Alcuin of York was the most influential scholar,
teacher, and theologian of the Carolingian renaissance in late eighth-century Europe. In Alcuin the
learning of Anglo-Saxon England that had thrived
under the Venerable BEDE was disseminated
throughout western Europe. As master of CHARLEMAGNE’s Palace School in Aachen, Alcuin was the
driving force behind the rebirth of learning for
which that era is famous. He established what became the standard liberal arts curriculum of medieval schools, and he was instrumental in
preserving and copying ancient patristic and classical books. In addition, Alcuin wrote poetry, theological treatises, textbooks and many letters that
have survived.
Alcuin was born in Northumbria and educated
at the cathedral school in York, where from an
early age his native intelligence drew the attention
of his schoolmaster Aelbert (a disciple of Bede)
and the archbishop Egbert. In about 766, Alcuin
succeeded Aelbert as master of the cathedral
school. Over a period of 15 years, Alcuin made
York a school with an international reputation.
Students from all parts of England as well as the
continent came to study at York, and Alcuin also
gathered a substantial library, sometimes traveling
to the continent to obtain or to copy manuscripts.
In 781, after a trip to Rome, Alcuin met Charlemagne in Parma. The king, intent on reviving
learning in his realm, convinced Alcuin to leave
York and become the master of his Palace School
in Aachen. Here Charlemagne himself became one
of Alcuin’s pupils, along with the queen and the
king’s sister and five children. Following this example, most of the highest nobility also attended
the school. The school attracted some of the best
scholars from Italy, Germany, and Ireland, and became the center for learning in the kingdom.
In 794, Alcuin attended the Synod of Frankfort,
a church council at which he was instrumental in
the condemnation of the Adoptionist heresy. In his
treatise against Felix of Urgel, chief proponent of
Adoptionism, Alcuin argued against Felix’s idea
that Jesus was only human until his baptism, when
God adopted him as his son.
In 796, Charlemagne appointed Alcuin abbott
of St. Martin’s at Tours. It is doubtful that Alcuin,
though a deacon of the church, ever was ordained
a priest or joined the Benedictine order; nevertheless, he accepted the appointment and proceeded
to establish another excellent school at Tours. He
died there on May 19, 804.
In his own time, Alcuin’s biggest contribution
was undoubtedly as an educator. Charlemagne, appalled by the illiteracy among the priests of his kingdom, enacted legislation to ensure that his priests
could read and write Latin and understand the
Scriptures. He also issued an edict in 802 that the
priest in every city and village in his realm should
conduct free elementary schools in their parishes. It
is certain that Alcuin, as head of the central Palace
School, was instrumental in bringing about this educational revolution. The students that Alcuin
taught at Aachen went on to instruct priests at liberal arts schools around the country.
One of Alcuin’s innovations was the standardization of the LIBERAL ARTS curriculum, consisting of
the trivium (comprising grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry,
music and astronomy)—a curriculum that remained in place throughout the Middle Ages. Alcuin
composed textbooks for grammar, logic, astronomy,
and rhetoric. These texts, written in the question
and answer format of a dialogue, are not particularly
original, though the treatise on rhetoric, called Compendia, did become widely used. At the same time,
Alcuin established scriptoria for the copying of
manuscripts, and he is credited for developing the
Carolingian minuscule, a clear and standard cursive
script that allowed for greater speed in writing.
As a theologian, aside from his treatise against
Adoptionism, Alcuin wrote nine scriptural commentaries and a collection of Latin sermons for
priests to use. He wrote a very influential missal, and
his modification of the Roman liturgy is the direct
antecedent of the form in use in the Roman church
to this day. In addition, Alcuin was instrumental in
the development of a standard text of the Vulgate,
the Latin translation of the Bible that, in the 400
years of scribal copying since St. JEROME composed
it, had accumulated many copyists’ errors.
Many of Alcuin’s letters survive, as well as some
170 Latin poems. Of these, two are of particular interest. One is a poem of consolation he wrote on
the destruction of the monastery of Lindesfarne by
Viking raiders in 793. The other, his longest, is a
poem in 1,657 hexameter (six-foot) lines called On
the Saints of the Church of York. Written presumably upon his leaving York for Aachen, the poem
gives a history of the church, an idea of the academic life in Alcuin’s school, and a description of
the contents of his library.
Bibliography
Bolton, W. F. Alcuin and Beowulf: An Eighth-Century
View. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press, 1978.
Cantor, Norman F. Medieval Lives: Eight Charismatic
Men and Women of the Middle Ages. New York:
HarperCollins, 1994.
Chase, Colin, ed. Two Alcuin Letter-Books. Toronto:
Center for Medieval Studies, 1975.
Godman, Peter, ed. and trans. Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.
Scott, Peter Dale. “Alcuin as a Poet: Rhetoric and Belief in His Latin Verse,” University of Toronto Quarterly 33 (1964): 233–257.
Wilbur, Samuel Howell, trans. The Rhetoric of Alcuin
and Charlemagne, 2nd ed. New York: Russell and
Russell, 1965.