ALCUIN OF YORK
LECTURES DELIVERED IN THE CATHEDRAL
CHURCH OF BRISTOL IN 1907 AND 1908
BY THE
RIGHT REV. G. F. BROWNE
D.D., D.C.L., F.S.A.
BISHOP OF BRISTOL
FORMERLY DISNEY PROFESSOR OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
BRIGHTON: 129, North Street.
New York: E. S. Gorham.
1908
PREFACE
No attempt has been made to correct the various forms of many of the proper names so as to make the spelling uniform. It is true to the period to leave the curious variations as Alcuin and others wrote them. In the case of Pope Hadrian, the name has been written Hadrian and Adrian indiscriminately in the text.
While Alcuin’s style is lucid, his habit of dictating letters hurriedly, and sending them off without revision if he had a headache, has left its mark on the letters as we have them. It has seemed better to leave the difficulties in the English as he left them in the Latin.
The edition used, and the numbering of the Epistles adopted, is that of Wattenbach and Dümmler, Monumenta Alcuiniana, Berlin 1873, being the sixth volume of the Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER I | |
| The authorship of the anonymous Life of Alcuin.—Alcuin’s Life of his relative Willibrord.—Willibrord at Ripon.—Alchfrith and Wilfrith.—Alcuin’s conversion.—His studies under Ecgbert and Albert at the Cathedral School of York.—Ecgbert’s method of teaching.—Alcuin becomes assistant master of the School.—Is ordained deacon.—Becomes head master.—Joins Karl | [1] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Alcuin finally leaves England.—The Adoptionist heresy.—Alcuin’s retirement to Tours.—His knowledge of secrets.—Karl and the three kings his sons.—Fire at St. Martin’s, Tours.—References to the life of St. Martin.—Alcuin’s writings.—His interview with the devil.—His last days | [23] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| The large bulk of Alcuin’s letters and other writings.—The main dates of his life.—Bede’s advice to Ecgbert.—Careless lives of bishops.—No parochial system.—Inadequacy of the bishops’ oversight.—Great monasteries to be used as sees for new bishoprics, and evil monasteries to be suppressed.—Election of abbats and hereditary descent.—Evils of pilgrimages.—Daily Eucharists | [51] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| The school of York.—Alcuin’s poem on the Bishops and Saints of the Church of York.—The destruction of the Britons by the Saxons.—Description of Wilfrith II, Ecgbert, Albert, of York.—Balther and Eata.—Church building in York.—The Library of York | [68] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| The affairs of Mercia.—Tripartite division of England.—The creation of a third archbishopric, at Lichfield.—Offa and Karl.—Alcuin’s letter to Athelhard of Canterbury; to Beornwin of Mercia.—Karl’s letter to Offa, a commercial treaty.—Alcuin’s letter to Offa.—Offa’s death | [87] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| Grant to Malmesbury by Ecgfrith of Mercia.—Alcuin’s letters to Mercia.—Kenulf and Leo III restore Canterbury to its primatial position.—Gifts of money to the Pope.—Alcuin’s letters to the restored archbishop.—His letter to Karl on the archbishop’s proposed visit.—Letters of Karl to Offa (on a question of discipline) and Athelhard (in favour of Mercian exiles) | [106] |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| List of the ten kings of Northumbria of Alcuin’s time.—Destruction of Lindisfarne, Wearmouth, and Jarrow, by the Danes.—Letters of Alcuin on the subject to King Ethelred, the Bishop and monks of Lindisfarne, and the monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow.—His letter to the Bishop and monks of Hexham | [122] |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| Alcuin’s letters to King Eardulf and the banished intruder Osbald.—His letters to King Ethelred and Ethelred’s mother.—The Irish claim that Alcuin studied at Clonmacnoise.—Mayo of the Saxons | [140] |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| Alcuin’s letter to all the prelates of England.—To the Bishops of Elmham and Dunwich.—His letters on the election to the archbishopric of York.—To the new archbishop, and the monks whom he sent to advise him.—His urgency that bishops should read Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care | [157] |
| CHAPTER X | |
| Summary of Alcuin’s work in France.—Adoptionism, Alcuin’s seven books against Felix and three against Elipandus.—Alcuin’s advice that a treatise of Felix be sent to the Pope and three others.—Alcuin’s name dragged into the controversy on Transubstantiation.—Image-worship.—The four Libri Carolini and the Council of Frankfurt.—The bearing of the Libri Carolini on the doctrine of Transubstantiation | [172] |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| Karl and Rome.—His visits to that city.—The offences and troubles of Leo III.—The coronation of Charlemagne.—The Pope’s adoration of the Emperor.—Alcuin’s famous letter to Karl prior to his coronation.—Two great Roman forgeries, the Donation of Constantine and the Letter of St. Peter to the Franks | [186] |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| Alcuin retires to the Abbey and School of Tours.—Sends to York for more advanced books.—Begs for old wine from Orleans.—Karl calls Tours a smoky place.—Fees charged to the students.—History and remains of the Abbey Church of St. Martin.—The tombs of St. Martin and six other Saints.—The Public Library of Tours.—A famous Book of the Gospels.—St. Martin’s secularised.—Martinensian bishops | [202] |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| Further details of the Public Library of Tours.—Marmoutier.—The Royal Abbey of Cormery.—Licence of Hadrian I to St. Martin’s to elect bishops.—Details of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Tours | [219] |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| Great dispute on right of sanctuary.—Letters of Alcuin on the subject to his representatives at court and to a bishop.—The emperor’s severe letter to St. Martin’s.—Alcuin’s reply.—Verses of the bishop of Orleans on Charlemagne, Luitgard, and Alcuin | [231] |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| Alcuin’s letters to Charlemagne’s sons.—Recension of the Bible.—The “Alcuin Bible” at the British Museum.—Other supposed “Alcuin Bibles.”—Anglo-Saxon Forms of Coronation used at the coronations of French kings | [246] |
| CHAPTER XVI | |
| Examples of Alcuin’s style in his letters, allusive, jocose, playful.—The perils of the Alps.—The vision of Drithelme.—Letters to Arno.—Bacchus and Cupid | [264] |
| CHAPTER XVII | |
| Grammatical questions submitted to Alcuin by Karl.—Alcuin and Eginhart.—Eginhart’s description of Charlemagne.—Alcuin’s interest in missions.—The premature exaction of tithes.—Charlemagne’s elephant Abulabaz.—Figures of elephants in silk stuffs.—Earliest examples of French and German.—Boniface’s Abrenuntiatio Diaboli.—Early Saxon.—The earliest examples of Anglo-Saxon prose and verse | [280] |
| CHAPTER XVIII | |
| Alcuin’s latest days.—His letters mention his ill health.—His appeals for the prayers of friends, and of strangers.—An affectionate letter to Charlemagne.—The death scene | [298] |
| APPENDICES | |
| A. A letter of Alcuin to Fulda | [305] |
| B. The report of the papal legates, George and Theophylact, on their mission to England | [310] |
| C. The original Latin of Alcuin’s suggestion that a treatise by Felix should be sent to the Pope and three others | [319] |
| D. The Donation of Constantine | [320] |
| E. Harun Al Raschid and Charlemagne | [324] |
| Index | [325] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| Plate I. St. Martin’s, Tours, before the pillage | [To face page 210] |
| Plate II. The Tour St. Martin | [211] |
| Plate III. The Tour Charlemagne | [212] |
| Plate IV. The Tomb of St. Martin | [213] |
| Plate V. Some remains of Marmoutier | [222] |
| Plate VI. Early capital at Cormery | [227] |
| Plate VII. Elephant from robes in the tomb of Charlemagne | [290] |
| Plate VIII. Inscription worked into the above robe | [291] |
| Plate IX. Silk stuff of the seventh or eighth century | [292] |
| Plate X. Archbishop Boniface’s form for renouncing the devil | [295] |
| Plate XI. The earliest piece of English prose | [296] |
| Plate XII. The earliest piece of English verse | [297] |