations.^ It is signifi- 
 cant that in writing to Eanbald II, Archbishop of York, he 
 
 (i) Ep, 193- ^ ., „ . 
 
 (2) Epp. 20, 40, 66, 114. Cf. Capitulary, A Sacerdohbus Proposita, 
 M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I. p. 107. (3) Ep. 124. Cf. Ep. 22,7. 
 
 (4) Alcuin condones this practice. Cf. "Quid est omelia nisi praedi- 
 catio." Ep. 136. 
 
 (5) Alcuin himself admits that the Devil sometimes uses these to 
 ensnare those who believe in them. Ep. 17. Cf. "Indiculus Super- 
 stiiionum et Paganiorum," M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, p. 223. 
 
56 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 should have admonished him not to let "vain babblings nor 
 scurrilous language proceed out of his mouth. "^ 
 
 The capitularies, the acts of church councils, and the regu- 
 lations of the bishops all contain even more specific charges 
 against the clergy. They accuse the latter of wasting their 
 time in hunting, hawking and feasting." Worse still, they 
 indict them for drunkenness and all manner of lewdness. 
 They assert that some clerics sat up until midnight carousing 
 with their companions ; after which some, drunken and 
 gorged, returned to their churches quite unfit to perform the 
 daily and nightly services of the Church, while others, 
 *straw drunk,' sank down and slept off their debauch in 
 the place of revel.^ Moreover, devoted as they were to 
 w^orldly pleasures, the clergy found their duties irksome. 
 They disobeyed their Rule, and neglected their spiritual 
 duties, delegating their pastoral work to vicars, who re- 
 ceived the spiritual reward which should have been theirs. 
 Alcuin declared them to be robbers rather than pastors, 
 seeking their own interests rather than those which be of 
 God.* 
 
 Evidently, the wholesale gifts made to the Church during 
 the seventh and eighth centuries had had a baleful influence 
 upon it. It had become very wealthy. Alcuin himself as 
 abbot of Tours ruled over a vast tract of territory.^ With 
 the increase of wealth, the Christian ministry became a 
 lucrative profession; simony was rife;''' the clergy became 
 secularized. Bishops and abbots sought to extend their pos- 
 
 (i) Ep. 114. Cf. Ep. 40. 
 
 (2) Capit., 10, KarUnan, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, pp. 24-43. 
 
 (3) M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, pp. 91-99, 107, 440 
 
 (4) "Sint praedicatores, non praedatores." Ep. in. Cf. Vita Al- 
 chuini, chap. 6. 
 
 (5) Elipand taunt."; him with having 20,000 slaves. Ep. 200. 
 
 (6) "Et hoc praecipuc intendite, ut simoniaca hercsis funditus sub- 
 vertatur, quae male dominatur in multis, radicem a iudicibus saecuH 
 sumens, ramos usque ad ecclesiasticas tendcns pcrsonas . . . pene apos- 
 tolicam inrepserunt sedem." Ep. 258, p. 416. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 57 
 
 sessions by encroaching- on their weaker vassals. Alcuin 
 himself complained that the abbot of Limoges was trying to 
 exact dues from his monks, over and above those sanctioned 
 by custom/ Moreover, it appears that the clergy did not 
 scruple to use the weapon of excommunication as a means 
 of extorting wealth. Charles accused them of buying slaves, 
 allodia and other property for themselves and gaining wealth 
 by preying upon the ignorance of rich and poor alike." Un- 
 der such pastors, it was not strange that the morals of the 
 people became vitiated ; that the churches were left without 
 a roof or used as storehouses for hay and provisions, and 
 the altars defiled by birds and dogs.^ 
 
 The evil that men do lives after them, the good is in- 
 terred with their bones. Hence, Alcuin as a reformer de- 
 votes more attention to the moral obliquity of the clergy 
 than to their good qualities. Yet he finds something worthy 
 in the ecclesiastics of his day. His friends Arno, Leidrad, 
 Paulinus, Theodulph and others come in for their share of 
 praise; and he commends the monks of Septimania, of Ire- 
 land and of Yarmouth most highly. Of the latter he writes, 
 "It is your greatest glory that you have followed your Rule 
 consistently, both in dress and in all other points of monastic 
 discipline, even as your founder did establish them."* 
 
 Alcuin's interest lay primarily with the Church and the 
 clergy; he says little of the laity, and that little does not 
 serve to put them in a favorable light. To begin with, the 
 nobles of the court undoubtedly vexed his righteous soul. 
 In a letter to* his pupil Nathaniel, he warns him against the 
 ladies of the court, those "crowned doves who fly about the 
 
 (i) "Dicunt enim ; vestri missi mandassent presbiteros nostros; de 
 pane modio I et dimidio; de vino modio I ; de annona ad caballos modia 
 quattuor; casios VI; ova C." Ep. 298. 
 
 (2) Capittila missornvi, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, p. 115. 
 
 (3) "Vidimus quoque aliquibus in Iocis_ neglegenter altaria Dei 
 absque tecto, avium stercoribus vel canum "mictu fedata." Ep. 136. 
 Cf. Einhard, Vita Caroli, op. cit., chap. 17, M. G. H. SS. II, p. 452. 
 
 (4) £/>. 284. 
 
S8 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 palace windows."^ Likewise, he enjoins the chaste Gund- 
 rada to be an example to the other ladies of the court, to 
 the end that they may keep themselves from falling, and so 
 remain noble in morals as in birth.- Magharius, too, the 
 wise counsellor of the king, is warned not to let worldly 
 pleasure or carnal delight impede him in his labors.^ Even 
 more pointed is the counsel which he gives to Angilbert, and 
 to Pippin, king of Italy.* To Charlemagne himself he 
 expatiates on the charms of temperance,'^ and on one occa- 
 sion, at least, is bold enough to speak of the king's short- 
 comings. "Behold our Solomon," says he, "resplendent in 
 his diadem and crowned with virtue; imitate his virtues and 
 avoid his vices."* 
 
 The nobles are as venal and as corrupt as they are im- 
 moral. Alcuin intimates that some of the officials were not 
 above taking bribes, and subverting justice to their own 
 ends." He has this in mind when he admonishes Charles 
 to have wise counsellors about him, pious. God-fearing men, 
 lovers of truth, not given to covetousness. "Let no one 
 tarnish your good name by dishonesty," says he, "for the 
 faults of the servants are often ascribed to the Prince."* 
 Likewise, he urges the judges and princes to rule the people 
 wisely, and to judge them honestly, being fathers to the 
 widow and orphans; for in the justice of the prince lieth the 
 happiness of the people.''' Theodulph of Orleans is even 
 more outspoken than Alcuin in this connection. "I have 
 seen judges," says he, "who were slow to attend to the 
 duties of their office, though prompt enough to take its re- 
 wards. Some arrive at the fifth hour, and depart at the 
 ninth; others, if the third hour sees them on the bench, 
 
 (i) Ep. 244, p. 392. (2) Ep. 241. Cf. Ep. 309. 
 
 (3) Ep. 33- (4) Epp. 221, 237, 119. 
 
 (5) De Rhcturica, Migne CCI, p. 941. (6) Ep. 309. 
 
 (7) "Neque subieclos tiiae potcstati indices permittas per sportulas 
 "vel praemia iudicare." Ep. 188. Cf. Ep. 217. 
 
 (8) Ep. 217. (9) Ep. 18. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 59 
 
 will rise therefrom at the sixth. But if there is a brihe to 
 receive, the same men will be in court before the prima."^ 
 Moreover, where perchance the officials were not actually 
 rapacious or unjust, they were inclined to neglect their 
 'placita' for the pleasures of the chase.^ No doubt Charles' 
 missi had a strenuous time in enforcing justice throughout 
 the Frankish realm. And it wouhd appear that the more 
 conscientiously they fulfilled their duties, the more un- 
 popular they became.^ 
 
 Yet Alcuin finds something to praise in the laity of his 
 day. There are some honorable, upright men among them, 
 some virtuous women; first and foremost among the latter 
 is the 'noblest of the noble,' the fair Gundrada. She it 
 was who, amid the license of the court, had attained to the 
 enviable reputation of being chaste as no other lady of the 
 day.^ Among the men are Eric, Duke of Friuli, Gerald of 
 Bavaria, and Megenfrid the Treasurer, all of whom Alcuin 
 finds it in his heart to praise most warmly. Naturally, 
 however, it is his master, Charles the Great^^who comes in 
 for most of his attention and adulation. As the life-long 
 friend and trusted counsellor of the king, he had ample 
 opportunity to observe his character, and so well did he do 
 so that Charlemagne stands forth from his pages in all 
 his majesty, a sublime figure, commanding the admiration 
 of the ages. There is a significant lack of legend and of 
 myth in his portrayal. It is a living being that he depicts, 
 a man with great faults notwithstanding his splendid vir- 
 tues As we see him through the medium of Alcuin, 
 he is a mighty man of war, tireless of energy, 
 
 (i) Theodulph, Versus Contra Indices, vv, 391-396, M. G. H. Poet. 
 Lat. Med. Aev., op. cit., I, p. 493, et seq. 
 
 (2) "Volumus atque jubemus ut comites nostri propter venationem 
 et alia ioca placita sua non dimittant nee ea minuta faciant." Capitula 
 de Causis Divcrsis, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, p. 135. 
 
 (3) Capitula a missis dominicis ad comites directa, chap. 5, ibid., I, 
 p. 184. 
 
 (4) Ep. 309. 
 
60 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 quick of thought, prompt to act ; in fact, a born leader of 
 men with a genius for organization and command. Withal, 
 there is much of the barbarian about him ; he is in- 
 describably fierce towards his foes, ruthless and wantonly 
 cruel at times. On several occasions, Alcuin finds it neces- 
 sary to plead with him to be merciful. "Be not forgetful," 
 says he, "of the captives which Providence granted thee in 
 thy victory over the Avars; if it be possible, spare some 
 of them."^ Again, he suggests that his lord the king should 
 vary the clash of arms and the strident peal of the horn, 
 with the softer notes of music, to the end that the fierce 
 souls of the warriors might be softened.- 
 
 While not blind to the faults of his great master, Alcuin, 
 like the rest of his contemporaries, is dazzled by his genius. 
 At times he seems to be under a spell, and then he is quite 
 as extravagant as other contemporaries, whose judgment 
 is less discriminating than his. In such a mood he pic- 
 >vv. tures Charles )(as a great Christian emperor, whose piety 
 shines forth as bright as the rays of the sun." The em- 
 bodiment of virtue himself, he incites all classes of his 
 people to deeds of virtue; to the soldiers he teaches skill 
 in the use of arms, inspiring them with constancy and 
 courage ; the clergy and the people he enjoins to obey 
 in all humility; his counsellors and judges he leads in the 
 path of wisdom and justice.* Thus does he rule his people, 
 decreeing laws, defending the oppressed, cherishing the 
 foreigner, and enlightening his people with truth and 
 knowledge.^ "Happy the people," says Alcuin, "over whom 
 Providence has placed so wise and so pious a ruler, who 
 (i) Ep. 118. (2) Ep. 149. 
 
 (3) Ep. 242 (JaflFe). Cf. Angilbert. Carmen, VI. vv, 12-15, M- G. 
 H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., op cit., I, p. 366. Theodulph, Carmen, 35, 36, 
 ibid, pp. 526-528. 
 
 (4) Epp. 177, 136. Cf. Theodulph, Ep. 24, M. G. H. Epistolarum, 
 IV, p. 534. Also Pauliniis Aqiiila, Ep. 43. Aligne, XCIX, pp. 508-509. 
 
 (5) Epp. 229, 177. Cf. Einhard, P'ita, op. cit., chap. 21, M. G. H. 
 SS. II, p. 455- 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 61 
 
 excelleth all, not alone in majesty and power, but in wis- 
 dom and religious zeal as well."^ These expressions are 
 repeated, until one feels that Alcuin had some merit as a 
 courtier as well as a scholar. 
 
 With immorality and license prevailing among the 
 nobility, w^e need not look for enlightenment or religious 
 zeal among the lower classes in Frankland. The people 
 gave free reign to their passions, and imitated the vices 
 of the nobility. They were especially given to drunken- 
 ness, and prone to deeds of violence and bloodshed.^ Im- 
 poverished by the continual wars of Charles' reign, op- 
 pressed by their superiors, lay and ecclesiastical, too brutal 
 to command respect, too ignorant and too helpless to effect 
 any ameHoration of their condition, their lot was a hard 
 one. They were being reduced to beggary and even to 
 slavery, as Charles himself admits. 'Tf a poor man," says 
 he, 'Svill not give up his property to a bishop, abbot or count, 
 these make some excuse for getting him into trouble with 
 the courts, or they order him continually on military 
 service until the man surrenders or sells his property."^ 
 The noblest spirits of the time were alive to the fearful 
 degradation of the people; nor did they fail to express their 
 pity. Nevertheless, there was a good deal of contempt 
 mingled with their sympathy. Thus Alcuin, while enjoin- 
 ing upon the lords the necessity of being just and merciful 
 towards the people, felt that the latter ought to obey a just 
 ruler with thankful hearts. Alcuin expressly repudiated 
 the maxim, 'Vox populi, vox Dei,' maintaining that the 
 voice of the people was the voice of madmen.'* 
 
 Bad as were the social conditions in Frankland, those 
 in England were even worse. Alcuin's account is one long 
 
 (i) Epp. 171, 229, 121. (2) Epp. 246, 249, 119. 18, 121, 58, 172, 150. 
 
 (3) De Rebus Exercitalihus, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, I, p. 165. 
 
 (4) "Nee audiendi, qui solent dicere ; vox populi. vox Dei. Cum 
 tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit." Ep. 132. 
 
 OF TMl 
 
 IVEH«fTY 
 
 V.c>. 
 
 I iFriftl 
 
62 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 chronicle of invasion from without, of schism and disorder 
 from witliin. He cries out in despair over the ruin of the 
 monasteries, over the decHne of learning, over the social 
 and political disorder rampant everywhere. "Lo," he says, 
 "a pagan people lay waste our shores, pillaging and plunder- 
 ing at will; the princes and people are rent with dissen- 
 sions; while learning perishes in our midst."^ With touch- 
 ing sorrow Alcuin depicts the desecration of the churches. 
 "Alas," says he, "the Church of St. Cuthbert, so honored 
 by all the people of Britain, hath been given over wholly to 
 the pagans for plunder; despoiled of its ornaments, bereft 
 of its glories, it has been spattered with the blood of its 
 priests. Verily, if the Holy St. Cuthbert cannot defend 
 his own in that place where religion was first implanted 
 in our race, verily there remaineth naught for us to do save 
 to cry out, 'Spare, O Lord, spare thy people, and give not 
 thine inheritance unto the heathen, lest they say, where 
 is the Christians' God ?' "^ 
 
 The internal dissensions among the princes and people 
 of England were even more baleful in their influence than 
 the devastations of the Norsemen. The political unrest, 
 which liad characterized the Anglo-Saxons before and since 
 their advent into Britain, was much in evidence in iVlcuin's 
 day. According to his testimony, the English kingdoms 
 had been most unhappy as to the princes who had been 
 chosen to rule over them. Everywhere they had declined 
 in those qualities which had been wont to make them a 
 blessing to their people and a terror to the enemy.^ They 
 were tyrants, not rulers; for they plundered their people 
 shamelessly.* The whole land was a prey to intestine 
 strife; rival claimants to the throne murdered and nillao-ed 
 regardless of their subjects;'^ nobles warred on nobles, and 
 
 (i) Ep. 129. (2) Ep. 16. Cf. Ep. 20. 
 
 (3) Ep. 130. (4) Epp. 16, 9, 109, 115. (5) Epp. 109, 127, 128, 122. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 63 
 
 oppressed the people; everywhere except in Mercia^ was 
 black ruin, anarchy and disintegration. 
 
 The clergy of England were almost as bad as the 
 nobility. There was no sympathy, no co-operation between 
 the higher ecclesiastics; there was coldness between the 
 archbishops of York and of Canterbury;" while between the 
 latter and the lately established archbishopric of Lichfield,' 
 there was actual strife. Again, the higher clergy were 
 inclined to take a hand in the political disturbances of the 
 day. Thus the archbishop of York interfered in the dis- 
 sensions of Northumbria with little credit to himself, and 
 less profit to the church.* The bad example set by the 
 nobility, lay and ecclesiastical, had a most deleterious effect 
 upon the lower clergy and the common people. "If," says 
 Alcuin, "there proceeds from the nobility and the clergy, 
 the fountains of faith and truth, naught but turmoil and 
 infidelity, we can expect but little from the people."^ The 
 clerics are distinguished from the laymen by their tonsure 
 alone; in all things else they are reprehensible as the laity 
 themselves, as vain in dress, as haughty in bearing, as 
 much given to feasting, drinking and such like things.^ 
 The regular clergy are as bad as the secular; they live in 
 luxury, and devote themselves to worldly enjoyments, being 
 more like laymen than monks; they neglect their Rule, es- 
 pecially that part intended for their edification; as they sit 
 at meat, they prefer to listen to plays instead of having 
 one of their number read from the Scriptures or the 
 
 (i) Even Offa, king of Mercia, does not escape Alcuin's censure. 
 Epp. 122, 123. 
 
 (2) Epp. 127, 128. 
 
 (3) Eventually the archbishopric of Lichfield was suppressed. 
 Epp. 128. 255- 
 
 (4) Ep. 232. (5) Ep. 122. 
 
 (6) "Quae magna ex parte diu corrupta viluit et pene laicorum 
 vanitate coaequata est, ita ut tonsura tantummodo discreta videtur; 
 ceterum moribus multa ex parte consimilis, ceu in vestimentorum vani- 
 tate et arrogantia et conviviorum superfiuitate et aliis rebus." Ep. 230. 
 Cf. Ep. 129. 
 
64 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Fathers, as their Rule commands/ As might be expected, 
 the people are much harmed by' such conduct ; they follow 
 not in the footsteps of their fathers; neither in dress nor 
 in good living do they pattern themselves after their worthy 
 ancestors; but in their mad folly, they seek out some new 
 thing as unprofitable to themselves as it is displeasing to 
 God.^ "A time of great tribulation has come over our 
 land" wails he, "the faith is losing ground; God's truth is 
 not spoken, malice and arrogance everywhere abound to 
 the misery of the people. The sacred places are devastated 
 by the heathen, the altars desecrated by perjury, the mon- 
 astries defiled by adulter}^ and the soil of England stained 
 by the blood of its princes. Verily,' concludes Alcuin, 'we 
 are a race of evil-doers, a people laden with iniquity, a 
 sinful nation, whom God will punish as in the olden time^ 
 unless we deserve well of Him by earnest prayer, stead- 
 fast faith and upright living."^ 
 
 Against the degradation of society which we have just 
 described, the church effected a partial remedy through 
 monasticism. The latter had worked silently for at least 
 a century, before its influence showed itself on the common 
 life of the clergy in the tangible form of a canonical rule. 
 This was one of the chief results of the great ecclesiastical 
 reformation of the Carolingian Age, brought about by the 
 co-operation of church and state.* The immediate purpose 
 subserved by the rule was that of discipline; at the same 
 time it made for education and edification, inasmuch as 
 
 (i) £/>. 124, p. 183. (2) Ep. 122, p. 179. 
 
 (3) Epp. 122, 20, 17, 22. 
 
 (4) The first mention of a canonical rule was in the decree of the 
 Council of Vernon in 755— M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, i, p. 36. A little 
 later Chrodegang of Metz drew up his famous rule, and in 802 a 
 capitulary of Charles required his priests to live according to the canons 
 under the supervision of a bishop, sleeping in a common dormitory, 
 eating at a common refectory, and living according to a common rule. 
 Capitulare Missorum Gcncralc, chaps. 21, 22, M. G. H. Leg., Sect. II, 
 I, pp. 95-96. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 65 
 
 the hours of the day and night were apportioned to definite 
 occupations. These, as Alcuin intimates, were chiefly 
 reading and praying/ Thus, by means of the canonical 
 rule, the prevalent ignorance of the clergy was lessened, 
 learning became more and more a necessary ingredient of 
 their lives. Furthermore, such great bishops as Arno, 
 Theodulph, Leidrad, and others, arose to lend their whole- 
 souled^ support to Charles' noble effort to enlighten his 
 people. 
 
 (i) Ep. 114. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 
 
 During the seventh and the early part of the eight^cen- 
 turiy/the intellectual life of Frankland had reached a very- 
 low CTbb. The disorders incident to the Prankish invasion, 
 and the anarchy of the Merovingian rule later on, had 
 forced learning to take refuge in the church and in the 
 monastery. These asylums of learning became so demor- 
 alized that those traditions, which had found their way 
 from the ancient Gallic schools into those of the Franks 
 were almost completely lost; of philosophy and literature 
 there was nothing ; the Latin language was being forgotten, 
 and when spoken it was without rule or grammar. Worse 
 still, the voice of the teacher was all but silent in the city 
 and in the monastery; idleness and vice had followed hard 
 upon the decline of learning, until monk and priest who 
 ought to have been the intelligent teachers of their people, 
 had degenerated so far as to lose well-nigh even the instinct 
 for moral life,^ 
 
 Conditions would probably have been even worse had 
 not Charles Martel introduced some semblance of order and 
 quiet into society, not alone by his defeat of the Saxons 
 and Saracens, but also by his determined suppression of 
 the Prankish nobles and bishops. By freeing Prankland 
 
 (i) HaureaiJ, B., Histoire dc la Philosophic Scolasiiquc, part I, p. 
 3. 6-7; cf. Mullingcr. J. B. Schools of Charles the Great and the Restora- 
 tion of Education in the Ninth Century, pp. 37-39: Ebert Ad. Allge- 
 vieine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters in Abendlande, Vol. II, ' 
 pp. 3-1 1. 
 
 66 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER ■ 67 
 
 from dangers without and from dissensions within, by 
 teaching the bishops and abbots that they must do some- 
 thing more than hfent, drink and fight/ he prepared the way 
 for Alcuin and Charles, and made possible that intel- 
 lectual revival which their efforts inaugurated.^ Nor were 
 evidences of improvement lacking even before their day. 
 Here and there some scholar, like Abbot Gregory of 
 Utrecht, had tried more or less successfully to redeem the 
 character of his school, and to revive learning in his juris- 
 diction. At Metz, Chrodegang had drawn up his famous 
 rule and inculcated the urgent duty of educating the young. 
 At St. Gall, the monk Winidhar had begun to transcribe 
 manuscripts and so laid the foundations of the noble library 
 there.^ Thus the Prankish people were ripe for a literary 
 revival; realizing their needs they had become receptive, 
 and already they possessed eager students, both Anglo- 
 Saxon and Prankish, who would give their hearty sympathy 
 and co-operation to him who would promote and organize 
 learning. Such a person was Charles the Great. 
 
 It was the aim of Charles to spread secular and ecclesias- 
 tical learning among his people, to the end that religion 
 might be promoted, their morals reformed, and their whole 
 intellectual life deepened. Manifestly, his work had to be- 
 gin with the clergy, for through them, and them alone, 
 as the only teachers of the day*, could he hope to advance 
 
 (i) Cf. Capitulary of Karlmann, dated April 2ist, 742, cap. 2, M. 
 G. H. Leg.. Sect. II, I, p. 25. 
 
 (2) Haureau. op. cit., part I, pp. 6-7. Cf. Roger, L'Enscignement 
 des Lettrcs classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin, pp. 428-9; Hauck, II, op. cit., 
 pp. 168-71 ; Gaskoin, Alctiin, pp. 171-2; West. Alcuin, p. 41. 
 
 (3) Hauck, op. cit. II, pp. 168-171 ; Roger, op. cit., pp. 428-429; 
 Gaskoin, op. cit., I7^. F. A. Sflecht, Geschichte des Unterriclitszvcsens 
 in Deutschland bis stir Mitte des dreisehnten Jahrhtmdert, pp. 10-12, 
 266-268. 
 
 (4) That Charles found mjich to amend in the lives of his clergy 
 is evident from capitulary ig, caps. 15 & 16: "Sacerdotes, qui rite non 
 sapiunt adimplere minister^um suum nee discere iuxta pracccptum 
 . . . . quia ignorantes legem Dei earn aliis annuntiare et praedicare 
 non possunt." AI. G. H. Leg. I, p. 46. 
 
68 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 the civilization of his people. Accordingly, he exhorted 
 the clergy to the study of the Scriptures and of the Liberal 
 Arts, which they had so long neglected.^ • "It is our wish," 
 says he, *'that you may be what it behooves the soldiers 
 of Christ to be, religious in heart, learned in discourse, pure 
 in act, so that all that approach your house in order to in- 
 voke the Divine Master, or to behold the excellence of re- 
 ligious life, may be edified in seeing you and instructed by 
 hearing your discourse and chant.'"* Likewise, the whole 
 people were to devote themselves to learning, laymen were 
 to send their sons to study 'letters,' and the youths, work- 
 ing with all diligence, were to remain in school until they 
 had been instructed in learning." 
 
 Fortunately for the furtherance of his educational policy, 
 Charles could count on the support of such able men as 
 Alcuin, Paulinus of Aquila, Leidrad of Lyons, and others. 
 Alcuin set the seal of his enthusiastic approval upon the 
 plans of Charles for the education of his people. In a letter 
 to the latter, he praised him for his zeal in pursuing the 
 study of the stars, and added : ''If only a great many would 
 imitate your splendid zeal for such studies, mayhap a new 
 and even more excellent Athens might arise in Frankland, 
 for this our Athens, having Christ the Lord for its master, 
 would surpass all the wisdom of the studies of the 
 Academy."* Evidently Alcuin had high hopes of accom- 
 plishing great things for the enlightenment of Frankland. 
 l/ The tasks which awaited Alcuin and his royal master 
 
 were many and varied. First, the Palace School w^as to be 
 reorganized, and the king's own energetic attempts at self- 
 education superintended; there were the parish, monastic 
 and cathedral schools to be established or improved, and a 
 
 (i) "Oblitteiatam pene niaiorum nostrorum desidia reparare vigil- 
 ianti studio litteraruni." M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II, I, p. 80. 
 
 (2) Ibid., Vol. I., p. 79. (3) Admonitio Generalis, ibid., I, p. 60. 
 (4; Ep. 170. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 69 
 
 clergy sufficiently learned and worthy to administer the sac- 
 raments was to be created. Finally, it was necessary to 
 revise the liturgy so as to make it conform to the Roman 
 use, and it was equally urgent to amend the biblical and 
 other manuscripts, which were in a most deplorable condi- 
 tion owing to the ignorance of the Merovingian tran- 
 scribers. /^ 
 
 Their task was a gigantic one. The schools were few 
 in number and woefully defective, while teachers were 
 very hard to procure.^ Then, too, books were scarce, in- 
 asmuch as many had been lost or destroyed during the 
 Merovingian period." In one of his letters to Charles, 
 Alcuin asked permission to send some of his pupils from 
 Tours to obtain some of the books he had left at York, 
 in order that the rich fruits of learning might be found 
 not only in "the gardens there, but also by the pleasant 
 waters of the Loire. "^ And if the rich abbey of St. Mar- 
 tin's lacked for books, — the abbey supervised by Alcuin him- 
 self, and doubtless enriched by his own books, as well as 
 by copies of those in use at the Palace School, — one can 
 readily imagine that there must have been scanty if any 
 traces of a library in the majority of the monasteries else- 
 where. Moreover, many of the books were quite untrust- 
 worthy, for the manuscripts had been carelessly copied, and 
 often mutilated, owing to the gross ignorance of the tran- 
 scribers. Furthermore, the conditions prevailing at that 
 time increased the difficulties of the mediaeval scholar. The 
 roads were well-nigh impassable: the seas swarmed with 
 
 (i) "Scholam in eodem coenobio esse instituit quoniam omnes pene 
 ignaros literarum invenit . . . optimisque cantilenae sonis, quantum 
 temporis ordo sinebat, edocuit." Gesta Abbatum Fontancllcnshwi a. 
 787 M. G. H. SS. II. p. 292. 
 
 (2) "Sed ex parte desunt mihi, servulo vestro, exquisitiores erudi- 
 tionis scolasticae libelli, quos habui in patria per bonam et devotissimam 
 magistri mei industriam vel etiam mei ipsius qualemcumque sudorem." 
 Ep. 121. Cf. Ep. 80. 
 
 (3) Ep. 121. 
 
70 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 pirates, and the land was a prey to chronic warfare/ Hence 
 communication was uncertain and messengers were not to 
 be relied upon.^ On more than one occasion Alcuin com- 
 plained rather bitterly of these untoward circumstances. In 
 a letter to Sigulfus, he tell^ us : "Our memory is fickle at 
 times. We forget * what we ought to retain, especially 
 when we are distracted by worldly affairs, and inasmuch as 
 we cannot carry our IxDoks with us because of their weight, 
 we must abbreviate at times in order that the precious pearl 
 of wisdom be light enough for the weary traveller to bear 
 it with him for his refreshment."^ 
 
 Alcuin gives us elsewhere a^ even more striking picture 
 of the difiiculties and limitations of scholars in his day. In 
 his poem De Sanctis Ehoraccnsis Ecclcsiae, he describes for 
 us the library of the Cathedral School at York. The latter, 
 which Alcuin himself had helped to collect, though one of 
 the largest in its day, seems pitifully small and inadequate 
 to modern eyes. It is hardly likely that it comprised more 
 than one or two hundred books ; and yet these contain prac- 
 tically all of the learning of that time. It is significant that 
 Alcuin begins his description of the library by enumerat- 
 ing the Church Fathers to be found there. At the head 
 of the list are Jerome, Hilary, Ambrose aiTic^\ugustine, 
 after whom come Athanasius, Orosius, Gre^ff, Leo and 
 Basil. Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, Chrysostom and John* com- 
 plete the list. Then follow the teachers, philosophers, his- 
 torians, rhetoricians : these are Aldhelm, Bede, Victorinus, 
 Boethius, Pompeius and Pliny, together with the 'subtle 
 
 (i) Ef^fy. 6, 7, i6, 20, 21, 22, 82, 109. 
 
 (2) "Sed miiltum mcae nocct devotion! infidelitas accipicntium lit- 
 teras meas vobis dirigcndas." Ep. 254. Cf. Epp. 253. 167, 265. 28. 
 
 (3) "Et quia pondera librorum nobiscum portari ncqueunt, ideo 
 aliquotics brevitati studendum est, iit levi sit pondere pretiosa sapientiae 
 margarcta ; et habeat fessus ex itinere viator, quo se recreat ; licet ex 
 pondere portantis manus non gravctur." Ep. 80. 
 
 (4) Probably Jonh of Damascus. Cf. Harnack, V, p. 289. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 71 
 
 Aristotle' and the 'mighty rhetorician Tiilhus.'^ The 
 classics mentioned by Alcnin are Vergil, Statins and Lucan ; 
 they appear at the end of a very considerable list of Chris- 
 tian poets. It is characteristic of Alcuin and of his age 
 that he sees nothing incongruous in associating Vergil with 
 such poets as Sedulius, Juvencus, Alcimus, Clement, Pros- 
 per, Paulinus, Arator, Fortunatus and Lactantius. A place 
 of honor is given to the indispensable grammarians, and 
 accordingly the names of Probus, Focas, Donatus, Priscian, 
 Servius, Eutycus, Pompeius, Comminianus, close the list of 
 authors. Neither Isidore of Seville nor Martianus Capella 
 is mentioned, though it is likely that the works of both of 
 these were in the library among the 'many other' books 
 which Alcuin said were to be found there.^ 
 
 In matters of learning and education, Alcuin adopted 
 the same safe and conservative attitude that he had pur- 
 sued in questions of faith and of religious practice. He 
 and his contemporaries made learning the handmaid of 
 theology; they taught those things only which would be 
 of advantage to religion and to mother church.^ Their 
 curriculum began and ended with the studies of the Scrip- 
 tures : scriptural interpretation in its three-fold sense, his- 
 torical, moral and allegorical, was the keystone of their 
 educational structure.* This, Alcuin considered to be the 
 knowledge of most worth f though he by no means de- 
 spised secular learning.® • 
 
 If the study of the Scriptures is the keystone, the Seven 
 
 (i) "Acer Aristoteles, rhetor quoquo Tullius ingens." Versus De 
 Sanct. Eborac. Eccl. op. cit., V. 1549. 
 
 (2) Versus De Sanct. Eborac. Eccl. op. cit., vv. I53S-IS57- 
 
 (3) "Quaecunque enim a magistris ad utilitatem sanctarum ecclesi- 
 arum Dei didici." Ep. 24. 
 
 (4) Vita Alchidni. op. cit., cap. 2; Admonitio Generalis, cap. 82, 
 M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II, I, p. 161 : Rabanus Maurus. De Clericor. Instit. 
 Ill, 2 Migne 107, p. 379. Willibaldi, Vita S. Bonifatii, cap. 2: Jaffe/ 
 op. cit. Ill, p. 433-35- 
 
 (5) Epp. 309, 280. (6) Epp. 280, 121. 
 
 / 
 / 
 
72 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Liberal Arts are the supports of his whole educational sys- 
 tem. They are the 'Seven columns which support the dome 
 of wisdom,' the 'seven grades of wisdom' leading up to its 
 summit, which is evangelical perfection.^ They are the 
 'seven water-pots,' which have been kept till now to furnish 
 forth the wine that maketh glad the heart of man.^ As the 
 sole means of arriving at perfect knowledge, the youths 
 ought to study them until 'maturer age and riper judg- 
 ment' have fitted them for the study of the Scriptures.' 
 "On these," says Alcuin, in urging his pupils to study the 
 Liberal Arts, "on these, philosophers have bent their 
 energy ; through these, consuls and kings have become illus- 
 trious; through these, the venerable Fathers of the church 
 have defended the faith and discomfited the heretic."* 
 
 However, the Seven Liberal Arts of themselves appear 
 to have had little attraction for the scholars of Alcuin's day ; 
 theirs was a relative value, measured by their utility to the 
 church."' Latin grammar was studied as the key to the 
 reading and understanding of the Scriptures; metre, 
 rhetoric and dialectic gave the future cleric skill in speech 
 or debate, or in the practical treatment of religious topics; 
 music was of value in connection with the liturgy; arith- , 
 metic and astronomy were largely used to determine the '- 
 date of Easter; while geometry aided the church architect.^ - 
 
 Under such circumstances, there could be but little under- 
 standing or appreciation of the classical spirit. The 
 
 (i) Ef. 34- Cf. 280, and Alcuin's Grammatica, Migne CI, p. 853. 
 
 (2) Ep. 309. 
 
 (3) Grammatica, Migne CI, p. 854. 
 
 (4) Grammatica, Migne loi, p. 854. 
 
 (5) De Litteris Colendis, M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II. I, p. 79: Gram- 
 matica, Migne loi, p. 853: Rabanus Maurus, De Clcricortim, Instit 
 book III, cap. i6-Migne CVII, p. 392. Norden, Die Antike Kunstropsa 
 vom 6ten Jahrhundcrt vor Christo bis in die Zeit der Renaissance, Vol. 
 II, p. 680. 
 
 (6) Bursian, Geschichte der Classischen Philologie in Deutschland, 
 Vol. I, pp. 24-25. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 73 
 
 mediaeval churchmen regarded the classics merely as an 
 indispensable aid for the study of the Scriptures.^ The 
 early mediaeval writers had used the classics wherever they 
 felt that these would avail Christianity, or serve to embel- 
 lish their own style.^ But they had felt impelled to apolo- 
 gize for those Vergilian phrases which adorned their pages.. 
 They held that amid the noxious superstitions of the an- 
 cients there was much which would serve the interests of 
 truth and of Christianity : they likened themselves to the 
 Israelites who carried off the gold and silver ornaments of 
 the Egyptians.^ This notion of 'despoiling the Egyptians' 
 still obtained of course in Alcuin's day, and far beyond. In 
 a letter to Arno, Alcuin admonished him to wash "the 
 gold" of the classics "free from all dross," so that it might 
 be purified and rendered acceptable to God and his glorious 
 Church. Then would the pagan poems, purged from all 
 filth, be like "a rose bred among thorns, exquisite jn frag- 
 rance, in beauty incomparable."* Although Augustine and 
 others of the fathers had thus assumed an apologetic atti- 
 tude towards the classics, there had been a growing ten- 
 dency on the part of some churchmen to regard the study 
 of the classics as a species of idolatry. Yet, try as they 
 would, the Christian fathers could not get along without 
 them at any time during the Middle Ages : the classics 
 were as necessary to the study of the Liberal Arts as the 
 latter were for theology. They were particularly essential 
 for grammar and rhetoric, as Alcuin admitted upon one 
 occasion when, though roundly denouncing Vergil as a de- 
 
 (i) Cassiodorii, "De Instit. Divin. litter." c. 28, Migne LXX, pp. 
 1 141-43. De Litteris Colendis, M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II, I, p. 79. 
 
 (2) Comparetti, Virgil in the Middle Ages, p. 65. 
 
 (3) Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana, II, cap. 40-Migne XXXIV, 
 
 (4) "Nam rosa, inter spinas nata miri odoris et coloris incon- 
 parabilis gratiam habere dinoscitur." Ep. 207, p. 345. 
 
74 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 ceiver, he conceded that in matters of grammar he was an 
 authority not to be contemned/ 
 
 As might be expected, the attitude of Alcuin towards 
 the classics was a reflex of that of his predecessors. He 
 exhibited the earlier apologetic but enthusiastic tone of the 
 fathers, together with their later attitude of hostility. Like 
 Augustine, Jerome, and many others, he found the classics 
 necessary. Like them, too, he doubts somewhat the pro- 
 priety of using them, and is careful at times to explain 
 his grounds for so doing.* On the other hand, he is even 
 more outspoken in his opposition to the classics than Ter- 
 tullian himself. • As a boy he had loved the poems of Vergil 
 better than the Psalms.' With riper age and experience, 
 however, he adopted a more conservative attitude towards 
 the latter, and professed to despise what he had formerly 
 admired. As he neared the close of his life, he became 
 somewhat narrower in his views and less charitable in 
 spirit.* 'That same man,' says his biographer, 'who in his 
 youth had read the lives of Vergil along with the Holy 
 Writ, and the books of the philosophers, in his old age 
 would not allow his monks of Tours to follow the example 
 which he had set at York.'* "Are not the divine poets suffi- 
 cient for you," says Alcuin, "or must you pollute your- 
 selves with the smooth flowing phrases of Vergilian 
 speech?"* Certain passages in Alcuin's correspondence 
 also, appear to bear eloquent testimony to a continued 
 acerbity against the classics. Thus he reproached his friend, 
 Ricbodus, Archbishop of Treves, because of his fondness 
 
 (i) "Vergilius haud contempnendae auctoritatis falsator," Ep. 136. 
 a. Carmen 32, Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 250. 
 
 (2) Vita Alchuini, cap. i. 
 
 (3) "Legerat isdem vir Domini libros iuvenis antiquorum philoso- 
 phorum Virgilique mendacia, quae nolebat iam ip,se nee audire neque 
 discipulos suos legere," Vita Alchuini, cap. 10. Cf. "Haec in Vir- 
 giiiacis non invenietur mendaciis, sed in euangolica afflucntcr rep- 
 perietur veritate." Ep. 309, p. 475. Cf. Ep. 136. (4) Vita Alchuini, op 
 cit., cap. 10. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 75 
 
 for Vergil. "Lo, a whole year has passed," he writes, 
 "and I have had no letter from you. Ah, if only my name 
 were Vergil, then wouldst thou never forget me, but have 
 my face ever before thee; then should I be 'felix nimium, 
 quo non felicior ullus.' And," he concludes, "would that 
 the four Gospels rather than the twelve yEneids filled your 
 heart."^ 
 
 However, at the very time that he was inveighing most 
 fiercely against the classics in general and Vergil in par- 
 ticular, he was using the latter to illustrate a fact or point 
 a moral. When King Charles sought to inveigle him into 
 coming to the court, in order to debate with some scJiolars 
 there upon certain astronomical questions, he declined. His 
 refusal is couched in Vergilian phrase. "As the ass is 
 W'hipped for his sluggishness," so perhaps I, too, have felt 
 not undeservedly the lash of the palace youths. The aged 
 Entellus^ has long laid aside the cestus and left it for 
 others in the flower of youth. Some of these would strike 
 the old man a mighty blow, so that a mist would come be- 
 fore his eyes and his blood scarce warm again around his 
 heart.* Of what avail would the feeble old Flaccus be amid 
 the clash of arms? What can the timid hare do against 
 the wild boars, or the lamb avail against the lions?" 
 "Verily," concludes Alcuin, in declining the king's invita- 
 tion, "as Vergil wrote to Augustus, so do I to you. 'Tu 
 sectaris apros, ego retia servo.' "° Alcuin's letters abound 
 in such references to Vergil.® In fact they outnumber three 
 to one the references to all other authors. To be precise, 
 there are twentv-cight references to the classics in the cor- 
 
 (i) Ep. 13, p. 39. 
 
 (2) Ep. 145. Cf. Verg. Georg. I, 273. 
 
 (3) Verg. ^n. V, 437 et seq. (4) Verg. Georg. II, 484. 
 
 (5) Ed. Ill, 75, (in Ep. 145). 
 
 (6) Cf. Epp. 178, 215, 14s, 175, 164, 162, 13. 
 
76 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 respondence of Alcuin. Seven of these are to Horace, Ovid, 
 Terence and Pliny ;^ whereas twenty-one are to Vergil.^ 
 
 Thus, Alcuin, like his predecessors, is inconsistent ; he 
 abuses the classics roundly, but uses them upon occasion, 
 and with some effect. The style of Alcuin, like that of most 
 of the literary coterie which gathered at Charles' court, is 
 grammatically correct, and sometimes elegant. To be sure, 
 it lacks spontaneity and tends to mere prettiness of expres- 
 sion, which at times degenerates to bombast. Thus, one of 
 his letters to Theodulph outdoes Lyly's Euphiics in the 
 wealth of its rhetorical figures and fantastic conceits. He 
 addresses Theodulph as the 'father of the vineyards,' as the 
 custodian of the 'wine-cellars,' wherein has been kept until 
 now the 'good old wine' to be broached in these latter days. 
 "Now by the mercies of God," says he, "a second David 
 is the ruler of a better people, and under him a nobler Zabdi 
 is set over the cellars ; for the King hath set his love upon 
 him, and brought him into the wine-cellars,^ that the 
 scholars may there wreathe him with flowers and comfort 
 him with the flagons* of that wine which maketh glad the 
 heart of man.''^ It was passages such as these which led 
 Theodulph and other contemporaries to give Alcuin the 
 palm over all the other writers of the day.® 
 
 Occasionally we catch glimpses of an imagination try- 
 ing to soar above the limitations imposed on it by ecclesias- 
 
 (i) There are two references to Horace, three to Ovid, one each to 
 Terence and Pliny. 
 
 (2) Three references are to the Georgics, seven to the 2E,nt\A, 
 eleven to the Eclogues. In regard to Alcuin's attitude towards the 
 classics, cf. O. F. Long, "Lectures in Honor of Basil L. Gilderslccvc," 
 PP- 377-86; Comparetti, "Virgil in the Middle Ages," translated 
 by E. F. M. Benecke. (3) £/>. 192. (4) Solomon's Song, II, 5. 
 
 (5) Psalm civ, 15. The above translation is taken from West's 
 "Alcuin," p. 79. 
 
 (6) "Sit praesto et Flaccus, nostrorum gloria vatum, 
 
 Qui potis est lyrico multa boare pede. 
 • Quique sophista potens est, quique poeta melodus 
 
 Quique potens sensu, quique polens opere est." Carmen, 25, 
 M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 486. ^ 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 77 
 
 tical traditions. Here and there we light iqxDn passages of 
 poetic charm. In carmen 23, for example, he paints a 
 picture which glows for us with something of the beauty 
 and warmth of nature. It may be freely translated thus : 
 "Beloved cell, sweet habitation mine, girt around with 
 whispering trees, and all hidden by the foliage green, be- 
 fore thee stretch the meadows, blooming with fragrant 
 flowers and life-giving herbs; babbling at thy door, the 
 streamlet meanders by, on whose banks, all embowered in 
 flow-ers, the fisher loves to sit and tend his net. The lily 
 pale, the blushing rose, mingle their odors with the sweet- 
 smelling fruit hanging in rich profusion from thy orchard 
 trees, while, all around, the feathery denizens of the wood 
 swell out their matin song in praise of their Creator."^ 
 Again, there is something of the spirit of eternal youth 
 in the sprightly lines where he describes himself as "rub- 
 bing the sleep of night from his eyes, and leaping from his 
 couch as soon as the ruddy charioteer of dawn suffuses the 
 liquid deep with the new light of day, and then running 
 straightway into the fields of the ancients to pluck their 
 flowers of correct speech and scatter them in sport before 
 his boys."^ Then, too, there are passages, such as his car- 
 men 25 on Rome, and his farewell epistle to Charles, where 
 something of the dignity of his theme imparts itself to 
 his lines ;^ and his profound grief at the death of his old 
 
 (i) "O niea cella, mihi habitatio dulcis, amata. . . . 
 
 Undique te cingit ramis resonantibus arbos, 
 Silvula florigeris semper onusta comis 
 Prata salutiferis florebunt omnia et herbis, 
 
 Flumina te cingimt florentibus undiqne ripis, 
 Retia piscator qua sua tendit ovans." Carmen, 23, M. G. H. 
 Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 243. 
 
 (2) "Splendida dum rutilat roseis Aurora quadrigis, 
 Perfundens pelagus luce nova liquidum," et seq. Carmen, 42, 
 
 M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 253, translation by West, p. 47. 
 
 (3) Carmen, 25, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 245. 
 
78 THE LETTERS OF ALCUiN 
 
 master, Elbert, which he so touchingly expresses in his 
 verses on York, strikes a chord which finds an answering 
 echo in our own hearts. And certainly much may be for- 
 given one who could write those beautiful lines of the car- 
 men In Dormiturio: "'IMay he who stillest the roaring 
 winds and raging seas, the God of Israel, who hath never 
 slept throughout the ages, may He who apportions the day 
 for work, the night for rest, grant to the weary brethren 
 sweet refreshing sleep, and dispel with omnipotent hand 
 the fears which disturb their slumbers."^ There is some- 
 thing here of the serenity, the restfulness and the charm 
 of Goethe's immortal poem "Ein Gleiches."" 
 »/ Alcuin is, however, no stylist and no great scholar. His 
 
 forte lay in teaching. , He found his opportunity at the 
 cathedral school at York, the palace school at Aachen, and 
 the monastic school at Tours, in each of which he taught 
 the Seven Liberal Arts. Naturally, he paid most atten- 
 tion to grammar, the first and most important, the sine qua 
 non of the other six arts.^ He himself wrote a Grammatical 
 based in the main on the earlier grammars of Donatus and 
 Priscian. The treatise is in the form of a diajogue; first, 
 there is an explanation by tlie teacher, which is followed 
 by questions and answers exchanged between the pupils or 
 between the master and pupils. The book itself is divided 
 into two parts; in the first part is discussed the end and 
 method of education. According to Alcuin, the only thing 
 worth while is wisdom or 'philosophia,' "the chief adorn- 
 ment of the soul." "And," says he, "it will not be hard 
 to point out to you the path of wisdom, if only you will 
 
 (i) Carmen, 96, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 321. 
 
 (2) "Ueber alien Gifpelen, ist Ruh," ct scq., in Select Poems of 
 Goethe, Ed. of Sonnenschein, p. 6. 
 
 (3) "Hacc et origo et fundamentum est artium liberalium," Rabani, 
 De Clericor. Instit. III. 18, opp. ed., Migne CVII, pp. 395, 396. Cf. 
 Theodulph, Carmen, 46, vv. 1-8, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, 
 P- 544- 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 79 
 
 seek after it with the right motive ; if, disregarding worldly- 
 praise, honor and the deceitful pleasures of wealth, you pur- 
 sue it for the sake of truth and righteousness. Wisdom 
 is, however, not to be lightly won ; there is no royal road ; 
 her heights will not be attained until the intervening plains 
 and slopes have been crossed and ascended."^ 
 
 The second portion of the treatise is devoted to grammar. 
 The latter, according to Alcuin, is divided into twenty-six 
 parts, ^ with each of which he proceeds to deal in turn. As 
 an introduction to this there is a discussion of words, letters 
 and syllables, in the form of a dialogue. The latter is 
 carried on between a Saxon and a Frank, in the preface 
 to which dialogue Alcuin states that these, having but re- 
 cently begun the study of grammatical subtleties, have de- 
 cided to question each other in order to aid their memory 
 in mastering the rules of grammar. "Do you," says the 
 Frank very significantly, taking the initative, "answer the 
 questions I now propound to you ; for you are older than I, 
 being fifteen while I am but fourteen." The Saxon agrees 
 to the proposal, provided that all questions of difficulty be 
 referred to the master. The latter professes himself as well 
 pleased with their proposition, and directs what he calls 
 their 'disputation'^ by starting them off in a discussion of 
 'littera.'* It runs as follows : 
 
 Frank — Why, Saxon, is it called 'littera' ? 
 
 Saxon — Because the letter prepares the path for the 
 reader.^ 
 
 Frank — Give me then a definition for 'littera.' 
 
 Saxon — It is the smallest part of articulate voice. 
 
 Both — Master, is there another definition? 
 
 (i) Grammatica, Migne CI. p. 850. 
 
 (2) For an enumeration of these see Grammatica, Migne CI, p. 858. 
 
 (3) Ibid., p. 854. (4) Ibid. 
 
 (5) "Littera est quasi legitera, quia legentibus iter praebet," ibid., 
 p. 855. 
 
80 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 Master — There is, but of similar import. The letter is 
 indivisible, because we divide the sentences into parts, and 
 the parts into syllables and the latter into letters, which are 
 thus indivisible. 
 
 Both — Why do you call letters, elements? 
 
 Master — Because as the members fitly joined together 
 make the body, so the letters make speech. 
 
 Frank — State, my fellow pupil, the kinds of letters. 
 
 Saxon — They are vowels and consonants, which may be 
 further sub-divided into semi-vowels and mutes. . . . 
 
 After they have discussed the vowel and the consonant,, 
 they proceed to treat of the syllable in a similar way. 
 
 Alcuin next proceeds to treat of the parts of speech. 
 His definitions of these are as faulty as those of the older 
 grammarians upon which they are based. Thus, from his 
 definition^ of the noun, it appears that he confuses it with 
 the adjective, as the earlier grammarians had done, and 
 while it is true that he feels this confusion, and attempts 
 to give another definition, he fails to make his meaning 
 clear. Evidently, his untrained mind could not distinguish 
 between the object itself and its manifestations or quali- 
 ties : to him 'sanctus' and 'sanctitas' are both nouns. ^ 
 Moreover, he is not always able to understand and appre- 
 ciate the differences between his two chief guides, Donatus 
 and Priscian. For example, he is greatly puzzled whether 
 he should follow Donatus and treat of six divisions under 
 the noun, or whether, like Priscian, he should limit him- 
 self to five. The chief things which he explains under the 
 noun are its kind, gender, number, case and figures. 
 
 The other parts of speech are discussed in a similar way. 
 The verb is treated most extensively; and in the course 
 
 (i) "Nomen est pars orationis . . . quae unicuique corpori vcl 
 rei communcm vel propriam qualitatem distril)iiit," ibid., p. 859. 
 
 (2) Thus he classes "sanctus" and "sanctitas" among the "denomi- 
 native" nouns. Ibid., p. 860. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 81 
 
 of the dialogue the Saxon gives an appalHng list of irregu- 
 larities in mode and tense/ So formidable is it that the 
 Saxon himself is dismayed and discouraged. "Lo, Frank," 
 says he, "what a burden you have laid upon me! What a 
 thorny path you have led me into! Let us have a mo- 
 ment's breathing space, I pray you." "So be it," replies 
 the Frank: "As Vergil saith, 'I shall crush you with this 
 weight.' Yet fear not 'Labor vincit omnia.' "^ " 'Tis so," 
 agrees the Saxon wearily, "let us continue." And they do, 
 treating of the adverb, participle, conjunction and inter- 
 jection, which discussion ends the treatise. 
 
 Thus Alcuin's conception of grammar is a somewhat dif- 
 ferent one from that of the grammarians of the late 
 Roman empire. The latter had regarded it as something 
 more than the art of speaking and writing correctly, and 
 had studied literature along with it. Alcuin's grammar, on 
 the other hand, pays no attention to literary form; it is 
 a technical study and by no means a complete one, for it 
 deals almost entirely with etymolpg;^.^ Whatever of value 
 attaches to it may be found in the older grammars of Dona- 
 tus and Priscian. Yet, imperfect and childish as it is, the 
 Grammatica must not be too hastily judged ; it may be ques- 
 tioned whether any other kind of grammar would have been 
 as intelligible to the untutored Frank. Its method was 
 simple and attractive ; the content, apart from a certain dis- 
 play of erudition, calculated to inspire respect, is not too 
 difficult for the ignorant Frank; on the whole it is well 
 adapted to his need. 
 
 Next to the Grammatica, Alcuin's most useful educa- 
 tional work is his Orthography. This was probably written 
 
 (i) Ibid., pp. 878-886. (2) Ibid., p. 885. 
 
 (3) This, of course, does not mean that Alcuin paid no attention 
 to syntax or prosody. It is evident he practiced his pupils in the 
 writing of "dictamina." Ep. 172. Cf. Monach. Sangall., De Carolo. M. 
 I, 3 : Jaffe, IV, p. 633. 
 
82 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 at Tours, and was designed to help him effect an immediate 
 reform in matters of spelling and copying of the manu- 
 scripts. Tours had once been famous for its learning and 
 its copyists; but the writing had degenerated, the manu- 
 scripts were full of the grossest errors, and the copyists 
 sorely in need of instruction/ They were, also, too much 
 given to trifling and worked too hurriedly. One of his in- 
 scriptions in the library, or Scriptorium,- warned them 
 against these faults. Elsewhere he admonished his pupils 
 not only to seek out the best possible manuscripts, but 
 also to transcribe them accurately, taking care not to neg- 
 lect the punctuation. The reader in the Scriptorium was 
 also given wholesome advice "not to read falsely or too 
 rapidly, lest he cause the copyist to make mistakes." Fur- 
 thermore, in an interesting letter to Charles, Alcuin com- 
 plained that punctuation, though lending much to the clear- 
 ness and beauty of sentences, has been neglected owing to 
 the ignorance of the scribes.^ In fact, the pronunciation and 
 spelling of words had, become so unsettled and so confus- 
 ing as to render some such work as the Orthography im- 
 perative, if Alcuin and his contemporaries were to leave 
 to their successors reasonably accurate copies of the manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 In his introduction to the Orthography, Alcuin says, 
 "Let him who would reproduce the sayings of the ancients 
 read me; for he who follows me not will speak without 
 regard to law."* Then he proceeds to call attention to some 
 of the mistakes in form and spelling made by the barbarian 
 Franks. "Such words," says he, "as aefcrnus, actas, should 
 be spelled with a dipthong Uv.' " Another common mistake, 
 
 (i) Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, Migne XX, p. i66. Cf. 
 Admonitio Gcncralis, cap. 72, M. G. H. Leg.. Sect. II, 60. 
 
 (2) Carmen, 94, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 320. 
 
 (3) Ep. 172, p. 285. 
 
 (4) "Me legat antiquas vult qui proferre loquelas, Me qui non 
 sequitur, vult sine lege loqui," Migne CI, p. 902. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 83 
 
 according to Alcuin, was the confusion of 'b\ not alone with 
 'v/ but even with 'f and 'u/ "Thus," says Alcuin, "if you 
 mean zn'ool, write vclliis; if beautiful, write hellus."^ The 
 misuse of the aspirate is another subject of which Alcuin 
 treats. "Habco should be written with an 'h', and aspir- 
 ated, whereas the reverse is true of abeo. Nor must it be 
 forgotten," he adds, "that 7/' aspirate may be used before 
 all vowels, but after four consonants only, namely, c, t, p, 
 r/'- The doubling of such consonants as /, in, n,^ as well 
 as the interchange of the last two, in prefixes, comes in for 
 some consideration. Alcuin, moreover, is aware of w^hat 
 the modern grammarians call the principle of ease; for ex- 
 ample, he points out that the frequent change of b into f or 
 g in prefixes, as in the case of suifcro and suggcro, is due 
 to a desire to secure ease of pronunciation.* By far the 
 most diverting features of the Orthography are those por- 
 tions where he intersperses his treatment of rules, irregu- 
 larities and mistakes by some very peculiar examples of 'der- 
 ivations,' as^ for instance, " 'Coclcbs/ qui sibi iter facit ad 
 coehun."^ From the standpoint of philology, the Orthog- 
 raphy is quite important as illustrating a transitional 
 stage of the Latin language. The latter, which had 
 already conquered the Celtic language, is here seen to be 
 confronted with the Germanic, and their reaction upon each 
 other resulted in great confusion. 
 
 Alcuin's remaining works on the Trivium, the De Rhe- 
 
 (i) Migne CI, pp. 902-903. Cf. Isidore, Etyuiologiarum, Book I, 
 cap. 27. Migne, Vol. LXXXII, p. loi. 
 
 (2) "H aspiratio ante vocales omnes poni potest; post consonantes 
 autem quatuor tantumodo, c, t, p, r," Migne CI, p. 910. Cf. Isidore, 
 op. cit., Migne LXXXII, p. 102. 
 
 (3) "Malo, id est magis volo ; et nolo, id est ne volo per nnum 
 1. Malle, velle et nolle per due 1." Ibid., CI, p. 911. Cf. Isidore, 
 op. cit., LXXXII, pp. 102-3. 
 
 (4) "Saepe b in praepositione sub euphoniae causa im sequentem 
 mutabitur consonantem ut siiffcro, suggero," Migne CI, p. 916. Cf, 
 Isidore, op. cit., cap. 27, pp. 101-102. 
 
 (5) Migne, CI, p. 906. 
 
84 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 torica et Virtutibns and the Dialcctica are less important. 
 They bear testimony to Alcuin's weakness in the field of 
 rhetoric and dialectic. They are based on the works of his 
 predecessors, and not the least remarkable thing about 
 them is the uncontrovertible evidence they afford that 
 Alcuin allowed himself to copy whole sentences and even 
 paragraphs ad libitum from the works of Isidore of Seville 
 and the Fathers. It is plain that he fears to disagree with 
 these; he considers himself happy, if, peradventure, he 
 understand the thoughts of the ancients through their in- 
 terpretation. Thus in his introduction to the Dialcctica, he 
 says : ''He who reads this book will praise the wonderful 
 genius of the ancients, and will strive so far as in him 
 lieth to attain unto like wisdom."^ The first of these works, 
 the De Rhetorica ct Virtutibns, is based on the writings 
 of Cicero and of Isidore, whose ideas Alcuin reproduces 
 with great loss to their originals as far as form and force 
 are concerned. For the rules, principles, and main divisions 
 of his rhetoric, he draws largely upon Cicero's De hivai- 
 tione, which he quotes at times word for word.^ His second 
 source is Isidore, whom he cites quite as freely. Hence, 
 we find in the Rhetorica the five divisions, the three kinds 
 of rhetorical speech, the six parts of an oration, which meet 
 us in Cicero's De Invcntionc and Isidore's Etymologies} 
 There is, however, one part of the treatise where he is more 
 
 (i) Dc Dialcctica, Migne CI, p. 951. Cf. Carmen, 77, M. G. H. 
 Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. I, p. 298. 
 
 (2) Thus Alcuin borrows Cicero's well-known passage, "Nam Fuit 
 quoddam tempus, cum in agris homines passim bestiarum modo vaga- 
 bantur." Cf. Opera Rhetorica, Ed. G. Friederich, Vol. I, pt. I, p. 118. 
 
 (3) "Artis Rhetoricae partes quinque sunt; inventio, dispositio, elo- 
 cutio, memoria, et pronuntiatio," Migne CI, p. 921. Cf. Isidore, Ety- 
 mologiaruvt." Book 2, cap. 3, Vol. LXXXII, p. 125. "Ars quidem 
 rhetoricae in tribus vcrsatur generibus id est dcmonstrativo, delibera- 
 tivo, judiciali," Rhetorica Migne CI, p. 922. Cf. Isidore, op. cit., cap. 
 4, p. 125. "Sex sunt partes, per quas ab oratorc ordinanda est oratio. 
 Causae exordium, narratio, confirmatio, partitio, reprehcnsio, conclusio," 
 Migne CI, p. 929. Isidore has but four of these. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 85 
 
 original. This is the portion that deals with the appHca- 
 tion of rhetoric to suits at law. In the dialogue tjetween 
 Charles and Alcuin which serves as an introduction to this 
 work, he defines rhetoric as the art of "good speaking," but 
 he goes on to explain that it also treats of civil questions.^ 
 ''Just as," says he, "it is natural for us to attack an enemy 
 and to defend ourselves, so we are prone to justify our- 
 selves and blame others, but he who has perfected him- 
 self in the art of rhetoric will protect himself more skil- 
 fully; he will excel all others in debate, even as the skilled 
 soldier will overcome him who has no training in the use 
 of arms." It was this practical side of rhetoric which ap- 
 pealed to Charles. "Teach me the rules of rhetoric, I pray 
 thee," the latter says, "for every day I have need of them."^ 
 Accordingly, Alcuin proceeds to define rhetoric, to state its 
 divisions and to show how it may be applied in conduct- 
 ing and determining civil suits. Herein lies its chief signifi-l 
 cance : it is one of those works that serves to mark the 
 transition from the earlier technical treatment of the sub- 
 ject in ancient times to the later and more practical treat- 
 ment in the Middle Ages as seen in the text-books of the 
 Dictamen. Such a work as Alcuin's Rlietorica goes far 
 to bear out Rashdall's contention that it was customary in 
 the Middle Ages to study rhetoric as an aid in the com- 
 position of legal documents.^ 
 
 But the 'Inost characteristic thing about Alcuin's 
 Rhetorica is the persistence with which the moral aspects 
 of the subject are emphasized. This is apparent even in 
 the earlier and more technical part of the treatise. Thus, 
 there is a tendency to explain rhetorical principles by illus- 
 
 (i) "In civilibus quaestionibus, quae natural! animi ingenio concipi 
 possint," ibid., p. 921. Cf. Isidore, op. cit., p. 140, where the same phrase 
 occurs word for word. Cf. Carmen, 82, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev. 
 I, p. 300. 
 
 (2) Migne CI, p. 921. 
 
 (3) H. Rashdall, Universities in the Middle Ages, Vol. I, p. 94. 
 
86 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 trations from the scriptures/ Again, when Charles asks 
 Alcuin how he may strengthen the memory, the latter en- 
 joins him to avoid intemperance, the chief foe of all liberal 
 studies, the destroyer of bodily health, and of mental sound- 
 ness.' Here Alcuin implies that rhetoric will avail the 
 orator but little unless he be virtuous : if he have not a 
 proper knowledge of the human heart, its joys, its sor- 
 rows and its virtues, his words will have no power. It is 
 this conviction, probably, which led Alcuin to close his 
 treatise with a short description of the four cardinal vir- 
 tues, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. In the 
 introduction to this part of the treatise, he says : "There 
 are certain things so splendid and so noble that the mere 
 possession of them is a sufficient reward in itself; one 
 honors and loves them for a dignity which is all their own." 
 Charles, much impressed, asks what these may be. "They 
 are virtue, knowledge, truth, pure love," rejoins Alcuin, 
 "and they are honored by Christians and philosophers 
 alike." ^ A discussion of the above mentioned cardinal vir- 
 tues and their various subdivisions ends the treatise. 
 
 Closely associated with rhetoric in Alcuin's day was the 
 study of dialectic. In his Dialcctica, he explains their rela- 
 tion to each other. "They differ," says he, "as the clenched 
 fist from the open hand ; the one masses its arguments with 
 directness and precision, while tiie other develops them 
 through discoursive eloquence.'* As is well known, the 
 Dialcctica is based on the pseudo-Augustinian w^ork on the 
 categories and on Isidore's Etymologies.'^ Alcuin does not 
 
 (i) Notably his citation of Paul's defense before Felix, as an 
 instance of the use of the dcUbcrativiim, Migne CI, p. 922. (2) Ibid., 
 p. 941. (3) Ibid., pp. 943-4. 
 
 (4) "Dialectica et rhetorica est, quod in nianu hominis pugnus 
 astrictus et palma distenta," et scq. ibid., p. 953. Cf. Isidore, op. cit., 
 Book 2, cap. 2^, where the same idea is found in almost identical 
 words. 
 
 (5) Catcgoriae decum — Migne, Vol. XXXII, pp. 1419-1440, cf. 
 Prantl, C, Gcschichte dcr Logik im Abcndlandc, II, p. 14. Etyniolo- 
 giarum, op. cit., infra, Book 2. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER B7 
 
 dream of excelling these authorities, but very complacently 
 sets to work to reproduce them. The result is one of the 
 most consistent pieces of plagiarism that has ever been 
 produced. There is scarcely an original idea throughout 
 the whole Dialcctica; its plan, subject divisions, chapter 
 headings, and nomenclature, are the same as in the above 
 mentioned works; whole sentences, nay, whole paragraphs 
 are copied, in some places word for word. Thus in his 
 introductory chapter, he divides philosophy into physics, 
 ethics and logic, and these are further subdivided; physics 
 into arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy; ethics 
 into the four cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, fortitude 
 and temperance ; logic, into rhetoric and dialectic. Under 
 the latter he treats of isagogues, categories, syllogisms, 
 definitions, topics, and the perihermenies. These divisions, 
 together with their explanations and definitions, are almost 
 identical with those we find in Isidore's work.^ The same 
 is true of the second chapter, which deals with the isa- 
 gogues. The second division of the treatise, comprising 
 chapters three to ten inclusive, is based on a similar work 
 long ascribed to Augustine." Here Alcuin follows his 
 source even more closely than in the first two chapters : 
 not only are the ten Aristotelian categories the same as 
 
 (i) The following passages show the extent to which Alcuin has 
 copied from Isidore. Alcuin's introduction reads: "Philosophia est 
 naturarum inquisitio, rerum humanarum ; divinarumque cognitio ; quan- 
 tum homini possibile est aestimare," Aligne CI, cap. i, p. 952. Cf. 
 Isidore : "Philosophia est rerum humanarum divinarumque cognitio cum 
 studio bene vivendi conjuncta. Item aliqui doctorum ; Philosophia est 
 divinarum humanarumque rerum in quantum homini possibile est," 
 Isidore, op. cit., Book 2. cap 24, Vol. LXXXII, pp. 140-141. "In quot 
 partes dividitur philosophia ? In tres ; physiciam, ethicam, logicam. 
 Haec quoque latino ore exprome. Physica est naturalis, ethica moralis, 
 logica rationalis," Dialectica, p. 952. Cf. "Philosophiae species tripartita 
 est una naturalis, quae Graece physica appellatur, altera moralis quae 
 Graece ethica dicitur ; tertia rationalis quae Graeco vocabulo logica 
 appellatur," Etymologiarnm, op. cit., p. 141. 
 
 (2) Alcuin believed Augustine was the author, as is evident from 
 his citation in cap. 10 of Dialectica: "Augustinus magnus orator filius 
 illius." 
 
88 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 those found in the pseudo-Atignstinian work, but they are 
 discussed in just the same way and at times in identical 
 language.^ Nor is Alcuin any more original in the last part 
 of the treatise, where he once more reverts to Isidore as 
 his source in his discussion of the "topics" and the "periher- 
 menies,"^ Thus, Alcuin's proud boast made in the intro- 
 duction to the effect that "he had brought treasurers of wis- 
 dom from over the sea"^ was not without foundation. 
 These treasures were not his own, however, nor, to do him 
 justice, would he have claimed that they were. In conclu- 
 sion we may say that a study of the Rhctorica and the Dia- 
 lectica goes far to prove that while the reign of rhetoric was 
 over in Alcuin's day, the mediaeval rvginie of dialectics 
 had not yet begun. Nevertheless, inferior as Alcuin's trea- 
 tises on these subjects were, it would seem that the Dialec- 
 tica must have played a great part in promoting the study 
 of logic in Europe, by reason of the number of his pupils 
 and the influence he exerted over them.* 
 y The quadrivium, (or mathematical subjects), consisted 
 of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. In com- 
 parison with these, the trivium was considered child's play.' 
 While secular education was by no means restricted to the 
 study of the latter, there can be no doubt but that the 
 quadrivium was much more essential to the clergy than to 
 the laity. . Arithmetic and astronomy were particularly in- 
 dispensable for computing the correct date of Easter.* 
 
 (i) For a comparison of citations from the two works, see Mon- 
 nier's Alcuin, p. 48. (2) The "topics" is based on Isidore, cap 30, 
 Migne, Vol. LXXXII, pp. 151-153; that on the "perihennenies"' is based 
 on cap. 27, Migne, LXXXII, p. 145. 
 
 (3) Dialectica, Migne CI, p. 951. Cf. Carmen, 77, M. G. H. Poet. 
 Lat. Med. Aev. I. p. 298. 
 
 (4) Cf. P. Abelson, Seven Liberal Arts, p. 80, note I. 
 
 (5) Bonifatii, Ep. 3. Jaffe, op. cit. Ill, p. 33. 
 
 (6) Charles insisted on his clergy's knowing how to calculate the 
 dates of church holidays and to arrange the calendar for the year. Cf. 
 Adtnonitio Generalis, C, 72, M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II, I, 60. Cf. "Quae a 
 presbyteris discenda sint," c. 8, Ibid. I, p. no. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 89 
 
 Alcuin bore witness to this and at the same time complained 
 that mathematics were ahnost entirely neglected in his day.^ 
 However, thanks to the personal interest and earnest efforts 
 of Charles, much progress was made in these subjects.^ 
 
 Alcuin himself wrote little on the quadrivium. So far ^ 
 as arithmetic is concerned, it is just possible that he re- 
 garded it as so indispensable a part of education, that he did 
 not think it worth while to write upon it, unless to explain 
 some of its special or difficult phases.^ It is certain from 
 Alcuin's description of the school at York that he knew 
 enough of arithmetic to teach the subject,* It does not 
 seem likely that he went beyond the simple operations of 
 addition, subtraction and multiplication.^ These were con- 
 ducted by means of finger reckoning and the reckoning 
 board,® on which munini or calculi were used.'' It does 
 not seem very probable that he knew the abacus or the 
 apices, inasmuch as these did not come into general use 
 until after Alcuin's day.^ 
 
 The only arithmetical work ascribed to Alcuin is his pos- 
 sibly spurious Proposifiones ad acucndos juvenes. These 
 
 (i) "Obprobrium est grande, ut dimittamus eas perire diebus nos- 
 tris." Ep. 148, p. 239. 
 
 (2) Charles brought "computists" from Italy. Nota ad aiinales 
 Lanriss, a. 787, M. G. H. SS. I, 171. Compare Ep. 126, 145, Einhart, Vita 
 Caroli, 0.25, M. G. H. SS..II. 
 
 (3) Cantor, ]M., Mathematische Beitrage ziim Kulturlehen der Vbl- 
 ker," p. 286. 
 
 (4) Versus dc Sanctus Ehorac. Ecclcs. v, 1445, et seq. 
 
 (5) Cantor, M., Vorlesnngen iiber Gcschichte der Mathematik, Vol. 
 I, p. 839. Ball, W. R. R., A Short Account of the History of Mathe- 
 matics, p. 125. 
 
 (6) Friedlein, G., Die Zahhcichen und das Elcmcntare Rcchnen der 
 Griechcn und R'dmer und dcs Christlichen Abcndlandcs, vom /ten bis 
 i^ten Jahrhundert, p. 50. Hankel, H., Ziir Gcscnichte der Mathematik 
 im Altertinn und Mittelalter, p. 309. Computus vel loquela digitoriun, 
 Bede, Aligne, Vol. XC. p. 295. 
 
 (7) Ep. I49> P- 243- 
 
 (8) Hankel, op. cit., p. 317. J. Cajori, A History of Elementary 
 Mathematics, p. 112. Cantor, however, thinks that Alcuin may have 
 had some knowledge of the "apices." He bases his opinion upon two 
 references {Ep. 133 and P'ersus de Sanctus Eborac. Ecclcs., v 1445)- 
 Cf. Cantor, op. cit., p. 839. 
 
90 THE LETTERS OF A ECU IN 
 
 are problems or rather riddles, designed to entertain or 
 please the reader.^ Some of them are soluble by algebraical 
 and geometrical means ; others are insoluble save by an ex- 
 ercise of wit and of dialectics. To the latter class belongs 
 • the problem of the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage-head." 
 In some of the problems, Alcuin is the immediate imitator 
 of the Romans, the indirect imitator of the Greeks.' Thus 
 the famous problem of the hound and the hare, and the 
 equally noted one of the will, as well as many others, came 
 down to him from the Greeks and the Romans.* A slight 
 study of the problems shows us that even if Alcuin be their 
 author, the mathematicians of his day knew little more than 
 addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They 
 appear to have had some knowledge of square root and of 
 fractions, but they knew no geometry, save a few useful 
 formulae for practical purposes in measurement, while in 
 algebra they did not go beyond simple equations. 
 y^ Alcuin put arithmetic to a use other than of the ordi- 
 nary one of computing Easter. After the example of 
 Augustine, Cassiodorus, and Gregory the Great, he applied 
 the theory of numbers to the explanation of Scripture. He 
 knew how to find a significance in every number used in 
 the Bible, and he strongly recommends that all clerics be 
 educated in the "science of numbers. "^ In his treatment of 
 numbers, he classifies them as perfect and imperfect. Thus, 
 six is a perfect number because it is equal to the sum of 
 its divisors, one, two, three, whereas eight is a defective 
 number, being greater than the sum of its divisors, one, 
 
 (i) Cajori, op. cit., p. 113. Cantor, op. cit., p. 835. Hagen, H., 
 An tike und Mitteliiltcrlichc Riitsclpocsie, 2nd Edn., pp. 29-34. 
 
 (2) Problem 18, Migne CI, p. 1149. 
 
 (3) Cantor, M., Die Romischcn Agritncnsorcn und Hire Siellung in 
 der Gcschichte dcr Fcldmcsscrkunst, pp. 143-144. 
 
 (4) Cf. Problems 19 and 26, ibid., pp. 11 50, 1155. 
 
 (5) Alcuini Exposit. in psalm. Fonit. pracf. ad Arnoncm, Migne 
 C, p. 573- 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 91 
 
 two, four, and he goes on to explain that the number of 
 beings created by God is six, because six is a perfect num- 
 ber, and God created all things well. Seven, likewise, 
 being composed of one and six is a perfect number. And 
 he adds that God completed the creation in six days to 
 show that he had done all things well.^ An even better ex- 
 ample of his science of numbers is in Epistle 260, where he 
 deals with the numbers from one to ten, and explains their 
 significance. "As there is one ark," says Alcuin, ''in which 
 the faithful were saved amid a perishing world, so there 
 is one Holy Church wherein the faithful may be saved, 
 though the sinners perish ; and as there was one flight of the 
 children of Israel through the Dead Sea to the promised 
 land, so there is one baptism, through which alone one may 
 attain to eternal life."^ 
 
 A knowledge of astronomy was quite as important as 
 arithmetic in computing the date of Easter. King Charles 
 did much to promote the study of this subject; his letters 
 to Alcuin not only attest his desire to have a correct calen- 
 dar,^ but they also evince a genuine liking for the subject 
 itself. Astronomy, in fact, became a sort of fad ; the ladies 
 of the court took it up.^ Alcuin's book, the De cursu et 
 saltu liinw ac hissexto, dealt merely with the astronomy of 
 the computus ; but it is quite evident that he knew a great 
 deal more of the subject than the mere technical skill re- 
 quired in calculating Easter. To begin with, Alcuin was 
 familiar with Bede's Book De Natura Rcrnm, that cosmo- 
 
 (i) _ Likewise three and four are also perfect numbers, the first be- 
 cause it represents the Trinity, the second because it stands for the four 
 parts of the world, or the four cardinal virtues, or the four Gospels. 
 Cf. Comcnintary on Apocalypse, Migne C, p. 1130. Commentary on 
 Genesis, ibid., pp. 520-521. Cf. Ep. 81. 
 
 (2) Ibid. Cf. Cajori, op. cit., p. 113. 
 
 (3) Epp. 145, 456, 155, 170. Einhard, Vita Caroli, op. cit., cap. 25. 
 IM. G. H. SS. Vol. II, p. 456. (4) "Noctibus inspiciat caeli mea filia 
 Stellas." Carmen, 26, v. 41, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., I, p. 246. 
 
92 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 graphical, cosmological encyclopedia/ It was a compre- 
 hensive text-book, giving instruction in such things as 
 chronology, the course of the sun, moon and stars, the 
 changes of the season, meteorology, climate, and geography. 
 And we have it on record that Alcuin himself studied these 
 things at York.^ Moreover, he knew enough about as- 
 tronomy to go beyond Bede to Pliny's Natural History^ 
 whose second book he asked Charles to send him.^ 
 
 The remaining members of the quadrivium, music and 
 geometry, may be dismissed with a word. The latter was 
 practically neglected until the eleventh century.* It dealt, 
 not so much with geometry as we understand the term, 
 as with mensuration, geography and kindred subjects. 
 Thus it taught how to find the area of triangles, rectangles 
 and circles by the same formula of approximation which 
 the Egyptians and Boethius had used.^ And it would seem 
 that it taught something of the size and form of the 
 earth, of the disposition of land and water, of zones, tides, 
 and eclipses, together with some natural histoiy.^ As for 
 music, it was indispensable for the services of the church, 
 and as such, was one of the most important of the quad- 
 rivium. Charles did much to promote it in the monastic 
 and cathedral schools ])y bringing singers from Rome, and 
 by establishing special schools to teach the chant.'' Alcuin 
 paid special attention to the teaching of singing at Tours, 
 
 (i) Werner, Bede dcr Elirzi'urdigc, p. 93. Cf. Monumcnta Gcr- 
 mania Paedogogica, Vol. Ill, p. 5. Wattenbach, GeschichtsqucUcn, 
 p. 130. 
 
 (2) Versus dc Sanct. Eborac, Ecclcs., op. cit., vv, 1430-1445. Ep. 
 155, P- 250. 
 
 (3) Ep. 155, p. 250. 
 
 (4) Specht, Unterrichtszvcscns in Deutschland, p. 144. 
 
 (5) Alctiini propositiones ad accuendos juvenes. Migne, CI, pp. 
 1143-60. 
 
 (6) Versus de Sanct. Eborac, Eccles , op. cit., vv. 143Q-1445. 
 
 (7) Additavi. EugoUsm. ad. ann. Lauriss. maj. a. 788, M. G. H. SS. 
 I, pp. 170, 171. Cf. Chronic. Moissiac. ad. a. 802, M. G. H. SS. I, p. 
 306. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 93 
 
 and is said to have written a book on music which has 
 disappeared. Throughout his period, music was more of a 
 speculative science than an art. 
 
 As a teacher, Alcuin had ample opportunity to carry on 
 his great work under circumstances which were calculated 
 to make him the most potent educational force of his day. 
 York was the educational centre of England, Tours was 
 one of the oldest and greatest monasteries of France, while 
 the Palace School was the capstone of Charles' educational 
 system. It was Alcuin's good fortune to teach in all of 
 these places. The system of education planned by Charles, 
 and partially carried out by his bishops and archbishops, 
 made provision for elementary and secondary instruction in 
 a parish school,^ presided over by the parish priest. Next 
 came the monastic or cathedral schools, which likewise fur- 
 nished elementary instruction; though in some cases, they 
 also gave instruction in the higher branches of learning. 
 Over them w^as the abbot or scholasticus appointed by the 
 bishop. At the head of the system, intended in a measure 
 as a model for the lower schools, stood the Palace School.^ 
 
 The origin of this school which thus occupied an unique 
 position in the system of Charlemagne has long been a 
 debated question.^ It would be idle for us to enter into 
 a discussion of it here. Suffice it to sayjhat it seems safe 
 to conclude, that the Great King gathered around him the 
 noble youths of his kingdom — youths destined for high pre- 
 ferment in church or state, and that these youths consti- 
 tuted the Palace School ; that furthermore, Ihe school hold- 
 
 (i) Admonitio Generalis, a. 789, c. 72. M. G. H. Leg. Sect. II, i, 
 p. 60. 
 
 (2) Epistola Ltttcris Colcndis, ibid., I, p. 79. 
 
 (3) For the origin of the Palace School see the following: Mullin- 
 ger, p. 68, footnote 3; Hauck, II, p. 121; Monnier, pp. 56-59; Lorenz, 
 p. 23; Werner, p. 22; Denk, Gallo-Frankischcs Unterrichts tiiid Bil- 
 dungszvesen, p. 246; Specht, Geschichtc des Untcrriclitszvcsen in 
 Deutschland, pp. 3-5, 18, together with authorities there cited. 
 
94 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 ing its sessions wherever the King had his court, fulfilled 
 a noble purpose in fitting such young men for their life 
 work, through the agency of the greatest teacher of his 
 time. There can be little doubt but that Charles' well- 
 known penchant for well educated servants in church and 
 state, brought many aspirants for his favor to the Palace 
 School. Consequently, as he was aiming to produce states- 
 men as well as churchmen, he desired Alcuin to instruct 
 the pupils of the school in something more than the chant, 
 the reading of Latin, and the calculating of Easter. Fur- 
 thermore, the latter not only did impart to his pupils the 
 practical knowledge that fitted them for preferment in 
 church and state, but, as he himself proudly states,^ he 
 also gave them instruction in all those branches of knowl- 
 edge that had come down from the Romans. 
 
 The Palace School was composed of the royal family, 
 the young nobles and officials of the King, together with all 
 those who sought position and preferment,^ the only 
 avenue to which lay in compliance with Charles' wish that 
 they should first fit themselves for it by education.^ Gun- 
 drada, together with other ladies of the royal family, were 
 present, lending grace and brightness to that charmed 
 circle, the Round Table of the Franks, as it might ht called. 
 And of course, the Round Table would not be complete 
 without its Arthur, the mighty Charles, whom Alcuin 
 sometimes designates as Solomon, because of his wisdom, 
 though more frequently he calls him David on account of 
 his warlike prowess.* To the members of this circle, their 
 teacher gave new names, partly in accordance with cus- 
 tom, partly as a reminder that they were going to begin a 
 
 (i) Alcuini de Studiis in aula regia, Carmen, 26, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. 
 Med. Aev.. I, pp. 245, 246. (2) Einhard, Vita, cap. 19. 
 
 (3) Capitularies 22, 38, 43, 116, 117, also Monach. Sangall. Book 
 I, cap. 3. M. G. H. SS. II, p. 732. 
 
 (4) Epf. 229, 231, 143. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 95 
 
 new life, entirely different from that warlike and barbar- 
 ous one in which they had been nurtured/ 
 
 With such a coterie of friends and pupils, ranging in 
 age from mere youths to men experienced in council and 
 war, Alcuin had no easy task. It must have been particu- 
 larly difficult to interest and instruct such a heterogeneous 
 circle to the benefit of all. And yet, for fourteen long 
 years he ministered to the needs of his different pupils 
 with unwavering enthusiasm and tireless energy. While 
 he instilled the rudiments of knowledge into the minds of 
 the youth, he also found time to direct the studies and 
 solve the difficulties of the older members of the circle. 
 They studied the Seven Liberal Arts, paying special atten- 
 tion to the studies of grammar and rhetoric, seeking to per- 
 fect themselves in elegance of expression by a careful study 
 of the masterpieces of the ancients." At times, however, 
 he grew weary and a little restive, under the constant ques- 
 tioning, the not infrequent baiting to which he was sub- 
 jected. Thus, questioned by one, cross-questioned by an- 
 other, the old man sometimes doubled in his tracks, and 
 made mistakes. This he admitted long afterwards when 
 at Tours. "The horse," he quaintly remarks, "which has 
 four legs often stumbles, how much more must man who 
 has but one tongue often trip in speech." To such vexa- 
 tious experiences were superadded the tiring journeys of 
 the court and the interruption of his studies due to his 
 abbatial duties, all of which made the old scholar often 
 long for the peaceful seclusion of the cloister. This, in a 
 measure, he was to obtain as Abbot of Tours, whither 
 Charles sent him to reform the monks and possibly, also, 
 
 (i) "Saepe familiaritas nominis inmutationem solet facere; sicut ipse 
 Dominus Simonem mutavit in Petrum, et filios Zebedei filios nominavit 
 tonitrui," Ep. 241. 
 
 (2) Ep. 172. 
 
96 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 to establish a school which would serve as a model for the 
 other monasteries in Frankland.^ 
 
 Alcuin assumed the task \vith great zeal. The monas- 
 tic school at Tours as well as those elsewhere had greatly 
 declined. Since these w'cre the main outfitters for the 
 parish priest, Alcuin felt that it was high time for reform. 
 He regarded the monastic and cathedral schools as neces- 
 sary to perpetuate a priesthood which would be able to de- 
 fend the doctrines of the Catholic Church and defend her 
 ritual. And the troublous condition of the times, together 
 with the fate of learning in his own country of Northum- 
 bria, may well have made him anxious as to the outlook 
 in Frankland. His letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 admonishing him "to promote learning among the house- 
 hold of God, teaching the youths to study the books, and 
 to learn the chant so that the dignity of the church may be 
 upheld,"" probalDly represents the position w^hich he would 
 have the monastic and cathedral schools in Frankland 
 /Occupy. 
 l/ The instruction imparted in Alcuin's school at Tours was 
 necessarily more in accordance with the traditions of the 
 church than that which he had dispensed as Master of the 
 Palace School. True, he pursued the same studies, but in a 
 narrower spirit, taking as his model his old school at York.* 
 He himself describes what he taught at Tours, and how he 
 directed his pupils. *Tn accordance with your exhortation 
 and desire," he writes to Charles, *T, your Flaccus, strive 
 to minister unto some of the Brotherhood at St. Martins, 
 the honeys of Holy Scriptures; others, I seek to inebriate 
 with the old wine of the ancient Scriptures; others, I am 
 beginning to nourish on the 'apples of grammatical sub- 
 
 (i) "Equus, quattuor habens pedes, saepe cadit ; quanto magis homo, 
 unam habens linguani. per vices cadit in verbo?" Ep. 149. Cf. Carmen, 
 42, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., op. cit., I, pp. 253, 254. 
 
 (2) Ep. 128, p. 190. Cf. Epp. 31, 226. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER 07 
 
 tlety;' others, again, I try to initiate into the mysteries of 
 the stars." ^ He taught the Liberal Arts at Tours as he 
 had taught them at York and at the Palace School. Nat- 
 urally, however, a school whose chief purpose was to pre- 
 pare priests for the church would emphasize the teaching 
 of grammar, the study of the Scriptures and the Fathers, 
 the learning of the chant, and the art of copying and illu- 
 minating the manuscripts.^ That was the program for the 
 majority of the pupils; a few of the older and more ma- 
 ture, however, studied in addition astronomy, the "science 
 of numbers" together with philosophy, or as Alcuin terms 
 it, "the acute disquisitions of the wise men on the nature 
 of things." ^ Some of the most advanced pupils who en- 
 joyed his confidence and affection were made companions 
 in labor, collecting and verifying patristic citations for his 
 controversial works.* , 
 
 Alcuin was very much at home in Tours. He was en- •^ 
 gaged in the vocation of teaching for which he was best 
 fitted. He worked along traditional lines after the model 
 of the cathedral school at York. We cannot conceive of 
 his tolerating at Tours those irregularities, digressions, in- 
 formal discussions and excursions into all sorts of unbeaten 
 paths which had vexed his patient soul while teaching in 
 the Palace School. « We may be sure that he followed in 
 his own classes that advice which he had given to his 
 friend Eanbald of York : "Provide masters both for the 
 boys and the clerks," says he, "arrange into separate 
 classes those w^ho practice the chant, those who study the 
 books, and those who do the copying."^ Such a division 
 gave each one the work for which he was best fitted, while 
 it also made for discipline. 
 
 (i) Ep. 121, pp. 176-177, translation by West, f. 66. 
 
 (2) Carmen, 93, Die Scola et Scliolasticis, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. 
 Aev., op. cit., I, pp. 319-320. Cf. Ep. 121. 
 
 (3) Gaskoin, op. cit., p. 193. (4) Ep. 149, P- 244- (5) Ep- II4- 
 
98 THE LETTERS OF ALCUIN 
 
 J Alcuin would tolerate neither idleness nor levity. In that 
 same letter to Eanbald he wrote : "Let each class have its 
 own master, so that the boys be not allowed to run about 
 in idleness, nor engage in silly play." ^ The pupils, more- 
 over, were to be punctual ; the "Admonitio juvenum" 
 urged the boys to open their eyes immediately when the 
 bell rang for matins.^ Another inscription over the door 
 of the school recommended the students to be diligent, and 
 the masters to be indulgent.^ Thus was justice tempered 
 with mercy. Alcuin, himself, though he knew how to be 
 firm, was very sympathetic and at times playful in his at- 
 titude towards his pupils. His inscription over the dormi- 
 tories wishing his boys sweet repose in the name of One- 
 who never slept is a veritable benediction.* 
 
 In other respects Alcuin was a modern, nay, a model 
 teacher. His definiteness of aim, his efforts to arouse in- 
 terest, and to awaken the imagination, his ability to adapt 
 himself to his pupils' needs, his high idea of learning for 
 its own sake, all are admirable. Yet it was his personality, 
 his sympathy for his pupils, his untiring efforts in their 
 behalf, above all, the force of his own example, which were 
 the most potent factors in giving him an ascendancy over 
 their hearts and minds. The enthusiasm with which they 
 studied under him, the veneration in which they held him, 
 the loyalty with which they followed the narrow but safe 
 path of tradition which he had marked out for them, leave 
 no room for doubt as to his pre-eminence in his day as a 
 scholar and teacher. His name, his methods, became a tra- 
 dition ; a hundred years afterwards, an ardent admirer gave 
 
 (i) "Habeas et singulis his ordinibus magistros suos, ne, vacantes- 
 otio, vagi discurrant per loca vel inanes exerceant ludos vel aliis inanci- 
 pentur ineptiis," Ep. 114, p. 169. Cf. "Non per campos discurrentes" et 
 seq., p. 168. (2) Carmen, 97, M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., I, pp. 321,. 
 322. 
 
 (3) Carmen, 93, ihid., pp. 319, 320. 
 
 (4) In Dormiturio, Carmen, 96, ibid., p. 321. 
 
ALCUIN AS A TEACHER . 99 
 
 him the palm over Priscian and Donatus/ Even before 
 the end of Charles' reign his influence is discernible. 
 Leidrad of Lyons had established his schools. The one, 
 the "scola cantorum," prepared many teachers of the chant, 
 while the other, the *'scola lectorum," made considerable 
 progress in the study of the Scriptures.^ Under Theodulph 
 of Orleans the liberal arts were being studied and many 
 beautiful as well as accurate manuscripts produced.^ Arno 
 of Bavaria, too, maintained cathedral schools, founded a 
 library of one hundred and fifty books, and established a 
 chronicle. At Corbie, likewise, and at St. Riquier, where 
 Alcuin's pupils Adalhard and Angilbert lived, as well as at 
 Metz, Fleury, and St. Amands, there was a wonderful 
 revival.* \ 
 
 And so, unimportant as the educational works of Alcuin 
 appear, mediocre, ill-digested as his learning undoubtedly 
 was, yet by reason of his own untiring enthusiasm and the 
 splendid loyalty of his pupils, he was enabled to effect a 
 real renaissance in Frankland. Though he added nothing 
 to the world's knowledge, he assimilated the learning of his 
 predecessors in such measure that it was the more securely 
 transmitted to future asfes. 
 
 (i) Notatio Nothkeri, Duemmler, Formelhuch des Bischofs Sa- 
 lomo, p. 72, quoted in Gaskoin, p. 245, note 3. 
 
 (2) Leidrad, Ep. 30, M. G. H. EpistoL, IV., p. 543. 
 
 (3) M. G. H. Poet. Lat. Med. Aev., op. cit., I, p. 544. 
 
 (4) Hauck, op. cit., II, p. 196, and authorities there cited. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 I.— ORIGINAL SOURCES. 
 
 Alcuin, Opera Ovinia, 2 vols. Paris, 1851. (Migne, Patrologia Latina, 
 C, CI). This is a reprint of the edition of Froben, published at 
 Ratisbon, 1777. 
 
 Carviina, ed. E. Duemmler (Monumenta Germaniae Historical 
 Poetarum Latinorum Medii Aevi, I, pp. 160-351). 
 
 Epistolae, ed. R Duemmler (M. G. H. Epistolarum, Vol. IV, pp. 
 1-481). 
 
 Epistolae, ed. P. Jaflfe ("Monumenta Alcuiniana" in Bibliotheca 
 Rerum Germanicarum, Vol. VI, pp. 131-901, Berlin, 1867). 
 
 Vita, ed. W. Arndt (M. G. H. SS. XV, pt. I, pp. 182-197- Also 
 in Jaffe, op. cit., Vol. VI, pp. 1-34). 
 
 Vita Sancti Willibrordi, Jaffe, op. cit., Vol. VI. pp. 35-79. 
 Capitularia Regum Francorum, M. G. H. Legum, sect. II, Vols. I, II. 
 
 Ed. A. Boretius et V. Krause. Berolini, 1883-1897. 
 EiNHART, Vita Caroli Magni impcratoris, %.l. G. H. SS. II, pp. 443- 
 
 463. Annalcs, in M. G. H. SS., Vol. I, pp. 124-218. 
 Monument.^ Carolini (Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, ed. Jaffe, 
 Vol. IV). 
 
 IT.— SECONDARY SOURCES. 
 Ball, W. R. R., A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 3d 
 
 ed., London, 1901. 
 Brockman, F. J., System der Chronologic. Stuttgart, 1883. 
 BuRSiAN, C, Geschichte der Classischen Philologie in Deutschland. Vol. 
 
 I, Miinchen, 1883. 
 Cajori, F., a History of Elementary Mathematics. New York, 1896. 
 Cantor, ]\I.. Mathetnatische Bcitrdge cum Kulturlcben der Volker. 
 
 Halle, 1863. 
 Cantor, M., Die Rdmischcn Agrimcnsorcn und ihre Stcllung in der 
 
 Geschichte der Fcldmesserkunst. Leipzig, 1875. 
 Cantor, M., Vorlcsungcn iiber Geschichte der Mathematik, Vol. I, II 
 
 Auflage. Leipzig, 1894-1900. 
 Comparetti, D., Virgil in the Middle Ages. Translated by E. F. M. 
 
 Benecke, London, 1895. 
 Denk, V. M., Otto, Geschichte dcs Gallo-Frankischen Unterrichts-und 
 
 Bildiingswesens von den Altesten Zeiten bis auf Karl den Grossen. 
 
 Mainz, 1892. 
 Drane, a. T., Christian Schools and Scholars. Second edition. Lon- 
 don, 1881. 
 DumjMLEr, E., Alcuinus in Ncues Archiv der Gcscllschaft fiir altere 
 Deutsche Geschichtskunde, Vol. IV, 1879, pp. 1 18-139 
 
 100 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 101 
 
 DuEMMLER, E., Alchuinstudicn (Sitzungsberichte der k. Preussischen 
 
 Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1891, pp. 495-523). 
 DuEMMLER, E., Zur Lcbensgeschichte Alchuins, in Neues Archiv, Vol. 
 
 18, pp. 51-70. 
 Ebert, a., Allgcmeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im 
 
 Abendlande. Leipzig, 1874-1887. 
 Friedlein, G., Das Rechnen mit Columnen vor dcm 10 Jahrhundert (in 
 
 Zeitschrift fiir Mathematik und Physik, Vol. IX). 
 Friedlein, G., Die Zahlzeichen und das Elementare Rechnen der Griech- 
 
 en und Ronier und des Christlichcn Abendlandes vom 7 ten bis 13 
 
 ten Jahrhundert. Erlangen, 1869. 
 Gaskoin, C. J. C, Alcuin, his Life and his Work. London, 1904. 
 Haddan, a. W., Remains. Edited by A. P. Forbes. London, 1876. 
 Haddan, a. W., and Stubbs, W., Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents 
 
 Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IIL Oxford, 1869-1873. 
 Hankel, H., Zur Geschichte der Mathematik im Alterthum und Mittel- 
 
 alter. Leipzig, 1874. 
 Hatch, E., The Growth of Church Institutions. London, 1895. 
 Hauck, a., Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands. Zweiter Theil. Die 
 
 Karolingerzeit. Zweite Auflage. Leipzig, 1900. 
 Haureau, B., De la philosophic scolastique, 2 Vols. Paris, 1850. 
 Harnack, a., Histoy of Dogma, Vol. V. Translated by Neil Buchanan. 
 
 Boston, 1899. 
 Hefele, C. J., Conciliengeschichte. Zweite Auflage. Freiburg, 1873. 
 Histoire Literaire de la France, Vols. IV, V, VI. 
 Kleinclausz, L'cmpire Carohngien ses origines et ses transformations. 
 
 (Hachette, Paris, 1902.) 
 LoRENTz, F., Alcuin' s Leben. Halle, 1829. 
 Manitius, M., Beitrdge zur Geschichte Romischer Dichter im Mittel- 
 
 alter (Philologus — Zeitschrift fiir das Qassische Alterthum, Bde. 
 
 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 56). . 
 
 Masius, H., Die Erziehung im Mittelalter (ap. K. A. Schmid, Ge- 
 schichte der Erziehung, II, I. Stuttgart, 1892, pp. 94-333). 
 MoMBERT, A History of Charles the Great. London, 1888. 
 MoNNiER, F., Alcuin et son influence litteraire, rcligieiise, et politique 
 
 dies les Francs. Paris, 1853. 
 MoNNiER, F., Alcuin et Charlemagne. Paris, 1864. 
 MoRLEY, H., English Writers, Vol. II. London, 1888. 
 MuLLANY, P. F. (Brother Azarias), Educational Essays. Chicago, 1896. 
 MuLLiNGER, J. B., Schools of Charlcs the Great and the Restoration of 
 
 Education in the Ninth Century. London, 1877. 
 Nauman. Emil, The History of Music, 2 vols. 
 NoRDEN, E., Die Antike Kunstprosa vom 6ten Jahrhundert vor Christus 
 
 bis in die Zeit der Renaissance, 2 vols. Leipzig, 1898. 
 Parker, H., The Seven Liberal Arts. English Historical Review. 
 
 Vol. V, July, 1890. 
 Prantl, C., Geschichte der Logik im Abendlande. Bd. II. Zweite Auf- 
 lage. Leipzig, 1885. 
 Rashdall, H., The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 3 vols. 
 
 Oxford, 1895. 
 Roger, M., L'Enscignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin, 
 
 Introduction a I'histoire des ecoles carolingiennes, Paris, 1905. 
 Schmidt, K. A., Geschichte der Erseihung vom Anfang an bis auf 
 unsere Zeit, bearbeitet in Gemeinschaft mit einer Anzahl von Ge- 
 
102 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 lehrtcn und Schulm'dniicrn, 5 vols. Stuttgart, 1884-1902. 
 
 SiCKEL, Th., Alcuinstudicn I (Sitzungsberichte d. philosoph. Histor. 
 Classe d. kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften), Vol. LXXIX 
 (1875), pp. 461-55.0. 
 
 Specht, F. a.. Gcschichte des Uttternchtswesens in Deutschland . . . 
 bis zur Mitte dcs dreizchntcn Jahrhunderts. Stutttgart, 1883. 
 
 Wattenbach, W., Das Schriftwesen im Mittelalter. 3 Auflage. Leip- 
 zig, 1896. 
 
 Werner, K., Alcuin und sein Jahrhundert. Paderborn, 1876. 
 
 Werner, K.. Bcda der Ehrwurdige und seine Zeit. Wien, 1881. 
 
 West, A. F., Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools (Great 
 Educators). London, 1893. 
 
VITA 
 
 The author of this dissertation, Rolph Barlow Page, 
 was born at Concord, Ontario, Canada, on December i ith., 
 1875. He graduated from the UniveFsity of Toronto in 
 1897, with the degree of A. B., obtaining honors in 
 Modern Languages and History, In 190 1, he obtained 
 his degree of A. M. from the same University. During 
 the years 1902-04, he was Scholar and Fellow in Euro- 
 pean History at Columbia University, where he studied 
 History and allied subjects under the Faculty of Political 
 Science. From 1904 to 1909, he has been instructor in 
 History and Civics at the High Schoolof Commerce, New 
 York City. In addition to the above dissertation, the au- 
 thor has written an essay, entitled Life and Times of 
 Chaucer. This was published in the Report of the Ontario 
 Educational Association for 1901. 
 
LOAN DEPT. 
 
 -»._ 1— » Aate stamp*