EFFECT OF THE WORK OF CHARLEMAGNE AND ALCUIN. The actual results of the work of Charlemagne and Alcuin were, after all, rather meager. The difficulties they faced are almost beyond our comprehension. Nobles and clergy were alike ignorant and uncouth. There seemed no place to begin. It may be said that by Charlemagne's work he greatly widened the area of civilization, created a new Frankish-Roman Empire to be the inheritor of the civilization and culture of the old one, checked the decline in learning and reawakened a desire for study, and that he began the substitution of ideas for might as a ruling force among the tribes under his rule. That for a time he gave an important impetus to the study of letters, which resulted in a real revival in the educational work of some of the monasteries and cathedral schools, seems certain. Men knew more of books and wrote better Latin than before, and those who wished to learn found it easier to do so. The state of society and the condition of the times, however, were against any large success for such an ambitious educational undertaking, and after the death of Charlemagne, the division of his empire, and the invasions of the Northmen, education slowly declined again, though never to quite the level it had reached when Charlemagne came to the throne. In a few schools there was no decline, and these became the centers of learning of the future. Charlemagne having substituted merit for favoritism in his realm, promoting to be bishops and abbots the most learned men of his time, many of these became zealous workers in the cause of education and did much to keep up and advance learning after his death.
Among the most able of his helpers was Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans. He carried out most thoroughly in his diocese the instructions of the king, giving to his clergy the following directions:
Let the priests hold schools in the towns and villages, and if any of the faithful wish to entrust their children to them for the learning of letters, let them not refuse to receive and teach such children. Moreover, let them teach them from pure affection, remembering that it is written, "the wise shall shine as the splendor of the firmament," and "they that instruct many in righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and forever." And let them exact no price from the children for their teaching, nor receive anything from them, save what their parents may offer voluntarily and from affection.
Another able assistant was Alcuin himself, who, after fourteen years of strenuous service at Charlemagne's court, was rewarded by the king with the office of Abbot at the monastery of Saint Martin, at Tours. There he spent the last eight years of his life in teaching, copying manuscripts, and writing letters to bishops and abbots regarding the advancement of religion and learning. The work of Alcuin in directing the copying of manuscripts has been described. In a letter to Charlemagne, soon after his appointment, he reviews his labors, contrasts the state of learning in England and Frankland, and appeals to Charlemagne for books from England to copy (R. 65). So important was his work as a teacher as well that at his death, in 814, most of the important educational centers of the kingdom were in the hands of his former pupils. Perhaps the most important of all these was Rabanus Maurus, who became head of the monastery school at Fulda. We shall learn more of him in the next chapter.
[Illustration: FIG. 42. WHERE THE DANES RAVAGED ENGLAND.]
NEW INVASIONS; THE NORTHMEN. Five years after Alcuin went to Frankland to help Charlemagne revive learning in his kingdom, a fresh series of barbarian invasions began with the raiding of the English coast by the Danes. In raid after raid, extending over nearly a hundred years, these Danes gradually overran all of eastern and central England from London north to beyond Whitby, plundering and burning the churches and monasteries, and destroying books and learning everywhere. By the Peace of Wedmore, effected by King Alfred in 878, the Danes were finally given about one half of England, and in return agreed to settle down and accept Christianity. The damage done by these invaders was very large, and King Alfred, in his introduction to an Anglo-Saxon translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care (R. 66), gives a gloomy picture of the destruction wrought to the churches and the decay of learning in England.
Other bands of these Northmen (Danes and Norwegians) began to prey on the northern coast of Frankland, and in the tenth century seized all the coast of what is now northern France and down as far as Paris and Tours. From Tours to Corbie (see Figure 41) churches and monasteries were pillaged and burned, Tours and Corbie with their libraries both perishing. Amiens and Paris were laid siege to, and disorder reigned throughout northern Frankland. The Annals of Xanten and the Annals of Saint Vaast, two mediaeval chronicles of importance, give gloomy pictures of this period. Three selections will illustrate:
According to their custom the Northmen plundered East and West Frisia and burned … towns…. With their boats filled with immense booty, including both men and goods, they returned to their own country. [19]
The Normans inflicted much harm in Frisia and about the Rhine. A mighty army of them collected by the river Elbe against the Saxons, and some of the Saxon towns were besieged, others burned, and most terribly did they oppress the Christians. [20]
The Northmen ceased not to take Christian people captive and kill them, and to destroy churches and houses and burn villages. Through all the streets lay bodies of the clergy, of laymen, nobles, and others, of women, children, and suckling babes. There was no road or place where the dead did not lie, and all who saw Christian people slaughtered were filled with sorrow and despair. [21]