FOOTNOTES
[1] Mendacia.
[2] See the story of his conversion, [p. 11].
[3] The following inscription is found in this book:—“Hunc Vergilii codicem obtulit Berno gregis beati Martini levita devota mente Deo et eidem beato Martino perpetualiter habendum ea quidem ratione ut perlegat ipsum Albertus consobrinus ipsius et diebus vitae suae sub pretextu sancti Martini habeat et post suum obitum iterum sancto reddatur Martino.”
[4] It appears to be impossible to identify the site of the cell of Wilgils. The local idea is that Kilnsea may be the place. But then the local idea is that Kilnsea means “the cell by the sea”.
[5] The church of St. Andrew in Rome was the first church which Wilfrith in his youth visited on his first appearance in that city. It was on the altar of that church that he first saw a magnificent copy of the Gospels, which so fired his enthusiasm that he had a similar copy made, written in letters of gold on purple parchment and adorned with gems, for his church at Ripon. His great church at Hexham, the finest church north of the Alps, he dedicated to St. Andrew, and the dedication thus became a favourite one in Northumbria. See my Theodore and Wilfrith, p. 17.
[6] Horreense, the Germans think; now Oeren.
[7] Epternach.
[8] See my Conversion of the Heptarchy, pp. 202-4.
[9] See my Conversion of the Heptarchy, p. 190.
[10] iii. 20, plate xiii.
[11] Ps. lxxvii. 11.
[12] The relative numbers of these three “sides” of the School of York may possibly be indicated by the quidam, alii, nonnulli, of the author.
[13] Biscop.
[14] After a parenthetical paragraph the writer continues, “Cuius iam, ut dictum est, sequens Hechbertus vestigia.”
[15] Gregory, it must be supposed. If one of the Apostles of the Lord had been meant, much more honorific words would have been used.
[16] Used antiphrastically for malediction: see Job i. 5.
[17] Deut. xxxii. 11.
[18] Chapter viii of the Rule of St. Benedict directs that a monk shall not conceal from his abbat evil thoughts which come into his heart.
[19] John xiii. 25 to xviii. 1 inclusive.
[20] Sigulf, as we have seen, told the writer the facts of Alcuin’s life which he recorded.
[21] Dial. ii. 85. Benedict there narrates that he saw the whole world collected into one ray of the sun, in which the soul of Germanus, bishop of Capua, ascended to the heavens.
[22] Ps. cvi. 1.
[23] Francia, both here and in Alcuin’s Letter 35, where he writes as if with these words in his mind: “I came to France, under pressure of ecclesiastical need, and to confirm the reason of the Catholic Faith.”
[24] There is a tradition that Alcuin wrote the Office for the Mass on Trinity Sunday. See [Appendix A].
[25] The “hereditary right” seems to indicate that by these “benedictions” the library of York is meant, of which more will be said later on.
[26] “Talentum sui domini”, sc. Elcberti?
[27] The perpetual presence of Sigulf was needed for the celebration of masses, Alcuin remaining a deacon. There is a curious mention of Alcuin’s part in the administration of Holy Communion, and of the action of the young King Louis when receiving at his hand; see [p. 32].
[28] We can date this meeting fairly closely by the fact that Karl granted a privilegium to Parma on March 15, 781.
[29] The bishop George whom we know as intimately concerned with the affairs of Hadrian I and with British interests was Bishop of Ostia. If this is he, we shall hear of him again in connexion with the Archbishopric of Lichfield.
[30] Abbat of St. Martin of Tours, a curiously early connexion of Alcuin with his future home. To him Alcuin addressed the earliest letter of his which is extant; see [p. 205].
[31] Alcuin was about seven years older than Karl. They were at this time about forty-six and thirty-nine years of age.
[32] St. Peter of Ferrières, dio. Sens.
[33] Alcuin makes mention of his residence here during the autumn of 798 in his correspondence with Gisla, Karl’s sister; see [p. 253]. The Museum of Troyes is housed in the old buildings of the Abbey of St. Loup.
[34] Matt. x. 23.
[35] He was subject to febrile attacks.
[36] For Alcuin’s letter to Fulda, written after Karl’s refusal of permission, See [Appendix A].
[37] “In psalmorum et missarum multa celebratione.”
[39] Called Witto by Alcuin (ep. 107), and Candidus (106) as the Latin rendering of the Teutonic name.
[40] To Fredegisus Alcuin wrote letters on the three kinds of visions (257) and on the Trinity (258). He is understood to be the “Nathanael” of other letters. Of Fredegisus, Theodulfus, the Bishop of Orleans, wrote to Karl:
Stet levita decus Fredegis sociatus Osulfo,
Gnarus uterque artis, doctus uterque bene.
He was a master in the school of the Palace and afterwards Archdeacon. He became Abbat of Cormery, and eventually of Tours.
[41] See the mention of him in [previous note]. Osulf was a household officer of the young King Charles, see [p. 250]. The last words of Alcuin’s interpretation of the vision suggest that he was an Englishman, one of the youths whom Alcuin brought from York as his assistant masters.
[42] This was Benedict, the Abbat of Aniane in Languedoc. That region is here spoken of as Gothia, because the Goths had settled about Toulouse in the fifth century. The fact that Benedict used often to come to consult Alcuin is an interesting illustration of the disregard of distance in those days. As the crows fly, Toulouse is some 270 miles from Tours, and the journey was a long and arduous one.
[43] The three sons of Karl were all of them kings (practically sub-kings) of one part or another of his vast domains. The great partition of the empire was not arranged by Charlemagne till after Alcuin’s death.
[44] It will be borne in mind that Alcuin was only in deacon’s orders.
[45] This is one of the various indications of date which enable us to calculate the time at which the biography was written.
[46] Charles and Pepin died before their father, and Louis became sole emperor and ruler of all that Charlemagne had held.
[47] With regard to some possible confusion here between Karl and his eldest son Charles, see [p. 246].
[48] Vita, c. 21.
[49] It is frequently impossible to calculate a man’s nationality from his name in the century with which we are dealing, and it is unsafe to guess at it. Aigulf, for instance, was the name of the Gothic Count of Maguelone, the cup-bearer of Karl’s son, Pepin of Aquitaine, and father of Benedict of Aniane.
[50] Engelsaxo.
[51] “Venit iste Britto vel Scotto.” The Scot in those days was the Irishman. We may imagine that “Scotto” was formed derisively to match “Britto”. But it should be remembered that in Alcuin’s dialogue on grammar the disputants are Saxo and Franco, a very similar formation.
[52] It is of at least local interest to remark that the latest of many burnings of York Minster, Alcuin’s old abode, was caused very much in the same way. Carpenters had been at work, in the bell-chamber of the south-west tower, and left a candle burning on the table where they had been planing wood. The candle burned low and fell over on to some shavings, to which it set fire, and thence the flame grew and grew till it burst out, and the great fire of May 20, 1840, was the result. This present writer was a boy of six at the time, and from his bedroom window saw it all, from the beginning, through the sounding boards of the chamber. He was eventually carried off in a blanket, as the tower would have fallen into his father’s house if it had come down. The house, it may be added, was the house in which Guy Fawkes was born. See also [p. 82].
[53] The word monasterium has so many meanings that we cannot be sure what precisely is here meant. It may possibly mean the maius monasterium, Marmoutier, see [p. 221].
[54] The historian here quoted, a contemporary of St. Martin, must not be confused with Sulpicius, Archbishop of Bourges, A.D. 584, surnamed Severus to distinguish him from a second Sulpicius Archbishop of Bourges, surnamed Pius, who died A.D. 644.
[55] “Hesterna die indicatur mihi,” &c. We fortunately have the letter. It is Epistle I of the collected works of Sulpicius.
[56] It may be that we have here an early hint of a practice of which we have record in later times. The water which had been used for washing the tomb of St. Martin was held to have healing properties in the later middle ages.
[57] Believed at that time to have been written by St. Paul.
[58] In our editions, Arno and not Fredegisus was the recipient of this treatise.
[59] Presumably the same as Withso and Witto.
[60] “Franci et Saxonis,” the author says. But in the disputatious dialogue they are called Saxo and Franco. Saxo addresses Franco as O Franco! but on one occasion he slips into the vocative France: “En habes, France, de adverbio satis.” Fr. “Non satis; pausemus tamen ad horam.” Saxo. “Pausemus.” The dialogue is much of the same kind as that found in Aldhelm’s works a hundred years earlier between Magister and Discipulus. See my St. Aldhelm, ch. xii.
[61] We have seen from the author that he could very seldom shed tears, [p. 27].
[62] There is a delicate touch in putting into the devil’s mouth the literal name and not the intimate name.
[63] Cant. iv. 4.
[64] A cynic might remark that Alcuin did not answer the clever question of the enemy. He could not deny that he was elaborately deceiving his attendants.
[65] Sulpicius Severus, Life, c. 25.
[66] Theodulf of Orleans makes a little apology to Karl for Alcuin’s use of wine and beer (not English beer! see [p. 267]):
Aut si, Bacche, tui aut Cerealis pocla liquoris
Porgere praecipiat, fors et utrumque volet;
Quo melius doceat, melius sua fistula cantet,
Si doctrinalis pectoris antra riget.
If he bids bring forth cups of thy liquor, O Bacchus, or cups of the liquor of corn, and perhaps takes both; it is that he may teach the better, the better may sing his stave, if he moistens the recesses of his instructive breast.
[67] “Celebrabat omni die missarum solemnia multa.”
[68] Based on Isa. xxii. 22.
[70] The biographer here passes in a telling manner to the present tense.
[71] Again the use of Alcuin’s baptismal name at a critical point.
[72] This is one of the endless number of cases in which it is made quite clear that the original attraction to Rome was not the asserted bishopric of Peter, but the fact of the tombs of Peter and Paul. The cult of these two chiefs, princes of the Apostles, was the source of the reputation of Rome. See [Appendix D].
[74] The title consists of twenty-four elegiacs, with only ordinary thoughts.
[75] Gesta Regum, i. 3.
[76] The mention of Ascension Day in the account of Bede’s death is in the judgement of some scholars more easily reconciled with the incidence of Ascension Day in the year 742.
[77] The see of Dunwich appears to have been vacant then.
[78] All this tells against the now exploded belief that Theodore established the parochial system. His paroichia was the diocese.
[79] The earliest pieces of English now extant in the original form are the inscriptions in Anglian runes on the cross erected in 670 in the churchyard of Bewcastle, in memory of the sub-king Alchfrith (see [p. 9]). The main inscription runs thus: + This sigbecn thun setton hwaetred wothgar olwfwolthu aft alkfrithu ean küning eac oswiung + gebid heo sinna sowhula. + This token of victory Hwaetred Wothgar Olwfwolthu caused make in memory of Alcfrith once king and son of Oswy. + Pray for the high sin of his soul. See also [p. 296].
[81] In ordinatione.
[82] Constituant.
[83] He was Bishop of Winchester A.D. 1367 to 1398; Wilfrith was Bishop of York A.D. 669 to 678.
[84] Eton was founded, in a very small way, in 1440.
[85] As to the treatment of ancient ecclesiastical MSS. in one part of France at the time of the Revolution, see [pages 219], &c.
[86] It is now maintained that ‘Saxon’ is formed from saxa, stones, but for a different reason, being taken as describing ‘armed men’ in the stone age.
[87] It is so, also, in Eddi’s prose account, “pro lachrymis ad aures Dei pervenientibus.”
[89] See my Lessons from Early English Church History, pp. 74, 75.
[90] Our word “inn” means a place enclosed, or a place comprising an enclosure.
[91] p. xxiii.
[93] “Monasterium” is used in the middle ages for a parish church in the country. “Minster” has always been a special Yorkshire word, “York Minster,” “Ripon Minster,” “Beverley Minster.” The unique inscription at the side of the sun-dial at Kirkdale Church, dated as in the days of Tostig the Earl, sets forth that “Orm Gamal-suna bohte Sanctus Gregorius minster”.
[94] The writer of this cannot refrain from mentioning a curious coincidence of dates and experience between himself and his schoolfellow and head master Alcuin. York Minster was burned on May 23, 741, when Alcuin was six years old. The cathedral school being within the precincts, Alcuin would have to be removed to a place of safety. York Minster was burned on May 20, 1840, curiously near to being the eleven-hundredth anniversary of the burning on May 23, 741, and the present writer, then aged six, was carried from his bed in the minster precincts to a place of safety in Castlegate.
[95] An. DCC.XLI. Her forbarn Eoferwic. This entry is found in the two MSS. of the Chronicle known as Cotton. Tib. B. 1 and Bodl. Laud. 636. These two MSS. have special information about Northumbrian affairs. They differ in the spelling of proper names, but in this case they take the same spelling of the Anglian name of York, which appears in five different forms in the Chronicle.
[96] Before Froben this was read Alcuinus, clearly an impossible reading in a list drawn up by Alcuin himself, and at a time when his chief effort of versification could not be in the library.
[97] See [Appendix B, p. 310].
[98] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 440.
[99] A.D. 790-805.
[100] “Sacerdos.” It appears clear that Alcuin is using the word as equivalent to “episcopus”, as it frequently was.
[101] Mal. ii. 7.
[102] “Speculator.”
[103] “Super-speculator.” Isidore explains in his Etymologies that bishops are called “episcopi” by the Greeks and “speculatores” by the Latins, because they are set on high in the church.
[104] “Sacerdotes.” That Alcuin is speaking of bishops, not of priests in general, is clear from his verses at the end of the letter, where he repeats his phrases “terrae sal”, “lumina inundi”, and adds “Bis sex signa poli”, the twelve stars of the sky, namely the bishops of the Southern Province. These were, not counting Athelhard himself, Higbert of Lichfield, Kenwalch or Eadbald of London, Kinbert of Winchester, Unwona of Leicester, Ceolwulf of Lindsey, Denefrith of Sherborne, Aelhun of Dunwich, Alheard of Elmham, Heathred of Worcester, Ceolmund of Hereford, Wiothun of Selsey, Weremund of Rochester.
[105] “Consacerdotes.”
[106] Prov. xviii. 19. The Vulgate and the Septuagint versions give the force of the passage in Alcuin’s sense. The Authorised Version gives, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city.” The Revised Version agrees exactly with the A.V.
[107] Gildus, in Alcuin.
[108] It may be supposed that Offa was engaged in building an abbey church at St. Albans. William of Malmesbury says of the church built by Offa in honour of St Alban (Gesta Regum, i. 4): “The relics of St. Alban, at that time buried in obscurity, he had reverently taken up and placed in a shrine decorated to the fullest extent of royal munificence with gold and jewels; a church of most beautiful workmanship was there erected, and a society of monks assembled.” The black stones may have been wanted for pavements.
[109] Pope Hadrian I. He died December 27, 795, having held the Papacy for twenty-three years, with great distinction, at a most important time in its history.
[110] Simeon of Durham, under the year 795.
[111] This would naturally mean Ireland at that time, but it is far from clear that Ireland is meant.
[112] Isa. i. 4.
[113] Offa died July 26, 796, and Ecgfrith died in the middle of December in the same year, after a reign of 141 days.
[114] In each of these two cases the new king was, in this year 796, most unexpectedly raised to the throne from a comparatively poor position, in which he had married a wife of his own position. Alcuin fears that they will be tempted to cast off the early wife and take some lady more fitted for a throne.
[115] This prophecy was not fulfilled. It was not till nine years after the date of this letter that Eardwulf was expelled from the kingdom.
[116] Prov. xx. 28.
[117] Ps. xxiv. 10, Vulgate; xxv. 10, A. V.; xxv. 10, Psalter.
[118] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 521, from William of Malmesbury, G. R. i. 4.
[119] A mancus was more than one-third of a pound, but that conveys no real idea to the modern mind of its actual value.
[120] Gesta Regum, i. 4.
[121] Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii. 483. The names stand as follows: “+ Ego Offa Rex Dei dono propriam donationis libertatem signo sanctæ crucis confirmo. + Ego Ecgferth, filius Regis, consensi. + Signum Hygeberhti Archiepiscopi. + Signum Ceolulfi Episcopi. + Signum Æthelheardi Archiepiscopi.” Followed by eight bishops and three abbats.
[122] It has already been noted that Alcuin found it very difficult to shed tears.
[123] “Ceolmund the duke,” “Ceolmund the minister,” often appears in the Mercian documents of the time.
[124] Simeon of Durham, under the year 779, has the entry, Duke Aldred, the slayer of King Ethelred, was slain by Duke Thorhtmund in revenge for his lord.
[125] This amounts to an official representation of the three great powers, the West Saxons, the Mercians, and the Northumbrians.
[126] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 486.
[127] An Irishman.
[128] From 784 to 819.
[129] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 487.
[130] We know nothing certain of this person.
[131] We cannot trace his pedigree.
[132] Simeon of Durham says that he committed suicide.
[133] In theory, at least, we know better now.
[134] A.D. 779 to 788.
[135] James ii. 13.
[136] Pet. iv. 17.
[137] He died in 703.
[138] He resigned in 716, and took from the library of Wearmouth the Codex Amiatinus as a present to the Pope. This huge and noble codex is now in the Laurenziana, in Florence. See my Lessons from Early English Church History, pp. 72-75.
[139] See my Theodore and Wilfrith, pp. 106, 124, and for Acca’s Cross, pp. 257-61.
[140] Bishop of Whithern (Candentis-Casae, Ep. 20, usually Candidae Casae), 777-789; of Hexham, 789-797.
[141] Writing to an Englishman, Alcuin gives his Anglian name in its Anglian spelling and without a Latin termination.
[142] See [p. 123]. The full story is given by Simeon of Durham under the year 790, meaning 791: “In the second year of Ethelred (i. e. of his restored sovereignty) Duke Eardulf was captured and taken to Ripon, and was ordered by the said king to be put to death outside the gate of the monastery. The brethren carried the body to the church with Gregorian chants, and placed it in a shed outside the door. He was found after midnight in the church, alive.”
[143] In April, 796, the Patrician Osbald was made king by certain leading men of the nation. But after twenty-seven days he was deserted by the whole of the royal family and the chief men, and was put to flight and banished from the kingdom. He escaped with a few followers to the Isle of Lindisfarne, and thence went by sea with some of the brethren to the king of the Picts. Sim. Dur. 795.
[144] Slain at Cobre (Corbridge has been suggested), April 18, 796.
[145] The Picts of the east of Scotland.
[146] Matt. xviii. 15, “Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.”
[147] John viii. 34.
[148] Cant. viii. 7.
[149] 1 Tim. v. 20.
[150] Matt. xii. 50. It will be seen that Alcuin does not quote exactly. The Vulgate has frater et soror et mater.
[151] Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum, p. 272.
[152] No doubt oil specially pure, and vegetable; we may safely say olive oil, for purposes of chrism. Theodore of Canterbury informs us (Theodore and Wilfrith, S.P.C.K. p. 180) that “according to the Greeks a presbyter can ... make the oil for exorcism and the chrism for the sick, if necessary; but according to the Romans only a bishop can do so”. Hence the mention of bishops in the letter of Alcuin. See also [page 245, note 2].
[153] In this case Alcuin writes Karli regis; in other cases he uses the full form Carolus, which comes from rolling the r in Karlus.
[154] Shekels. On the argument that the didrachma was the shekel in the New Testament the sicle may be put at 1s. 7½d., but that gives no idea of its purchasing power then, which was probably nearer £1. It will be seen that in a later sentence sicles of pure gold are specified.
[156] As in year the Anglo-Saxon g was pronounced as y, hence the name Mayo. In east Yorkshire a gate is still called a yet.
[157] See [Appendix B].
[158] The passage is incomplete, but this is the sense of it.
[159] This is not Lull of Malmesbury, who was so great a help to Boniface; he died an archbishop in 787.
[160] A presbyter, who succeeded his namesake in the archbishopric.
[161] We cannot imagine another dignity open to an aged Archbishop of York to be preferred to that which he already held. But it is evident that Alcuin referred to his retirement upon an abbacy, which would set him comparatively free from calls for exertion.
[162] Eph. v. 23.
[163] It has been supposed that Alcuin refers to some purpose of bequeathing the library of York to Eanbald II.
[164] Ecclus. vi. 6.
[165] Ethelred of Northumbria was killed and Offa of Mercia died in this year 796.
[166] James v. 11. Our version would have suited the occasion better than the Vulgate, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.”
[167] In the older MSS. in Deo, which has a subtle unintentional bearing on the controversy with which we are dealing; unintentional if, as seems certain, we possess MSS. of the Athanasian symbol of a date earlier than the beginning of the heresy of Felix.
[168] The punctuation is that of Wattenbach and Dümmler. Migne puts a full stop after the Pope and another after the Patriarch: this would seem to make singuli refer to two persons only, the two bishops. The Roman controversialist makes a different punctuation, putting a full stop after the Pope and running the three others together. The whole passage ought to be read in the Latin without any punctuation. See [Appendix C, p. 319].
[169] Ep. 30, A.D. 793.
[171] Bede i. 25, “Imaginem Domini salvatoris in tabula depictam.”
[172] The historian-monk of St. Gallen says that his new eyes were better than his old ones, both for use and to look at.
[173] Ep. 120, to Arno.
[174] The account which follows is taken from the contemporary annals of Eginhart.
[175] Under the year 800.
[176] The actual words are given by Baronius, but with a vague reference to his authority. They are given at length by Milman, Hist. of Lat. Christianity, ii. 205.
[177] The ordinary word for the crypt or other receptacle of the body of a saint.
[178] Stephen I was Pope 252 to 257. Another Stephen was elected on March 14, 752, but died before his consecration. On March 26, 752, the Stephen here spoken of was elected. He is thus more properly called Stephen II than Stephen III; and Stephen IV, who appears in Karl’s time, should be called Stephen III. Many writers, however, call them Stephen III and Stephen IV.
[179] Labbe, Concil. xii. 539.
[180] Labbe, Concil. xii. 543.
[182] The district was rich in wine, fruit, flowers, and honey.
[183] Archbishop Albert of York; see [p. 84].
[184] Solomon’s Song, iv. 12—v. 2.
[185] Isaiah, lv. 1.
[187] There are great difficulties in the way of accepting this statement of a mission by Karl in 773. The passage calls Albinus deliciosus ipsius regis, and is quoted by Ducange as an evidence of the use of the word. It appears to imply a more intimate acquaintance than at that early date there can have been.
[188] In modern times, better wine is grown near Tours than near Orleans. The wines of Vouvray, for example, beyond Marmoutier, are much esteemed. A waiter at Tours concedes that wine is still grown at Orleans, mais pas de spécialité comme ici.
[189] The spellings of ordinary names are varied in those times almost at will, and it is interesting to note how often the letter h plays a part in the variation.
[190] 1 Chron. xxvii. 27.
[191] Song of Songs, ii. 4. Alcuin takes on the whole the Vulgate version. It will be seen by reference to the text and margin of the Authorised and the Revised Versions that there is much variety in the rendering of the Hebrew, especially as regards the word here rendered “flowers”. The Septuagint gives a sixth meaning, “perfumes” or “unguents”.
[192] 1 Chron. xxvii. 32. Alcuin makes here an unusually bold use of Scripture, first in taking to himself the description of David’s uncle, Jonathan, and then in putting into his mouth a cento of phrases from Judges xvi. 4, Jer. xlviii. 33, Prov. v. 16.
[193] This song is built up from Song of Solomon vii. 12, v. 1, 2, vii. 9, vi. 3, and Isa lv. 1.
[194] Song of Songs v. 3.
[195] Luke xi. 5, 7.
[196] 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2.
[197] This appears to be going beyond a joke.
[198] Prov. xxv. 24.
[199] This is of course not the usually assigned derivation; but it sounds the more reasonable of the two.
[203] Multitudo paganorum idolatriis dedita. Per cryptas et latibula cum paucis Christianis per eumdem conversis, mysterium solemnitatis diei Dominici clanculo celebrabat.
[205] For further extracts from Hadrian’s decree, see [p. 228].
[206] His last testament is printed by Migne in the Appendix to the works of Gregory of Tours, columns 1148-51. “Simul et omnes libros meos praeter Evangeliorum librum quem scripsit Hilarius quondam Pictavensis sacerdos quem tibi Eufronio fratri et consacerdoti dilectissimo cum prefata theca do lego volo statuo.” This theca was one of silver, containing relics of saints, which he used to carry about with him. Another theca, gilt, was in his chest, with two chalices of gold and a gold cross made by Mabuin; these he left to his church.
[207] Gesta Regum, i. 3.
[211] Printed in Gallia Christiana under Tours. See [p. 228].
[213] It may be helpful to remember that the abbey was originally outside the ancient Roman city, and its district was called Martinopolis. The ancient Gallican bishoprics were bishoprics of cities rather than of dioceses in our wide sense of the word. This may conceivably have a bearing on the curious question raised by Hadrian.
[214] See my Constitution of French Chapters, Proceedings of St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, Vol. III, 1895.
[215] Micah v. 5, 6.
[216] James ii. 13.
[217] We know from other sources that this “&c.” meant Most Serene Augustus, crowned by God, great peace-making Emperor, Governor of the Roman Empire, by the mercy of God King of the Franks and of the Lombards.
[218] The emperor irresistibly reminds us of the Eton master and the boy who complained that his name was not that called for punishment:—
Sive tu mavis Bōsănquet vocari
Sive Bōsănquet,
Te vapulabo.
[219] That is, Theodulfus, the Bishop of Orleans.
[220] Romans xiv. 4.
[221] 1 Kings xx. 42.
[222] This refers, no doubt, to the immunity of St. Martin’s from the intervention of the Archbishop.
[223] Eulogias. Wattenbach and Dümmler gloss this cibos. From its original meaning of the consecrated wafer it came to mean the pain benit, then any present, and then a salutation. There is no clue to its special meaning here.
[224] The character of the Latin verse may be gathered from the closing words of this hexameter, est non laudabile cui nil.
[225] In another poem Theodulf begs Queen Luitgard to send him some oil of balsam, to enable him to compose and consecrate cream for chrism. We must suppose that Luitgard had some special connexion with ports to which balsams were brought.
Balsameum regina mihi transmitte liquorem,
Quo bene per populos chrismatis unguen eat.
Inde seges crescet tibimet mercedis opimae
Christicolum nomen cum dabit unguen idem.
[227] That is, a summary, epitome; not as yet a service-book.
[228] Ps. lxx. 14. The Vulgate, which Alcuin quotes, has more point for his present purpose, adiiciam super omnem laudem tuam, “I will add Thy praise above all praise.”
[229] Exod. xxiii. 8. Alcuin reads corda sapientium where the Vulgate has prudentes.
[230] The letter was written in Lent. Easter day in 800 was April 19.
[231] These were Gisla, Charlemagne’s sister, and Rodtruda, his daughter; see also [p. 253].
[232] Adapted from chapters i and ii of Solomon’s Song.
Nomine pandecten proprio vocitare memento
Hoc corpus sacrum, lector, in ore tuo.
Quid nunc a multis constat bibliotheca dictum
Nomine non proprio, ut lingua pelasga probat.
A pandect was the whole Bible, Old and New Testament, as its name, “containing everything,” implies. A bibliotheca, like our word “library,” meant both a room or case where books were stored, and also the collection of books in the place; hence it might be used for the pandect, on the ground that it was a collection of all the books of the Bible.
[234] Wattenbach and Dümmler, 223-4.
[235] See on this point [pp. 86-9].
[236] See my Anglo-Saxon Coronation Forms, and the use of the word Protestant in the Coronation Oath, S. P. C. K.
[237] That is, if the Pope has recovered from the attempt to blind him and cut out his tongue.
[238] Presumably, if new charges are made against the Pope.
[239] A reference to Pliny’s Natural History, where wolves are credited with this power; see also Virgil, Ecl. ix. 53, 54.
[240] A reference to Leo’s denial of the charges against him at Paderborn, and also to St. Peter’s denial. We must credit Alcuin with having seen that he would be taken to mean that one was as true as the other. The denial was renewed at Rome, see [p. 189].
[242] St. Martin’s at Tours.
[243] His pupils.
[245] It is a curious coincidence that the ivory comb found in St. Cuthbert’s coffin, provided by Westone after the Norman Conquest, had—as nearly as we can count—sixty teeth, sixteen large and forty-four small. Alcuin’s comb may have had the same double row of teeth, with a knob in the shape of a lion’s head projecting from the ends of the central ivory.
[246] Monumenta Alcuiniana, Wattenbach and Dümmler, p. 63.
[247] Italian Alps, Longmans, 1875, Appendix D, pp. 371-3.
[248] Kemble, Cod. Dipl. ii. 208-62. Coolidge, Swiss Travel, 160. “Perpessus sit gelidis glacierum (and glaciarum) flatibus, et pennino exercitu malignorum spirituum.”
[249] Gesta Pontificum, Rolls series, pp. 25, 26, 265.
[250] See my Lessons from Early English Church History, pp. 45, 46.
[251] Written from Rome; not preserved.
[252] Leo III.
[253] See [p. 281 note].
[255] There were two monasteries with this dedication. One of these, Iuvavense, was at Salzburg, and probably it is the one to which reference is made.
[257] It is probable that he was called Cuckoo from the refrain of some favourite song of his. The Teutonic name for the “bird of spring” was not a likely personal name, any more than cuckoo is with us.
[258] See also Epistle 186 in [Appendix A].
[259] Here, and in Ep. 108, to Arno, Alcuin combines two phrases from the Song of Solomon, v. 7 and 8: “The watchmen have wounded me,” “I am sick of love.” In the letter to Arno he appears to quote the actual words of a text in his possession: vulnerata karitate ego sum; in the present letter he writes caritatis calamo vulneratus sum. The Vulgate has vulneraverunt me—amore langueo. See [p. 275].
[260] Eginhart in his life of Karl (ch. 25) states that the king studied grammar under Peter of Pisa, an aged deacon.
[261] This was Angilbertus.
[262] That is, Eginhart, the man skilled in many arts, as was Bezaleel, the chief architect of the Tabernacle.
[264] The Wends.
[265] Eginhard tells us under this year 789 that Karl crossed the Rhine at Cologne with a great army, pushed through Saxony as far as the Elbe, and brought the Wiltzi to terms. That, he says, is their name in the Frank tongue. In their own tongue they are Welatabi.
[266] The Huns, or Avars, had in the previous year invaded Italy and Bavaria.
[268] “Amice carissime.”
[269] See my Aldhelm, S.P.C.K., p. 129.
[270] Mansi, Concilia, xiii. 937.
[271] Vienna, 1904.
[272] Cummings, History of Architecture in Italy, ii. 71.
[273] Pertz, Monumenta (Scriptores), ii. 665, 6.
[274] de ista die.
[275] savoir et pouvoir me donne.
[276] chacune.
[277] comme homme.
[278] droit.
[279] faciet.
[280] secundum meum velle.
[281] Concilium Liptinense.
[282] A photograph of this inscription is reproduced at p. 209 of my Conversion of the Heptarchy.
[283] This must have come very near to being an umbrella.
[284] Dan. xiv. 35, Vulgate.
[285] Bonefatii. This was, of course, the great English missionary Archbishop of Maintz, martyred at Dorkum in 755.
[286] 1 Cor. xv. 58.
[287] Rom. xii. 2.
[288] Based on 1 Pet. ii. 1.
[289] He was Abbat of Fulda from 780 to 802, when he resigned the office.
[290] This, no doubt, is the origin of the tradition that Alcuin wrote the Office for Trinity Sunday. See [pp. 20], [173].
[291] Rom. xiv. 5.
[292] It will be observed that no mention is made of a king of Kent. See [p. 91].
[293] See the list on the next pages.
[294] This would indicate that the aula at which they had met the king and held the council was one of Offa’s outlying manors, and not his central royal residence.
[295] Supposed, on slight reasoning, to have been held at Corbridge, see [p. 216].
[296] Besides those in the Pope’s list.
[297] Sacerdos. It is uncertain to how late a date sacerdos is to be rendered bishop.
[298] Wattenbach and Dümmler give only the headings of the chapters, as here. The chapters themselves will be found in Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 448-58.
[299] There are many injunctions that priests and others serving at the altar must wear drawers. There is quite a large literature on the subject of these garments (femoralia), in which such of the early fathers as are given to symbolism find symbolic meanings. They were an essential part of the dress of the Levitical priesthood (Exod. xxviii. 42, 43).
[300] Probably referring to the practice of tattooing.
[301] Prudentius (Dipt. i. 3) has “Adam” not “humum”.
[302] This was Tilbert, Bishop of Hexham (Augustald) 781-789. There is no reason of seniority or priority that should make him sign above the Archbishop. If, as is probable, the Council was held at Corbridge, in his diocese, he might sign first as bishop of the place.
[303] Praesul. In the other signatures episcopus is used.
[304] Candens-casa, usually Candida-casa, so named from its being the first church built of white stone in that region.
[305] Myensis. see [p. 156]. Aldulf was consecrated in 786, the year of this Council, by Eanbald, Tilberht, and Hygbald, at Corbridge. It is on this account that the Germans think the Council was held at Corbridge. Hexham would equally meet the case, and better meets the suggestion of a previous note.
[306] Not as yet identified.
[307] It is rather quaint that Sigha should have chosen placido mente as the phrase to describe his manner of assent to No. 12 above, for two years later he killed King Aelfwald, and he eventually died by his own hand.
[308] Of Ripon, 786-787.
[309] Some read Alquinum here, and make Alcuin one of the two lectores.
[310] The text has two forms of this variously spelled name.
[311] Higbert of Lichfield 779-802.
[312] Lindsey 767-796. The Lindisfaras had nothing to do with Lindisfarne.
[313] Leicester 781-802.
[314] Elmham 786-811, see [p. 159].
[315] London 794-801.
[316] Kinbert of Winchester 785-801.
[317] Hendred of Dunwich, 781-789.
[318] Esne of Hereford 781-789.
[319] Tolta of Selsey 781-789.
[320] Rochester 785-803.
[321] Sherborn 766-793.
[322] Worcester 781-798.
[323] “Aimoini monachi, qui antea Annonii nomine editus est, Historiae Francorum” Lib. V. Parisiis. 1567.
[324] Omitted in the quotation.