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Alcuin of York
By Dr Anna Ritchie

Alcuin of York spent most of his life abroad. He was an an

adviser to Charlemagne the Great, and had the ear of
Europe's intellectual elite. Despite his absence from home,
his writings offer a vivid insight into the realities of life
during Britain's Dark Ages.
Alcuin of York

Alcuin of York (c.735 - 804)

This famous scholar is one of our best sources of information for the later eighth century.
He was educated in the cathedral school at York, and became a monk and teacher there. He
was a deacon of York when, in 781, he was returning from a visit to Rome and met the king
of the Franks at Parma. King Charles the Great, known often as Charlemagne (768-814),
recognised in Alcuin a scholar who could help him to achieve a renaissance of learning and
reform of the Church. At the king's invitation, Alcuin joined the royal court in 781, and
became one of Charlemagne's chief advisers on religious and educational matters.
'Many schools of learning were attached to monasteries and cathedrals.'
Alcuin was made head of the palace school at Aachen, which was attended by members of
the royal court and the sons of noble families, and he established a great library there. He
revised the church liturgy and the Bible and, along with another great scholar, Theodulf of
Orleans, he was responsible for an intellectual movement within the Carolingian empire in
which many schools of learning were attached to monasteries and cathedrals, and Latin was
restored to a position as a literary language. In 796, Alcuin became abbot of St Martin's
monastery at Tours, where he established a school and library.
An ambassador and scholar

Anglo-Saxon cross
Alcuin was not himself a great or innovative thinker, but he was a superb teacher and
scholar. He had the ability to guide others through what he saw as 'golden whirlpools of
spiritual meaning', and to inspire them to rise to even greater intellectual heights. He wrote
educational manuals, poetry and copied classical texts, and above all he was a copious
writer of letters.
At Charlemagne's court he acted almost as an English ambassador. He provided a link with
the English royal court and exchanged information and ideas on a regular basis, not just
with secular and ecclesiastical leaders but with personal friends. He must have had a special
gift for making and keeping friends and he wrote to them at length.
'... a preacher of piety, not an exactor of tithes ...'
His correspondence was clearly appreciated, for it was collected and copied for distribution
to centres of learning, such as Salzburg, as early as 798. Many of his letters read like
exhortations, for he was concerned over social and educational issues as well as Church
reform. A missionary friend was recommended to be 'a preacher of piety, not an exactor of
tithes', to guide people into good living rather than taking taxes for the benefit of the
Church. In a letter to the monks of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth in Northumbria, he
encouraged them to ...
'... consider the splendour of your churches, the beauty of your buildings, your way of life
according to the Rule... Let the boys be present with praises of the heavenly king, and not
be digging foxes out of holes or following the fleeting courses of hares ... he who does not
learn when he is young, does not teach when he is old.'
Divine retribution

The death of St Cuthbert - his body was buried at Lindisfarne

Alcuin was also a practical man. He knew that the oil needed for church services was
scarce in Britain and he sent olive oil to be distributed amongst the Northumbrian bishops.
His distress and horror at the fate of Lindisfarne in 793 comes over very strongly in his
letters both to the Bishop of Lindisfarne and the Northumbrian king.
'When I was with you, the closeness of your love would give me great joy. In contrast, now
that I am away from you, the distress of your suffering fills me daily with deep grief, when
heathens desecrated God's sanctuaries, and poured the blood of saints within the compass
of the altar, destroyed the house of our hope, trampled the bodies of saints in God's temple
like animal dung in the street ...' Letter from Alcuin to Higbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne
Alcuin saw the Viking onslaught as divine retribution for the slack standards of the
Northumbrian people, much as he might have interpreted an epidemic of disease as
punishment for human sin. Worse was to come for his homeland, however, and Alcuin
might have had difficulty in explaining the Viking activities of the ninth and tenth centuries
in terms of God's punishment for bad behaviour.
'What security is there for the churches of Britain if St Cuthbert with so great a throng of
saints will not defend his own? Either this is the beginning of greater grief or the sins of
those who live there have brought it upon themselves.' Letter from Alcuin to Higbald,
Bishop of Lindisfarne'.
One of Alcuin's poems celebrates York and its library, where he spent so many happy years,
and he lists many of the authors whose works were on its shelves: classical Latin writers
such as Virgil, Cicero and Lucan. The cathedral library at York became even more famous
throughout Europe after Alcuin's time - only to be destroyed utterly by Danish Vikings in
an attack in 866. Fortunately Alcuin's writings have not been lost to us and they remain a
key source which give a unique insight into one of the most traumatic periods of English
history.
Find out more
Books
Anglo Saxon Chronicle (Boydell and Brewer Ltd, various editions). Translation from
Garmansway's revision of the text.

Chronicles of the Vikings: Records, Memorials and Myths by RI Page (British Museum
Press, 1995)
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World by James Graham-Campbell, Colleen Batey, Helen
Clarke, RI Page and Neil S Price (Andromeda, 1994)
Viking Scotland by Anna Ritchie (Batsford, 1993)
Viking Age England by Julian D Richards (Batsford, 1991)
The Viking Dig: The Excavations at York by Richard Hall (The Bodley Head, 1984)
Scar: A Viking Boat Burial on Sanday, Orkney by Olwyn Owen and Magnar Dalland
(Tuckwell Press/East Linton, 1999)
The Age of Charlemagne by Donald Bullough (Paul Elek, 1965)
Places to visit
Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Viking artefacts from across Scotland and a
reconstructed grave from the Westness cemetery, Orkney.
The Orkney Museum, Kirkwall, Orkney. The Viking gallery includes the story of the Scar
boat burial, and a modern Norwegian boat of similar type can be seen in the courtyard.
Brough of Birsay, Orkney. On this spectacular tidal island are the remains of Viking
houses and a 12th-century church.
Jarlshof, Shetland. A stunning site that spans five and a half millennia, including four
centuries of a Viking farmstead.
Jorvik - York Archaeological Trust Reconstruction of tenth-century Viking York,
featuring the finds from the amazing Coppergate excavations.

Related Links
Articles

Viking Religion - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/religion_01.shtml

How Do We Know about the Vikings? http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/evidence_01.shtml

Multimedia Zone

3-d Viking Farmhouse http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/launch_vt_viking_farm.shtml

Viking Quest http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/launch_gms_viking_quest.shtml

Historic Figures

Eric Bloodaxe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/bloodaxe_01.shtml

BBC Links

BBC News: Did the Vikings make a telescope? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/702478.stm

BBC News: Viking blood still flowing http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1689955.stm
BBC Schools: The Vikings - http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/vikings

External Web Links

Alcuin of York (Forum Romanum) http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/6946/literature/alcuinx.html

Alcuin of York (University of St Andrews) - http://www-groups.dcs.standrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Alcuin.html

A Children's Tour (British Museum): Artefacts from Alcuin's time http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?

_IXDB_=compass&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/gt/l
in/&$+with+all_unique_id_index+is+$=ENC8067&_IXtour=ENC8067&submitbutton=summary

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Georgetown University) http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/asc/index.html

Published on BBC History: 2001-07-01

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