O face, face more shining than gold thrice refined,
Happy he who always is with thee.
The head illustrious, the chin, the neck so beautiful,
The hands of gold, that banish poverty.
The breast, the legs, the feet, all laudable,[224]
All shining forth in beauty and in strength.
The latest wife of the king, Luitgard, has eight pretty lines devoted to her, after an inauspicious opening address to “the fair virago, Luitgard”. This dates the poem before 801, in which year Luitgard died at Tours. The tower of St. Martin’s, now called the tower of Charlemagne, was raised over her tomb.[225]
Alcuin was evidently a very prominent figure at court, keeping things alive by his knowledge and wit and subtleties.
And Flaccus too is there, the glory of our poets,