{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71904/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71904","id":"gutenberg_71904","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71904","summary":null,"tags":["Alcuin, 735-804","Category: Biographies","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education"],"text":"ALCUIN OF YORK\n\n LECTURES DELIVERED IN THE CATHEDRAL\n CHURCH OF BRISTOL IN 1907 AND 1908\n\n BY THE\n RIGHT REV. G. F. BROWNE\n D.D., D.C.L., F.S.A.\n BISHOP OF BRISTOL\n FORMERLY DISNEY PROFESSOR OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY\n IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE\n\n WITH ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.\n\n LONDON:\n SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.\n NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.\n BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET.\n NEW YORK: E. S. GORHAM.\n 1908\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nNo attempt has been made to correct the various forms of many of the\nproper names so as to make the spelling uniform. It is true to the period\nto leave the curious variations as Alcuin and others wrote them. In\nthe case of Pope Hadrian, the name has been written Hadrian and Adrian\nindiscriminately in the text.\n\nWhile Alcuin\u2019s style is lucid, his habit of dictating letters hurriedly,\nand sending them off without revision if he had a headache, has left its\nmark on the letters as we have them. It has seemed better to leave the\ndifficulties in the English as he left them in the Latin.\n\nThe edition used, and the numbering of the Epistles adopted, is that of\nWattenbach and D\u00fcmmler, _Monumenta Alcuiniana_, Berlin 1873, being the\nsixth volume of the _Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n The authorship of the anonymous Life of Alcuin.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s Life\n of his relative Willibrord.\u2014Willibrord at Ripon.\u2014Alchfrith and\n Wilfrith.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s conversion.\u2014His studies under Ecgbert and\n Albert at the Cathedral School of York.\u2014Ecgbert\u2019s method of\n teaching.\u2014Alcuin becomes assistant master of the School.\u2014Is\n ordained deacon.\u2014Becomes head master.\u2014Joins Karl 1\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n Alcuin finally leaves England.\u2014The Adoptionist heresy.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n retirement to Tours.\u2014His knowledge of secrets.\u2014Karl and the\n three kings his sons.\u2014Fire at St. Martin\u2019s, Tours.\u2014References\n to the life of St. Martin.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s writings.\u2014His interview\n with the devil.\u2014His last days 23\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n The large bulk of Alcuin\u2019s letters and other writings.\u2014The\n main dates of his life.\u2014Bede\u2019s advice to Ecgbert.\u2014Careless\n lives of bishops.\u2014No parochial system.\u2014Inadequacy of the\n bishops\u2019 oversight.\u2014Great monasteries to be used as sees for\n new bishoprics, and evil monasteries to be suppressed.\u2014Election\n of abbats and hereditary descent.\u2014Evils of pilgrimages.\u2014Daily\n Eucharists 51\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n The school of York.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s poem on the Bishops and Saints\n of the Church of York.\u2014The destruction of the Britons by\n the Saxons.\u2014Description of Wilfrith II, Ecgbert, Albert, of\n York.\u2014Balther and Eata.\u2014Church building in York.\u2014The Library of\n York 68\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n The affairs of Mercia.\u2014Tripartite division of England.\u2014The\n creation of a third archbishopric, at Lichfield.\u2014Offa and\n Karl.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letter to Athelhard of Canterbury; to Beornwin\n of Mercia.\u2014Karl\u2019s letter to Offa, a commercial treaty.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n letter to Offa.\u2014Offa\u2019s death 87\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n Grant to Malmesbury by Ecgfrith of Mercia.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letters to\n Mercia.\u2014Kenulf and Leo III restore Canterbury to its primatial\n position.\u2014Gifts of money to the Pope.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letters to the\n restored archbishop.\u2014His letter to Karl on the archbishop\u2019s\n proposed visit.\u2014Letters of Karl to Offa (on a question of\n discipline) and Athelhard (in favour of Mercian exiles) 106\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n List of the ten kings of Northumbria of Alcuin\u2019s\n time.\u2014Destruction of Lindisfarne, Wearmouth, and Jarrow, by the\n Danes.\u2014Letters of Alcuin on the subject to King Ethelred, the\n Bishop and monks of Lindisfarne, and the monks of Wearmouth and\n Jarrow.\u2014His letter to the Bishop and monks of Hexham 122\n\n CHAPTER VIII\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letters to King Eardulf and the banished intruder\n Osbald.\u2014His letters to King Ethelred and Ethelred\u2019s mother.\u2014The\n Irish claim that Alcuin studied at Clonmacnoise.\u2014Mayo of the\n Saxons 140\n\n CHAPTER IX\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letter to all the prelates of England.\u2014To the Bishops\n of Elmham and Dunwich.\u2014His letters on the election to the\n archbishopric of York.\u2014To the new archbishop, and the monks\n whom he sent to advise him.\u2014His urgency that bishops should\n read Pope Gregory\u2019s Pastoral Care 157\n\n CHAPTER X\n\n Summary of Alcuin\u2019s work in France.\u2014Adoptionism, Alcuin\u2019s seven\n books against Felix and three against Elipandus.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n advice that a treatise of Felix be sent to the Pope and\n three others.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s name dragged into the controversy on\n Transubstantiation.\u2014Image-worship.\u2014The four _Libri Carolini_\n and the Council of Frankfurt.\u2014The bearing of the _Libri\n Carolini_ on the doctrine of Transubstantiation 172\n\n CHAPTER XI\n\n Karl and Rome.\u2014His visits to that city.\u2014The offences and\n troubles of Leo III.\u2014The coronation of Charlemagne.\u2014The Pope\u2019s\n adoration of the Emperor.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s famous letter to Karl prior\n to his coronation.\u2014Two great Roman forgeries, the Donation of\n Constantine and the Letter of St. Peter to the Franks 186\n\n CHAPTER XII\n\n Alcuin retires to the Abbey and School of Tours.\u2014Sends\n to York for more advanced books.\u2014Begs for old wine from\n Orleans.\u2014Karl calls Tours a smoky place.\u2014Fees charged to the\n students.\u2014History and remains of the Abbey Church of St.\n Martin.\u2014The tombs of St. Martin and six other Saints.\u2014The\n Public Library of Tours.\u2014A famous Book of the Gospels.\u2014St.\n Martin\u2019s secularised.\u2014Martinensian bishops 202\n\n CHAPTER XIII\n\n Further details of the Public Library of Tours.\u2014Marmoutier.\u2014The\n Royal Abbey of Cormery.\u2014Licence of Hadrian I to St. Martin\u2019s to\n elect bishops.\u2014Details of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church\n of Tours 219\n\n CHAPTER XIV\n\n Great dispute on right of sanctuary.\u2014Letters of Alcuin on the\n subject to his representatives at court and to a bishop.\u2014The\n emperor\u2019s severe letter to St. Martin\u2019s.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s reply.\u2014Verses\n of the bishop of Orleans on Charlemagne, Luitgard, and Alcuin\n 231\n\n CHAPTER XV\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letters to Charlemagne\u2019s sons.\u2014Recension of the\n Bible.\u2014The \u201cAlcuin Bible\u201d at the British Museum.\u2014Other supposed\n \u201cAlcuin Bibles.\u201d\u2014Anglo-Saxon Forms of Coronation used at the\n coronations of French kings 246\n\n CHAPTER XVI\n\n Examples of Alcuin\u2019s style in his letters, allusive,\n jocose, playful.\u2014The perils of the Alps.\u2014The vision of\n Drithelme.\u2014Letters to Arno.\u2014Bacchus and Cupid 264\n\n CHAPTER XVII\n\n Grammatical questions submitted to Alcuin by Karl.\u2014Alcuin and\n Eginhart.\u2014Eginhart\u2019s description of Charlemagne.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n interest in missions.\u2014The premature exaction of\n tithes.\u2014Charlemagne\u2019s elephant Abulabaz.\u2014Figures of\n elephants in silk stuffs.\u2014Earliest examples of French and\n German.\u2014Boniface\u2019s _Abrenuntiatio Diaboli_.\u2014Early Saxon.\u2014The\n earliest examples of Anglo-Saxon prose and verse 280\n\n CHAPTER XVIII\n\n Alcuin\u2019s latest days.\u2014His letters mention his ill health.\u2014His\n appeals for the prayers of friends, and of strangers.\u2014An\n affectionate letter to Charlemagne.\u2014The death scene 298\n\n APPENDICES\n\n A. A letter of Alcuin to Fulda 305\n\n B. The report of the papal legates, George and Theophylact, on\n their mission to England 310\n\n C. The original Latin of Alcuin\u2019s suggestion that a treatise by\n Felix should be sent to the Pope and three others 319\n\n D. The Donation of Constantine 320\n\n E. Harun Al Raschid and Charlemagne 324\n\n INDEX 325\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Plate I. St. Martin\u2019s, Tours, before the pillage _To face page_ 210\n\n Plate II. The Tour St. Martin 211\n\n Plate III. The Tour Charlemagne 212\n\n Plate IV. The Tomb of St. Martin 213\n\n Plate V. Some remains of Marmoutier 222\n\n Plate VI. Early capital at Cormery 227\n\n Plate VII. Elephant from robes in the tomb of Charlemagne 290\n\n Plate VIII. Inscription worked into the above robe 291\n\n Plate IX. Silk stuff of the seventh or eighth century 292\n\n Plate X. Archbishop Boniface\u2019s form for renouncing the devil 295\n\n Plate XI. The earliest piece of English prose 296\n\n Plate XII. The earliest piece of English verse 297\n\n\n\n\nALCUIN OF YORK.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n The authorship of the anonymous Life of Alcuin.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s Life\n of his relative Willibrord.\u2014Willibrord at Ripon.\u2014Alchfrith and\n Wilfrith.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s conversion.\u2014His studies under Ecgbert and\n Albert at the Cathedral School of York.\u2014Ecgbert\u2019s method of\n teaching.\u2014Alcuin becomes assistant master of the School.\u2014Is\n ordained deacon.\u2014Becomes head master.\u2014Joins Karl.\n\n\nThe only Life of Alcuin which we possess, coming from early times, was\nwritten by a monk who does not give his name, at the command of an abbat\nwhose name, as also that of his abbey, is not mentioned by the writer.\nWe have, however, this clue, that the writer learned his facts from a\nfavourite disciple and priest of Alcuin himself, by name Sigulf. Sigulf\nreceived from Alcuin the pet name of Vetulus, \u201clittle old fellow,\u201d in\naccordance with the custom of the literary and friendly circle of which\nAlcuin was the centre. Alcuin himself was Flaccus; Karl the King of the\nFranks, and afterwards Emperor, was David; and so on. We learn further\nthat the abbat who assigned to the anonymous monk the task of writing\nthe Life was himself a disciple of Sigulf. Sigulf succeeded Alcuin as\nAbbat of Ferri\u00e8res; and when he retired on account of old age, he was in\nturn succeeded by two of his pupils whom he had brought up as his sons,\nAdalbert and Aldric. The Life was written after the death of Benedict of\nAniane, that is, after the year 823. Adalbert had before that date been\nsucceeded by Aldric, and Aldric became Archbishop of Sens in the end\nof 829. The Life was probably written between 823 and 829 by a monk of\nFerri\u00e8res, by order of Aldric. Alcuin had died in 804. The writer of the\nLife had never even seen Alcuin; he was in all probability not a monk of\nTours.\n\nThat is the view of the German editor Wattenbach as to the authorship and\ndedication of the Life. That learned man appears to have given inadequate\nweight to the writer\u2019s manner of citing Aldric as a witness to the truth\nof a quaint story told in the Life. This is the story, as nearly as\npossible in the monk\u2019s words:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe man of the Lord [Alcuin himself] had read in his youth the books\nof the ancient philosophers and the romances[1] of Vergil,[2] but he\nwould not in his old age have them read to him or allow others to read\nthem. The divine poets, he was wont to say, were sufficient for them,\nthey did not need to be polluted with the luxurious flow of Vergil\u2019s\nverse. Against this precept the little old fellow Sigulf tried to act\nsecretly, and for this he was put to the blush publicly. Calling to him\ntwo youths whom he was bringing up as sons, Adalbert and Aldric, he\nbade them read Vergil with him in complete secrecy, ordering them by no\nmeans to let any one know, lest it come to the ears of Father Albinus\n[Alcuin]. But Albinus called him in an ordinary way to come to him, and\nthen said: \u2018Where do you come from, you Vergilian? Why have you planned,\ncontrary to my wish and advice, to read Vergil?\u2019 Sigulf threw himself\nat his feet, confessed that he had acted most foolishly, and declared\nhimself penitent. The pious father administered a scolding to him, and\nthen accepted the amends he made, warning him never to do such a thing\nagain. Abbat Aldric, a man worthy of God, who still survives, testifies\nthat neither he nor Adalbert had told any one about it; they had been\nabsolutely silent, as Sigulf had enjoined.\u201d\n\nIt seems practically impossible to suppose that the monk would have put\nit in this way, if Aldric had been the abbat to whom he dedicated the\nLife, or indeed the abbat of his own monastery. It is clear that the Life\nwas written while Aldric was still an abbat, that is between 823 and 829;\nand it seems most probable that it was written by a monk of some other\nmonastery for his own abbat. Nothing of importance, however, turns upon\nthis discussion. It is a rather curious fact, considering the severity\nof Alcuin\u2019s objection to Vergil being read in his monastery, that the\nbeautiful copy of Vergil at Berne, of very early ninth-century date,\nbelonged to St. Martin of Tours from Carolingian times, and was written\nthere.[3]\n\nNot unnaturally, the Life, written in and for a French monastery, does\nnot give details of the Northumbrian origin of Alcuin. It makes only the\nstatement usual in such biographies, that he sprang from a noble Anglian\nfamily. Curiously enough, we get such further details as we have from\na Life of St. Willibrord written by Alcuin himself at the request of\nArchbishop Beornrad of Sens, who was Abbat of Epternach, a monastery of\nWillibrord\u2019s, from 777 to 797.\n\n\u201cThere was,\u201d he writes, \u201cin the province of Northumbria, a father of a\nfamily, by race Saxon, by name Wilgils, who lived a religious life with\nhis wife and all his house. He had given up the secular life and entered\nupon the life of a monk; and when spiritual fervour increased in him\nhe lived solitary on the promontory which is girt by the ocean and the\nriver Humber (Spurn Point)[4]. Here he lived long in fasting and prayer\nin a little oratory dedicated to St. Andrew[5] the Apostle; he worked\nmiracles; his name became celebrated. Crowds of people consulted him;\nhe comforted them with the most sweet admonitions of the Word of God.\nHis fame became known to the king and great men of the realm, and they\nconferred upon him some small neighbouring properties, so that he might\nbuild a church. There he collected a congregation of servants of God,\nmoderate in size, but honourable. There, after long labours, he received\nhis crown from God; and there his body lies buried. His descendants to\nthis day hold the property by the title of his sanctity. Of them I am\nthe least in merit and the last in order. I, who write this book of\nthe history of the most holy father and greatest teacher Willibrord,\nsucceeded to the government of that small cell by legitimate degrees of\ndescent.\u201d\n\nInasmuch as the book is dedicated to Beornrad by the humble Levite (that\nis, deacon) Alcuin, we learn the very interesting fact that Alcuin, born\nin 735, came by hereditary right into possession of the property got\ntogether by Wilgils, whose son Willibrord was born in 657. The dates\nmake it practically almost certain that Wilgils was born a pagan. Alcuin\ninforms us that he only entered upon marriage because it was fated that\nhe should be the father of one who should be for the profit of many\npeoples. If Willibrord was, as Alcuin\u2019s words mean, the only child of\nWilgils, we must suppose that Alcuin was the great-great-great-nephew of\nWilgils, allowing twenty-five years for a generation in those short-lived\ntimes.\n\nAlcuin three times insists on the lawful hereditary descent of the\nownership and government of a monastery. A second case is in his preface\nto this Life of Willibrord. The body of the saint, he says, \u201crests in\na certain small maritime cell, over which I, though unworthy, preside\nby God\u2019s gift in lawful succession.\u201d A third case occurs also in this\nLife. \u201cThere is,\u201d he says, \u201cin the city of Tr\u00e8ves a monastery[6] of nuns,\nwhich in the times of the blessed Willibrord was visited by a very severe\nplague. Many of the handmaids of the Lord were dying of it; others were\nlying on their beds enfeebled by a long attack; the rest were in a state\nof terror, as fearing the presence of death. Now there is near that same\ncity the monastery of that holy man, which is called Aefternac,[7] in\nwhich up to this day the saint rests in the body, while his descendants\nare known to hold the monastery by legitimate paternal descent, and\nby the piety of most pious kings. When the women of the above-named\nmonastery heard that he was coming to this monastery of his, they sent\nmessengers begging him to hasten to them.\u201d He went, as the blessed Peter\nwent to raise Tabitha; celebrated a mass for the sick; blessed water,\nand had the houses sprinkled with it; and sent it to the sick sisters to\ndrink. Needless to say, they all recovered.\n\nIn two of these cases, the two in which Alcuin speaks of his own\nproperty, he uses the word succession, \u201cby legitimate succession\u201d in the\none case, _legitima successione_, \u201cthrough legitimate successions\u201d in the\nother case, _per legitimas successiones_, the former no doubt referring\nto the succession from his immediate predecessor, the latter referring to\nthe four, or five, steps in the descent from Wilgils to Alcuin. In the\ncase of the monastery of Epternach he defines it from the other end,\n\u201cfrom the legitimate handing-down,\u201d _traditione ex legitima_, the piety\nof the most pious kings being called in to confirm the handing-down.\n\nIt is remarkable that Alcuin should thus go out of his way to insist\nupon the lawfulness of the hereditary descent of monasteries, when he\nknew well that his venerated predecessor Bede, following the positive\nprinciple of the founder of Anglian monasticism in Northumbria, Benedict\nBiscop, attributed great evils to such hereditary succession to the\nproperty and governance of monasteries. We shall see something of this\nwhen we come to the consideration of Bede\u2019s famous letter to Ecgbert,\nwritten in or about the year of Alcuin\u2019s birth.\n\nIt is probably not necessary to suppose that Alcuin intends to draw a\ndistinction between the constitutional practice in Northumbria and that\nin the lands ruled by Karl, though it is a marked fact that he mentions\nthe intervention of kings in the latter case and twice does not mention\nit in the former. Bede says so much about the bribes\u2014or fees\u2014paid to\nNorthumbrian kings and bishops for ratification of first grants by their\nsignatures, that we can hardly suppose there were no fees to pay on\nsuccession. We cannot press such a point as this in Alcuin\u2019s Life of\nWillibrord, for he tells Beornrad in his Preface that he has been busy\nwith other things all day long, and has only been able to dictate this\nbook in the retirement of the night; and he urges that the work should\nbe mercifully judged because he has not had leisure to polish it. The\ngrammar of this dictated work needs a certain amount of correction;\nAlcuin did not always remember with what construction he had begun a\nsentence. In these days of dictated letters he has the sympathy of many\nin this respect.\n\nAlcuin\u2019s young relative Willibrord was sent away to Ripon, as soon as he\nwas weaned, to the charge of the brethren there. Alchfrith, the sub-King\nof Deira under his father Oswy, had driven out the Irish monks whom he\nhad at one time patronised at Ripon, and had given their possessions to\nWilfrith. Under the influence of that remarkable man the little child\ncame, still, in Alcuin\u2019s phrase, only an _infantulus_. His father\u2019s\npurpose in sending him to Ripon was twofold. He was to be educated in\nreligious study and sacred letters, in a place where his tender age might\nbe strengthened by vigorous discipline, where he would see nothing that\nwas not honourable, hear nothing that was not holy. At Ripon he remained\ntill he was twenty years of age, and then he passed across to Ireland, to\ncomplete his studies under Ecgbert, the great creator of missionaries.\nWith Ecgbert he spent twelve years.\n\nNow in the thirty-two years covered by that short narration, from 657\nto 689, events of the utmost moment had occurred in Northumbria, and\nhad mainly centered round Ripon. At the most critical juncture of these\nevents Bede becomes suddenly silent. Alfred\u2019s Anglo-Saxon version of\nBede goes further, and omits the bulk of what Bede does say. A few\nwords from Alcuin would have been of priceless value, and he, writing\nin France to a Frank, could have no national or ecclesiastical reason\nfor silence on points which Bede and Alfred let alone. The whole of the\nvariance between Oswy and his son and sub-King Alchfrith, on which Bede\nis determinedly silent, the only hint of which is preserved to us solely\nby the noble runes on the Bewcastle Cross, erected in 670 and still\nstanding, which bid men pray for the \u201chigh sin\u201d of Alchfrith\u2019s soul[8];\nthe whole secret of the variance between Oswy and Wilfrith; of Oswy\u2019s\nrefusal to recognize Wilfrith\u2019s consecration at Paris\u2014with unrivalled\nmagnificence of pomp\u2014to the episcopal See of York; all this, and more,\nis included in the first thirteen years of Willibrord\u2019s life at Ripon,\nand Ripon was the pivot of it all. Alcuin has no scintilla of a hint of\nanything unusual, not even when he mentions Ecgbert, the Northumbrian\nteacher, dwelling in Ireland, of whom we know from another source that he\nfled from Northumbria to safety in Ireland when Alchfrith and Wilfrith\nlost their power, and Alchfrith presumably lost his life. It is quite\npossible that if the head of the Bewcastle Cross were ever found[9] the\nrunes on it might tell us just what we want to know. The illustration\nof this portion of the Cross given in Gough\u2019s edition of Camden\u2019s\n_Britannia_[10] was drawn in 1607, at which time English scholars could\nnot read runic letters, and naturally could not copy them with perfect\naccuracy. Still, it is evident that the runes stand for RIKAES DRYHTNAES,\napparently meaning \u2018of the kingdom\u2019s lord\u2019, the copyist having failed to\nnotice the mark of modification in the rune for _u_, which turned it into\n_y_.\n\nTurning now to Alcuin himself, a remarkable story is told in the Life,\nevidently and avowedly on his authority. When he was still a small boy,\n_parvulus_, he was regular in attendance at church at the canonical hours\nof the day, but very seldom appeared there at night. What the monastery\nwas in which he passed his earliest years we are not told; but inasmuch\nas no break or change is mentioned between the story to which we now\nturn and the description of his more advanced studies, which certainly\nindicates the Archiepiscopal School of York, we must understand that York\nwas the scene of this occurrence.\n\n\u201cWhen he was eleven years of age, it happened one night that he and a\ntonsured rustic, one of the menial monks, that is, were sleeping on\nseparate pallets in one cell. The rustic did not like being alone in the\nnight, and as none of the rustics could accommodate him, he had begged\nthat one of the young students might be sent to sleep in the cell.\nThe boy Albinus was sent, who was fonder of Vergil than of Psalms. At\ncock-crow the warden struck the bell for nocturns, and the brethren got\nup for the appointed service. This rustic, however, only turned round\nonto his other side, as careless of such matters, and went on snoring.\nAt the moment when the invitatory psalm was as usual being sung, with\nthe antiphon, the rustic\u2019s cell was suddenly filled with horrid spirits,\nwho surrounded his bed, and said to him, \u2018You sleep well, brother.\u2019\nThat roused him, and they asked, \u2018Why are you snoring here by yourself,\nwhile the brethren are keeping watch in the church?\u2019 He then received a\nuseful flogging, so that by his amendment a warning might be given to\nall, and they might sing, \u2018I will remember the years of the right hand\nof the Most Highest,\u2019[11] while their eyes prevented the night watches.\nDuring the flogging of the rustic, the noble boy trembled lest the same\nshould happen to him; and, as he related afterwards, cried from the very\nbottom of his heart, \u2018O Lord Jesus, if Thou dost now deliver me from the\ncruel hands of these evil spirits, and I do not hereafter prove to be\neager for the night watches of Thy Church and the ministry of praise,\nand if I any longer love Vergil more than the chanting of psalms, may I\nreceive a flogging such as this. Only, I earnestly pray, deliver me, O\nLord, now.\u2019 That the lesson might be the more deeply impressed upon his\nmind, as soon as by the Lord\u2019s command the flogging of the rustic ceased,\nthe evil spirits cast their eyes about here and there, and saw the body\nand head of the boy most carefully wrapped up in the bedclothes, scarce\ntaking breath. The leader of the spirits asked, \u2018Who is this other asleep\nin the cell?\u2019 \u2018It is the boy Albinus,\u2019 they told him, \u2018hid away in his\nbed.\u2019 When the boy found that he was discovered, he burst into showers\nof tears; and the more he had suppressed his cries before, the louder\nhe cried now. They had all the will to deal unmercifully with him, but\nthey had not the power. They discussed what they should do with him;\nbut the sentence of the Lord compelled them to help him to keep the vow\nwhich he had made in his terror. Accordingly they said, imprudently for\ntheir purpose, but prudently for the purpose of the Lord, \u2018We will not\nchastise this one with severe blows, because he is young; we will only\npunish him by cutting with a knife the hard part of his feet.\u2019 They took\nthe covering off his feet. Albinus instantly protected himself with\nthe sign of the Cross. Then he chanted with all intentness the twelfth\npsalm, \u2018In the Lord put I my trust\u2019; and then the rustic, half dead,\nthe boy going before him with agile step, fled into the basilica to the\nprotection of the saints.\u201d\n\nA cynical reader might suggest that the disciplinary officers of the\nSchool of York resorted in those early times to unusual methods of making\nan impression on a careless boy.\n\nThe Life proceeds to inform us that Alcuin was trained under the prelate\nHechbert, whom we know as Ecgbert, Bishop and later Archbishop of York,\n732 to 766. That learned man was a disciple of Bede. He had under his\ntuition a flock of the sons of nobles, some of whom studied grammar,\nothers the liberal arts, others the divine scriptures.[12] They studied\nthe doctrine set forth by \u201cthe holy apostle of the English, Gregory;\nby Augustine, his disciple; by holy Benedict[13]; also by Cuthbert and\nTheodore, who followed in all things [a word is omitted here, presumably\nthe footsteps[14]] of their first father and apostle[15]; and by the man\nmost loved of the Lord, Bede the presbyter, Hechbert\u2019s own preceptor.\u201d\n\nThen follows a very lifelike description of an ordinary day\u2019s work, when\nno inevitable expedition came in the way, nor any high solemnity or\ngreat festival of the saints. \u201cFrom dawn of day to the sixth hour, and\nvery often to the ninth hour, Ecgbert lay on his couch and opened to his\ndisciples such of the secrets of scripture as suited each. Then he rose,\nand betook himself to most secret prayer, offering first to the Lord fat\nburnt-offerings with the incense of rams, and afterward, following the\nexample of the blessed Job, lest by chance his sons should slip into the\npit of benediction,[16] offering the Body of Christ and the Blood for\nall. By this time the vesper hour was coming near, and, except in Lent,\nall through the year, winter and summer, he took with his disciples\na meal, slight but fittingly prepared, not sparing the tongue of the\nreader, that both kinds of food might bring refreshment. Then you might\nsee the youths piercing one another with shafts prepared, discussing\nin private what afterwards they are to shoot forth in proper order in\npublic. Does it not seem to you that of this too it might be said,[17]\n\u201cAs an eagle provoketh her young ones to fly, fluttereth over them,\nspreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings\u201d?\n\n\u201cTwice in the day did this father of the poor, this great lover and\nhelper of Christ, pour out most secret prayer, watered from the most pure\nfountain of tears, both knees bent on the ground, hands long raised to\nheaven in the form of the Cross; once, namely, before taking food, and\nagain before celebrating Compline with all his flock. Which ended, no\none of his disciples ever dared commit his limbs to his bed without the\nmaster\u2019s blessing laid upon his head.\n\n\u201cHe loved all his disciples, but of all he loved Alcuin the most, for\nAlcuin more closely than any of them followed his example in act and\ndeed. There were two special virtues in Alcuin\u2014one, that he never did\nanything which he was not quite clear that his master\u2019s approval covered;\nthe other, that whatever devices and temptations the enemy brought to\nhis mind, he told them all straight out to his master without any sense\nof shame. Thus it came to pass that any stimulus of lust which he ever\nfelt was most gloriously conquered by this wonderful method, dashing the\nchildren of Babylon against the stones, bruising the head of the serpent\nwith the heel. He was careful that against him the words of Christ should\nnot be spoken\u2014\u2018Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh\nto the light, lest his deeds should be reproved\u2019; but rather that his lot\nshould be with them of whom it is added\u2014\u2018But he that doeth truth cometh\nto the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought\nin God.\u2019 O true monk without the monk\u2019s vow! how very seldom is thy\nexample followed by one whose vow binds him to it[18].\u201d\n\nIn the chapter from which these details are taken the author three times\nuses the name \u201cAlbinus\u201d for his hero, in place of \u201cAlchuinus\u201d with which\nhe began the chapter. Throughout the Life he much more often calls him\nAlbin than Alcuin. We must probably understand that he was known from his\nboyhood by both names; and it is evident that Albin would be more easy to\npronounce than Alcuin, and would not unnaturally be more generally used.\nOn the other hand, it is quite possible that he himself elected to call\nhimself Albin.\n\nIf Alcuin took the name Albinus from any English source, the source is\nnot far to seek. The English nation owes to the original Albinus the\nfirst suggestion to Bede that he should write the Church History of the\nEnglish race. Bede tells us this in the Preface to his great work; and\nwe have it still more directly expressed in a letter from him to Albinus\nin which he speaks of the History as _ad quam me scribendam iamdudum\ninstigaveras_, and of Albinus as _semper amantissimus in Christo pater\noptimus_. He was Abbat of St. Peter and St. Paul, Canterbury, a pupil of\nTheodore and Hadrian, the latter of whom he succeeded. He greatly helped\nBede by sending him full details of the conversion of Kent, \u201cas he had\nlearned the same from written records and from the oral tradition of his\npredecessors.\u201d Bede sent to him the completed copy of the History, that\nhe might have it transcribed, and informs us that Albinus had no small\nknowledge of Greek, and knew Latin as well as his native tongue, English.\nAlcuin may well have taken his name of Albinus from one with whom he\nhad so much in common, who died only two or three years before Alcuin\u2019s\nbirth.\n\nIf, on the other hand, Alcuin took the name from some foreign source,\nagain we have not far to seek. In Karl\u2019s first year as King of the Franks\nhe gave a confirmatory charter to \u201cthe Monastery of St. Albinus, which\nis built near to the walls of Angers\u201d. The Tour St. Aubin and the Rue\nSt. Aubin are still to be found at Angers, at the extreme south-east\ncorner of the ancient city. Little is known of this martyr Albinus, and\nin consequence the Acts of our St. Alban have been transferred to him. At\nAngers, as at Alcuin\u2019s own Tours, there are remains of a great church of\nSt. Martin; and, as was in early times the case at Tours, the Cathedral\nis dedicated to St. Maurice. It is possible that Alcuin took his name of\nAlbinus from this local source, but it does not seem at all probable.\n\nAlcuin\u2019s supremacy in wisdom and other virtues caused jealousy among\nhis fellow disciples. This went so far that they could not look at him\nwith unclouded eye or address him with pleasant words. He consulted his\nmaster, who by this time was Elcbert (Archbishop of York, 767-78), known\nto Alcuin as Aelbert, and to us as Albert. The master advised him to try\nthe effect of heaping coals of fire on their heads. He followed this\nadvice, taking care that they should never hear from him a contrary word,\nand very often yielding to them when their arguments were unsound. This\ncourse of conduct he pursued until a complete change took place, and they\nall rejoiced to acknowledge in him the second master of their studies,\nnext under Albert.\n\nThe Life relates at this point an interesting episode, in the description\nof which we may seem to hear Alcuin himself speaking to us:\u2014\n\n\u201cAlcuin was reading the Gospel of St. John before the master, in company\nof his fellow disciples. He came to a part of the Gospel which only the\npure in heart can comprehend\u2014that part, namely, from where John says that\nhe lay on the Lord\u2019s breast, down to the point at which he relates that\nJesus went with His disciples across the brook Cedron.[19] Inebriated\nwith the mystical reading of the Gospel, suddenly, as he sat before the\nmaster\u2019s couch, his spirit was carried away in ecstasy, and by those same\nwho once in a ray of sunlight showed before the eyes of the most holy\nfather Benedict the whole world, collected as it were in an enclosure,\nthe whole world was now set before the eyes of Alcuin. And as he looked\nintently at what he saw, he saw the whole of the enclosure surrounded\nby a circle of blood. While he was held by this marvellous vision, his\nfellow disciples gazed at him in wonder, for the blood seemed to have\nleft his face. They tried to rouse him, as one asleep; the noise they\nmade attracted the attention of Albert, who looked at him for some time\nin silence, and then said, \u2018Go on reading, my sons, do not disturb him;\nif he rests awhile he will be able to follow me more effectively when I\nexpound the passage.\u2019 When the reading was completed, and Albin came to\nhimself again, the father told them all to go except Alcuin. When they\nwere gone, he said, \u2018What hast thou seen? I beg thee, do not hide it.\u2019\nAlcuin wished to keep secret what he had seen, fearing to fall into the\npitfall of elation; so he said, \u2018Why, my lord father?\u2019 The blessed man\nsaid again, \u2018Do not, my son, do not hide it from me. It is not from vain\ncuriosity that I require this of you, but for your own good.\u2019 Alcuin saw\nthat he could not keep it secret, and he told, humbly, how he had seen\nthe whole world. Then the father said to him, \u2018See, my son, see that\nthou tellest not this vision to any but that one whom after my decease\nthou shalt hold to be the most faithful to thy person. And charge him to\nkeep it secret up to the time of thy death.\u2019 Acting on this counsel, he\ntold it only to Sigulf[20] during his lifetime. If any one desires to\nknow how the whole world could be seen in one enclosure, he may turn to\nthe book of Dialogues of the holy Gregory[21]; and in the meantime he\nmay know that it was not the heaven and the earth that were contracted\ninto a small space, but the mind of the seer that was dilated, so that\nwhen rapt in the Lord he could without difficulty see everything that\nwas under God. Perhaps some one inquiring further may ask why under this\nfigure of an enclosure, or why surrounded by blood? He may know that the\nBlood of Christ surrounds the fold of the holy Church, so that from the\nrising of the sun to the setting thereof those who are redeemed by His\nPassion can say the words which, without doubt, dominated the mind of\nAlbin when he read before the master: \u2018O give thanks unto the Lord, for\nHe is gracious, and His mercy endureth for ever.\u2019[22] The whole world,\nthen, is seen in one enclosure surrounded by the Blood of Christ; for all\nthat the holy fathers have done and have written figuratively since the\nbeginning of the world is unlocked by the Passion of Christ alone, who is\nthe lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David. But if by the encircled\nenclosure any should wish to be understood the life of his own carnal\ncrimes surrounded by blood, thus shown to him that it may be trodden\nunder foot by him, let that interpretation be left to his own judgement.\u201d\n\nAlcuin had been tonsured in early years. He was ordained deacon at York\non the day of the Purification of the holy Mary, in or about the year\n768. Elcbert, who had been for some time in bad health, felt that his\ndeath was drawing nigh, and he gave to Alcuin a sketch of the course of\nlife which he wished him to pursue. The writer gives us a report of his\nactual words, stating that \u201cthey are now known\u201d; this means, presumably,\nthat here also Alcuin had communicated them to Sigulf, to be made public\nonly after his death. They run thus:\u2014\u201cMy will is that you go to Rome,\nand on the way back visit France.[23] For I know that you will do much\ngood there. Christ will be the leader of your journey, guiding you\nand controlling you on your arrival, that you may demolish that most\nnefarious heresy which will attempt to set forth Christ as adoptive man,\nand that you may be the firmest defender and the clearest preacher of the\nfaith in the Holy Trinity.[24] You will persevere in the land of your\nperegrination, illumining the souls of many.\u201d\n\nThe holy father, Bishop Elcbert, after blessing him with the benedictions\nof his predecessor above named, migrated to God on the eighth day\nof November, 780. \u201cThe pious Albinus mourned with tears, as for his\nmother, and would not take comfort. Endowed in hereditary right with\nthe holy benedictions of the fathers,[25] he took pains to multiply\nexceedingly the talent of his lord.[26] He taught many in Britain, and\nnot few later in France. It was now that he associated with him a man\ndear to God, remarkable for the nobility of mind and of body, Sigulf,\nthe presbyter, Warden of the Church of the City of York, to remain with\nhim perpetually.[27] Sigulf had gone as a boy to France with his uncle\nAutbert the presbyter, and by him had been taken to Rome to learn the\necclesiastical order; he had then been sent to the city of Metz to learn\nchanting. There he worked hard for some time, in great poverty, but with\nmuch profit. After the holy man, his uncle, migrated to the Lord, he\ncame back to his own land.\u201d We can almost see and hear Sigulf getting\nthese little facts about himself and his uncle incorporated in the Life\nof Alcuin.\n\n\u201cWhen the Almighty God willed to glorify France with spiritual riches, as\nalready with earthly riches, granting to the land a King after His own\nheart, a man of faith, fortitude, love of wisdom, and ineffable beauty\nof body, namely Karl, most illustrious in these respects, He put it into\nthe mind of Albinus that he should fulfil the counsel and command of his\nfather Albert, by going to Rome and then visiting France.\n\n\u201cBy the command of Eanbald I, the Archbishop of York, the successor of\nElcbert, he went to Rome to obtain the pallium for the archbishop from\nthe Apostolic\u2014that is, Hadrian I. On his way back with the pallium he\nmet King Karl in the city of Parma.[28] The king addressed him with\ngreat persuasiveness and many prayers, begging that after completing\nhis embassage he would come and join him in France. The king had become\nacquainted with him some years before, for Alcuin had been sent on a\nlegation to him by the archbishop of the time.\u201d\n\nWe may interrupt our author\u2019s narrative at this point to state that the\nfact and the date of this former visit to Karl are recorded in the Life\nof Hadrian I, as also the further fact, not here hinted at, that Karl\non that occasion sent Alcuin on to Rome. \u201cIn the year 773 Karl sent to\nHadrian an embassy, consisting of the most holy bishop George,[29]\nthe religious abbat Uulfhard,[30] and the king\u2019s favourite counsellor\nAlbinus.\u201d\n\nWe may now return to the author of the Life. He tells us, to quote his\nown words, that when Karl begged Alcuin to come to him, Alcuin desired to\ndo what would be useful, and therefore asked permission of his own king,\nAlfwald, and of his archbishop, Eanbald I, to leave his mastership of the\nSchool of York. He obtained permission, but on condition that he should\nin time come back to them. Under Christ\u2019s guidance he came to Karl. Karl\nembraced him as his father,[31] by whom he had been introduced to the\nliberal arts, in the study of which he could be somewhat cooled, but in\nhis fervour he could never be too completely saturated with them. After\nAlcuin had spent some little time with him, he gave him two monasteries,\nthat of Bethlehem, otherwise called Ferri\u00e8res,[32] and that of St.\nLupus[33] of Troyes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n Alcuin finally leaves England.\u2014The Adoptionist heresy.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n retirement to Tours.\u2014His knowledge of secrets.\u2014Karl and the\n three kings his sons.\u2014Fire at St. Martin\u2019s, Tours.\u2014References\n to the life of St. Martin.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s writings.\u2014His interview\n with the devil.\u2014His last days.\n\n\nAt length Alcuin felt that he ought not, without the authority of his\nown king and bishop, to desert the place in which he had been educated,\ntonsured, and ordained deacon. He asked leave of the great king to return\nto his fatherland. Karl received his request in a flattering manner. We\nmay suppose that Alcuin retained an accurate recollection of the pleasant\nwords and of his own answer, and reported them eventually to Sigulf,\nprobably with a feeling that he had made a Yorkshire rejoinder to the\nking\u2019s rather pointed balance-sheet. On a formal occasion such as this,\nthey probably addressed each other as scholars, in the Latin tongue, so\nthat in reading the Life we seem to hear them speaking the actual words\nreported. The manner of address we may take to be correctly represented.\n\n\u201c_Karl._ Illustrious master,\u2014of earthly riches we have enough, wherewith\nit is our joy to honour thee. With thy riches, long desired by us and\nscarce anywhere found, we pray thee illumine us in the wealth of thy\npiety.\n\n\u201c_Alcuin._ My lord king,\u2014I am not inclined to oppose thy will, when it\nshall have been confirmed by the authority of the canons. Endowed in my\npaternal country with no small heritage, I am delighted to fling it away\nand stand here a pauper, so that I may be of use to thee. Thy part is\nonly this,\u2014to obtain for me the permission of my own king and bishop.\u201d\n\nKarl was at last persuaded to let him go; but he was not satisfied until\nit was settled that when Alcuin came back again he would stay with him\nalways.\n\nSome years after he came back to Karl a second time, he was placed at\nthe head of the Monastery of St. Martin of Tours. In a godly manner he\nruled this with his other monasteries. He corrected the lives of those\nunder him as far as he could. Some were untamed when they came under his\nrule, but he so bestirred himself that they became reasonable, of honest\nmorals, and seekers after truth. That is the author\u2019s statement. We shall\nhear more on the subject in the course of our study.\n\n\u201cMeantime the heresy hateful to God, which flourished in the parts of\nSpain, asserting that the Son of God is adoptive according to the flesh,\nis brought to the ears of Karl. The great king, in all things catholic,\nlooked into this, and strove with all his might that the seed of the\ndevil should be destroyed, and the tares completely eradicated from the\nwheat of God. Summoning to him Albinus his instructor from Tours, and the\nwretched Felix the constructor of this heresy from the parts of Spain,\nhe collected a great synod of bishops in the imperial palace of Aix.\nSeated himself in the midst, he ordered Felix, who was most unwilling,\nto dispute in argument with the most learned Albinus on the nature of\nthe Son of God according to the flesh. What silence reigned among the\nbishops! How clear and unanswerable, with the authority of Karl, was\nthe master\u2019s confession and defence of the faith! Felix tried to hide\nhimself in all sorts of obscurities; Albinus pierced him with more and\nmore darts, at such length that he \u2018went through almost all the cities of\nIsrael[34] till the Son of Man should come\u2019. Little else was done from\nthe second to the seventh day of the week. At length his stupidity was\nlaid bare to all. The heresy was confuted by the whole of the bishops\nwith apostolic authority. To himself alone his folly was foully hidden,\nup to the point when he read with lamentable voice the words of Cyril the\nmartyr, turned against him by Albinus: That nature which was corrupted\nby the devil is exalted above the angels by the triumph of Christ, and\nis set down at the right hand of the Father. When he read this sentence,\nhe at last testified by voice and by excessive weeping that he had\nfound himself out, that he had acted impiously. Any one who thirsts to\nknow this more perfectly should read the master\u2019s letters to Felix and\nElipantus, and theirs to him. He will then at once learn what he desires\nto know.\n\n\u201cBy permission of Christ,\u201d the biographer continues, \u201cI have up to this\npoint written a little about the early part of the Life of Albinus, facts\nthat I have supposed to be not known to all. I have not thought of\ninserting in this little work facts about him which all know. From this\npoint I shall attempt to trace to his last days my shaken reed of a pen,\nthough it be with contemptible roughness.\n\n\u201cWhen he felt himself affected by old age, and increasingly by one\ninfirmity,[35] he informed King Karl that he wished to retire from the\nworld, as he had long had it in mind to do. He asked leave to live\nthe monastic life, in accordance with the Rule of St. Benedict, at\nSt. Boniface of Fulda,[36] and to distribute among his disciples the\nmonasteries which had been granted to him, if that might be done. But the\nking, terrible and pious, with all regard for Alcuin\u2019s request, denied\nthe one part, while he received the other gladly. He begged that he\nwould reside at Tours, in perfect quiet and in the greatest honour, and\nwould not refuse to continue the spiritual care of Karl himself and of\nall the holy Church committed to him; the secular burdens which he had\nborne, the king, at his request, most willingly portioned out among his\ndisciples. Albinus acted as the most wise king had asked, seeking what\nwould be useful, not to himself but to many; and at Tours he awaited his\nlast day. His manner of life was not inferior to the monastic life which\nhe had desired. He abounded in fastings, in prayers, in mortification of\nthe flesh, in almsgivings, in much celebration of psalms and masses,[37]\nand in the other virtues with which it is possible for human nature to\nbe adorned. When he had fasted till evening, there very frequently was\nsent from heaven to his mouth such sweetness as no human speech could\nutter; whatever he then willed, he could dictate most rapidly without\nany effort, so that he could say,\u2014I have loved, Lord, Thy commandments\nabove gold and precious stone; how sweet are thy words unto my mouth,\nyea, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. In his youth he had not loved\nthe study of the Psalms so much as another kind of reading; in his old\nage he could never have too much of them. As has been described in the\ncase of his master,[38] he poured forth most secret prayer during the\nday, with long extension of his hands in the form of a cross, and with\nmuch groaning, for he very rarely found tears. This practice he passed\non to his disciples, of whom the most noble was Sigulf, \u2018the little old\nfellow,\u2019 and the magnanimous Withso[39]; after them, Fredegisus[40]\nand his companions. In his latest days there clung to him assiduously\nRaganard and Waldramn, who still survive; Adalbert of blessed memory,\nwho was with him as much as he could, being at that time the son of\nSigulf, afterwards a venerated father as Abbat of Ferri\u00e8res; and many\nothers, the names of all of whom I trust that Christ knows. These with\nall circumspection earnestly studied to do nothing in his presence with\nwhich he could find fault, and very often in his absence too. For they\nknew that he was in close communion with God, and was enlightened by His\nSpirit; and though with his bodily eyes he could no longer see clearly,\nfrom old age and infirmity, they feared that nothing which they did\nescaped his knowledge.\n\n\u201cFilled as he was with the Spirit, he foretold to some their future, as\nhe did to Raganard about Osulf.[41] This Raganard had in his sleep a\nhorrible vision, which it is better not to describe. He told it the next\nday to the father, in fear lest it referred to himself. The father knew\nthat it referred not to Raganard but to Osulf. With great grief he spoke\nthus: \u2018O Osulf, thou wretched one, how oft have I warned thee, how oft\ncorrected! Much labour did I devote to thine uncle, that he should reform\nand begin to walk in the way of the commandments of God; and I told him\nthat if he did not he would be smitten with the plague of leprosy; which\nthing happened to him. And to thee, my son, I predict of Osulf, of whom\nis this vision, that neither in this land, nor in the land of his birth,\nshall he die.\u2019 The prediction was true; he died in Lombardy.\n\n\u201cThis same Raganard, unknown to everybody, tried himself by vigils of\ntoo long duration and by an excess of abstinence; by this intemperance\nhe fell into a most dangerous fever. Father Albinus came to visit him,\nand sent out of the house all except Sigulf. Then he rebuked Raganard\nthus: \u2018Why hast thou tried to act so intemperately, without advice of\nany? I knew that thou didst wish to act thus, and therefore it was that\nI ordered thee to sleep in the dwelling in which I sleep. But thou didst\nimmediately, when all were asleep, secretly light a candle, conceal it\nin a lantern, and going to that place didst watch through the whole\nnight.\u2019 And then all that he did there secretly, known to God alone, he\ntold him of, and added:\u2014\u2018When thou didst go with me to the refectory,\nand I bade thee drink wine, in the most crafty way thou didst say\u2014I have\ndrunk sufficiently, my lord father, with my uncle. But when thou didst\ncome to thy uncle, and he too bade thee drink wine, thou didst say thou\nhadst drunk with me. Thy will was to delude us, and thou art deceived.\nWhen thou hast risen up from the fever, take thou care never to attempt\nanything of this kind again.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen Raganard heard this, he turned red, and was in great fear, knowing\nthat he was caught. In wonder that his secret deeds could not escape the\nknowledge of Albinus, he asked how was this made known. To this day he\nbears witness that no man knew it before it was revealed; God alone. He\nrepented, and for the rest of Alcuin\u2019s life he never attempted anything\nof the kind without his advice and command.\n\n\u201cIt very often happened that when messengers were coming to Alcuin from\nthe king and other friends, while they were yet a long way off, he would\ntell of their coming and of the cause of their coming, what they brought\nwith them, what they wished to take back. Certain disciples, when they\nheard him speak thus, set it down to the folly of an old man, till it\nwas proved to be true. Benedict[42], the man of the Lord, who beyond\nall monks was bound in intimacy with Alcuin, used often to come to him\nfrom the parts of Gothia, to obtain advice for himself and his monks.\nOn one occasion Benedict wished to come secretly, unknown to any one at\nTours, so that Alcuin should not know till he stood in the doorway. When\nhe was by no means near Tours, Albinus summoned an attendant, and said\nto him, \u2018Hasten to meet Benedict in such and such a place, and tell him\nto come to me quickly.\u2019 The messenger did as he was told, and on the\nthird day arrived at the place, found Benedict there, and delivered his\nmessage. Astonished that his plan was discovered, Benedict went with all\nhaste to Tours. When they had joyously kissed one another, Benedict,\nthe reverend father, began suppliantly, \u2018Lord father, who foretold\nto thee my arrival?\u2019 He answered, \u2018No man told me by word of mouth.\u2019\nBenedict asked again, \u2018Who then, my lord? Perhaps thou hast heard in a\nletter from some one?\u2019 He replied, \u2018Of a truth, not in a letter.\u2019 Again\nBenedict asked, \u2018If neither from the words of any man, nor from any man\u2019s\nletter, thou knewest this beforehand, pray, my father, in what way didst\nthou know it?\u2014tell me.\u2019 Albinus said, \u2018Do not interrogate me further\non this.\u2019 There the matter ended. When the venerable man Benedict was\nminded to return, he asked Albinus to tell him in what special words\nhe prayed, when he prayed for himself. Albinus said, \u2018This is what I\nask of Christ:\u2014Lord, grant me to understand my sins, and to make true\nconfession, and to do fitting penance; and grant unto me remission of\nmy sins.\u2019 The godly man Benedict said, \u2018Let us add, my father, to this\nthy prayer, one word, namely this, after remission, save me.\u2019 Albinus\nrejoiced, and said, \u2018Let it be so, most reverent son, let it be so.\u2019\nBenedict then asked another question, would he tell him what were the\nwords that silently moved his lips when he saw the Cross and bent before\nit? Albinus answered, \u2018Thy Cross we adore, O Lord; Thy glorious Passion\nwe recall. Have mercy on us, Thou Who didst die for us.\u2019 Albinus then saw\nhim on his way for a short distance, and sent him back rejoicing to his\nown place and people.\u201d\n\nThe biographer next sets before us a remarkable picture of the four most\nimportant personages of the time.\n\n\u201cThe great king and powerful emperor Karl, wishing to offer prayer and\nto have some mutually desired conversation with Alcuin, paid a visit to\nthe tomb of the holy Martin at Tours, with his sons Charles, Pepin, and\nLouis. The emperor took Alcuin by the hand, and said to him privately,\n\u2018My lord master, which of these sons of mine does it seem to thee that\nI shall have as my successor in this honour to which God has raised me,\nall unworthy?\u2019 Alcuin turned his face towards Louis, the youngest of the\nthree, and the most remarkable for his humility, on account of which he\nwas regarded by many as of little account, and said, \u2018In the humble Louis\nthou shalt have an illustrious successor.\u2019 The emperor alone heard what\nhe said. But when, later on, sitting on the spot where he wished to be\nburied, Alcuin saw these same three kings[43] enter the Church of St.\nStephen for prayer, with head erect, and Louis with head bent, he said\nto those who stood by\u2014\u2018Do you see that Louis is more humble than his\nbrothers? You will most certainly see him the most exalted successor of\nhis father.\u2019 When with his own hand he administered to them the Communion\nof the Body of Christ and the Blood, the same Louis, most noted above\nall for humility, bent before the holy father and kissed his hand.[44]\nThe man of the Lord said to Sigulf who stood by, \u2018Whosoever exalteth\nhimself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.\nCertainly the Frankish land shall rejoice to have this man emperor after\nhis father.\u2019 That this has taken place, the biographer adds, we both see\nand rejoice.[45] They who seemed to be cedars are cast down, and the\nfruitful olive tree in the house of God is exalted.[46]\n\n\u201cThe father Alcuin had with great care instructed Karl in liberal arts\nand in divine scripture, so that he became the most learned of all kings\nof the Franks who have been since the coming of Christ. He taught him,\nalso, which of the Psalms he should sing throughout his whole life for\nvarious occasions; for times of penitence, with litany and entreaties\nand prayers; for times of special prayer; of praising God; of any\ntribulation; and for his being moved to exercise himself in divine\npraise. Any one who wishes to know all this may read it in the little\nbook which he wrote to Karl on the principles of prayer.\u201d[47]\n\nAt this point in his narrative the biographer relates the scrape into\nwhich \u201cthe little old fellow\u201d got in connexion with his secret study of\nVergil, already described on page 2. As a further instance of Alcuin\u2019s\nremarkable knowledge of what was going on, he adds the interesting\nlittle story about a present of wine to Cormery which will be found on\np. 223. Then comes the following amusing account, with its revelation of\na dislike of Karl\u2019s favourites the foreigners, a dislike which Eginhard\nthus frankly reports in his vivid picture of the great King,[48] \u201cHe\nloved foreigners, and took great pains to attract them to him and to\nmaintain them, so much so that the multitude of them not unreasonably\nseemed a heavy burden, not to the palace only but to the kingdom. His\ngreatness of mind, however, was such, that he was not troubled by a\nburden of this kind; indeed even great inconveniences he regarded as\ncompensated by the praise won by liberality and by the reward of good\nreport.\u201d\n\nThis is the story. The presbyter Aigulf[49], an Anglo-Saxon[50] himself\ntoo, came to Tours to visit the father. When he was standing at the\ndoor of Alcuin\u2019s dwelling, there happened to be four of the brethren of\nTours talking together. When they saw him, they said one to another, not\nimagining that he knew anything of their language, \u201cHere\u2019s a Briton, or\na Scot[51], come to see that other Briton inside. O God, deliver this\nmonastery from these Britons! Like bees coming back to the mother-bee,\nthese all come to this man of ours!\u201d What would we not give to have this\nin the words in which they spoke it, instead of in the author\u2019s Latin.\nThe presbyter went into Alcuin\u2019s dwelling, and, after other matters,\ntold him what he had heard. \u201cDo you know which they are?\u201d Alcuin asked.\n\u201cIndeed I do not. I could not for shame look at them when they said\nthat.\u201d Alcuin said, \u201cI am sure I know who they are.\u201d He called in some\nof the brethren by name, and said, \u201cThese are they.\u201d Greatly grieved by\ntheir folly, Alcuin yet spared them, saying, \u201cMay Christ, the Son of God,\nspare them.\u201d Then he gave them each a cup of wine to drink, and without\nseverity sent them away. Aigulf afterwards made diligent inquiry, and\nfound that they were the right men. We of to-day may remark that Alcuin\nevidently knew the characters of his pupils; but his ideas of discipline\ndiffered from ours. We should not have let them know that we had heard\npersonal remarks of that kind; and we should not have given them glasses\nof wine. We may remember the words of Archbishop Temple to Bishop\nCreighton, when the Bishop had received the late Mr. John Kensit for an\ninterview at Fulham, and had given him tea. \u201cIt was all right to receive\nthe man; but you shouldn\u2019t ha\u2019 given him tea.\u201d\n\nAs we have seen, the biographer on the whole confines himself to those\nparts of Alcuin\u2019s Life which were not of common knowledge. But there\nwas one story of sufficient importance in his judgement to be related\nat length, although it was well known. We may well take the same view,\nand be grateful to our author for having departed from his self-imposed\nlimitations.\n\n\u201cI ought not\u201d, he writes, \u201cto pass over in silence one fact which many\nknow. The Keeper of the Sepulchre of St. Martin, who provided the wax\nand all the vestments which pertained to the basilica itself, entering\nwith a lighted candle the sacristy where they were kept, fixed the candle\non a spike, and when he left he forgot to take it with him. He locked\nthe door and went away. The burning candle fell upon some wax and sent a\ngreat flame which set fire to the vestments hanging on the pegs; and the\nvestments sent the flame up to the roof.[52] When the warden saw this,\nhe fled with the key to another monastery.[53] People rushed from all\nsides; they beat at the door, but all their efforts failed to burst it\nopen. The clerks threw out of the windows any valuables they had in their\nabode. The Church of St. Martin was denuded of some vestments, and no one\nexpected anything but the burning of the whole monastery. The roof was\nall stripped of lead. Albinus came; he was now blind. He asked what was\nbeing done. One of his disciples, his \u2018little old fellow\u2019, said, \u2018Come\naway, father, or you will be killed by the lead they are throwing down or\nburned to death.\u2019 When Albinus was willing to go, Vetulus said to him,\n\u2018My lord father, go to the sepulchre of the lord Martin, and intercede\nfor us.\u2019 Albinus did as was suggested, and when he got to the place,\nhe stretched himself on the ground in the form of a cross, and uttered\ngroans heavenward. As soon as Albinus cast himself on the ground, in some\nwonderful and incredible way the whole fire was put out, as completely as\nif extinguished by a great river. When the clerks saw this, they rushed\nin joyous stupefaction to the spot where Albinus lay prostrate before the\nsepulchre of St. Martin, in the form of a cross, praying to God for them.\nThey raised him from the ground, blessing God who through the prayers of\nAlbinus had saved the whole monastery of Saint Martin from being consumed\nby fire. These be thy worthy examples, holy Martin, who once when thou\nwouldest escape the fire couldest not; turned to God in prayer thou hast\nextinguished this fire that threatened us. Lofty of a truth is the faith\nthat by its ardour can extinguish globes of fire. Nor is it a matter of\nwonder that the elements leave their proper force at the prayers and\ncommands of Albinus, since he rests in the heart of Him who loves them\nthat love Him, and permits them not to be singed by the flame when they\nwalk in fire. Thee in these we adore, Thee we glorify, Thee we laud,\nwho, as Thou hast deigned to make promises to Thy servants who keep Thy\ncommandments, hast shown them forth most clearly by Thy works in Thine\nown Albinus. Thou hast said, O Christ Jesus, whatsoever ye shall ask of\nMe in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the\nSon.\u201d\n\nIt will have been noticed that this passage from the Life attributes to\nSt. Martin a failure to prevent the progress of a fire. The reference\nappears at first sight to be to the eleventh chapter of the _Life of St.\nMartin_ by Sulpicius Severus[54], written some four hundred years before\nthe fire here described, and published in the lifetime of St. Martin,\nwhom Severus had visited at Tours for the special purpose of learning the\nfacts of his life.\n\n\u201cIn a certain town, Martin set fire to a very ancient and famous pagan\nshrine. A house was attached to the walls of the temple, and the wind\nblew the globes of fire on to this house. When Martin saw this, he\nclimbed rapidly to the roof of the house, and faced the flames. Then you\nwould see the flame turn back in a marvellous manner against the force of\nthe wind, the two elements fighting the one against the other. Thus by\nthe virtue of Martin the fire operated only where it was bidden.\u201d\n\nThis is the only account in the _Life of St. Martin_ to which the remark\nin the text could apply. But, as a matter of fact, the occasion referred\nto was quite different from this. The little story is an interesting\nexample of the keenness of criticism in those very early times, and of\nthe need of immediate corrections.\n\nThe contemporary readers of the Life were well aware of the fact that\nMartin himself was once half-burned. Knowing this, they fastened on the\npassage quoted, and spoke in a depreciatory way of Martin. They asked how\ncould he be so great as to prevent houses being burned, if he was not\ngreat enough to prevent himself from being set on fire and nearly burned\nto death. These depreciatory remarks came to the ears of Sulpicius, and\nthe very next day[55], he sat down and wrote a letter to the presbyter\nEusebius, to tell the actual facts of the other story with which\nunfavourable comparison has been made. The facts were as follows:\u2014\n\nThe saint was visiting his diocese in midwinter. A bed had been prepared\nfor him in a vestry, which was warmed by a fire below the floor. The\npavement was rough and dilapidated. They had made for the saint a\nspecially soft and comfortable bed of straw, but his practice was to\nsleep on the bare ground. Not being able to endure the blandient comfort\nof the straw, he threw it away and slept on the ground. By midnight the\nfire below had got at the straw through the crevices in the pavement,\nand Martin awoke to find the vestry full of fire. Then came, as he told\nSulpicius, the temptation of the devil. Martin tried to escape, instead\nof turning to prayer. He rushed to the door and struggled with the bolt,\nin vain. The flames caught his dress and set it on fire. He fell down,\nand then remembered to pray. The flames felt the change and spared him.\nThe monks, who had heard the fire crackling and roaring, burst open the\ndoor and looked for his dead body; they found him safe and sound. He\nconfessed to Sulpicius, not without groaning, that the devil had for the\ntime overcome him. In these modern times, to lie down on the floor is a\ncommon precaution against being smothered by the smoke in a burning room.\n\nThis _Life of St. Martin_ is very interesting reading. It is too tempting\nto give the substance of the chapter previous to the one given above.\nThe saint was at his usual work of destroying a very ancient temple.\nWhen he had accomplished this, he set to work to fell a pine-tree which\nstood near. The chief priest and the pagan crowd drew the line at that,\nand would not allow it. Martin told them there was nothing worthy of\nworship in a piece of wood; it was dedicated to a demon and it must come\ndown. Thereupon a crafty pagan, seeing his way to getting rid of this\nobjectionable destroyer of temples, and regarding the sacred tree as\nwell lost for such a gain, proposed a bargain. \u201cIf you have sufficient\nconfidence in your God whom you say you serve, we will ourselves cut\ndown the tree, and it shall fall upon you; if your Lord is with you, as\nyou say, you will escape with your life.\u201d The bargain was struck on both\nsides. The tree leaned in a certain direction, so that there was no doubt\nwhere it would fall. Martin was tied by the rustics in the right place,\nand they began to cut with their axes. The tree began to nod, leaned more\nand more to the precise spot they had selected. At last they had cut deep\nenough; the crash of the rending trunk was heard; the monks turned pale;\nthe saint raised his hand and made the sign of the cross; at the moment\na whirlwind came and blew the tree far to one side.\n\nWe must now return to the life of St. Martin\u2019s faithful follower, Alcuin.\n\n\u201cThis also must be mentioned to the praise of the Lord, that very\nfrequently many infirm people, when they came to Albinus and received his\nbenediction with faith, recovered bodily health. On a certain occasion,\nas is reported by some of the chief authorities, a poor man came, having\nhis eyesight obstructed by a grievous dimness. He reached the door of the\nouter dwelling of Albinus, and begged that water be given him with which\nhis eyes might be bathed; for he said it had been revealed to him that if\nhe could wash his eyes with some of it he would recover his sight.[56]\nUnknown to Albinus, some of the water in which he had washed his own\nface and eyes was secretly given to the poor man who begged for water.\nThe poor man bathed his eyes with the water, in full faith; the dimness\ndisappeared, and he recovered his clearness of sight. We, too, are\nenlightened by thy sweat, father, and the sins of our souls are washed by\nthy pious doctrine. Thou, too, didst scarce see anything with thy bodily\nsight, but wast always engaged in lightening the eyes of others; and\nthose whom thou couldest not enlighten in bodily presence thou didst in\nabsence instruct by letters, writing many things profitable to the whole\nchurch.\n\n\u201cFor at the request of Karl he wrote a most useful book on the Holy\nTrinity; also on rhetoric, dialectic, and music. He wrote to Gundrad on\nthe nature of the soul. At the most honourable request of the ladies\nGisla and Rotruda, he composed a remarkable book on the Gospel of St.\nJohn, partly his own and partly taken from the holy Augustine. He\nwrote also on four Epistles of Paul, to the Ephesians, to Titus, to\nPhilemon, and to the Hebrews;[57] to Fredegisus on the Psalms;[58] to\nCount Wido[59] homilies on the principal vices and virtues; to his own\nSigulf very useful notes on Genesis; on the Proverbs of Solomon, on\nEcclesiastes, on the Song of Songs clearly, briefly, indescribably. Under\nthe names Frank and Saxon[60] he wrote a most able book on grammar in the\nform of question and answer. He collected two volumes of homilies from\nmany works of the Fathers. He wrote on orthography. On the 118th Psalm\n(our 119th) he wrote with a pen of gold. There are many other writings in\nwhich any one who reads and studies them attentively will find no small\nedification, as in the letters which he wrote to many persons. In these\nand like works he spent the remainder of his days, living on earth the\nlife of heaven. Preparing himself in his latest days for the coming of\nthe Son of Man, that he might go in with Him to the wedding, he washed\nevery night his couch with tears,[61] always fortifying himself with the\nintercessions of the saints, whose solemnities he regularly celebrated,\nlest he should be pierced by any darts of the ancient enemy, who never\ncould steal into his dwelling so secretly as not to be at once detected\nby him and driven out by the sign of the Cross.\n\n\u201cOn a certain night, when he desired to pour forth prayer in secret after\nhis wont, with chanting of Psalms, he was oppressed by very heavy sleep.\nBut he rose from his couch, and put on his cape; and when again he was\noppressed with sleep, he took off all his clothes except his shirt and\ndrawers. The sleepiness continuing, he took a censer, and going to the\nplace where fire was kept burning, he filled it with live coal and put\nincense on it, and a sweet odour filled the chamber. In that hour the\ndevil presented himself to him in bodily form, as it were a large man,\nvery black and misshapen and bearded, hurling at him darts of blasphemy.\n\u2018Why dost thou act the hypocrite, Alcuin?\u2019[62] he asked. \u2018Why dost thou\nattempt to appear just before men, when thou art a deceiver and a great\ndissimulator? Dost thou suppose that for these feignings of thine Christ\ncan hold thee to be acceptable?\u2019 But the soldier of Christ, invincible,\nstanding with David in the tower[63] builded for an armoury, wherein\nthere hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men, said with a\nheavenly voice, \u2018The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall\nI fear? He is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?\nHear my crying, O Lord; incline thine ear to my calling, my King and my\nGod, for unto Thee do I make my prayer.\u2019 With these and other verses of\nthe Psalms the enemy was at length put to flight; Albinus completed his\nprayer and went to rest.[64] At that time only one of his disciples,\nWaltdramn by name, who is still alive, was watching with him; he saw\nall this from a place of concealment, a witness of this thing that took\nplace.\u201d\n\nSt. Martin himself once had a meeting with the devil[65]. There came\ninto his cell a purple light, and one stood in the midst thereof clad in\na royal robe, having on his head a diadem of gold and precious stones,\nhis shoes overlaid with gold, his countenance serene, his face full of\njoy, looking like anything but the devil. The devil spoke first. \u201cKnow,\nMartin, whom you behold. I am Christ. I am about to descend from heaven\nto the world. I willed first to manifest myself to thee.\u201d Martin held his\ntongue. \u201cWhy dost thou doubt, Martin, whom thou seest? I am Christ.\u201d Then\nthe Spirit revealed that this was the devil, not God, and he answered,\n\u201cThe Lord Jesus did not predict that He would come again resplendent with\npurple and diadem. I will not believe that Christ has come, except in the\nform in which He suffered, bearing the stigmata of the Cross.\u201d Thereupon\nthe apparition vanished like smoke, leaving so very bad a smell that\nthere was no doubt it was the devil. \u201cThis account I had from the mouth\nof Martin himself,\u201d Sulpicius adds.\n\n\u201cThe father used a little wine, in accordance with the apostle\u2019s\nprecept, not for the pleasure of the palate, but by reason of his bodily\nweakness.[66] In every kind of way he avoided idleness; either he read,\nor he wrote, or he taught his disciples, or he gave himself to prayer\nand the chanting of Psalms, yielding only to unavoidable necessities of\nthe body. He was a father to the poor, more humble than the humble, an\ninviter to piety of the rich, lofty to the proud, a discerner of all,\nand a marvellous comforter. He celebrated every day many solemnities of\nmasses[67] with honourable diligence, having proper masses deputed for\neach day of the week. Moreover, on the Lord\u2019s day, never at any time\nafter the light of dawn began to appear did he allow himself to slumber,\nbut swiftly preparing himself as deacon with his own priest Sigulf he\nperformed the solemnities of special masses till the third hour, and then\nwith very great reverence he went to the public mass. His disciples, when\nthey were in other places, especially when they assisted _ad opus Dei_,\ncarefully studied that no cause of blame be seen in them by him.\n\n\u201cThe time had come when Albinus had a desire to depart and be with\nChrist. He prayed with all his will that if it might be, he should pass\nfrom the world on the day on which the Holy Spirit was seen to come\nupon the apostles in tongues of fire, and filled their hearts. Saying\nfor himself the vesper office, in the place which he had chosen as his\nresting-place after death, namely, near the Church of St. Martin, he sang\nthrough the evangelic hymn of the holy Mary with this antiphon[68], \u2018O\nKey of David, and sceptre of the house of Israel, who openest and none\nshutteth, shuttest and none openeth, come and lead forth from the house\nof his prison this fettered one, sitting in darkness and the shadow of\ndeath.\u2019 Then he said the Lord\u2019s Prayer. Then several Psalms\u2014Like as the\nhart desireth the water-brooks. O how amiable are Thy dwellings, Thou\nLord of hosts. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house. Unto Thee lift\nI up mine eyes. One thing I have desired of the Lord. Unto Thee, O Lord,\nwill I lift up my soul.\n\n\u201cHe spent the season of Lent, according to his custom, in the most worthy\nmanner, with all contrition of flesh and spirit and purifying of habit.\nEvery night he visited the basilicas of the saints which are within the\nmonastery of St. Martin,[69] washing himself clean of his sins with\nheavy groans. When the solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord was\naccomplished, on the night of the Ascension he fell on his bed, oppressed\nwith languor even unto death, and could not speak. On the third day\nbefore his departure he sang with exultant voice his favourite antiphon,\n\u2018O key of David,\u2019 and recited the verses mentioned above. On the day of\nPentecost, the matin office having been performed, at the very hour at\nwhich he had been accustomed to attend masses, at opening dawn, the holy\nsoul of Albinus is[70] released from the body, and by the ministry of\nthe celestial deacons, having with them the first martyr Stephen and the\narchdeacon Laurence, with an army of angels, he is led to Christ, whom\nhe loved, whom he sought; and in the bliss of heaven he has for ever the\nfruition of the glory of Him whom in this world he so faithfully served.\u201d\n\nThe Annals of Pettau enable us to fill in some details of Alcuin\u2019s death.\nPettau was not far from Salzburg, and therefore the monastery was likely\nto be well informed. Arno of Salzburg, Alcuin\u2019s great admiration and\nhis devoted personal friend, would see to it that in his neighbourhood\nall ecclesiastics knew the details. The seizure on the occasion of his\nfalling on his bed was a paralytic stroke. It occurred, according to the\nAnnals from which we are quoting, on the fifth day of the week on the\neighth of the Ides of May, that is, on May 8; but in that year, 804,\nAscension Day fell on May 9, so that for the eighth of the Ides we must\nread the seventh of the Ides. The seizure took place at vesper tide,\nafter sunset. He lived on till May 19, Whitsunday, on which day he died,\njust as the day broke.\n\n\u201cOn that night,\u201d to return to the Life, \u201cabove the church of the holy\nMartin there was seen an inestimable clearness of splendour, so that to\npersons at a distance it seemed that the whole was on fire. By some,\nthat splendour was seen through the whole night, to others it appeared\nthree times in the night. Joseph the Archbishop of Tours testified that\nhe and his companions saw this throughout the night. Many that are still\nsound in body testify the same. To more persons, however, this brightness\nappeared in the same manner, not on that but on a former night, namely,\non the night of the first Sunday after the Ascension.\n\n\u201cAt that same hour there was displayed to a certain hermit in Italy the\narmy of the heavenly deacons, sounding forth the ineffable praises of\nChrist in the air; in the midst of whom Alchuin[71] stood, clothed with a\nmost splendid dalmatic, entering with them into heaven to minister with\nperennial joy to the Eternal Pontiff. This hermit on that same day of\nPentecost told what he had seen to one of the brethren of Tours, who was\nmaking his accustomed way to visit the thresholds of the Apostles.[72]\nThe hermit asked him these questions,\u2014\u2018Who is that Abbat that lives at\nTours, in the monastery of the holy Martin? By what name is he called?\nAnd was he well in body when you left?\u2019 The brother replied, \u2018He is\ncalled Alchuin, and he is the best teacher in all France. When I started\non my way hither, I left him well.\u2019 The solitary made rejoinder, with\ntears, that he was indeed enjoying the very happiest health; and he told\nhim what he had seen at day-break that day. When the brother got back to\nTours, he related what he had heard.\n\n\u201cFather Sigulf, with certain others, washed the body of the father with\nall honour, and placed it on a bier. Now Sigulf had at the time a great\npain in the head, but being by faith sound in mind, he found a ready\ncure for his head. Raising his eyes above the couch of the master, he\nsaw the comb[73] with which he was wont to comb his head. Taking it in\nhis hands he said, \u2018I believe, Lord Jesus, that if I combed my head with\nthis my master\u2019s comb, my head would at once be cured by his merits.\u2019 The\nmoment he drew the comb across his head, that part of the head which it\ntouched was immediately cured, and thus by combing his head all round he\nlost the pain completely. Another of his disciples, Eangist by name, was\ngrievously afflicted with immense pain in his teeth. By Sigulf\u2019s advice\nhe touched his teeth with the comb, and forthwith, because he did it in\nfaith, he received a cure by the merits of Alchuin.\n\n\u201cWhen Joseph, the bishop of the city of Tours, a man good and beloved\nof God, heard that the blessed Alchuin was dead, he came to the spot\nimmediately with his clerks, and washing Alchuin\u2019s eyes with his tears,\nhe kissed him frequently. He advised, moreover, using wise counsel, that\nhe should not be buried outside, in the place where the father himself\nhad willed, but with all possible honour within the basilica of the\nholy Martin, that the bodies of those whose souls are united in heaven\nshould on earth lie in one home. And thus it was done. Above his tomb\nwas placed, as he had directed, a title which he had dictated in his\nlifetime, engraved on a plate of bronze let into the wall.\u201d[74]\n\nThe simple epitaph, apart from the title, ran thus:\u2014\n\n\u201cHere doth rest the lord Alchuuin the Abbat, who died in peace on the\nfourteenth of the Kalends of June. When you read, O all ye who pass by,\npray for him and say, The Lord grant unto him eternal rest.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n The large bulk of Alcuin\u2019s letters and other writings.\u2014The\n main dates of his life.\u2014Bede\u2019s advice to Ecgbert.\u2014Careless\n lives of bishops.\u2014No parochial system.\u2014Inadequacy of the\n bishops\u2019 oversight.\u2014Great monasteries to be used as sees for\n new bishoprics, and evil monasteries to be suppressed.\u2014Election\n of abbats and hereditary descent.\u2014Evils of pilgrimages.\u2014Daily\n Eucharists.\n\n\nWe in the diocese of Bristol have a special right to study and to make\nmuch of the letters of Alcuin. Our own great historian, William of\nMalmesbury, had in the library of Malmesbury from the year 1100 and\nonwards an important collection of these letters, from which he quotes\nfrequently in support of the historical statements which he makes.\nMore than that, we know of some of the letters of Alcuin only from the\nquotations from them thus made by William in this diocese some 800 years\nago. This is specially stated by Abbat Froben, of Ratisbon, who edited\nthe letters of Alcuin 140 years ago.\n\nThe letters of Alcuin are addressed to an emperor, to kings, queens,\npopes, patriarchs, archbishops, dukes, and others; so that of Alcuin\u2019s\npolitical importance there can be no question. As to his learning,\nWilliam of Malmesbury pays him the great compliment of naming him along\nwith our own Aldhelm and with Bede. \u201cOf all the Angles,\u201d he says,[75]\n\u201cof whom I have read, Alcuin was, next to the holy Aldhelm and Bede,\ncertainly the most learned.\u201d\n\nAlcuin was born in Northumbria in or about the year 735. He left England\nto live in France in 782, returned for a time in 792, and left finally in\n793. He died in 804. We can thus see how he stands in regard of date to\nthose with whom we have dealt in former lectures. Aldhelm and Wilfrith\ndied in 709, only about a quarter of a century before Alcuin\u2019s birth.\nBede died, according to the usual statement[76], in 735, the year of\nAlcuin\u2019s birth. Boniface was martyred in Holland in 755, when Alcuin was\ntwenty years old.\n\nAs in the case of Gregory and of Boniface, who have been the subjects\nof the last two courses of lectures, the letters of Alcuin are the most\nimportant\u2014or among the most important\u2014sources of information for the\nhistory of the times. The letters are 236 in number, and they fill 373\ncolumns of close small print in the large volumes of Migne\u2019s series.\nThe letters of Boniface are not half so numerous, and they occupy\nconsiderably less than one-third of the space in the same print.\n\nThe letters of Alcuin, great as is their number and reach, form but a\nsmall part of his writings. His collected works are six times as large as\nhis letters. His commentaries and treatises on the Holy Scriptures are\nmuch more lengthy than his collected letters, more than two-thirds as\nlong again. His dogmatic writings are not far from half as long again\nas his letters. His book on Sacraments and kindred subjects is about\ntwo-thirds as long as his letters. His biographies of saints, his poems,\nhis treatises on teaching and learning, are all together nearly as long\nas the letters; and there is almost the same bulk of works which are\nattributed to him on evidence of a less conclusive character.\n\nPut briefly, this was his life. He was a boy at my own school, the\nCathedral School of York, a school which had the credit of educating,\n800 years later, another boy who made a mark on history, Guy Fawkes.\nThe head master in Alcuin\u2019s time was Ecgbert, Archbishop of York and\nbrother of the reigning king of Northumbria; and the second master was\nAlbert, Ecgbert\u2019s cousin, and eventually his successor in the chief\nmastership and in the archbishopric. Alcuin succeeded to the practical\npart of the mastership on Ecgbert\u2019s death in 766, the new archbishop,\nAlbert, retaining the government of the school and the chief part of the\nreligious teaching. In 778 Alcuin became in all respects the head master\nof the school, and in the end of 780 Albert died, leaving to Alcuin the\ngreat collection of books which formed the famous library of York.\n\nAlcuin had for some years travelled much on the continent of Europe,\nand he was well acquainted with its principal scholars. They were\nrelatively few in number, learning having sunk very low on the continent,\nwhile in Northumbria it had been and still was at a very high level.\nAlcuin had also made acquaintance with Karl, not yet known as Karl der\nGrosse, Carolus Magnus, Charlemagne, the son of Pepin, king as yet of\nthe Franks, emperor in the year 800, a man about seven years younger\nthan Alcuin. On a visit to the continent in 781 he again met Karl, who\nproposed to him that he should enter his service as master of the school\nof his palace, and practically minister of education for all parts of\nthe vast empire over which Karl ruled. In 782 he joined Karl, having\nobtained leave of absence from the Northumbrian king Alfweald, Archbishop\nEcgbert\u2019s great-nephew, and from the new archbishop, Eanbald I. From that\ntime onwards he was Karl\u2019s right-hand man, in matters theological as well\nas educational; and in some matters of supreme political importance too.\nThe leave of absence lasted some nine or ten years; at the end of that\ntime Alcuin came back for a short time, but he soon after terminated\nhis official connexion with York, and spent the rest of his life in the\ndominions of Karl.\n\nArchbishop Ecgbert, Alcuin\u2019s master, had been a friend of the venerable\nBede. The only occasion on which we know that Bede left his cloister\nwas that of a visit to Ecgbert at York, shortly before Bede\u2019s death,\nif he died in 735. We have it from Bede himself that he had promised\nanother visit to York in the following year, but was too ill to carry\nout his promise. Failing the opportunity of long conversations on the\nstate of the Province of York, which corresponded to the bishoprics of\nYork, Lindisfarne, Hexham, and Whithern, Bede set down his thoughts on\nparchment or tablets, and sent them to his friend. This Letter of Bede to\nEcgbert is by very far the most important document of those times which\nhas come down to us; both because of the remarkable mass of information\ncontained in it, which we get from no other source, and because of the\nlarge and broad views of ecclesiastical policy which it sets forth. It\nwas no doubt the advice and warnings of Bede that led Ecgbert to create\nthe educational conditions which developed the intellect of the most\nintellectual man of his times, the subject of these lectures. Inasmuch\nas it seems probable\u2014indeed, is practically certain\u2014that the distressful\nstate of Northumbria was the final cause of Alcuin\u2019s abandonment of his\nnative land, it will be well to summarize the main points of Bede\u2019s\ndirge. We should bear in mind the fact that we are reading a description\nby an ecclesiastic, a man keenly devoted to the monastic life; and that\nthe date is that of the year of Alcuin\u2019s birth. It tells us, therefore,\nsomething of the setting in which Alcuin found himself in early boyhood.\n\nEcgbert had only become Bishop of York in the year of Bede\u2019s visit to\nhim, 734. York was not as yet an Archbishopric; it was raised to that\ndignity in Ecgbert\u2019s time. Some writers call Paulinus Archbishop, because\na pall was sent to him by Gregory; but the pall did not reach England\ntill after Paulinus had run away from York.\n\nBede thinks it necessary to urge Ecgbert very earnestly to be careful in\nhis talk. He does not suppose that Ecgbert sins in this respect, but it\nis matter of common report that some bishops do; that they have no men of\nreligion or continence with them, but rather such as indulge in laughter\nand jests, in revellings, drunkenness, and other pleasures of loose life;\nmen who feast daily in rich banquets, and neglect to feed their minds on\nthe heavenly sacrifice.\n\nThere were in 735 sixteen bishops\u2019 sees in England, held in the south by\nTatuin of Canterbury, Ingwald of London, Daniel of Winchester, Aldwin\nof Lichfield, Alwig of Lindsey, Forthere of Sherborn, Ethelfrith of\nElmham[77], Wilfrid of Worcester, Wahlstod of Hereford, Sigga of Selsey,\nEadulf of Rochester; and in the north by Ecgbert of York, Ethelwold of\nLindisfarne, Frithobert of Hexham, and Frithwald of Whithern. We may,\nprobably, narrow Bede\u2019s censure to Lindisfarne and Hexham, if he really\ndid, as some assume, refer to his own parts. As a Northumbrian myself,\nI think that a long-headed man like Bede, a Northumbrian by birth, more\nprobably referred to bishops of the parts which we now know as the\nSouthern Province. Alcuin\u2019s letters, however, show that in his time there\nwas much that needed improvement in the case of northern bishops as well\nas southern.\n\nA bishop in those days had to do the main part of the teaching, and\npreaching, and ministering the Sacraments, throughout the diocese. Bede\npoints out that Ecgbert\u2019s diocese was much too large for one man to cover\nit properly with ministrations. He must, therefore, ordain priests, and\nappoint teachers to preach the Word of God in each of the villages; to\ncelebrate the heavenly mysteries; and especially to attend to sacred\nbaptism[78]. The persons so appointed must make it their essential\nbusiness to root deep in the memory of the people that Catholic Faith\nwhich is contained in the Apostles\u2019 Creed, and in like manner the Lord\u2019s\nPrayer. Those of the people who do not know Latin are to say the Creed\nand the Lord\u2019s Prayer over and over again in their native tongue; and\nthis rule is not for the laity only, but also for clergy and monks\nwho do not know Latin. For this purpose, Bede says he has often given\ntranslations of these two into English to uneducated priests; for St.\nAmbrose declared that all the faithful should say the Creed every\nmorning, and the English practice was to chant the Lord\u2019s Prayer very\noften. How much we of to-day would give for just one copy of Bede\u2019s Creed\nand Lord\u2019s Prayer in English![79]\n\nEcgbert\u2019s position in the sight of God, Bede says, will be very serious\nif he neglects to do as he advises, especially if he takes temporal gifts\nor payments from those to whom he does not give heavenly gifts. This last\npoint Bede presses home with affectionate earnestness upon the \u201cmost\nbeloved Prelate\u201d. \u201cWe have heard it reported,\u201d he says, \u201cthat there are\nmany villages and dwellings, on inaccessible hills and in deep forests,\nwhere for many years no bishop has been seen, no bishop has ministered;\nand yet no single person has been free from the payment of tribute to the\nbishop; and that although not only has he never come to confirm those\nwho have been baptized, but there has been no teacher to instruct them\nin the faith or show them the difference between good and evil. And if\nwe believe and confess,\u201d he continues, \u201cthat in the laying on of hands\nthe Holy Spirit is received, it is clear that that gift is absent from\nthose who have not been confirmed. When a bishop has, from love of money,\ntaken nominally under his government a larger part of the population than\nhe can by any means visit with his ministrations in one whole year, the\nperil is great for himself, and great for those to whom he claims to be\noverseer while he is unable to oversee them.\u201d\n\nEcgbert has, Bede tells him, a most ready coadjutor in the King of\nNorthumbria, Ceolwulf, Ecgbert\u2019s near relative, his first cousin, whom\nEcgbert\u2019s brother succeeded. The [arch]bishop should advise the King\nto place the ecclesiastical arrangements of the Northumbrian nation on\na better footing. This would best be done by the appointment of more\nbishops. Pope Gregory had bidden Augustine to arrange for twelve bishops\nin the Northern Province, the Bishop of York to receive the pall as\nMetropolitan. Ecgbert should aim at that number. It may here be noted\nthat in this year of grace 1908 there are still only nine diocesan\nbishops in the Northern Province, besides the archbishop, and five of\nthese nine have been created in the lifetime of some of us. Bristol knows\nto its heavy cost that Ripon was the first of the five.\n\nBut Bede points out, and here we come to very interesting matter, that\nthe negligence of some former kings, and the foolish gifts of others,\nhad left it very difficult to find a suitable see for a new bishop. The\nmonasteries were in possession everywhere. It may be remarked in passing\nthat all over the Christian parts of the world monasteries existed, even\nin those early times, in very large numbers. We know the names, and the\ndates or periods of foundation, of no less than 1481 founded before the\nyear 814, in various parts of the world; and the actual number was very\nmuch larger than that, from what we know of the facts, especially in\nthe East. In the time of Henry VIII, besides the monasteries which had\nbeen suppressed by Wolsey, Fisher, and others, as also the large number\nof alien priories suppressed at an earlier date, and besides all the\necclesiastical foundations called hospitals and colleges, more than 600\nmonasteries remained in this land to be suppressed.\n\nThere being, then, no lands left to endow bishoprics, there was, in\nBede\u2019s opinion, only one remedy; that was, the summoning of a Greater\nCouncil, at which an edict should be issued, by pontifical and royal\nconsent, fixing upon some great monastery for a new episcopal seat.\nTo conciliate the abbat and monks, the election of the bishop-abbat\nshould be left to them. If it should prove necessary to provide more\nproperty still for the bishop, Bede pointed out that there were many\nestablishments calling themselves monasteries which were not worthy of\nthe name. He would like to see some of these transferred by synodical\nauthority for the further maintenance of the newly-created see, so\nthat money which now went in luxury, vanity, and intemperance in meat\nand drink, might be used to further the cause of chastity, temperance,\nand piety. Here in Bristol, with Gloucester close at hand, we need no\nreminder of the closeness of the parallel between Bede\u2019s advice in 735\nto King Ceolwulf and the actual course taken in 1535 by King Henry, and\ncarried to completion by him in 1540-2, in the foundation of six new\nbishoprics on the spoils of as many great monasteries. Nor need it be\npointed out that Bede\u2019s proposal to suppress small and ill-conditioned\nmonasteries was a forecast of the original proposal of Henry VIII.\n\nBede then proceeds to speak with extreme severity of false monasteries.\nIt appears that men bribed kings to make them grants of lands\u2014professedly\nfor monasteries\u2014in hereditary possession, and paid moneys to bishops,\nabbats, and secular authorities, to ratify the grants by their\nsignatures; and then they made them the dwellings of licentiousness and\nexcess of all kinds. The men\u2019s wives set up corresponding establishments.\nBede urged the annulment of all grants thus misused: again we seem to\nhear a note prophetic of eight hundred years later. To so great a pitch\nhad this gone, that there were no lands left for grants to discharged\nsoldiers, sons of nobles, and others. Thus it came to pass that such men\neither went beyond sea and abandoned their own country, for which they\nought to fight, or else they lived as they could at home, not able to\nmarry, and living unseemly lives. If this was allowed to go on, the land\nwould be unable to defend itself against the inroads of the barbarians.\nBede\u2019s prophecy to that effect came crushingly true in Alcuin\u2019s\ntime, not fifty years after it was written. And here again we have a\nremarkable forecast of Henry VIII\u2019s avowed purpose in the suppression of\nmonasteries, that he must have means to defend his land against invasion.\nThus the three arguments of Henry VIII, namely, that lands and money\nwere needed for more soldiers and sailors, that lands and money were\nneeded for more bishoprics, and that many of the religious houses did\nnot deserve that name, were carefully set out by one whom we may call a\nHigh-Church ecclesiastic, eight hundred years before Henry.\n\nOn two of the points mentioned by Bede in connexion with monasteries, it\nmay be well to say a little more by way of illustration. The two points\nare, the hereditary descent of monasteries, and the principle on which\nthe election of the abbat should proceed. To take the second first,\u2014Bede\nis very precise on this point. He says that when a monastery is to be\ntaken as the seat of a bishop, licence should be given to the monks to\nelect one of themselves to fill the double office of abbat and bishop,\nand to rule the monastery in the one character and the adjacent diocese\nin the other. We should have thought it would have been better to leave\nthem free to elect some prominent churchman from the outside, than to\nlimit their choice to one of themselves. And the exception for which\narrangement was made points in the same direction of limitation. If they\nhave not the right man in their own monastery, at least they must choose\none from their own family, or order, to preside over them, in accordance\nwith the decrees of the Canons. This strictness was traditional in\nNorthumbria. The great founder of monastic institutions in the Northern\nChurch, Benedict Biscop, who founded Monk Wearmouth in 674 and Jarrow in\n685, was very decided about it. He would not have an abbat brought in\nfrom another monastery. The duty of the brethren, he said, when speaking\nto his monks on his own imminent decease, was, in accordance with the\nrule of Abbat Benedict the Great, and in accordance with the statutes\nof their own monastery of Wearmouth\u2014which he had himself drawn up after\nconsideration of the various rules on the Continent from the statutes of\nthe seventeen monasteries which he liked best of all that he had seen\u2014to\ninquire carefully who of themselves was best fitted for the post, and,\nafter due election, have him confirmed as abbat by the benediction of\nthe bishop. There is a great deal to be said in favour of this course,\nand there is a great deal to be said for more freedom of election. The\ncase which comes nearest to it in our English life of to-day is that of\nthe election of the Master of a College in one of the two Universities.\nIn Cambridge the election\u2014in two cases the appointment\u2014is in every case\nopen, in the sense that it is not confined to the Fellows of the College,\nand in very recent times there have been several cases of the election\nof a prominent man from another College, to the great advantage of the\nCollege thus electing.\n\nThe other point is of much wider importance, namely, the hereditary\ndescent of monasteries and of their headship. Our Northumbrian abbat\nBenedict was very decided here also. The brethren must not elect his\nsuccessor on account of his birth. There must be no claim of next of kin.\nHe was specially anxious that his own brother after the flesh should\nnot be elected to succeed him. He would rather his monastery became a\nwilderness than have this man as his successor, for they all knew that\nhe did not walk in the way of truth. Benedict evidently feared that a\npractice of hereditary succession to ecclesiastical office might spring\nup. No doubt he had seen at least the beginning of this in foreign parts.\nIt was no visionary fear, for in times rather later we have examples of\necclesiastical benefices, and even bishoprics, going from father to son,\nand that in days of supposed celibacy. We have plenty of examples of\nmonasteries descending from mother to daughter later on in England; and\nin Bede\u2019s own time he mentions without adverse remark that the Abbess\nof Wetadun (Watton, in East Yorkshire) persuaded Bishop John of Hexham\nto cure of an illness her daughter, whom she proposed to make abbess\nin her stead. Alcuin himself, as we have seen,[80] tells us quite as\na matter of ordinary occurrence, not calling for any remark, that he\nhimself succeeded hereditarily to the first monastery which he ruled,\nsituated on Spurn Point, the southern promontory of Yorkshire. We cannot\ndoubt that the evils naturally arising, in some cases at least, from\nhereditary succession to spiritual positions, had much to do with the\nintemperate suppression of the secular clergy and the enforcement of\nclerical celibacy. In considering the question as it concerned the times\nof Alcuin, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with times very long\nbefore the development of the idea of feudal succession.\n\nIt is interesting to note that the earliest manuscripts of the Rule of\nSt. Benedict which are known to exist do not definitely lay down the\nprecise rule that the person elected to an abbacy must be a member of\nthe abbey or at least of the same order. The Rule was first printed in\n1659 by a monk of Monte Cassino; and this print was carefully collated\nthroughout with a manuscript of the thirteenth century at Fort Augustus\nfor the edition published by Burns and Oates in 1886. Chapter 64 is as\nfollows, taking the translation annexed to the Latin in that edition,\nthough it does not in all cases give quite the force of the original.\n\n\u201cIn the appointing[81] of an abbot, let this principle always be\nobserved, that he be made abbot whom all the brethren with one consent\nin the fear of God, or even a small part of the community with more\nwholesome counsel, shall elect. Let him who is to be appointed be chosen\nfor the merit of his life and the wisdom of his doctrine, even though\nhe should be the last of the community. But if all the brethren with\none accord (which God forbid) should elect a man willing to acquiesce\nin their evil habits, and these in some way come to the knowledge of\nthe bishop to whose diocese that place belongs, or of the abbots or\nneighbouring Christians, let them not suffer the consent of these wicked\nmen to prevail, but appoint[82] a worthy steward over the house of God,\nknowing that for this they shall receive a good reward, if they do it\nwith a pure intention and for the love of God, as, on the other hand,\nthey will sin if they neglect it.\u201d\n\nWe hear a good deal in our early history of kings and great men\nrenouncing the world and entering the cloister. Bede shows us the darker\nside of this practice. Ever since king Aldfrith died, he says, some\nthirty years before, there has not been one chief minister of state who\nhas not provided himself while in office with a so-called monastery of\nthis false kind, and his wife with another. The layman then is tonsured,\nand becomes not a monk but an abbat, knowing nothing of the monastic\nrule. And the bishops, who ought to restrain them by regular discipline,\nor else expel them from Holy Church, are eager to confirm the unrighteous\ndecrees for the sake of the fees they receive for their signatures.\nAgainst this poison of covetousness Bede inveighs bitterly; and then\nhe declares that if he were to treat in like manner of drunkenness,\ngluttony, sensuality, and like evils, his letter would extend to an\nimmense length.\n\nIt may be well to mention here another religious practice which had\ntwo sides to it, the practice of going on pilgrimage. Anglo-Saxon men\nand women had a passion for visiting the tombs of the two princes of\nthe Apostles, Peter, whose connexion with Rome is so shadowy up to the\ntime of his death there, and Paul, their own Apostle, the teacher of\nthe Gentiles, whose connexion with Rome is so solid a fact in the New\nTestament and in Church history. Bede tells us that in his times many\nof the English, noble and ignoble, laymen and clerics, men and women,\ndid this. As a result of the relaxed discipline of mixed travel, a\ncomplaint came to England, soon after, that the promiscuous journeyings\non pilgrimage led to much immorality, so that there was scarcely a town\non the route in which there were not English women leading immoral lives.\n\nThere is one striking passage in Bede\u2019s unique letter which shows us how\ngreat were the demands of the early Church upon the religious observances\nof the lay people; while it shows with equal clearness the inadequacy of\nthe response made by the English of the time. The passage will complete\nour knowledge of the state of religion among our Anglian forefathers\ntowards the end of Bede\u2019s life. It refers to the bishop\u2019s work among the\npeople of the world, outside the monastic institutions. The bishop must\nfurnish them with competent teachers, who shall show them how to fortify\nthemselves and all they have against the continual plots of unclean\nspirits, by the frequent use of the sign of the Cross, and by frequent\njoining in Holy Communion. \u201cIt is salutary,\u201d he says to Ecgbert, \u201cfor\nall classes of Christians to participate daily in the Body and Blood of\nthe Lord, as you well know is done by the Church of Christ throughout\nItaly, Gaul, Africa, Greece, and the whole of the East. This religious\nexercise, this devoted sanctification, has, through the neglect of the\nteachers, been so long abandoned by almost all the lay persons of the\nprovince of Northumbria, that even the more religious among them only\ncommunicate at Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter. And yet,\u201d he continues,\n\u201cthere are innumerable persons, innocent and of most chaste conversation,\nboys and girls, young men and virgins, old men and old women, who without\nany controversy could communicate on every Lord\u2019s Day, and indeed on the\nbirthdays of the holy apostles and martyrs, as you have seen done in the\nholy Roman and Apostolic Church.\u201d The Church History of early times has a\ngreat deal of practical teaching for the church people of to-day.\n\nIf the life of religious people in the monasteries and in the world was\nthus tainted and slack, we can imagine what the ordinary secular life was\nlikely to be. There was terrible force in Bede\u2019s suggestion that a nation\nso rotten could never withstand a hostile attack of any importance.\nArchbishop Ecgbert certainly did all that he could to bring things into\norder; and he wisely determined that the very best thing he could do to\npull things round was to get hold of the youth of the nation, and train\nthem with the utmost care in the way that they should go. This leads us\non to the rise or revival of the Cathedral School of York.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n The school of York.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s poem on the Bishops and Saints\n of the Church of York.\u2014The destruction of the Britons by\n the Saxons.\u2014Description of Wilfrith II, Ecgbert, Albert, of\n York.\u2014Balther and Eata.\u2014Church building in York.\u2014The Library of\n York.\n\n\nIt is usual to reckon the year 735 as the beginning of the great School\nof York, and Archbishop\u2014or rather, as he then was, Bishop\u2014Ecgbert as its\noriginator. But it seems clear that we must carry its beginnings further\nback, and count as its originator a man who filled a much larger place\nin the world than even Ecgbert, archbishop as he became, and brother of\nthe king as he was. When Wilfrith, the first Englishman to appeal to\nRome, was put into the see of York by Theodore of Canterbury in 669,\nhis chaplain and biographer, Stephen Eddi, tells of four principal\nworks which, between that year and 678, his chief accomplished. The\nfirst was the restoration of the Cathedral Church of York, which had\nfallen into decay during the time when Lindisfarne was the seat of the\nBishop of Northumbria. The second was the building of a noble church at\nRipon for the people of the kingdom of Elmete, which Edwin, the first\nChristian king of Northumbria, had conquered from the Romano-Britons;\ncorresponding to the West Riding of Yorkshire and parts of Lancashire, a\nportion of the great British kingdom of Rheged, at the court of which\nthe bard Taliessin had sung. The fourth was the building of a still more\nnoble church at Hexham, to be the ecclesiastical centre of the northern\npart of Northumbria, replacing Lindisfarne in that character. And the\nthird in order was the establishment of a School, no doubt at York, as\nthat was his episcopal seat, and he himself was the chief teacher. The\nworld credits William of Wickham with the invention of the idea of a\npublic school in the modern sense of the word; but seven hundred[83]\nyears before him Wilfrith had grasped the idea and put it into practice\nat York. This is what his chaplain tells us. The secular chiefs, the\nnoblemen, sent their sons to him to be so taught that when the time of\nchoice came they would be found fit to serve God in the ministry, if that\nwas their choice, or to serve the king in arms if they preferred that\ncareer. We must certainly reckon the year 676, or thereabouts, as the\ndate of foundation of the school at York, Wilfrith as its founder, and\nits principle that of the modern public school, which is supposed to give\nan education so liberal that whatever career its alumnus prefers he will\nbe found fitted for it. The first scholars of the school of York entered,\nsome of them, the ministry, as learned clerks; others, the army, as fit\nto be soldiers. It was still so when I went to that school sixty-four\nyears ago. The school is older than Winchester by seven hundred years,\nand older than Eton by seven hundred and sixty-five.[84] Bede\u2019s strong\nappeal to Ecgbert led to the revival of the school after the natural\ndecay from which good institutions suffer in times of ecclesiastical\nand civil disorder, and we date the continuous life of the school from\nhim. It was an interesting coincidence, that men saw in the year 735 the\nrevival of the school and the birth of its most famous pupil, assistant\nmaster, and head master. We may now turn to that man, whose early lot was\ncast in a state of society, lay and clerical, such as that described in\nscathing terms by Bede; and who was the first-fruits of the remedy which\nBede had suggested. As a link between Bede and Alcuin we may have in mind\na pretty little story about Bede which we find in a letter of Alcuin\u2019s\nsome fifty or sixty years after Bede\u2019s death.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 274. Before A.D. 793.]\n\nAlcuin is writing to the monks of Wearmouth. He tells them how well\nhe remembers what he saw at Wearmouth long years ago, and how much he\nwas pleased with everything he saw. He encourages them to continue in\nthe right way by reminding them of the virtues of their founders. \u201cIt\nis certain,\u201d he writes, \u201cthat your founders very often visit the place\nof your dwelling. They rejoice with all whom they find keeping their\nstatutes and living right lives; and they cease not to intercede for\nsuch with the pious judge. Nor is it doubtful that visitations of angels\nfrequent holy places; for it is reported that our master and your patron\nthe blessed Bede said, \u2018I know that angels visit the canonical hours and\nthe congregations of the brethren. What if they should not find me among\nthe brethren? Would they not have to say, Where is Bede? Why does he not\ncome with the brethren to the appointed prayers?\u2019\u201d\n\nTo us in England, and especially to those of us who are North-countrymen,\nnothing that Alcuin wrote has a higher interest than his poem in Latin\nhexameters on the Bishops and Saints of the Church of York. By the Church\nof York Alcuin evidently meant the Church of Northumbria, although\nhis account of the prelates dwells chiefly on the archbishops of his\ntime. Considering his long sojourn in France, it was fitting that the\nmanuscript of this famous poem should be discovered at a monastery near\nReims, the monastery of St. Theodoric, or Thierry according to the later\nspelling. A great part of the poem is in the main a versification of\nBede\u2019s prose history of the conversion of the North to Christianity, and\nan adaptation of Bede\u2019s metrical life of St. Cuthbert. On this account\nthe French transcriber from the original omitted about 1100 of the\n1657 lines of which the poem consists, and only about 550 lines were\noriginally printed by Mabillon in the Acta Sanctorum. When our own Gale\nwas preparing to publish it, he got the missing verses both from the\nSt. Theodoric MS. and also from a MS. at Reims itself. Both manuscripts\ndisappeared long ago, probably in the devastations of the French\nRevolution[85].\n\nThe poem describes the importance of York in the time of the Roman\noccupation of Britain, the residence, as Alcuin tells us, of the dukes\nof Britain, and of sovereigns of Rome. York was, in fact, the imperial\ncity; it shared with Tr\u00e8ves the honour of being the only imperial cities\nnorth of the Alps. He speaks eloquently of its beautiful surroundings,\nits flowery fields, its noble edifices, its fertility, its charm as a\nhome. This part of the poem inclines the reader to settle in favour of\nYork the uncertainty as to the place of Alcuin\u2019s birth. One graphic\ntouch, and the use of a special Latin name for the river Ouse which flows\nthrough the middle of the city, goes to the heart of those who in their\nyouth have fished in that river\u2014\n\n Hanc piscosa suis undis interluit Usa.\n\nHe goes on to speak of the persistent inroads of the Picts after the\nwithdrawal of the Roman troops. Inasmuch as the sixth legion was\nquartered at York, and all of the other three legions in Britain were\nwithdrawn before the sixth, it may be claimed that York was the last\nplace effectively occupied by the Roman troops. This indeed is in itself\nprobable, since York was in the best position for checking the attempts\nof the Picts to reach the central and southern parts of Britain. He\ndescribes how the leaders of the Britons sent large bribes to a warlike\nrace, to bring them over to protect the land, a race, he says, called\nfrom their hardness Saxi, as though Saxons meant stones.[86] The eventual\nconquest of the Britons by the Saxons evidently had Alcuin\u2019s full\nsympathy. The Britons were lazy; worse than that, they were wicked; for\ntheir sins they were rightly driven out, and a better race entered into\npossession of their cities. We would give a great deal to have had from\nAlcuin a few words of tradition about some details of the occupation of\nYork by the Angles, and of the fate of the British inhabitants. Alcuin\u2019s\nwords would suggest that their fate was a cruel one, but we do not know\nanything of it from any source whatsoever. One of his remarks strikes\nus as curious, considering that the Britons were Christians and their\nconquerors were pagan: the expulsion, he says, was the work of God,\nthat a race might enter into possession who should keep the precepts of\nthe Lord. Clearly Alcuin held a brief for his ancestors of some five\ngenerations before his birth. He writes also in a rather lordly way of\nthe kingdom of Kent, as though Northumbria was the really important\nprovince in the time of King Edwin, as indeed it unquestionably was.\nEdwin was the most prominent personage in England, the Bretwalda, at the\ntime of the conversion of Northumbria. All that Alcuin says of Edwin\u2019s\nyoung wife Ethelburga, and of the kingdom of Kent whence she came, is\nthis: \u201cHe took from the southern parts a faithful wife, of excellent\ndisposition, of illustrious origin, endowed with all the virtues of the\nholy faith.\u201d We shall have, at a later stage, to remark upon the silence\nwith which Wessex also was treated by Alcuin.\n\nIt is quite true that the facts of the greater part of the poem are\ntaken from Bede. But it is of much interest to note the selection which\nAlcuin made. Of the kings, he writes of Edwin, Oswald, Oswy, Ecgfrith,\nand Aldfrith, omitting mention of the sub-kings, several of whom were\nconnected with constitutional difficulties. Of the bishops, he writes\nof Paulinus, Wilfrith, Cuthbert, Bosa, and John, mentioning Aidan\nonly incidentally, but with the epithet \u201cmost holy\u201d. He avoids all\ncontroversial topics in writing of Wilfrith. There is just one word of\nreference to Wilfrith\u2019s many disturbances, in connexion with the only\nmention Alcuin makes here of Rome: Wilfrith, he says, was journeying to\nRome, _compulsus_, being driven to go there. It is worthy of remark that\nof the hundred and sixty-eight lines which Alcuin gives to his account of\nWilfrith, he devotes nine to Wilfrith\u2019s vision, in which the name of the\nBlessed Virgin played so large a part. It was Wilfrith\u2019s chaplain, Eddi,\nwho recorded this, not Bede, who is very reticent about Wilfrith. Michael\nappeared to Wilfrith at a crisis in a serious illness, and announced\nthat he was sent by the Almighty to inform him that he would recover.\nThe message went on to explain that this was due to the merits and\nprayers of the holy mother Mary, who from the celestial throne had heard\nwith open ears the groans, the tears (_sic_)[87], and the vows of the\ncompanions of Wilfrith, and had begged for him life and health. Stephen\nEddi gives a highly characteristic ending to the message, which Alcuin\nomits. \u201cRemember,\u201d the archangel said, \u201cthat in honour of St. Peter and\nSt. Andrew thou hast built churches; but to the holy Mary, ever Virgin,\nwho intercedes for thee, thou hast reared none. This thou must amend, by\ndedicating a church to her honour.\u201d The church which he had built for\nSt. Peter was at Ripon, that for St. Andrew was at Hexham; we have still\nin each case the confessio, or crypt for relics, which he built under\nthose churches. In obedience to the vision, Wilfrith now built a church\nof St. Mary by the side of the church of St. Andrew at Hexham. This\npresent generation has seen a noble restoration and completion of the\nabbey church of Hexham.[88]\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to remark upon this grouping together of\nchurches dedicated to various saints. At Malmesbury, under St. Aldhelm,\nthere were six churches on the hill in one group, St. Andrew, St.\nLaurence, St. Mary, St. Michael, St. Peter and St. Paul, and the little\nIrish basilica of Maildulf.\n\nAlcuin mentions also the missionary zeal of the Northumbrian church,\nbeginning with the early Ecgbert, who on the expulsion of Wilfrith left\nRipon, and lived for the rest of his life in Ireland as a trainer of\nmissionaries. Besides him, Alcuin names as English missionaries Wibert,\nWilbrord, the two Hewalds, Suidbert, and Wira.\n\nSo far Alcuin copied Bede and Eddi. In the last 442 lines of his poem\nhe gives us information which we do not find elsewhere, dealing in\nsome detail with Bishop Wilfrith II and Archbishops Ecgbert, Albert,\nand Eanbald, of York. Wilfrith II resigned the bishopric of York in\nthe year of Alcuin\u2019s birth, after holding it for fourteen years. A\ndelightful account of him had been handed down to Alcuin\u2019s time. He was\nto all acceptable, venerable, honourable, lovable. He took great pains\nin improving and beautifying the ornaments of his church, covering\naltar and crosses with silver plates, gilded. Other churches in the\ncity he beautified in like manner. He was zealous in multiplying the\ncongregations; following the precepts of the Lord; careful in doctrine;\nbright in example. Liberal with hand and mouth, he fed the minds of the\nstudious and the bodies of the needy. In the end he retired and spent his\nlatest years in contemplation.\n\nOf Ecgbert, the succeeding bishop, Alcuin writes in terms of the highest\npraise. He was evidently more of a ruler than the second Wilfrith had\nbeen, and could be very severe with evil men. He had a love for beautiful\nthings, and added much to the treasures of the church, special mention\nbeing made of silk hangings with foreign patterns woven in. It was to\nhim that Bede wrote the striking letter which we have analysed above. He\nwas of the royal house of Northumbria, and one of his brothers succeeded\nto the throne while Ecgbert was archbishop. The bishop had taken Bede\u2019s\nadvice, had sought and obtained from Rome the pallium, as the sign of\nmetropolitical position. Curiously enough, Alcuin makes no reference to\nthis, the most important ecclesiastical step of the time, another silence\non his part which may have hid feelings he did not wish to express. He\ndoes mention the pall, but only as a matter of course, in comparing the\ntwo brothers, the prelate and the king; the one, he says, bore on his\nshoulder the palls sent by the Apostolic, the other on his head the\ndiadems of his ancestors. He draws a charming picture of the two brothers\nworking together for the country\u2019s good, each in his own sphere,\n\n The times were happy then for this our race,\n When king and prelate in lawful concord wielded\n The one the church\u2019s laws, the other the nation\u2019s affairs.\n\nWe have seen how slight a reference Alcuin makes to the fact of the\npall from Rome. He appears to have held a very moderate view of its\nimportance to the end of his life. His letter to the Pope, Leo III,\nin the year 797, conveying a request that the pall might be granted\nto the newly-consecrated Archbishop of York, Eanbald II, is an\nimportant document. After referring to his letter of the previous year,\ncongratulating Leo on his accession, he proceeds as follows, curiously\nenough not mentioning by name the archbishop or his city or diocese. He\nis writing from his home in France.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 82.]\n\n\u201cAnd now as regards these messengers\u2014who have come from my own fatherland\nand my own city, to solicit the dignity of the sacred pall, in canonical\nmanner and in accordance with the apostolic precept of the blessed\nGregory who brought us to Christ\u2014I humbly pray your pious excellency that\nyou receive benignantly the requests of ecclesiastical necessity. For in\nthose parts the authority of the sacred pall is very necessary, to keep\ndown the perversity of wicked men and to preserve the authority of holy\nchurch.\u201d\n\nThat is a remarkably limited statement of the need for the pall, when we\nremember the tremendous claims made for it in later times. And it is the\nmore remarkable because Alcuin is evidently making the most persuasive\nappeal he could construct; he would certainly state the case in its\nstrongest terms when addressing the one man with whom it finally rested\nto say yes or no. He seems to say clearly that to have the pall was\n_bonum et utile_ for the archbishop, for the purposes which he names; he\nsays nothing, because apparently he knows nothing, of its affecting, one\nway or another, the archbishop\u2019s plenary right, in virtue of his election\nand consecration, to consecrate bishops, ordain priests, and rule his\nprovince and his diocese.\n\nAlcuin digresses from the series of archbishops to deal with the saints\nof the Church of York, of times near to and coinciding with his own. Of\nthe former, he naturally takes Bede, and he takes no other. To Bede he\ngives only thirty-one lines, but he does not stint his praise. Six of the\nthirty-one lines are devoted to Bede\u2019s abbat, Ceolfrith, who took from\nWearmouth as a present to the Pope the famous Codex Amiatinus, now at\nFlorence,[89] and died and was buried at Langres. From Alcuin\u2019s poem we\nlearn that Ceolfrith\u2019s body was eventually brought back to Northumbria,\nand this enables us to accept William of Malmesbury\u2019s statement that King\nEdmund, on an expedition to the north, obtained the relics of Ceolfrith\namong many others, and had them safely buried at Glastonbury.\n\nOf the saints who lived on to the time of Alcuin\u2019s own manhood he takes\ntwo, and we are rather surprised at his selection. The one is Balther,\nthe occupant of the Bass Rock, known later as Baldred of the Bass; the\nother is the anchorite Eata. Both, indeed, were anchorites, the one at\nTyningham and on the Bass, the other at Cric, which is said to be Crayke\nin the East Riding of Yorkshire. Baldred died in 756, and Eata in 767.\nAt Thornhill, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, there is a sepulchral\nmonument, one of three with inscriptions in early Anglian runes, in\nmemory of one Eata, who is described as Inne, which some have guessed\nto mean a hermit.[90] On the strength of this guess they have claimed\nthat Thornhill was the place of burial of Alcuin\u2019s Eata. To Balther\nAlcuin gives more than twice as many lines as to Bede; to us this seems\na remarkably disproportionate treatment. There is a considerable amount\nof uncertainty about Balther, and Alcuin\u2019s lines leave the uncertainty\nwithout solution. The events which he connects with the anchorite\nBalther, as one of the saints of the Northumbrian Church, are really\nconnected with an earlier Balther, of the time of St. Kentigern, a saint\nof the ancient British Church of Cumbria. The death of this Balther is\nplaced in 608; and in any case he was before the first formation of the\nChristian Church among the Northumbrian Angles. Simeon of Durham puts the\ndeath of Balther in 756, and this fits in well with Alcuin\u2019s statements;\nbut we may most probably suppose that there was an earlier Balther and a\nlater, and that the legendary events of the life of the earlier have been\ntransferred to the life of the later. Alcuin certainly understood that\nhis Balther was Balther of the Bass.\n\nIt is when Alcuin comes to Archbishop Albert that he really lets\nhimself go. Ecgbert had in fact established the eminence of the great\nSchool of York, and had himself acted as its chief governor and its\nreligious teacher. But Alcuin does not even refer to that in his\naccount of Ecgbert. The praise of the school goes all to the credit of\nEcgbert\u2019s cousin, his successor in the mastership and eventually in the\narchbishopric, Albert. Eight lines of laudatory epithets Alcuin bestows\nupon Albert, before proceeding to detail; his laudation fitly culminates\nin what all ages have regarded as high praise, _non ore loquax sed\nstrenuus actu_\u2014not a great talker, but a strenuous doer.\n\nIn 766 Albert became archbishop. Like his immediate predecessors, he\ndid much to beautify churches in the city. In this work Alcuin was one\nof his two right-hand men; and yet each detail which Alcuin gives is\npuzzling. He tells us that at the spot where the great warrior Edwin\nthe king received the water of baptism, the prelate constructed a grand\naltar, which he covered with silver, precious stones, and gold, and\ndedicated under the name of St. Paul, the teacher of the world, whom\nthe learned archbishop specially loved. There is a difficulty here.\nWhile it is certain that the church of stone of larger dimensions which\nEdwin and Paulinus began, to include the wooden oratory of St. Peter\nthe place of Edwin\u2019s baptism, was the church which Oswald completed and\nthe first Wilfrith restored, as the Cathedral Church of York, there was\nno altar of St. Paul in the Cathedral Church in the middle ages. We\nshould naturally have supposed that an altar so splendid as that which\nAlbert constructed, at a spot so uniquely remarkable in the Christian\nhistory of Northumbria, would have been sedulously retained throughout\nall changes. The explanation may well be that not the size only but the\nlevel of the surface of the site has been greatly increased in the course\nof 1200 years. The herring-bone work of the walls of the early Anglian\nChurch of York was found deep down below the surface when excavations\nwere made after the fire of 1829, and at a later period in connexion with\nthe hydraulic apparatus for the organ. Probably the altar of St. Paul,\nand the place of baptism, were down at that level, and were buried in\nthe ruins of one fire after another, many feet below the present surface\nof the Minster Yard. My old friend Canon Raine, who edited the three\nvolumes of the _Historians of the Church of York_, writing of the present\ncrypt in his introduction to the first volume,[91] says, \u201cIn another\npeculiar place is the actual site, if I mistake not, of the font in which\nEdwin became a Christian.\u201d Canon Raine was secretive in connexion with\nantiquarian discoveries, and from inquiries which I have made it is to\nbe feared that the secret of this site died with him. All we can say is,\nthat where that site was, there was this splendid altar[92] of St. Paul,\n_mundi doctoris_.\n\nA more doubtful point is raised by Alcuin\u2019s description of the building\nof a new and marvellous basilica, begun, completed, and consecrated, by\nAlbert. Two of his pupils, Eanbald and Alcuin, were his ministers in the\nbuilding, which was consecrated only ten days before his death. It was\nvery lofty, supported on solid columns, with curved arches; the roofs\nand windows were fine; it was surrounded by many porches, porticoes,\nwhich were in fact side chapels; it contained many chambers under various\nroofs, in which were thirty altars with sundry kinds of ornament. Alcuin\ndescribes this immediately after describing the construction of the\naltar of St. Paul in what must have been the old Cathedral Church; but\nhe does not say that the new church was on the old site, or that it\nreplaced the Cathedral Church. Still, a church of that magnitude can only\nhave been the chief church of the city. Simeon of Durham throws light\nupon the point by stating as the reason for building this new basilica,\nthat the monasterium of York\u2014that is, the Minster, as it has always\nbeen called[93]\u2014was burned[94] on Monday, May 23, 741; and the Saxon\nChronicle has the entry[95], \u201cThis year York was burned.\u201d The balance\nof argument on this disputed point is that Albert did really build a new\nCathedral Church in place of one that was burned while Alcuin was a boy.\nThe investigations which have taken place show that in Anglo-Saxon times\na basilica of really important dimensions was in existence, much larger\nthan Edwin\u2019s little oratory or Oswald\u2019s stone building, and all points\nto its being the \u201cmarvellous basilica\u201d which Eanbald and Alcuin built by\norder of Albert.\n\nAlcuin makes several statements about church-building in York. In lines\n195-198, he tells us that King Edwin caused a small building to be\nhurriedly erected, in which he and his could receive the sacred water of\nbaptism. We should naturally suppose that it was by the side of water.\nIn lines 219-222 he tells us that Paulinus built ample churches in his\ncities. Among them he names that of York, supported on solid columns; it\nremains, he says, noble and beautiful, on the spot where Edwin was laved\nin the sacred wave. In lines 1221-1228 he tells us first that Wilfrith\nII greatly adorned \u201cthe church\u201d, evidently meaning his cathedral church,\nand then that he adorned with great gifts other churches in the city of\nYork. In lines 1487-1505 he tells us that Albert took great care in the\nornamentation of churches, and especially that at the spot of Edwin\u2019s\nbaptism he made a grand altar, which he covered with silver and gems\nand gold, and dedicated it under the name of Saint Paul whom he greatly\nloved. He made also, still it would seem at the same spot, another altar,\ncovered with pure silver and precious stones, and dedicated it to the\nMartyrs and the Cross. As we have seen, there was no altar dedicated to\nSt. Paul in the mediaeval Minster of York; but there was not an altar\nonly but a small church\u2014which remained as a parish church till very\nrecent years\u2014dedicated to Saint Crux. The parish of St. Crux is now\nabsorbed in All Saints. Lastly, in lines 1506-1519 he describes the\nbuilding of the great new basilica which Eanbald and himself built under\nthe orders of Archbishop Albert. The conclusion appears to be that the\nnew basilica\u2014which probably became the cathedral church\u2014did not stand on\nthe site of Paulinus\u2019s church, but was erected close by that specially\nsacred spot; and that both Paulinus\u2019s stone oratory, beautified by\nWilfrith II, with its added altars to St. Paul and St. Crux, and also the\nnew and great basilica of Albert, are now absorbed in the vast area of\nthe Minster of York.\n\nEanbald succeeded Albert in the archbishopric, and Alcuin succeeded\nAlbert in the mastership of the School of York and in the ownership of\nthe great library which for three generations had been got together\nat York. Alcuin tells us that it contained all Latin literature, all\nthat Greece had handed on to the Romans, all that the Hebrew people\nhad received from on high, all that Africa with clear-flowing light\nhad given. Passing from the general to the particular, Alcuin names\nthe authors whose works the library of York possessed. What we would\ngive for even five or six of those priceless manuscripts! Of the\nChristian Fathers, he records a rather mixed list. They had Jerome,\nHilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Orosius, Gregory the Great,\nPope Leo, Basil, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, and John Chrysostom. They had\nthe works of the learned men of the English Church, our own Aldhelm of\nMalmesbury, and Bede; with them he names Victorinus and Boethius, and\nthe old historians, Pompeius and Pliny, the acute Aristotle and the\ngreat rhetorician Tully. They had the poets, too, Sedulius, Juvencus,\nAlcimus[96], Clemens, Prosper, Paulinus, Arator, Fortunatus, Lactantius.\nThey had also Virgil, Statius, and Lucan. They were rich in grammarians:\nProbus, Focas, Donatus, Priscian, Servius, Euticius, Pompeius,\nComminianus. You will find, he says, in the library very many more\nmasters, famous in study, art, and language, who have written very many\nvolumes, but whose names it would be too long to recite in a poem. It may\nperhaps be a fair guess that he had used up all the names which he could\nconveniently get into dactyls and spondees for hexameter verse.\n\nTwo years after handing over to Alcuin the possession of this great\nlibrary, and to Eanbald the archbishopric itself, Albert died. We may\nhere remind ourselves of outstanding facts and dates. Alcuin, born in\n735, had as a young man held the office of teacher in the School of York\nfor some years. In 766 he had been promoted to a position which so far\nas teaching was concerned was practically that of Head Master. In 778 he\nbecame in the fullest sense the master of the school. In 780 he inherited\nthe great collection of books which had been brought together by\nsuccessive archbishops. In 782 he was called away to become the teacher\nof the School of the Palace of Karl, and director of the studies of the\nempire, still continuing to hold the office of master in name. In 792\nhe left England for the last time, and his official connexion with the\nschool of York came to an end. He gave twenty years of his older life to\nthe service of the Franks, and died in 804.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n The affairs of Mercia.\u2014Tripartite division of England.\u2014The\n creation of a third archbishopric, at Lichfield.\u2014Offa and\n Karl.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letter to Athelhard of Canterbury; to Beornwin\n of Mercia.\u2014Karl\u2019s letter to Offa, a commercial treaty.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n letter to Offa.\u2014Offa\u2019s death.\n\n\nAlthough Alcuin was a Northumbrian, and his interests were naturally with\nthat kingdom, he was at one time of his life more intimately concerned\nwith the affairs of Mercia. It seems, on the whole, best to deal first\nwith that part, as it can be to a certain extent isolated from his\ncorrespondence with Northumbria, and from his life and work among the\nFranks. The special events in Mercian history with which he was concerned\nare in themselves of great interest. They are\u2014(1) the personal and\nofficial dealings between Karl and the Mercian king, and (2) the creation\nand the extinction of a third metropolitical province in England, the\narchbishopric of Lichfield.\n\nWe have to accustom ourselves to the fact that the Heptarchy, that is,\nthe division of England into seven independent kingdoms with seven\nindependent kings, no longer existed in Alcuin\u2019s time. The land was\ndivided into three kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. The rivers\nThames and Humber were, roughly speaking, the lines dividing the whole\nland into three. Kent, to which we probably attach too much importance by\nreason of its being the first Christian kingdom, and of its having in\nits Archbishop the chief ecclesiastic of the whole land, was a conquered\nkingdom, the property at one time of Wessex, at another of Mercia. The\nSouth Saxons, our Sussex, had kings and dukes fitfully, and the territory\nwas included in Wessex. The East Saxons, our Essex, had kings nominally,\nbut belonged usually to Mercia. East Anglia was in a somewhat similar\nposition, but held out for independence with much pertinacity and success\ntill long after Alcuin\u2019s time. The year 828, a quarter of a century after\nAlcuin\u2019s death, saw the final defeat of Mercia by Ecgbert of Wessex, who\nhad spent fifteen years in exile at the Court of Charlemagne in Alcuin\u2019s\ntime, from 787 to 802, when he succeeded to the vacant throne of Wessex\nby a very remote claim, as great-great-grand-nephew of the famous king\nIna. No doubt he learned in those strenuous years, under the tutelage of\nKarl, the lessons of war which brought him into dominance here, another\nlink between Karl and England which passes almost entirely unrecognized.\nThe year 829 saw the peaceful submission of the great men of Northumbria\nto Ecgbert, at Dore, in Derbyshire, and their recognition of him as\ntheir overlord. The mistake of supposing that Ecgbert thus became sole\nking of England as a single kingdom is now exploded; but he was, roughly\nspeaking, master of the whole, and as time went on the petty kings and\nkinglets disappeared. The time which this process occupied was not short.\nThe thirty-first king of Northumbria was reigning in Ecgbert\u2019s time, when\nhis thegns made submission to Ecgbert; but fifteen more kings reigned\nin Northumbria, till Eadred expelled the last of them in 954. In like\nmanner, we have the coins of some kings of East Anglia, and mention of\nother kings, as late as 905.\n\nThat is a digression into times a hundred and a hundred and fifty years\nafter Alcuin. In his time, as has been said, the Heptarchy had for\npractical purposes been consolidated into three main kingdoms, Wessex,\nMercia, and Northumbria.\n\nThis tri-partite arrangement of the seven kingdoms led to one of the most\ncurious episodes of Alcuin\u2019s time, and, indeed, of English history.\n\nOffa, the ambitious king of Mercia, who reigned from 757 to 796, saw\nthat there were two archbishoprics in England, one of which, Canterbury,\nwas centred in a conquered kingdom; while the other, York, had only been\ncreated some twenty years before he began to reign. Bede had advised\nthat the bishopric of York should be raised to an archbishopric, with\nNorthumbria as its province, and on application made to the Pope the\nthing had been done. Each of the two archbishops, as Offa saw, received\nspecial recognition from the Pope in the grant of the _pallium_; a costly\nluxury, no doubt, but a luxury of honour and dignity, worth a good deal\nof money\u2014which it certainly cost. There was no Emperor of the West in\nthose days, some fourteen years before the elevation of Karl to an\nimperial throne; and the Pope was, by the mystery of his ecclesiastical\nposition, and in the glamour of pagan Rome, the greatest personage in the\nthen chaotic world of Western Europe.\n\nQuite apart from the possession of the pallium, the constitutional\nposition of an English archbishop was very great. In our days it\nis sometimes asked about a wealthy man, how much is he worth. In\nAnglo-Saxon times that question had a direct meaning and a direct answer.\nMen of all the higher grades at least had their money value, a very\nconsiderable value, which any one who put an end to any of them must\npay. While the luxury of killing a bishop was as costly as killing an\nealdorman, that is, an earl, an archbishop was as dear as a prince of\nthe blood. The bishop or earl was worth 8000 thrimsas, the thrimsa being\nprobably threepence, say five shillings of our money, or \u00a32000 in all;\nthat was what had to be paid for the luxury of killing a bishop; the\narchbishop or royal prince rose to 15000 thrimsas, nearly twice as much,\nsay \u00a33750 of our money; it does not sound quite enough to our modern\nears. The king was put at \u00a37500. For drawing a weapon in the presence of\na bishop or an ealdorman, the fine was 100 shillings, say \u00a3100 of our\nmoney; in the case of an archbishop it was 150 shillings, half as much\nagain. In the laws of Ina, for violence done to the dwelling and seat of\njurisdiction of a bishop, the fine was 80 shillings, in the case of an\narchbishop 120, the same as in the case of the king. This was not the\nonly point in which the archbishop was on the same level as the king; his\nmere word, without oath, was\u2014as the king\u2019s\u2014incontrovertible. A bishop\u2019s\noath was equivalent to the oaths of 240 ordinary tax payers. In the case\nof the archbishop of Canterbury at the times of which we are speaking,\nthere was added the fact that the royal family of Kent had retired to\nReculver and left the archbishop supreme in the capital city, as the\nbishops of Rome had been left in Rome by the departure of the emperors\nto Constantinople. In Archbishop Jaenbert\u2019s time the royal family of Kent\npractically came to an end, as a regnant family, at the battle of Otford,\nnear Sevenoaks, in the year 774, when Mercia conquered Kent. Archbishop\nJaenbert of Canterbury is said to have proposed that he should become the\ntemporal sovereign of Kent, as well as its ecclesiastical ruler, after\nthe then recent fashion of the bishop of Rome, and to have offered to do\nhomage to Karl, king of the Franks, for the kingdom. If that was so, we\ncan well understand the determination of the conquering and powerful Offa\nto abate the archbishop\u2019s position and his pride.\n\nKent was but an outside annex of the Mercian kingdom proper. It had been\nsubject to other kingdoms; it might be so subject again. The Lichfield\nbishopric was the real ecclesiastical centre of Offa\u2019s kingdom, and he\ndetermined to have an archbishop of Lichfield, and to have him duly\nrecognized by the Pope. A visit of two legates of the Pope, accompanied\nby a representative of the King of the Franks, in the year 785, gave the\nopportunity.[97] Offa had already punished Jaenbert by taking away all\nmanors belonging to the See of Canterbury in Mercian territories; and\nhe now proposed that the jurisdiction of Canterbury should be limited\nto Kent, Sussex, and Wessex, and that all the land of England between\nthe Thames and the Humber should become a third metropolitical province,\nunder the archiepiscopal rule of the bishop of Lichfield. The synod\nat which this proposal was made is described in the Saxon Chronicle\nas geflitfullic, quarrelsome-like; but in the end, Offa\u2019s proposal\nwas accepted. Pope Adrian gave his sanction and the pall. William of\nMalmesbury, with his usual skill and his wide experience, gives the\nexplanation of this papal acquiescence in so violent a revolution in\necclesiastical matters: Offa, he says, obtained the papal licence by the\ngift of endless money, _pecunia infinita_, to the Apostolic See; which\nSee, he adds, never fails one who gives money. That was the judgement\nof a historian after 250 years\u2019 additional experience of the secret of\nRoman sanction. The Pope of the time, it should be said, was a man of\nmuch distinction, Adrian or Hadrian I, a friend of Offa and of Karl. We\nshall have a good deal to say about the grants of Karl, and of Pepin his\nfather, to the papacy, in another lecture.\n\nThere is a letter extant[98] from Pope Adrian I to Karl, written before\nthe creation of the Mercian archbishopric, in which the Pope says he\nhas heard from Karl of a report that Offa had proposed to persuade him\nto eject Adrian from the Papacy, and put in his place some one of the\nFrankish race. The Pope professes to feel that this is absolutely false;\nand yet he says so much about it that it is quite clear he was anxious.\nKarl had told him that Offa had not made any such proposal to him, and\nhad not had any thought in his mind except that he hoped Adrian would\ncontinue to govern the Church all through his time. The Pope adds that\nneither had he until that time heard of anything of the kind; and he does\nnot believe that even a pagan would think of such a thing. Having said\nall this, in Latin much more cumbrous than Alcuin\u2019s charmingly clear\nstyle, he enters upon a long declaration of his personal courage and\nconfidence whatever happened. \u201cIf God be with us, who shall be against\nus.\u201d\n\nWe must, I think, take it that there had been some hitch in negotiations\nbetween Offa and Adrian, and that Offa, with the outspoken vigour of a\nMercian Angle, had in fact gone far beyond Henry VIII\u2019s greatest threats,\nand had declared to his counsellors that if Adrian was not more pliable,\nhe and Karl would make some one Pope who would have first regard to the\nwishes of the Angles and the Franks.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 43. 787-796.]\n\nNow it was Alcuin who had brought together Karl and Offa in the\nfirst instance, and had brought about their alliance. And on a later\noccasion when they quarrelled he made them friends again. We do not\nknow what active part, if any, Alcuin took in the matter decided at the\nquarrelsome-like synod. But we have plenty of evidence that he highly\napproved of the reversal of Hadrian\u2019s act by his successor Leo III,\nwith the assent, and indeed on the request, of Offa\u2019s successor Kenulf.\nHe corresponded with Offa in a very friendly manner, as indeed Offa\u2019s\ngeneral conduct well deserved. Here is a letter from him, in response\nto a request from the king that he would send him a teacher. \u201cAlways\ndesirous faithfully to do what you wish, I have sent to you this my best\nloved pupil, as you have requested. I pray you have him in honour until\nif God will I come to you. Do not let him wander about idle, do not let\nhim take to drink. Provide him with pupils, and let your preceptors see\nthat he teaches diligently. I know that he has learned well. I hope he\nwill do well, for the success of my pupils is my reward with God.\n\n\u201cI am greatly pleased that you are so intent upon encouraging study,\nthat the light of wisdom, in many places now extinct, may shine in your\nkingdom. You are the glory of Britain, the trumpet of defiance, the sword\nagainst hostile forces, the shield against the enemies.\u201d\n\nIt is only fair to Offa to say that this was not mere flattery. It is\nclear that in the eyes of Karl and Alcuin, Offa was the one leading man\nin the whole of England, the most powerful Englishman of his time, and of\nall the kings and princes the most worthy.\n\nTo Athelhard, the archbishop of Canterbury,[99] who succeeded Jaenbert,\nLichfield still being the chief archbishopric, Alcuin wrote a remarkable\nletter, considering the humiliation of the archbishopric:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 28. A.D. 793.]\n\n\u201cBe a preacher; not a flatterer. It is better to fear God than man, to\nplease God than to fawn upon men. What is a flatterer but a fawning\nenemy? He destroys both,\u2014himself and his hearer.\n\n\u201cYou have received the pastoral rod and the staff of fraternal\nconsolation; the one to rule, the other to console; that those who mourn\nmay find in you consolation, those who resist may feel correction. The\njudge\u2019s power is to kill; thine, to make alive....\n\n\u201cRemember that the bishop[100] is the messenger of God most high, and\nthe holy law is to be sought at his mouth, as we read in the prophet\nMalachi.[101] A watchman[102] is set at the highest place; whence the\nname episcopus, he being the chief watchman,[103] who ought by prudent\ncounsel to foresee for the whole army of Christ what must be avoided and\nwhat must be done. These, that is the bishops[104], are the lights of the\nholy church of God, the leaders of the flock of Christ. It is their duty\nactively to raise the standard of the holy cross in the front rank, and\nto stand intrepid against every attack of the hostile force. These are\nthey who have received the talents, our King the God Christ having gone\nwith triumph of glory to His Father\u2019s abode; and when He comes again in\nthe great day of judgement they shall render an account....\n\n\u201cAdmonish most diligently your fellow-bishops[105] to labour instantly in\nthe word of life, that they may appear before the judge eternal, glorious\nwith multifold gain. Be of one mind in piety, constant in equity. Let no\nterror of human dignity separate you, no blandishments of flattery divide\nyou; but join together in unity in firm ranks of the fortress of God.\nThus will your concord strike terror into those who seek to speak against\nthe Truth; as Solomon says,[106] \u2018When brother is helped by brother, the\ncity is secure.\u2019\n\n\u201cYe are the light of all Britain, the salt of the earth, a city set on a\nhill, a candle high on a candlestick....\n\n\u201cOur ancestors, though pagans, first as pagans possessed this land by\ntheir valour in war, by the dispensation of God. How great, then, is the\nreproach, if we, Christians, lose what they, pagans, acquired. I say this\non account of the blow which has lately fallen upon a part of our island,\na land which has for nearly 350 years been inhabited by our forefathers.\nIt is read in the book of Gildas[107], the wisest of the Britons, that\nthose same Britons, because of the rapine and avarice of the princes,\nthe iniquity and injustice of the judges, the sloth and laxity of the\nbishops, and the wicked habits of the people, lost their fatherland.\nLet us take care that those vices do not become the custom with us in\nthese times of ours.... Do you, who along with the Apostles have received\nfrom Christ the key of the kingdom of heaven, the power of binding and\nloosing, open with assiduous prayer the gates of heaven to the people of\nGod. Be not silent, lest the sins of the people be imputed to you: for of\nyou will God require the souls which you have received to rule. Let your\nreward be multiplied by the salvation of those in your charge. Comfort\nthose who are cast down, strengthen the humble, bring back to the way\nof truth those who wander, instruct the ignorant, exhort the learned,\nand confirm all by the good examples of your own life. Chastise with the\npastoral rod those who are contumacious and resist the truth; support the\nothers with the staff of consolation. And, if you are unanimous, who will\nbe able to stand against you?\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 14. A.D. 790.]\n\nAlcuin could be exceedingly outspoken in his letters, as we have\nseen. But he could also be very cautious, even\u2014perhaps we should say\nespecially\u2014in a matter on which he felt deeply. In a letter to the Irish\nteacher Colcu he remarks that he did not know what he might have to\ndo next. The reason was that something of a dissension, diabolically\ninflamed, had arisen between Karl and Offa, the Mercian king, and had\ngone so far that each forbade entry to the other\u2019s merchants. \u201cSome tell\nme,\u201d he says, \u201cthat I am to be sent to those parts to make peace.\u201d\n\nThe reason for the quarrel was a curious one. Karl had proposed that\nhis son Charles should marry one of Offa\u2019s daughters. Offa had made a\nsupplementary proposal that his son Ecgfrith should marry Karl\u2019s daughter\nBertha. This is said to have been considered presumptuous by Karl, and\nhe showed his annoyance by breaking off the friendly relations which had\nexisted between them.\n\nIt would appear that Alcuin\u2019s attitude was suspected by the Mercian king\nto be unfavourable to the English view of the quarrel, and the presbyter\nBeornwin, to whom Alcuin had written a letter not known to have survived,\nwas set to write to him a fishing letter, in which it would seem that\nhe suggested unfriendliness on Alcuin\u2019s part. Alcuin\u2019s reply is a\nnon-committal document.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 15. A.D. 790.]\n\n\u201cI have received the sweet letters of your love...\n\n\u201cWould that I were worthy to preach peace, not to sow discord; to carry\nthe standard of Christ, not the arms of the devil. I should never have\nwritten to you if I had been unwilling to be at peace with you and to\nremain firm as we began in Christ.\n\n\u201cOf a truth I have never been unfaithful to King Offa, or to the Anglian\nnation. As to the utmost of my power I shall faithfully keep the friends\nwhom God has given me in France, so I shall those whom I have left in my\nown country....\n\n\u201cAs time or opportunity affords, my very dear brother, urge ever the will\nof God upon all persons: on the king, persuasively; on the bishops, with\ndue honour; on the chief men, with confidence; on all, with truth. It is\nours to sow; it is God\u2019s to fructify.\n\n\u201cAnd let no suspicion of any dissension between us remain. Let us not be\nof those of whom it is said: I am not come to send peace but a sword. Let\nus be of those to whom it is said: My peace I give unto you, My peace I\nleave with you.\n\n\u201cI have written a very short letter, for a few words to a wise man\nsuffice.\u201d\n\nThe dissension was rather one-sided, for it appears that Offa continued\nto write friendly letters to Karl. In the end, Karl replied in a more\nthan friendly letter, which is on many accounts well worth reproducing\nentire. It is the earliest extant commercial treaty with an English\nkingdom. The date is 796, four years before he became emperor.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 57. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cCharles, by the grace of God King of the Franks and Lombards and\nPatricius of the Romans, to his dearest brother the venerated Offa, King\nof the Mercians, wishes present prosperity and eternal beatitude in\nChrist. To keep with inmost affection of heart the concord of holy love\nand the laws of friendship and peace federated in unity, among royal\ndignities and the great personages of the world, is wont to be profitable\nto many. And if we are bidden by our Lord\u2019s precept to loose the tangles\nof enmity, how much more ought we to be careful to bind the chains of\nlove. We therefore, my most loved brother, mindful of the ancient pact\nbetween us, have addressed to your reverence these letters, that our\ntreaty, fixed firm in the root of faith, may flourish in the fruit of\nlove. We have read over the epistles of your brotherliness, which at\nvarious times have been brought to us by the hands of your messengers,\nand we desire to answer adequately the several suggestions of your\nauthority.\u201d It is clear that there were a good many of Offa\u2019s letters\nunanswered.\n\n\u201cFirst, we give thanks to Almighty God for the sincerity of catholic\nfaith which we find laudably expressed in your pages; recognizing that\nyou are not only very strong in protection of your fatherland, but also\nmost devoted in defence of the holy faith.\n\n\u201cWith regard to pilgrims, who for the love of God and the health of their\nsouls desire to visit the thresholds of the blessed Apostles, as has been\ncustomary\u201d\u2014here again we see the reason of the reputation of Rome\u2014\u201cwe\ngive leave for them to go on their way peaceably without any disturbance,\ncarrying with them such things as are necessary. But we have ascertained\nthat traders seeking gain, not serving religion, have fraudulently joined\nthemselves to bands of pilgrims. If such are found among the pilgrims,\nthey must pay at the proper places the fixed toll; the rest will go in\npeace, free from toll.\n\n\u201cYou have written to us also about merchants. We will and command that\nthey have protection and patronage in our realm, lawfully, according\nto the ancient custom of trading. And if in any place they suffer from\nunjust oppression, they may appeal to us or our judges, and we will see\nthat pious justice is done. And so for our merchants; if they suffer any\ninjustice in your realm, let them appeal to the judgement of your equity.\nThus no disturbance can arise among our merchants.\u201d\n\nKarl evidently felt that the next point was the most difficult of all to\nhandle successfully. He had given shelter and countenance to Mercians\nwho had fled from Offa, and sought protection at his court. Ecgbert, who\nafterwards conquered Mercia, was among the exiles from Wessex.\n\n\u201cWith regard to the presbyter Odberht, who on his return from Rome\ndesires to live abroad for the love of God, not coming to us to accuse\nyou, we make known to your love that we have sent him to Rome along\nwith other exiles who in fear of death have fled to the wings of our\nprotection. We have done this in order that in the presence of the lord\napostolic and of your illustrious archbishop\u2014in accordance, as your notes\nmake known to us, with their vow\u2014their cause may be heard and judged, so\nthat equitable judgement may effect what pious intercession could not\ndo. What could be safer for us than that the investigation of apostolic\nauthority should discriminate in a case where the opinion of others\ndiffers?\u201d\n\nThis is a typical example of the use made of a pope when monarchs\ndisagreed.\n\n\u201cWith regard to the black stones which your reverence earnestly solicited\nto have sent to you, let a messenger come and point out what kind they\nare that your mind desires. Wherever they may be found, we will gladly\norder them to be given, and their conveyance to be aided.\u201d [108]\n\nThen comes in very skilfully a complaint that the Mercians have been\nexporting to France cloaks of inadequate length.\n\n\u201cBut, as you have intimated your desire as to the length of the stones,\nour people make demand about the length of cloaks, that you will order\nthem to be made to the pattern of those which in former times used to\ncome to us.\n\n\u201cFurther, we make known to your love that we have forwarded to each\nof the episcopal sees in your kingdom, and that of king \u00c6thelred [of\nNorthumbria, again no mention of Wessex], a gift from our collection of\ndalmatics and palls, in alms for the lord apostolic Adrian[109], our\nfather, your loving friend, praying you to order intercession for his\nsoul, not in doubt that his blessed soul is at rest, but to show faith\nand love towards a friend to us most dear. So the blessed Augustine has\ntaught that pious intercessions of the church should be made for all,\nasserting that to intercede for a good man is profitable to him that\nintercedes.\u201d That is a remarkable way of putting it.\n\n\u201cFrom the treasure of secular things which the Lord Jesus of\ngratuitous pity has granted to us, we have sent something to each of\nthe metropolitan cities. To thy love, for joy and giving of thanks\nto Almighty God, we have sent a Hunnish belt and sword and two silk\npalls, that everywhere among a Christian people the divine clemency\nmay be preached, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be for ever\nglorified.\u201d\n\nThe Hunnish belt and sword and silk robes were part of the great spoil\nwhich Karl took in the year 795 when he conquered the Huns, destroyed\ntheir army, and put their prince to flight. The spoil included fifteen\nwagons loaded with gold and silver, and palls of white silk, each wagon\ndrawn by four oxen. Karl divided the plunder between the churches and the\npoor.[110]\n\nThe gifts of Karl to the king and bishops of Northumbria were withdrawn\nunder sad conditions, to which we must return in the next lecture.\nThis is what Alcuin wrote to Offa, immediately after Karl\u2019s letter was\nwritten:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 58. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cYour reverend love should know that the lord King Charles has often\nspoken to me of you in a loving and trusting manner. You have in him an\nentirely most faithful friend. Thus he sent messengers to Rome for the\njudgement of the lord apostolic and Ethelhard the archbishop. To your\nlove he sent gifts worthy. To the several episcopal sees he sent gifts in\nalms for himself and the lord apostolic, that you might order prayers to\nbe offered for them. Do you act faithfully, as you are wont to do with\nall your friends.\n\n\u201cIn like manner he sent gifts to King \u00c6thelred and his episcopal sees.\nBut, alas for the grief! when the gifts and the letters were in the hands\nof the messengers, the sad news came from those who had returned from\nScotia[111] by way of you, that the nation had revolted and the king\n[\u00c6thelred] was killed. King Charles withdrew his gifts, so greatly was\nhe enraged against the nation\u2014\u2018that perfidious and perverse nation,\u2019 as\nhe called them, \u2018murderers of their own lords,\u2019 holding them to be worse\nthan pagans. Indeed, if I had not interceded for them, whatever good\nthing he could have taken away from them, whatever bad thing he could\nhave contrived for them, he would have done it.\n\n\u201cI was prepared to come to you with the king\u2019s gifts, and to go back\nto my fatherland.\u201d This was from three to four years later than his\nlatest visit to our shores. \u201cBut it seemed to me better, for the sake\nof peace for my nation, to remain abroad. I did not know what I could\ndo among them, where no one is safe, and no wholesome counsel is of any\navail. Look at the very holiest places devastated by pagans, the altars\nfouled by perjuries, the monasteries violated by adulteries, the earth\nstained with the blood of lords and princes. What else could I do but\ngroan with the prophet,[112] \u2018Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden\nwith iniquity, a seed of evildoers; they have forsaken the Lord, and\nblasphemed the holy Saviour of the world in their wickedness.\u2019 And if it\nbe true, as we read in the letter of your dignity, that the iniquity had\nits rise among the eldermen, where is safety and fidelity to be hoped for\nif the turbid torrent of unfaithfulness flowed forth from the very place\nwhere the purest fount of truth and faith was wont to spring?\n\n\u201cBut do thou, O most wise ruler of the people of God, most diligently\nbring thy nation away from perverse habits, and make them learned in the\nprecepts of God, lest by reason of the sins of the people the land which\nGod has given us be destroyed. Be to the Church of Christ as a father,\nto the priests of God as a brother, to all the people pious and fair; in\nconversation and in word moderate and peaceable; in the praise of God\nalways devout; that the divine clemency may keep thee in long prosperity,\nand may of the grace of its goodness deign to exalt, dilate, and crown to\nall eternity, with the benefaction of perpetual pity, thy kingdom\u2014nay,\nall the English.\n\n\u201cI pray you direct the several Churches of your reverence to intercede\nfor me. Into my unworthy hands the government of the Church of St. Martin\nhas come. I have taken it not voluntarily but under pressure, by the\nadvice of many.\u201d\n\nOffa died in the year in which this letter was written, and his death\nbrought great changes in Mercia. Excellent as Offa had in most ways\nbeen, we have evidence that the Mercian people were by no means worthy\nof the fine old Mercian king. In reading the letter which contains this\nevidence, we shall see that Offa had a murderous side of his character.\nIn those rude days, chaos could not be dealt with under its worse\nconditions by men who could not at a crisis strike with unmitigated\nseverity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n Grant to Malmesbury by Ecgfrith of Mercia.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letters to\n Mercia.\u2014Kenulf and Leo III restore Canterbury to its primatial\n position.\u2014Gifts of money to the Pope.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s letters to the\n restored archbishop.\u2014His letter to Karl on the archbishop\u2019s\n proposed visit. Letters of Karl to Offa (on a question of\n discipline) and Athelhard (in favour of Mercian exiles).\n\n\nBefore proceeding to examine Alcuin\u2019s letter to a Mercian nobleman on the\ndeath of Offa and his son Ecgfrith, it should be remarked that we of the\ndiocese of Bristol must not allow the mention of this poor young king\nEcgfrith to pass without our acknowledgement for a deed of justice done.\nWhen Offa defeated the West Saxon king at Bensington, he took possession\nof a good deal of the border land, including two tracts of land which\nKing Cadwalla of Wessex had given to Malmesbury, namely Tetbury in\nGloucestershire and Purton in Wilts. William of Malmesbury naturally\nreports the iniquity of Offa in thus pillaging the abbey which was the\nhome of William\u2019s life and studies. Offa gave Tetbury to the Bishop\nof Worcester. Purton was the subject of a deed by Ecgfrith during his\nreign of a few months. The deed has remarkable interest for us in this\ndiocese, in that it is doubly dated; first as in the seven hundred and\nninety-sixth year from the Incarnation, and next, with a very interesting\nrecognition of our own Aldhelm, due to the fact that the theft had\nbeen from Aldhelm\u2019s own Malmesbury, \u201cin the eighty-seventh year from\nthe passing of father Aldhelm.\u201d The deed restores land of thirty-five\nfamilies at Piritune, on the east side of Braden Wood, to the abbat and\nbrethren of Malmesbury, for the repose of the soul of his father Offa\nwho had taken it from them, and in order that the memory of Ecgfrith\nmight always be preserved in their prayers. As a sort of unimportant\nafterthought he adds that the abbat and brethren have given him two\nthousand shillings of pure silver, probably as many pounds of our money.\nThe deed was signed by Athelhard of Canterbury, not by Lichfield. The\nreason no doubt is that Tetbury and Purton are south of the Thames, and\nso outside the Province of Lichfield and within the diminished Province\nof Canterbury.\n\nWhen the death of Offa\u2019s son, the youthful Ecgfrith, king of Mercia,\noccurred in this same year 796 in which year his father Offa had\ndied,[113] and a distant cousin Kenulf succeeded, Alcuin, as has been\nsaid, wrote a very serious letter to one of the chief officers of Mercia.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 79. A.D. 797.]\n\n\u201cThese are times of tribulation everywhere in the land; faith is failing;\ntruth is dumb; malice increases; and arrogance adds to your miseries. Men\nare not content to follow in the steps of our early fathers, in dress, or\nfood, or honest ways. Some most foolish man thinks out something unsuited\nto human nature, and hateful to God; and straightway almost the whole of\nthe people set themselves busily to follow this above all.\n\n\u201cThat most noble youth [Ecgfrith] is dead; not, as I think, because\nof his own sins alone, but also because the vengeance of his father\u2019s\nbloodshedding has reached the son. For you know best of all how much\nblood the father shed that the kingdom might be safe for the son. It\nproved to be the destruction, not the confirmation, of his reign.\n\n\u201cAdmonish the more diligently your new king [Kenulf], yes, and the\nking of Northumbria [Ardwulf] too, that they keep in touch with the\ndivine piety, avoiding adulteries; that they do not neglect their early\nwives[114] for the sake of adulteries with women of the nobility, but\nunder the fear of God have their own wives, or by consent live in\nchastity. I fear that Ardwulf, the king of my part of the country, will\nsoon[115] have to lose the kingdom because of the insult which he has\noffered to God in sending away his own wife, and, it is said, living\nopenly with a concubine. It seems that the prosperity of the English is\nnearly at an end; unless indeed by assiduous prayers, and honest ways,\nand humble life, and chaste conversation, and keeping the faith, they\nwin from God to keep the land which God of His free gift gave to our\nforefathers.\u201d\n\nWith this letter we may fitly compare the letter which Alcuin wrote\nto the king himself, Kenulf, who had thus unexpectedly succeeded. It\nbegins in a complimentary manner, but it is a very faithful letter. It\ncarefully recognizes the inconsistencies of Offa\u2019s life, inconsistencies\nwhich appear to have characterized the best rulers in those times, very\nrude and violent times, when one occasion and another seemed to demand\nruthless treatment.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 80. A.D. 797.]\n\n\u201cTo the most excellent Coenulf, King of the Mercians, the humble levite\nAlbinus wishes health.\n\n\u201cYour goodness, moderation, and nobility of conduct, are a great joy to\nme. They are befitting to the royal dignity, which excels all others in\nhonour, and ought to excel also in perfectness of conduct, in fairness of\njustice, in holiness of piety. The royal clemency should go beyond that\nof ordinary men, as we read in ancient histories, and in holy Scripture\nwhere it is said[116]\u2014Mercy and truth exalt a throne; and in the Psalms\nit is said[117] of Almighty God\u2014All the paths of the Lord are mercy and\ntruth. The more a man shines forth in works of truth and mercy, the more\nhas he in him of the image of the divine.\n\n\u201cHave always in mind Him who raised thee from a poor position and set\nthee as a ruler over the princes of His people. Know that thou art rather\na shepherd, and a dispenser of the gifts of God, than a lord and an\nexactor.\n\n\u201cHave always in mind the very best features of the reign of your most\nnoble predecessor Offa; his modest conversation; his zeal in correcting\nthe life of a Christian people. Whatever good arrangements he made in\nthe kingdom to thee by God given, let your devotion most diligently\ncarry out; but if in any respect he acted with greed, or cruelty, know\nthat this you must by all means avoid. For it is not without cause that\nthat most noble son of his survived his father for so short a time. The\ndeserts of a father are often visited on a son.\n\n\u201cHave prudent counsellors who fear God; love justice; seek peace with\nfriends; show faith and holiness in pious manner of life.\n\n\u201cFor the English race is vexed with tribulations by reason of its many\nsins. The goodness of kings, the preaching of the priests of Christ, the\nreligious life of the people, can raise it to the height of its ancient\nhonour; so that a blessed progeny of our fathers may deserve to possess\nperpetual happiness, stability of the kingdom, and fortitude against any\nfoe; that the Church of Christ, as ordained by holy fathers, may grow\nand prosper. Always have in honour, most illustrious ruler, the priests\nof Christ; for the more reverently you are disposed to the servants of\nChrist, and the preachers of the word of God, the more will Christ, the\nKing pious and true, exalt and confirm your honour, on the intercession\nof His saints.\u201d\n\nWhen Kenulf, this distant cousin of Ecgfrith, came to the throne, he\nlooked into the matter of the archbishopric of Lichfield, and he took a\nview adverse to Offa\u2019s action. He wrote to Pope Leo III a letter,[118]\nin which he put the points very clearly. His bishops and learned men\nhad told him that the division of the Province of Canterbury into two\nprovinces was contrary to the canons and apostolical statutes of the most\nblessed Gregory, who had ordered that there should be twelve bishops\nunder the archbishop of the southern province, seated at London. On the\ndeath of Augustine of Canterbury, it had seemed good to all the wise men\nof the race, the Witangemote, that not London but Canterbury should be\nthe seat of the Primacy, where Augustine\u2019s body lay. King Offa, by reason\nof his enmity with the venerable archbishop Jaenbert and the people of\nKent, set to work to divide the province into two. The most pious Adrian,\nat the request of the said king, had done what no one before had presumed\nto do, had raised the Mercian prelate to the dignity of the pallium.\nKenulf did not blame either of them; but he hoped that the Pope would\nlook into the matter and make a benign and just response. He had sent an\nembassy on the part of himself and the bishops in the previous year by\nWada the Abbat; but Wada, after accepting the charge, had indolently\u2014nay\nfoolishly\u2014withdrawn. He now sent by the hands of a presbyter, Birine, and\ntwo of his officers, Fildas and Cheolberth, a small present, out of his\nlove for the Pope, namely, 120 mancuses,[119] some forty to fifty pounds,\nsay not far off \u00a31000 of our time.\n\nPope Leo addressed his reply to king Kenulf, his most loved bishops, and\nmost glorious dukes. It was a difficult letter to write, for Kenulf had\nbeen very frank about the uncanonical action of Hadrian the Pope. Leo\nanswered this part of Kenulf\u2019s letter by stating that his predecessor had\nacted as he had done (1) because Offa had declared it to be the universal\nwish, the petition of all, that the archbishopric should be divided\ninto two; (2) because of the great extension of the Mercian kingdom;\n(3) for very many causes and advantages. He, Leo, now authorized the\ndeparture from Pope Gregory\u2019s order in so far as this, that he recognized\nCanterbury, not London, as the chief seat of archiepiscopal authority.\nHe declared that Canterbury was the primatial see, and must continue and\nbe viewed as such. I cannot find in his letter a definite declaration\nthat he annuls the act of his predecessor, but that is the effect of the\nletter; nor does he declare that Lichfield is no longer an archbishopric.\nKenulf, as we have seen, had sent him, out of his affection for him, a\ngift of 120 mancuses. But he reminded the king that Offa had bound his\nsuccessors to maintain the gift to the Pope, in each year, of as many\nmancuses as there are days in the year, namely, he says, 365, as alms\nto the poor, and as an endowment for keeping in order the lamps [in the\nchurches]. This is much more likely than the shadowy gifts of Ina, king\nof Wessex, to have been the origin of Peter\u2019s Pence, a sum of money\ncollected in England, at first fitfully and eventually year by year, and\nsent out to the Pope. The money was collected in the parishes of each\ndiocese down to the time of the Reformation. It is a regular item in the\nchurchwardens\u2019 accounts of the earlier years of Henry VIII. Only a fixed\namount of the whole sum collected was sent to the Pope, the balance\nbeing used for repairs in the several dioceses. We have a list prepared\nby a representative of a late mediaeval Pope giving \u00a3190 6_s._ 8_d._\nas the amount received by him for the year, corresponding roughly to a\nnormal 300 marks a year.\n\nOffa\u2019s money for the Pope went of course from Mercia. When Wessex became\npredominant, Ethelwulf, the son of Ecgbert and father of Alfred, made\nlarge gifts to Rome, and left by will 300 mancuses, 100 in honour of St.\nPeter, specially for filling with oil all the lamps of his apostolic\nchurch on Easter Eve and at cock crow, 100 in honour of St. Paul, in the\nsame terms and for the same purpose in respect of the basilica of St.\nPaul, and 100 for the Pope himself. King Alfred also sent presents to\nRome. From 883 to 890 there are four records of gifts from Wessex. After\n890 we have no such record in Alfred\u2019s reign; and in Alfred\u2019s will there\nis no mention of the spiritual head of the Church of the West.\n\nWe learn from our own great historian, William of Malmesbury, that Kenulf\nwrote two later letters to Leo on this subject, and he gives us Leo\u2019s\nreply.[120] Athelhard, the Pope says, has come to the holy churches of\nthe blessed apostles Peter and Paul, to fulfil his vow of prayer and\nto inform the Pope of his ecclesiastical mission. He tells the king\nthat by the authority of St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, whose\noffice though unworthily he fills, he gives to Athelhard such prelatical\nauthority that if any in the province, whether kings, princes, or people,\ntransgress the commands of the Lord, he shall excommunicate them till\nthey repent. Concerning the jurisdiction which the archbishops of\nCanterbury had held, as well over bishops as over monasteries, of which\nthey had been unjustly deprived, the Pope had made full inquiry, and now\nplaced all ordinations and confirmations on their ancient footing, and\nrestored them to him entire. Thus did Pope Leo III condemn the injustice\nof Pope Hadrian I. We had better have managed our own affairs, instead of\npaying to foreigners infinite sums of money to mismanage them.\n\nBefore we leave this strange episode of the creation of an archbishopric\nof Lichfield, it is of special local interest to us in Bristol, and\nto the deanery of Stapleton, that the chief Mercian prelate, Higbert\nof Lichfield, signed deeds relating to Westbury upon Trym and Aust on\nSevern, above the archbishop of Canterbury. This was in 794. Offa the\nking signed first, Ecgferth, the king\u2019s young son, second, and then\nHygeberht; Ethelhard of Canterbury coming fifth in one and fourth in\nthe other. The first deed gave from the king to his officer Ethelmund,\nin 794, four cassates of land at the place called Westbury, in the\nprovince of the Huiccians, near the river called Avon, free of all\npublic charges except the three which were common to all, namely, for\nthe king\u2019s military expeditions, for the building of bridges, and for\nthe fortification of strongholds.[121] The other deed restores to the\nsee of Worcester (Wegrin) the land of five families at Aust, which the\nduke Bynna had taken without right, it being the property of the see of\nWorcester. To make all safe, six dukes made the sign of the cross at the\nfoot of this deed, which is, as we all know, the origin of the modern\nphrase \u2018signing\u2019 a deed or a letter. The dukes included Bynna himself.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 85. A.D. 797.]\n\nAlcuin wrote a very wise letter to Athelhard of Canterbury on the\noccasion of the restoration of the primacy. He advised that penance\nshould be done. Athelhard and all the people should keep a fast, he for\nhaving left his see, they for having accepted error. There should be\ndiligent prayers, and alms, and solemn masses, everywhere, that God might\nwipe out what any of them had done wrong. The archbishop was specially\nurged to bring back study into the house of God, that is, the conventual\nhome of the monks and the archbishop, with its centre, the cathedral\nchurch. There should be young men reading, and a chorus of singers, and\nthe study of books, in order that the dignity of that holy see might be\nrenewed, and they might deserve to have the privilege of electing to the\nprimacy.\n\n\u201cThe unity of the Church, which has been in part cut asunder, not as it\nseems for any reasonable cause but from grasping at power, should, if it\ncan be done, be restored in peaceful ways; the rent should be stitched\nup again. You should take counsel with all your bishops, and with your\nbrother of York, on this principle, that the pious father Higbert of\nLichfield be not deprived of his pall during his lifetime, but the\nconsecration of bishops must come back to the holy and primal see. Let\nyour most holy wisdom see to it that loving concord exist among the chief\nshepherds of the churches of Christ.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 171. A.D. 801.]\n\nWith regard to the remark of Alcuin that Athelhard should do penance\nfor having left his see, it may be explained that Alcuin had in vain\nadvised Athelhard not to leave England on the restoration of the primacy\nto Canterbury. Athelhard persisted in visiting Rome, and informed Alcuin\nthat he had commenced the journey. Alcuin thereupon wrote this:\u2014\u201cReturn,\nreturn, holy father, as soon as your pious embassy is finished, to your\nlost sheep. As there are two eyes in the body, so I believe and desire\nthat you two, Canterbury and York, give light throughout the breadth of\nall Britain. Do not deprive your country of its right eye.\u201d\n\nThen Alcuin gives a very significant hint that the ways of the clergy\nof England are not good enough for France, and they had better not let\nCharlemagne see anything of that kind.\n\n\u201cIf you come to the lord king, warn your companions, and especially the\nclergy, that they acquit themselves in an honourable manner, in all holy\nreligion, in dress, and in ecclesiastical order; so that wherever you go\nyou leave always an example of all goodness. Forbid them to wear in the\npresence of the lord king ornaments of gold or robes of silk; let them\ngo humbly clad, after the manner of servants of God. And through every\ndistrict you must pass with peace and honest conversation, for you know\nthe manner and custom of this Frankish race.\u201d\n\nNothing could make more clear the commanding position held by Alcuin than\nthis exceedingly free counsel from a deacon to the Primate of England. We\nmay quote portions of yet another letter giving the same impression.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 190. A.D. 802.]\n\nIn a letter to Athelhard after his safe return to England and\na favourable reception which he had reported to Alcuin, Alcuin\ncongratulated the archbishop on the restoration to its ancient dignity of\nthe most holy see of the first teacher of our race. By divine favour, the\nmembers now once more cohered in unity with the proper head, and natural\npeace shone forth between the two chief prelates of Britain, and one will\nof piety and concord was vigorous under the two cities of metropolitans.\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d he writes, \u201cnow that you have received the power to correct\nand the liberty to preach, fear not, speak out! The silence of the bishop\nis the ruin of the people.\u201d\n\nIt is an interesting fact that we have a letter which Alcuin wrote to\nKarl, introducing to him this same archbishop on the very journey of\nwhich he so decidedly disapproved.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 172. A.D. 801.]\n\n\u201cTo the most greatly desired lord David the king, Flaccus his pensioner\nwishes eternal health in Christ.\n\n\u201cThe sweetness of your affection, and the assurance of your approved\npiety, very often urge me to address letters to your authority, and by\nthe office of syllables to trace out that which bodily frailty prevents\nmy will from accomplishing. But novel circumstances compel me now to\nwrite once more, that the paper may bring the affection of the heart, and\nmay pour into the ears of your piety the prayers which never have been\nin vain in the presence of your pity. Nor do I believe that my prayers\nfor your stableness and safety are vain in the sight of God, for the\ndivine grace gladly receives the tears which flow forth from the fount of\nlove[122].\n\n\u201cI have been informed that certain of the friends of your Flaccus,\nEdelard to wit, Metropolitan of the See of Dorobernia and Pontiff of\nthe primatial see in Britain, and Ceilmund[123] of the kingdom of the\nMercians, formerly minister of king Offa, and Torhcmund[124] the faithful\nservant of king Edilred, a man approved in faith, strenuous in arms,\nwho has boldly avenged the blood of his lord, desire to approach your\npiety[125]. All of these have been very faithful to me, and have aided\nme on my journey; they have also aided my boys as they went about hither\nand thither. I pray your best clemency to receive them with your wonted\nkindness, for they have been close friends to me. I have often known\nbishops religious and devoted in Christ\u2019s service, and men strong and\nfaithful in secular dignity, to be laudable to your equity; for there is\nno doubt that all the best men, approved by their own conscience, love\ngood men, being taught by the example of the omnipotent God who is the\nhighest good. And it is most certain that every creature that has reason\nhas by His goodness whatever of good it has, the Very Truth saying, \u2018I am\nthe light of the world. He that followeth me walketh not in darkness but\nshall have the light of life.\u2019 John viii. 12.\u201d\n\nBefore we leave Mercian affairs and the relations between Karl and\nOffa, it may be of interest to give a letter[126] from Karl to Offa\nwhich will serve to show the extreme care he took in order to maintain\necclesiastical discipline, and the severity of that discipline. That a\nman with all the affairs of immense dominions on his hands should have\nmade time to produce such a letter on such a point seems very worthy of\nnote. Karl\u2019s statement of his titles shows that this is an early letter.\n\n\u201cKarl, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Defender of the Holy\nChurch of God, to his loved brother and friend Offa greeting.\n\n\u201cThat priest who is a Scot[127] has been living among us for some\ntime, in the diocese of Hildebold, Bishop[128] of Cologne. He has now\nbeen accused of eating meat in Lent. Our priests refuse to judge him,\nbecause they have not received full evidence from the accusers. They\nhave, however, not allowed him to continue to reside there, on account\nof this evil report, lest the honour in which the priesthood is held\nshould be diminished among ignorant folk, or others should be tempted by\nthis rumour to violate the holy fast. Our priests are of opinion that he\nshould be sent to the judgement of his own bishop, where his oath was\ntaken.\n\n\u201cWe pray your providence to order that he transfer himself as soon as\nconveniently may be to his own land, that he may be judged in the place\nfrom which he came forth. For there also it must be that the purity in\nmanners and firmness in faith and honesty of conversation of the Holy\nChurch of God are diligently kept according to canonical sanction, like a\ndove perfect and unspotted, whose wings are as of silver and the hinder\nparts should shine as gold.\n\n\u201cLife, health, and prosperity be given to thee and thy faithful ones by\nthe God Christ for ever.\u201d\n\nA letter which Karl wrote to Athelhard of Canterbury begging him\nto intercede for some exiles, sets forth his style and title very\ndifferently[129], evidently at a later date.\n\nIt bears very directly upon one of the complaints which, as we have seen,\nOffa had made in letters to Karl; namely, the shelter afforded at Karl\u2019s\ncourt to fugitives from Mercia.\n\n\u201cKarl, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards and Patrician\nof the Romans, to Athilhard the archbishop and Ceolwulf his brother\nbishop, eternal beatitude.\n\n\u201cIn reliance on that friendship which we formed in speech when we met,\nwe have sent to your piety these unhappy exiles from their fatherland;\npraying that you would deign to intercede for them with my dearest\nbrother king Offa, that they may be allowed to live in their own land in\npeace, without any unjust oppression. For their lord Umhrinsgstan[130]\nis dead. It appeared to us that he would have been faithful to his own\nlord if he had been allowed to remain in his own land; but, as he used to\nsay, he fled to us to escape the danger of death, always ready to purge\nhimself of any unfaithfulness. That reconciliation might ensue we kept\nhim with us for a while, not from any unfriendliness.\n\n\u201cIf you are able to obtain peace for these his fellow tribesmen, let them\nremain in their fatherland. But if my brother gives a hard reply about\nthem, send them back to me uninjured. It is better to live abroad than to\nperish, to serve in a foreign land than to die at home. I have confidence\nin the goodness of my brother, if you plead strenuously with him for\nthem, that he will receive them benignantly for the love that is between\nus, or rather for the love of Christ, who said, Forgive and it shall be\nforgiven you.\n\n\u201cMay the divine piety keep thy holiness, interceding for us, safe for\never.\u201d\n\nIt was a skilful stroke of business on Karl\u2019s part to send the men over\nto the charge of the archbishop, which amounted to putting them in\nsanctuary. If he had kept them in France and written to beg that they\nmight be allowed to return, it would have been much easier for Offa to\nsay no. And if he had sent them direct to Offa in the first instance,\nthey would probably never have got out of his clutches at all.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n List of the ten kings of Northumbria of Alcuin\u2019s\n time.\u2014Destruction of Lindisfarne, Wearmouth, and Jarrow, by the\n Danes.\u2014Letters of Alcuin on the subject to King Ethelred, the\n Bishop and monks of Lindisfarne, and the monks of Wearmouth and\n Jarrow.\u2014His letter to the Bishop and monks of Hexham.\n\n\nWe must now turn to Alcuin\u2019s native kingdom of Northumbria, over whose\nevil fortunes he grieved so greatly in the home of his adoption.\n\nI do not know how better some idea can be formed of the political chaos\nto which Northumbria was reduced in the time of Alcuin than by reading a\nlist of the kings of that time. It is a most bewildering list.\n\nAll went well so long as Eadbert, the brother of Archbishop Ecgbert,\nreigned. He was the king of Alcuin\u2019s infancy and boyhood and earliest\nmanhood. His reign lasted from 737 to 758, when he retired into a\nmonastery. He was the 21st king, beginning with Ida who created the\nkingdom in 547. He was succeeded by (22) Oswulf his son, who was within\na year slain by his household officers, July 24, 759, and was succeeded\non August 4 by (23) Ethelwald, of whose parentage we do not know\nanything. In 765 he was deprived by a national assembly, and (24) Alchred\nwas placed on the throne, a fifth cousin of the murdered Oswulf, and\ntherefore of the royal line. In 774 he was banished, and went in exile to\nthe king of the Picts, being succeeded by (25) Ethelred, the son of his\ndeprived predecessor Ethelwald. Ethelred reigned from 774 to 779, when\nin consequence of cruel murders ordered by him he was driven out, and\n(26) Alfwold, son of (22) Oswulf, and therefore of the old royal line,\nsucceeded. Alfwold was murdered in 788, and was succeeded by (27) Osred,\nthe son of (24) Alchred, sixth cousin of his predecessor, and therefore\nof the royal line. After a year he was deposed and tonsured, and was\neventually put to death in 792 by (25) Ethelred, who had recovered the\nthrone lost by his expulsion in 779. He was killed in 796 in a faction\nfight, after he had put to death the last two males, so far as we know,\nof the royal line of Eadbert, \u00c6lf and \u00c6lfwine, sons of (26) Alfwold.\nSimeon of Durham tells us (A.D. 791) that they were persuaded by false\npromises to leave sanctuary in the Cathedral Church of York; were taken\nby violence out of the city; and miserably put to death by Ethelred in\nWonwaldrenute. He was succeeded by (28) Osbald, of unknown parentage,\nbut a patrician of Northumbria; he only reigned twenty-seven days, fled\nto the king of the Picts, and died an abbat three years later, in 799.\nHe was succeeded by (29) Eardulf, a patrician of the blood royal,[131]\nwho had been left for dead by (25) Ethelred, but had recovered when laid\nout for burial by the monks of Ripon. He had the fullest recognition as\nking; was consecrated at the great altar of St. Paul in York Minster on\nMay 26, 796, by Archbishop Eanbald. In his reign Alcuin died. In 806 he\nwas driven out by (30) Elfwald, of unknown parentage, but by the help\nof the Emperor Charlemagne he was restored in 808. He died in 810, and\nwas succeeded by his son (31) Eanred, who was the last king but one of\nthe royal house, and the last independent king of Northumbria, dying in\n840, and being succeeded by his son (32) Ethelred II, expelled in 844,\nrestored in the same year, and killed _sine prole_ in 848.\n\nThis, as has been said, is a most bewildering list. It is, however,\nconvenient to have it stated at length, inasmuch as several of these\nkings are named in a noteworthy manner in the letters of Alcuin. To\nemphasize the view that Alcuin took of the state of Northumbria, the list\njust given may be summarized thus, it being borne in mind that every king\nwho reigned in Alcuin\u2019s time after Eadbert\u2019s death in 758 is included\nin the summary. Oswulf, murdered 759; Ethelwald, deprived 765; Alchred,\nbanished 774; Ethelred, expelled 779; Alfwold, murdered 788; Osred,\ndeposed 789; Ethelred, killed by his own people, 796; Osbald, expelled\n797; Eardulf, expelled 806.\n\nThe Venerable Bede had said in his letter to Archbishop Ecgbert in 735\nthat unless some very great change for the better was made in all walks\nof life in Northumbria, that country would find its men quite unable to\ndefend it successfully if an invasion took place. We have seen that so\nfar as the reigning persons were concerned, the change was for the worse;\nwe have now to see how bitterly true Bede\u2019s prophecy, or rather his\ncalculation of the necessary consequences, proved to be. We are taken\nin thought to the year 793, not quite sixty years after Bede\u2019s letter.\nOne excellent reign had lasted twenty-one years, the next eight reigns\naveraged four and a half years, and all ended in violence.\n\nHigbald, the eleventh Bishop of Lindisfarne, 780-803, takes us back\nnearly to the best times of that specially Holy Isle. Ethelwold, 724-40,\nhis next predecessor but one, was the bishop under whom King Ceolwulf,\nto whom Bede dedicated his famous work the _Ecclesiastical History of\nthe English Race_, became a monk. It was this king-monk that taught the\nmonks of Lindisfarne to drink wine and ale instead of the milk and water\nprescribed by their Scotic founder, Aidan. His head was preserved in\nSt. Cuthbert\u2019s coffin. Ethelwold\u2019s immediate predecessor was Eadfrith,\n698-721, who wrote that glorious Evangeliarium which is a chief pride of\nEngland, the _Lindisfarne Gospels_. To Bishop Eadfrith and his monks Bede\ndedicated his _Life of St. Cuthbert_, between whom and Eadfrith only one\nbishop had intervened. The entry at the end of the _Lindisfarne Gospels_\nconnects Ethelwold and Eadfrith with the production and binding of that\nnoble specimen of the earliest Anglian work. Put into modern English it\nruns thus:\u2014\n\n\u201cEadfrith, bishop of the church of Lindisfarne, he wrote this book at\nfirst, for God and St. Cuthbert and all the saints that are in the\nisland, and Ethelwald, the bishop of Lindisfarne island, he made it firm\noutside and bound it as well as he could.\u201d\n\nThe entry proceeds to tell that Billfrith, the anchorite, wrought in\nsmith\u2019s work the ornaments that were on the outside with gold and\ngems and silver overlaid, a treasure without deceit. And Aldred, the\npresbyter, unworthy and most miserable, glossed it in English, and made\nhimself at home with the three parts, the Matthew part for God and St.\nCuthbert, the Mark part for the bishop\u2014unfortunately it is not said for\nwhich of the bishops, the Luke part for the brotherhood. Only one bishop\ncame between Ethelwold, who bound this priceless treasure, and Higbald,\nto whom we now turn.\n\nThe Saxon Chronicle has under the year 787 this entry:\u2014\u201cIn this year King\nBeorhtric [of Wessex] took to wife Eadburg, daughter of King Offa. In his\ndays came three ships of the Northmen from Haurthaland [on the west coast\nof Norway]. And the sheriff rode to meet them there, and would force them\nto the king\u2019s residence, for he knew not what they were. And there they\nslew him. These were the first ships of Danish men that sought the land\nof the English race.\u201d\n\nThey soon came again, this time not to the coast of Wessex, but to the\ncoast easiest of access from their own land. In 793 this is the entry in\nthe Saxon Chronicle:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn this year dire forewarnings came over the land of Northumbria and\npitifully frightened the people, violent whirlwinds and lightnings, and\nfiery dragons were seen flying in the air. These tokens mickle hunger\nsoon followed, and a little after that, in this same year, on the sixth\nof the ides of January [January 8] the harrying of heathen men pitifully\ndestroyed God\u2019s church in Lindisfarne through rapine and manslaughter.\u201d\n\nIn the next year, 794, it is said:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe heathen ravaged among the Northumbrians, and plundered Ecgferth\u2019s\nminster at Donmouth [Wearmouth]; and there one of their leaders was\nslain, and also some of their ships were wrecked by a tempest, and many\nof them were there drowned, and some came to shore alive and men soon\nslew them off at the river mouth.\u201d\n\nWattenbach and D\u00fcmmler make the ruin of Lindisfarne take place not on\nJanuary 8 but on June 8. The Saxon Chronicle has Ianr. in both of the\nMSS. which name the month. There is only one other entry in the year 793,\nand it follows this,\u2014\u201cAnd Sicga [who had murdered King Alfuold] died[132]\non the 8th of the Kalends of March,\u201d that is, February 22. It is clear\nthat these two events took place at the end of 793, the years at that\ntime ending with March, and January, not June, was the month of ruin.\n\nThe twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow are described as Ecgferth\u2019s\nminster, because King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, 670-85, gave land to Benet\nBiscop to found a monastery at the mouth of the Don, now called the Wear,\nand some years later another portion of land for the twin monastery of\nSt. Paul, Jarrow. Later in Biscop\u2019s life he purchased two additional\npieces of land from the next king, Aldfrith, giving for the first two\nroyal robes, or palls, made all of silk, worked in an incomparable\nmanner, which he had bought in Rome. For the second, a much larger piece,\nhe gave to the king a manuscript collection of geographical writings,\nof beautiful workmanship. We in the south-west must always remember\nthat Benedict Bishop first brought his vast ecclesiastical treasures to\nthe court of Wessex, but finding his royal patron dead went up north\nwith them. But for the death of the King of Wessex, we should have had\nWearmouth and Jarrow here as well as Malmesbury, Bede as well as Aldhelm,\nand it may be Alcuin too.\n\nWe have letters of Alcuin to King Ethelred, to Higbald the Bishop of\nLindisfarne, and to the monks of the twin monastery of Monkwearmouth and\nJarrow, on this catastrophe. The letter to Ethelred comes first:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 22. A.D. 793.]\n\n\u201cTo my most loved lord King Ethelred and all his chief men the humble\nlevite Alchuine sends greeting.\n\n\u201cMindful of your most sweet affection, my brothers and fathers and\nlords honourable in Christ; deeply desiring that the divine mercy may\npreserve to us in long-lived prosperity the fatherland which that mercy\nlong ago gave to us with gratuitous freedom; I therefore, comrades most\ndear, whether present, if God allow it, by my words, or absent by my\nwritings under the guidance of the divine spirit, do not cease from\nadmonishing you, and by frequent repetition to convey to your ears, you\nwho are citizens of the same fatherland, those things which are known to\npertain to the safety of this earthly realm and to the blessedness of the\nheavenly home; so that things many times heard may grow into your minds\nwith good result. For what is love to a friend if it keeps silence on\nmatters useful to the friend? To what does a man owe fidelity if not to\nhis country? To whom does a man owe prosperity if not to its citizens? By\na double relationship we are fellow-citizens of one city in Christ, that\nis as sons of Mother Church and of one native country. Let not therefore\nyour humanity shrink from accepting benignly what my devotion seeks to\noffer for the safety of our land. Think not that I am charging faults\nagainst you: take it that I aim at warding off penalties.\u201d\n\nWe should here bear in mind that Ethelred had fourteen years before this\nbeen expelled for cruel murders, and that he was now in the first year\nof his restored reign and had already sent away his first wife and taken\nanother, a scandal so great in those days\u2014bad as they were\u2014that the Saxon\nChronicle with remarkable particularity gives the month and the day of\nthe gross offence, September 29. He afterwards murdered the two surviving\nmembers of the royal house.\n\nAlcuin\u2019s letter to the king proceeds:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is now nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have dwelt in this\nmost fair land, and never before has such a horror appeared in Britain\nas we now have suffered at the hands of pagans. And it was not supposed\nthat such an attack from the sea was possible.[133] Behold, the church\nof the holy Cuthbert is deluged with the blood of the priests of God, is\nspoiled of all its ornaments; the place more venerable than any other in\nBritain is given as a prey to pagan races. From the spot where, after the\ndeparture of the holy Paulinus from York, the Christian religion took\nits beginning amongst us, from that spot misery and calamity have begun.\nWho does not fear? Who does not mourn this as if his fatherland itself\nwas captured?\u201d\n\nWe should note Alcuin\u2019s recognition of the fact that the restoration of\nChristianity in Northumbria was due not to persons of the Anglo-Saxon\nrace and Church, but to Aidan and his monks of the Irish race and Church.\n\n\u201cMy brethren, give your most attentive consideration, your most diligent\ninvestigation, to this question,\u2014is this most unaccustomed, most\nunheard-of evil, brought upon us by some unheard-of evil custom? I do not\nsay that there was not among the people of old the sin of fornication.\nBut since the days of King Alfwold[134] fornications, adulteries,\nincests, have inundated the land to such an extent that these sins are\nunblushingly perpetrated even among the handmaids dedicated to God. What\nshall I say of avarice, rapine, and judicial violence, when it is clearer\nthan the light how these crimes have increased, and a despoiled people\nare the evidence of it. He who reads the Holy Scriptures, and revolves\nancient history, and considers the working of the world, will find that\nfor sins of this nature kings lose kingdoms, and peoples lose their\nfather-land. He will find that when men in power have unjustly seized the\nproperty of others, they have justly lost their own....\n\n\u201cConsider the manner of dress, the manner of wearing the hair, the\nluxurious habits of princes and of people. Look at the way in which the\npagan manner of trimming the beard and cutting the hair is imitated. Do\nyou not fear those whom you thus copy? Look at the immoderate use of\nclothes, beyond any necessity of human nature. This superfluity of the\nprinces is the poverty of the people. Some are loaded with garments,\nwhile others perish with cold. Some flow over with luxuries and feasts\nlike the rich man in purple, while Lazarus at the gate dies of hunger.\nWhere is brotherly love? Where is that pity which we are bidden have for\nthe wretched? The satiety of the rich man is the hunger of the poor. That\nScripture saying is to be dreaded, \u2018He shall have judgement without mercy\nthat hath shewed no mercy\u2019[135]; and we have the words of the blessed\nPeter the Apostle[136], \u2018The time is come that judgement must begin at\nthe house of God.\u2019 Judgement has begun, and with terrible force, at the\nhouse of God where rest so many lights of the whole of Britain. What is\nto be expected for other places, if the divine judgement has not spared\nthis most holy place? It is not for the sins of only those who dwelled\nthere that this has been sent.\n\n\u201cWould that the penalty that has come upon them could bring others to\namend their lives. Would that the many would fear what the few have\nsuffered, and each would say in his heart, groaning and trembling, \u2018if\nsuch men, if fathers so holy, did not save their own habitation, the\nplace of their own repose, who shall save mine?\u2019 Save your country by\nassiduous prayers to God, by works of justice and of mercy. Be moderate\nin dress and in food. There is no better defence of a country than the\nequity and piety of princes, and the prayers of the servants of God.\u201d\n\nThis is the letter which Alcuin wrote to the Bishop and monks of\nLindisfarne:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 24. A.D. 793.]\n\n\u201cTo the best sons in Christ of the most blessed father the holy bishop\nCuthbert, Higbald the bishop and the whole body of the Church of\nLindisfarne, the deacon Alchuine sends greeting with heavenly benediction\nin Christ.\n\n\u201cWhen I was with you, your friendly love was wont to give me much joy.\nAnd now that I am absent the calamity of your affliction greatly saddens\nme every day. The pagans have contaminated the sanctuaries of God, and\nhave poured out the blood of saints round about the altar; have laid\nwaste the house of our hope, have trampled upon the bodies of saints\nin the temple of God like dung in the street. What can I say but groan\nforth along with you before the altar of Christ, Spare, O Lord, spare\nthy people; give not thine heritage to the Gentiles, lest the pagans say\n\u2018Where is the God of the Christians?\u2019\n\n\u201cWhat assurance is there for the churches of Britain if the holy\nCuthbert, with so great a number of saints, does not defend his own\nChurch? Either this is the beginning of greater affliction, or else the\nsins of the dwellers there have called it upon them. It has not happened\nby chance; it is the sign that calamity was greatly deserved.\n\n\u201cBut now, ye that survive, stand like men, fight bravely, defend the\ncamp of God. Remember Judas Machabeus, how he purged the Temple of God,\nand freed the people from a foreign yoke. If anything in your manner of\nlife needs correction, pray correct it speedily. Call back to you your\npatrons, who have left you for a time. It was not that their influence\nwith God\u2019s mercy failed; but, we know not why, they did not speak. Do not\nboast yourselves in the vanity of raiment; that is matter not of boasting\nbut of disgrace for priests and servants of God. Do not blur the words\nof your prayers with drunkenness. Do not go forth after pleasures of the\nflesh and greediness of the world; but remain firmly in the service of\nGod and in the discipline of the life by rule; that the most holy fathers\nwhose sons you are may not cease to be your protectors. Go in their\nfootsteps, and abide secure in their prayers. Be not degenerate sons of\nsuch ancestry. Never will they cease from your defence, if they see you\nfollow their example.\n\n\u201cBe not utterly cast down in mind by this calamity. God chastens every\nson whom he receives; and He has chastened you the more because he\nloves you more. Jerusalem, the city loved of God, and the Temple of\nGod, perished in the flames of the Chaldeans. Rome, with her coronal of\nholy Apostles and innumerable martyrs, has been broken up by a pagan\nvisitation; but by God\u2019s pity has quickly recovered. Nearly the whole\nof Europe has been laid waste by the sword and the fire of Goths and\nof Huns; but now, by God\u2019s mercy, as the sky is adorned with stars, so\nthe land of Europe shines bright with churches, and in them the divine\noffices of the religion of Christ flourish and increase.\n\n\u201cAnd thou, holy father, leader of the people of God, shepherd of the holy\nflock, physician of souls, light set upon a candlestick, be the form\nof all goodness to them that see you, the herald of salvation to all\nthat hear you. Let your company be honest in character, an example to\nothers unto life, not to destruction. Let thy banquets be with sobriety,\nnot with drunkenness. Let thy dress be suited to thy condition. Be not\nconformed unto men of the world in any vain thing. The empty adornment of\ndress, and the useless care for it, is for thee a reproach before men and\na sin before God. It is better to adorn with good habits the soul that\nis to live for ever, than to dress up in delicate garments the body that\nsoon will decay in the dust. Let Christ be clothed and fed in the person\nof the poor man, that so with Christ you may reign. The ransom of a man\nis true riches. If we love gold, we should send it before us to heaven,\nwhere it will be of service to us. What we love, we have; then let us\nlove that which is eternal, not that which is perishable. Let us aim at\nthe praise of God, not of men. Let us do what did the holy men whom we\nlaud. Let us follow their footsteps on earth, that we may be worthy to be\npartakers in their glory in the heavens.\n\n\u201cMay the protection of the divine pity keep you from all adversity, and\nset you with your fathers in the glory of the kingdom of heaven. When\nour lord, King Karl, comes home, his enemies by God\u2019s mercy subdued, we\nwill arrange to go to him, God helping us. If we are able then to help\nyour holiness, either in the matter of the youths who have been carried\ncaptive by the pagans, or in any other need of yours, we will take\ndiligent care to carry it through.\u201d\n\nAlcuin soon after wrote another letter to the bishop and monks of\nLindisfarne, and yet another to Cudrad, probably Cuthred, a presbyter of\nLindisfarne, who had been carried off by the Northmen and then rescued.\nIn these letters he urges them to bear in mind that prayers are more\nvaluable as a defence than collections of arrows and weapons, and heaps\nof stones for hurling at an enemy. From this it would appear that the\nmonastery at Lindisfarne was being fortified.\n\nTo the monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow, whose geographical situation\nrendered them very liable to a raid by the pirate northmen, he wrote a\nvery long and interesting letter, some extracts from which may here be\ngiven.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 27. A.D. 793.]\n\n\u201cKeep most diligently the regular life [the life by rule] which your most\nholy fathers, [the abbats] Benedict[137] [Biscop] and Ceolfrid,[138]\ndecreed for you.\n\n\u201cLet the Rule of Saint Benedict [of Nursia, the abbat of Monte Cassino]\nbe very often read in the assembly of the brethren, and expounded in the\nvulgar tongue that all may understand.\n\n\u201cConsider whom you have as your defence against the pagans who have\nappeared in your maritime parts. Set not your hope on arms, but on God.\nTrust not to carnal flight, but in the prayer of your forefathers. Who\ndoes not fear the terrible fate which has befallen the church of the holy\nCuthbert? You, also, dwell on the sea, from which this pest first comes.\n\n\u201cBear in mind the nobleness of your fathers, and be not degenerate sons.\nLook at the treasures of your library, the beauty of your churches, the\nfairness of your buildings. How happy the man who, from those most fair\ndwellings, passes to the joys of the kingdom of heaven.\n\n\u201cAccustom the boys to the praise of the heavenly King, not to digging\nout the earths of foxes, not to coursing the swift hare. How impious\nit is to leave the worship of Christ and follow the trace of the fox.\nLet them learn the sacred Scriptures, that when they are grown up they\nmay teach others. He who does not learn in youth does not teach in age.\nRemember Bede the presbyter, the most noble teacher of our age, what a\nlove he had for learning as a boy; what honour he has now among men; what\nglory of reward with God. Quicken slumbering minds with his example.\nAttend lectures; open your books; study the text; understand its meaning;\nthat you may both feed yourselves and feed others with the food of the\nspiritual life.\n\n\u201cAvoid private feasting and secret drinking as a pitfall of hell. Solomon\nsays that stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant,\nbut the guests are in the depth of hell; he means that at such feasts\nthere are demons present. Do not lose eternal joys for sloth of mind or\nfleshly delights.\u201d\n\nAs we have seen, the same destruction that had come upon Lindisfarne\ncame very soon after upon Wearmouth and Jarrow. Bede little knew how\nclose home the blow which he forecast would strike.\n\nWe should have felt that something was wanting if no letter had been\npreserved from Alcuin to the bishop and monks of Hexham. Hexham was the\nsee of one of Bede\u2019s most highly valued correspondents, Acca. Of the\nvery small number of letters written by Bede which have come down to\nus, only fourteen in all, eight are addressed to Acca. They are in the\nmain formal treatises on several parts of the Old and New Testaments,\nincluding a treatise on the Temple of Solomon which was probably\nsuggested by the remarkable illustration of the Tabernacle in the _Codex\nAmiatinus_. The Church of St. Andrew, Hexham, built by Wilfrith, and St.\nPeter, Ripon, also built by him, were in Wilfrith\u2019s time the two finest\nchurches north of the Alps. We have the description of them by Wilfrith\u2019s\nchaplain, Stephen Eddi.[139] Almost the whole of one of the two exquisite\nsculptured crosses which were placed at the head and foot of Acca\u2019s grave\nis still in existence. The magnificent restoration of the Abbey Church of\nHexham in this year of grace, 1908, is one of the greatest ecclesiastical\nworks of the young twentieth century.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 88. Before Oct. 16, 797.]\n\n\u201cTo the shepherd of chief dignity Aedilberit[140] the bishop, and to\nall the congregation of the servants of God in the Church of St. Andrew\n[of Hexham], Alchuini, the humble client of your love in Christ, wishes\nhealth.\n\n\u201cEarnestly desirous of spiritual friendship, I am at pains to address\nto your sanctity the poor letters of my littleness, both that I may\nrenew the pact of our ancient intimacy and that I may commend myself to\nyour most sacred prayers. And if according to the Apostle the prayer of\none just man availeth much, how much more the prayers of a most holy\ncongregation in Christ, the intercessions of whose peaceful concord\ndaily at the canonical hours are believed to reach heaven, while the\nsecret prayer of each single one beyond doubt reaches to the ears of the\nomnipotent God. Wherefore with all humility of entreaty, so far as my\nrequest may avail with your piety, I commend myself both to the united\nprayer of all and to the individual prayer of each; that by the prayers\nof your sanctity, freed from the chain of my sins, I may with you, my\ndearest friends, enter the gates of life.\n\n\u201cO most noble progeny of holy fathers, successors of their honour and\ntheir venerable life, and inhabiters of their most beautiful places,\nfollow the footsteps of your fathers; that from these most beautiful\nhabitations you may attain by the gift of God to a portion in the eternal\nblessedness of those that begat you, to the beauty of the kingdom of\nheaven.\n\n\u201cLearn to know God and to obey His precepts, Himself saying to you \u2018If\nthou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments.\u2019 Therefore the reading\nof the Holy Scriptures is necessary, for in them each may learn what he\nmust follow and what avoid. Let the light of learning dwell among you,\nand give light through you to other churches, that the praise of you\nmay sound forth in the mouth of all, and your reward may remain eternal\nin the heavens. Each man shall receive the reward of his own work. Teach\ndiligently the boys and the young men the knowledge of books in the way\nof the Lord, that they may become worthy to succeed to your honour, and\nmay be your intercessors. For the prayers of the living are profitable\nto the dying, whether to the pardon of sin or to the increase of glory.\nHe who sows not does not reap; he who learns not does not teach. And\nsuch a house as yours without teachers cannot be, or can scarcely be,\nsafe. Great is alms-doing, to feed the poor with food for the body; but\ngreater is it to satisfy the hungry soul with spiritual doctrine. As the\nprovident shepherd takes care to supply his flock with all that is best,\nso the good teacher ought with all pains to procure for those under him\nthe pastures of eternal life. For the increase of the flock is the glory\nof the shepherd, and the multitude of the wise is the safety of the\nworld. I am aware that you, most holy fathers, fully know all this, and\naccomplish it; but the love of him that dictates this has dragged the\nwords from his mouth, believing that you are willing to read with pious\nhumility that which I dictate with devoted soberness in the love of God.\nAgain and again I beseech you that you deign to have my name in memory\namong those of your friends.\n\n\u201cMay the God Christ Himself hearken to your kindliness interceding for\nthe whole Church of God, and grant that we may attain unto the glory of\neternal beatitude, my dearest brothers.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letters to King Eardulf and the banished intruder\n Osbald.\u2014His letters to King Ethelred and Ethelred\u2019s mother.\u2014The\n Irish claim that Alcuin studied at Clonmacnoise.\u2014Mayo of the\n Saxons.\n\n\nAlcuin had grievous anxieties about the manner of life of the kings\nof his native province, and the continual revolutions and disputed\nsuccessions. Things got worse as he grew into older age\u2014old age as it was\nthen counted.\n\nIn the previous chapter we have seen a letter of his to Ethelred, the\nKing of Northumbria, under date 793. He wrote another letter to him\nin that same year, which he addressed in the following affectionate\nform:\u2014\u201cTo my most excellent son Ethelred the king, to my most sweet\nfriends Osbald the patrician and Osbert the duke, to all the friends of\nmy brotherly love, Alchuin the levite desires eternal beatitude.\u201d\n\nIn the year 796 Ethelred, as we have seen, was killed in a faction fight,\nafter putting to death the last two males of the royal line of Eadbert,\nthe brother of Archbishop Ecgbert, and was succeeded by \u201cmy most sweet\nfriend Osbald the patrician\u201d, who, however, only reigned twenty-seven\ndays, and had not time to strike any coins with his name and effigy.\nEardulf, a man of considerable position, succeeded. He was in a very full\nmanner recognized as king, being consecrated, as Simeon of Durham tells\nus (A.D. 796), \u201cin the Church of St. Peter, at the altar of the blessed\napostle Paul, where the race of the Angles first received the grace of\nbaptism.\u201d On this altar, see page 81.\n\nIt is an interesting fact that we have two letters of Alcuin, written,\nthe one to (28) Osbald on his banishment, the other to (29) Eardulf on\nhis succession to the throne from which Osbald had been banished. It can\nvery seldom have happened that a man has had to write two letters under\nsuch conditions.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 65. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cTo the illustrious man Eardwulf the King, Alchuine[141] the deacon sends\ngreeting.\n\n\u201cMindful of the old friendship to which we are pledged, and rejoicing\ngreatly in thy venerated salutation, I am at pains to address thy\nlaudable person with a letter on a few points touching the prosperity of\nthe kingdom conferred on thee by God, and the salvation of thy soul, and\nthe manner in which the honour put into thy hands by the gift of God may\nremain stable.\n\n\u201cThou knowest very well from what dangers the divine mercy has freed\nthee,[142] and how easily, when it would, it has brought thee to the\nkingdom. Be always grateful, and mindful of such very great gifts of\nGod to thee; that as far as thou canst the will of God thou wilt do with\nthy whole heart; and be obedient to the servants of God who keep thee\nwarned of His Commandments. Know of a surety that none other can preserve\nthy life than He who hath freed thee from present death; and none can\nprotect and keep thee in that honour of thine but He who of His free pity\nhath granted that dignity to thee. Keep diligently in thy mind mercy and\njustice, for, as Solomon says, and, more than that, God allows, in mercy\nand justice shall the throne of a kingdom be established.\n\n\u201cConsider most intently for what sins thy predecessors have lost their\nkingdom and their life, and take exceeding care that thou do not the\nlike, lest the same judgement fall on thee. The perjuries of some God\nhas condemned; the adulteries of others He has punished; the avarice and\ndeceits of others He has avenged; the injustice of others has displeased\nHim. God is no respecter of persons, and those who do such things shall\nnot possess the kingdom of God. Instruct first thyself in all goodness\nand soberness, and afterwards the people over whom thou art set, in all\nmodesty of life and of raiment, in all truth of faith and of judgements,\nin keeping the Commandments of God and in probity of morals. So wilt thou\nboth stablish thy kingdom, and save thy people, and rescue them from the\nwrath of God, which by sure signs has long been hanging over them.\n\n\u201cNever would so much blood of nobles and of rulers be poured forth in\nyour nation, never would the pagans lay waste holy places, never would\nsuch injustice and arrogance prevail among the people, if it were not\nthat the manifest vengeance of God hangs over the inhabiters of the\nland. Do thou, preserved as I believe for better times, kept to set thy\ncountry right, do thou, by God\u2019s grace aiding thee, work out with full\nintent, in God\u2019s will, the safety of thine own soul and the prosperity of\nthe country and the people committed to thy charge; so that out of the\nsetting-right of those subject to thy rule, thy kingdom here on earth may\nbe stablished, and the glory of the kingdom to come be granted to thee\nand thy descendants.\n\n\u201cLet this letter, I pray you, be kept with you, and very often read, for\nthe sake of thy welfare and of my love, that the omnipotent God may deign\nto preserve thee in the increase of His holy church for the welfare of\nour race, flourishing long time in thy kingdom and advancing in all that\nis good.\u201d\n\nThat letter finished, Alcuin proceeded next to write to the expelled\nusurper Osbald. He did not mince matters; he dealt, as people say, very\nfaithfully with him.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 66. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cTo my loved friend Osbald,[143] Alchuine the deacon sends greeting.\n\n\u201cI am displeased with thee, that thou didst not obey me when I urged thee\nin my letter of more than two years ago to abandon the lay life and\nserve God according to thy vow. And now a worse, a more disastrous fate\nhas come upon thy life. Turn again, turn again and fulfil thy vow. Seek\nan opportunity for entering upon the service of God, lest thou perish\nwith those infamous men, if indeed thou art innocent of the blood of thy\nlord.[144] But if thou art guilty, by consent or design, confess thy sin;\nbe reconciled with God, and leave the company of the murderers. The love\nof God and of the saints is better for thee than that of evil-doers.\n\n\u201cAdd not sin to sin by devastating thy country, by shedding blood. Think\nhow much blood of kings, princes, and people has been shed by thee and\nthy kinsmen. Unhappy generation, from which so many evils have happened\nto the land. Set thyself free, I beseech thee by God, that thou perish\nnot eternally. While there is time, run, hasten, hurry, to the mercy of\nGod, who is ready to receive the penitent and to comfort them that turn\nto Him; lest a day come when thou wouldest and canst not. Do not incur\nthe shame of giving up what thou hast begun. There is more shame in your\nsoul perishing eternally than in deserting in the present impious men.\nBetter still if you can convert some of them from the wickedness they\nhave committed: do your best, that you may have the reward of your own\nrepentance and of other\u2019s repentance too. This is the love that covereth\na multitude of sins; do this, and live happily and fare well in peace.\n\n\u201cI beg that you will have this letter frequently read in your presence,\nthat you may be mindful of yourself in God, and may know what care I\nhave, distant though I am, of your welfare.\n\n\u201cIf you can at all influence for good the people[145] among whom you are\nin exile, do not neglect the opportunity, that you may by God\u2019s grace the\nearlier reach your own recovery.\u201d\n\nThe murder of Ethelred gave rise to this letter. Alcuin had been very\nfaithful in his advice to Ethelred, as the following letter well shows.\nIt is very carefully composed, and a great anxiety breathes in every\nbalanced phrase.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 42. 790-795.]\n\n\u201cTo the most beloved lord Aedelred the king Alchuine the deacon sends\ngreeting.\n\n\u201cThe intimacy of love urges me to write an intimate letter to thee\nalone.[146] Because I shall always love thee I shall never cease to\nadmonish thee, in order that, being subdued to the will of God thou\nmayest be made worthy of His protection, and the nobility of the royal\ndignity may be made honourable by nobility of conduct.\n\n\u201cNo man is free or noble who is the slave of sin. The Lord says,[147]\n\u2018Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin.\u2019 It becometh not thee,\nseated on the throne of the kingdom, to live like common men. Anger\nshould not be lord over thee, but reason. Pity should make thee\nloveable, not cruelty hateful. Truth should proceed from thy mouth, not\nfalsehood. Be to thine own self conscious of chasteness, not of lust; of\nself-control, not of riotous living; of sobriety, not of drunkenness.\nBe not notable in any sin, but laudable in every good work. Be large in\ngiving, not greedy in taking. Let justice embellish all thine actions. Be\nthe type of honour to all that see thee. Do not, do not, take other men\u2019s\ngoods by force lest thou lose thine own. Fear God who has said \u2018with what\njudgement ye judge ye shall be judged.\u2019 Love the God Christ and obey His\ncommands, that His mercy may preserve in blessing to thee, and to thy\nsons and followers, the kingdom which He has willed that thou shouldest\nhold, and may deign to grant the glory of future beatitude.\n\n\u201cMay the omnipotent God cause to flourish in felicity of reign, in\ndignity of life, in length of prosperity, thee, my most beloved son.\u201d\n\nWe have letters written by Alcuin to Etheldryth the mother of king\nEthelred, queen of Ethelwold Moll, king of Northumbria 759 to 765, who\nmarried her at Catterick in 762. In her widowhood she became an abbess,\nruling over a mixed monastery of men and women, as is shown by the\nfollowing letter, written before Ethelred\u2019s violent death:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 50. A.D. 793-796.]\n\n\u201cTo the most loved sister in Christ the Mother Aedilthyde the humble\nlevite Alchuine sends greeting.\n\n\u201cWhen I gratefully received the gifts of your benignity, and gladly\nheard the salutation of your love, I confess that I was made glad by a\ngreat sweetness. For I knew that faithful love remained constant in your\nbreast, which neither distance by land nor the stormy wave of tidal sea\ncould stop from flying to me with beneficent munificence, even as it\nis said, \u2018Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown\nit.\u2019[148]\n\n\u201cThat thou mayest be worthy to hear in the day of judgement the voice\nof God saying, \u2018Well done, thou good and faithful servant,\u2019 instruct\nwith instant care those that are under thee, admonish them by word,\nperfect them by example, for their safety is thy reward. Be not silent\nfor fear of man, but for love of God speak, convince, rebuke, beseech.\nThem that sin openly chastise before all,[149] that the rest may fear.\nSome admonish in the spirit of gentleness, others seize in the pastoral\nstaff, diligently thinking out the remedy which best suits each. Sweet\npotions cure some; bitter, others. Honour the old women and the old men\nas mothers and fathers; love the youthful as brothers and sisters; teach\nthe little ones as sons and daughters; have care for all in Christ, that\nin Christ you may have reward for all.\n\n\u201cLet thy vigils and prayers be frequent; let psalms be in thy mouth,\nnot vain talk on thy tongue; the love of God in thy heart, not worldly\nambition in thy mind; for all that is loved in the world passes away,\nall that is esteemed in Christ remains. Whether we will or no, we shall\nbe eternal. We should study with all intentness faithfully there to live\nwhere we are always to remain.\n\n\u201cHonour frequently with divine praise and alms to the poor the festivals\nof saints, that you may be worthy of their intercession and partakers\nof their bliss. Let thy discourses be laudable for their truth; thy\nconduct loveable for its sobriety and modesty; thy hands honourable for\ntheir free giving. Let the whole round of your life be an example in all\ngoodness to others, that the dignity of your person be praised by all, be\nloved by many, and the name of God through thee be praised; as the Truth\nItself saith, \u2018Let your light so shine before men that they may see your\ngood works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe line which Alcuin takes in attempting to console Etheldryth after the\nviolent death of a son who had lived a violent life, was a remarkable one.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 62.]\n\n\u201cI cannot in bodily presence address by word of mouth your most sweet\naffection, because we live so far apart. I therefore do by the ministry\nof a letter that which is denied to my tongue. With all the power of\nmy heart, I desire that you go forward in every good thing, most dear\nmother, and be made worthy to be counted in the number of them of whom,\nin the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ made answer, \u2018Whosoever shall do\nthe will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother and my\nbrother.\u2019[150] How \u2018mother,\u2019 unless He is daily generated by holy love\nin the bowels of a perfect heart? See what a Son a pious mother can\nhave\u2014that same God, King, Redeemer, in all tribulations Consoler.\n\n\u201cMany are the tribulations of the just, but more are the consolations\nof Christ. By what event of secular misery should one be beaten who\npossesses in his breast the source of all consolation, that is, Christ\nindwelling. Nay, rather should such an one rejoice in tribulations,\nbecause of the hope of eternal beatitude, as the Apostle says, \u2018By much\ntribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God,\u2019 and, \u2018The Lord\nchasteneth every son whom He receiveth\u2019; and of the Apostles He saith,\n\u2018They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were\ncounted worthy to suffer shame for His name.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet your love know that your spiritual Son the Lord Jesus is not mortal.\nHe lives, He lives, on the right hand of God He lives and reigns.\n\n\u201cBe not broken down by the death of your son after the flesh, the\ndeparture of his body, but labour every hour, every moment, that his soul\nmay live in happiness with Christ. Let the hope of His goodness be your\nconsolation, for many are the mercies of God. He has left thee thy son\u2019s\nsurvivor that through thy intercessions and alms He may have mercy on him\ntoo. It may be that he died in his sins, but in the divine pity it may be\nwrought that he live; for the robber who in his wickedness hanged with\nChrist was saved in the mercy of Christ. Mourn not for him whom you can\nnot recall. If he is with God, mourn him not as lost, but be glad that\nhe has gone before you into rest. If there are two friends, the death of\nthe first to die is happier than the death of the other, for he has one\nto intercede for him daily with brotherly love, and to wash with tears\nthe errors of his earlier life. And doubt not that the care of pious\nsolicitude which you have for his soul is profitable. It profits thee and\nhim. Thee, that thou dost it in faith and love; him, that either his pain\nis lightened or his bliss is increased. Great and inestimable is the\npity of our Lord Jesus Christ, who would have all men be saved and none\nperish.\u201d\n\nOur next episode takes us back to York, where one of Alcuin\u2019s own pupils\nwas elected to the archbishopric. It may be well to mention here, and to\ndispose of, a curious question which has been raised in connexion with\nAlcuin\u2019s studies in the time of his youth, pursued as we believe only at\nYork.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 14. A.D. 790.]\n\nAlcuin is claimed by the Irish as one of the many English youths who\nwere brought up in Irish monasteries, and they name Clonmacnoise as the\nplace of study. Dr. John Healy, the learned Roman Bishop of Clonfert,\nwrites thus[151]:\u2014\u201cThere is fortunately a letter of his still preserved,\nwhich shows quite clearly that he was a student of Clonmacnoise, and a\npupil of Colgu, and which also exhibits the affectionate veneration that\nhe retained through life for his Alma Mater at Clonmacnoise.\u201d But the\nletter does not bear that interpretation, and, indeed, the learned bishop\nhas to read Hibernia instead of Britannia in the only place where the\nisland of Colgu\u2019s home is named, or to understand an implied contrast\nbetween Britain and Ireland which would be too obscure in a perfectly\nsimple matter. \u201cI have sent to your love\u201d, Alcuin says, \u201csome oil, which\nnow scarcely exists in Britain, that you may supply it where the bishops\nneed it, for the furtherance of the honour of God.[152] I have sent also\nto the brethren, of the alms of King Karl[153]\u2014I beseech you, pray for\nhim\u2014fifty sicles[154], and of my own alms fifty sicles; to the brethren\nof Baldhuninga to the south, thirty sicles of the alms of the king and\nthirty of my own alms, and twenty sicles of the alms of the father of the\nfamily of Areida and twenty of my own alms; and to each of the anchorites\nthree sicles of pure gold, that they may pray for me and for the lord\nKing Charles.\u201d\n\nThere is nothing here that points to Ireland except the name of the\nperson to whom the letter is addressed, Colcu, whom Alcuin speaks of\nas \u201cthe blessed master and pious father\u201d. The name Baldhuninga is\nvery Northumbrian, the home of the family of Baldhun. The mention of\nanchorites has been supposed to look like Ireland, but we must remember\nthat Alcuin himself, in singing the praises of the saints of the Church\nof York, tells of the life of only two persons of his own time other than\nkings and archbishops, and they were anchorites.[155] The gift of money\nfrom the father-of-the-family of Areida clearly comes from some one in\nGaul who is very closely associated with Alcuin himself. It so happens\nthat the Abbey of Tours had a small cell dedicated to St. Aredius, and\nthe suggestion may be hazarded that the little family of monks there\nsent through their prior the twenty sicles which Alcuin doubled. It is\nevident that Colcu had conferred benefits on those in whom Alcuin was\nspecially interested, and we may suppose that on some visit to Alcuin he\nhad delivered a course of lectures by which the monks of St. Aredius had\nprofited. He was probably a professor (his actual title was _lector_, a\nname still kept up for a public lecturer at the University of Cambridge)\nat the School of York. There was a famous Reader in Theology of the same\nname, or as much the same as any one can expect in early Erse, Colgan\nor Colgu, who lived and lectured at Clonmacnoise and died there in 794,\nfour years after Alcuin wrote this letter at the beginning of the year\n790. It is of course tempting to suppose that this famous Irishman, the\nfirst Ferlegind or Lector recorded in the Irish Annals, was the Colcu to\nwhom Alcuin wrote, the Colcu of whom Alcuin in a letter written at the\nend of this same year 790 said that he was with him and was well. That\nletter was addressed to one of Alcuin\u2019s pupils, Joseph, whose master the\nletter says Colcu had been. On the whole, we must take it that our Colcu\nwas too closely associated with Alcuin\u2019s teaching and with Northumbria to\nbe the Colgu of whom Bishop Healy says that though he was a Munster-man\nby birth he seems to have lived and died at Clonmacnoise. But it is\nanother puzzling coincidence that Simeon of Durham records the death of\nColcu, evidently as of one who had worked in the parts of which he was\ncommissioned to write, in the year of the death of Colgu of Clonmacnoise,\n794: \u201cColcu, presbyter and lector, migrated from this light to the Lord.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 217. A.D. 792-804.]\n\nWe have a letter of Alcuin\u2019s addressed to \u201cthe most noble sons of holy\nchurch who throughout the breadth of the Hibernian island are seen to\nserve Christ the God in the religious life and in the study of wisdom\u201d.\nIn this letter Alcuin fully recognizes that in the old time most learned\nmasters used to come from Hibernia to Britain, Gaul, and Italy, and did\nexcellent work among the churches. But beyond that, the letter, which\nis far from a short one, is so completely vague that it is impossible\nto imagine that Alcuin had studied in Ireland, or had had the help, in\nEngland or in France, of one of the most famous of Irish teachers from\none of the most famous of their seats of religion and learning.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 276.]\n\nThe same impression is given by Alcuin\u2019s letter to the monks of Mayo, of\nwhom he naturally knew more. When the Conference of Whitby went against\nthe Scotic practices, Bishop Colman retired, first to Iona, then to\nInisbofin, and then to the place in Ireland now called Mayo, where he\nsettled the thirty Anglo-Saxon monks who had accompanied him, leaving\nthe Scotic monks, formerly of Lindisfarne, in Inisbofin, \u201cthe island of\nthe white heifer.\u201d Bede tells us that Mayo was kept supplied by English\nmonks, so that it was called Mayo of the Saxons. Curiously enough they\nkept up the practice of having a bishop at their head in succession to\ntheir first head, Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne. There were bishops of\nMayo down to 1559. In Alcuin\u2019s time Mayo was still a Saxon monastery.\nThe Irish Annals of the Four Masters mention a Bishop Aedan of Mayo, in\n768; but his real name was English, Edwin, not Irish, Aedan, as we learn\nfrom Simeon of Durham. Alcuin must certainly have mentioned his own visit\nto Ireland in his letter to the monks of Mayo, if such a visit had ever\ntaken place. The letter was written late in his life. He tells them that\nwhen he lived in Northumbria he used to hear of them from brethren who\nvisited England. He reminds them that for the love of Christ they had\nchosen to leave their own country, and live in a land foreign to them,\nand be oppressed by nefarious men. He urged them to keep zealously the\nregular life, as established by their holy predecessors; and to devote\nthemselves to study, for a great light of knowledge had come forth from\nthem, and had lighted many places in Northumbria. The lord bishop they\nmust hold as a father in all reverence and love, and he must rule them\nand their life with all fear in the sight of God.\n\nThe story of the migration from Lindisfarne to Mayo, as told by Bede (_H.\nE._ iv. 4), is so quaintly Irish in its main part, that it may fairly be\ntold here in Bede\u2019s words. After stating that Colman took with him all\nthe Scotic monks of Lindisfarne, and thirty Saxons, and went first to\nIona, he proceeds thus:\u2014\n\n\u201cThen he went away to a small island some distance off the west coast\nof Hibernia, called in the Scotic tongue Inis-bofin, that is, the Isle\nof the White Heifer. There he built a monastery, and in it he placed\nthe monks of both nations whom he had brought with him. They could not\nagree among themselves; for the Scots left the monastery when the summer\ncame and harvest had to be gathered in, and roamed about through places\nwith which they were acquainted. When winter came they returned to the\nmonastery, and claimed to live on what the English had stored. Colman\nfelt that he must find some remedy. Looking about near and far he found\na place on the main land suitable for the construction of a monastery,\ncalled in the Scots tongue Mageo. He bought a small portion of the land\nfrom the earl to whom it belonged, on which to build, on condition\nthat the monks placed there should offer prayers to God for him who\nhad allowed it to be purchased. With the help of the earl and all the\nneighbours he built the monastery and placed the English monks in it,\nleaving the Scots on Inisbofin. The monastery is to this day held by\nEnglish monks. It has grown large from small beginnings, and is commonly\ncalled Mageo[156]. All has been brought into good order, and it contains\nan excellent body of monks, collected from the province of the Angles.\nThey live by the labour of their own hands in great continence and\nsimplicity, after the example of their venerable fathers, under the Rule\nand under a canonical abbat.\u201d\n\nBede appears to have not known anything of a bishop-abbat of Mayo.\n\nIt is clear that the bishop-abbat acted as a diocesan bishop in the\nneighbourhood of Mayo. In the year 1209 the Irish Annals record the\ndeath of Cele O\u2019Duffy, Bishop of Magh Eo of the Saxons, the name Magh\nEo, or Mageo, meaning the Plain of Yews. In 1236 Mayo of the Saxons was\npillaged by a Burke, who \u201cleft neither rick nor basket of corn in the\nchurch-enclosure of Mayo, or in the yard of the church of St. Michael\nthe Archangel; and he carried away eighty baskets out of the churches\nthemselves\u201d. It was for protection in such raids that the round towers\nwere built adjoining the churches. In 1478 the death of Higgins, Bishop\nof Mayo of the Saxons, is recorded. The see was about that time annexed\nto Tuam so completely that the Canons of Mayo ceased to have the status\nof Canons of a Cathedral Church. Alcuin used the form Mugeo, not Mageo,\nand Simeon of Durham calls it \u201cMigensis ecclesia\u201d. This last form\nexplains the signature\u2014or rather the \u201csubscription\u201d\u2014of one of six bishops\npresent at a Council under King Alfwold of Northumbria in 786, \u201cEgo\nAldulfus Myiensis ecclesiae episcopus devota voluntate subscripsi[157].\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letter to all the prelates of England.\u2014To the Bishops\n of Elmham and Dunwich.\u2014His letters on the election to the\n archbishopric of York.\u2014To the new archbishop, and the monks\n whom he sent to advise him.\u2014His urgency that Bishops should\n read Pope Gregory\u2019s Pastoral Care.\n\n\nAlcuin, as we have seen, felt himself entitled to write frankly to\npersons in the most exalted and important positions, though only an\nabbat. To individual bishops and archbishops he wrote very frankly,\nthough only a deacon. In his correspondence with kings and bishops and\nother persons in his native land, we get the impression that he felt\nhimself to be in a much larger sphere of operations, able to take a much\nlarger view of affairs, than from the nature of the case they could be or\ndo.\n\nHere is a letter which may be taken as a good illustration of this\nremark:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 61. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cTo the most holy in Christ and in all honour to be by us beloved,\nthe pontiffs of Britain our most sweet native land, the humble levite\nAlchuin, a son of the holy church of York, greeting in the love of Christ.\n\n\u201cHaving great confidence in your goodness, my reverend fathers, and\nin the acceptableness to God of your prayers, and having a convenient\nopportunity for commending myself to your charity as a body, I do not\nneglect the occasion of time and messenger. I offer myself to your\nholiness, suppliantly praying each one of you to take me as his son\nfor the love and affection of God, and to intercede along with his\nfellow-warriors for the safety of my soul. For I also, according to the\nability of my littleness, am a devoted interceder for your honour and\nsuccess.\n\n\u201cLet your affection know that the lord Charles the king greatly desires\nthe supplications of your holiness to the Lord, alike for himself and the\nstability of his realm and for the spread of the Christian name, and for\nthe soul of the most reverend father Adrian the Pope, for faithfulness of\nfriendship towards a dead friend is most highly approved.\n\n\u201cOne who intercedes for such a friend no doubt greatly enhances his own\nmerits with God. The aforesaid lord king for the furtherance of this his\npetition has sent to your holiness some small gifts of blessing.[158] I\npray you to accept with gladness what he has sent and to do faithfully\nwhat he asks of you; that the faith of your goodness may meet with a\ngreat reward from God, and the religion of humbleness may be widely\npraised among men.\n\n\u201cO my most holy fathers and shepherds, O most clear light of the whole\nof Britain, feed the flock of Christ, which is with you, by assiduous\npreaching of the Gospel and good example of holy life. Preach with truth,\ncorrect with vigour, exhort with persuasion. Stand with your loins girt\nin the army of Christ, and your lights burning, that your light may shine\nbefore all who are in the house of God, that they may see your good\nworks and glorify our Father which is in Heaven. The time of labour here\nis exceeding short, the time of reward is the longest eternity. What is\nhappier than to pass from this present misery to eternal bliss. See to\nit diligently that the land which our ancestors received by the gift of\nGod may by celestial benediction be preserved to our descendants. The\nincrease of the flock is the reward of the shepherd, the safety of the\npeople the praise of the priest. Let all intemperance and injustice be\nprohibited, all honesty and sobriety be taught, that in every walk of\nlife the God Christ be honoured, and His blessed grace keep you in every\npart to the praise and glory of His name for ever.\n\n\u201cThat you may be sure this comes from us, we have sub-sealed it with our\nseal.\n\n\u201cThe blessing of God the Father in the grace and love of Christ and in\nthe consolation of the Holy Spirit be with you and keep you in all good,\nmy lords most holy, my fathers most worthy of honour, mindful of us for\never. Amen.\u201d\n\nThat is a remarkable conclusion to a letter from a deacon in France to\nthe Archbishops and Bishops of all England.\n\nThe following letter is written in a slightly humbler style. It was\nprobably written towards the end of his life.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 230. A.D. 798-804.]\n\n\u201cTo the most holy and venerable fathers the Bishops Alchard [Elmham,\n786-811] and Tifred [Dunwich, 798-816] Alchuin the levite sends greeting.\n\n\u201cI pray your most pious goodness that you take not this letter from so\nsmall a man to be presumptuous. It is in reliance on your regard that I\nhave dared to write. Christian humility should despise none, but should\nreceive benignantly all in the pious bosom of love. This love I trust\nwill abundantly show itself forth in you by the Holy Spirit, that, as the\nTruth saith in the Gospel, out of your belly may be seen to flow rivers\nof living water, that is, of sacred doctrine.\n\n\u201cIt is yours to preach to all the word of God, to all to shine clear in\nthe house of God, that all may recognize through you the light of truth\nand may be led through the pastures of perpetual beatitude. Your mouth\nmust be the trumpet of the God Christ, for the tongues of your authority\nare the keys of heaven, having power to open and to shut; to open to the\npenitent, to shut against those that resist the truth. Wherefore make\nyourselves by your good lives worthy of such excellence; knowing that\nassiduity in preaching is the praise of bishops. The episcopal honour is\nno secular play. The Christian bishop must exercise himself with great\ndiligence in the commands of God, that by example and word together he\nmay educate a Christian people.\n\n\u201cThe venerable brother the abbat Lull[159] has spoken to me in praise\nof your good conversation. It is on this account that I have cared to\ncommend myself as a suppliant to your sanctity, that you may order some\nslight memorial of my name to be made throughout your churches. Not for\nmy own merits but for the love of Christ I have presumed to make this\nearnest request. Pray grant it, as I trust in your good piety.\n\n\u201cMay the Lord God increase you by the grace of merits, and make you to\nadvance in all holiness and in preaching the word of God, my most dear\nand longed-for fathers.\u201d\n\nWe saw in the previous chapter something of the anxiety which Alcuin felt\nwhen he marked the misdeeds of Northumbrian kings. There was another\nsource of anxiety which troubled him in his thoughts of his native land,\nin the year 795. The old Archbishop of York, Eanbald I (780-796) could\nevidently not last much longer, and Alcuin feared that the general\ndecadence had reached the ecclesiastics of York, and that some improper\nappointment might be secured by simoniacal methods.\n\nTo the old Archbishop himself he wrote an affectionate letter, as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 36. A.D. 795.]\n\n\u201cTo my lord best loved of all health eternal in Christ.\n\n\u201cI confess myself greatly rejoiced to hear from Eanbald[160], of your\nhousehold, of the soundness of your prosperity, so greatly desired by me.\nThe love and faith which began long ago to dwell in my breast will never\nbe able to leave me. The nearer the time of heavenly reward comes, the\nmore careful should he be who is the first to leave the world that he has\nleft in the world a friend. The sharpness of fever, and the delay of the\nking [Karl] in Saxony, has prevented my coming to you as I have desired\nto do. May the divine clemency grant to me to see thy face in joy before\nI die. If I come, I earnestly hope that I shall find you still in that\nhonourable place of dignity in which you were when I left. And if some\nother dignity has been preferred by you,[161] I hope that you will not\nby any means allow violence to be done to the Church of Christ, and that\nthe brethren may be left free to elect as your successor the best man,\nin the fear and by the grace of God most high. For in the sacred canons\na terrible anathema is uttered against those who do any violence to the\nChurch of Christ. You have always loved our [ecclesiastical] family of\nYork and have done them very many kindnesses. We now need your help more\nthan ever; and when our time of eternal rest has come, you will have us\nas perpetual intercessors in your behalf.\n\n\u201cMay the divine clemency grant to thee prosperous and happy days in this\nlife, and glory eternal with His saints, my dearest lord and father.\u201d\n\nEanbald contemplated abdication in the end of 795, and Alcuin wrote the\nfollowing anxious letter to the brethren of York, on whom the choice of a\nnew archbishop would fall:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 37. A.D. 795.]\n\n\u201cTo my best-loved friends, greeting.\n\n\u201cI beg of you, by the faith of love, that you act faithfully and wisely\nin the election of a pontiff, if the election must take place before I\ncome. Again and again I call upon you, in the name of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, that you by no means allow any one to obtain the bishopric\nby the heresy of simony; for if that takes place, it is the complete\nperdition of the race. This simoniacal heresy is that worst of heresies\nwhich the holy Peter condemned with an eternal anathema [Acts viii. 14,\n20, seq.]. He who sells a bishopric gains gold and loses the kingdom of\nGod.\n\n\u201cUp to this time, the holy Church of York has remained untainted in its\nelections. See that it be not tainted in your day. If, which be far\ndistant, it loses its ecclesiastical reputation, I fear that you will\nlose the eternal kingdom. Judas sold the spouse, that is, Christ. And he\nthat sells Christ\u2019s spouse, that is, the Church, is guilty of the same\ncrime; for Christ and the Church are one body, as saith the Apostle[162].\nHe who sells the Church must of necessity be outside the Church; and he\nwho is outside the Church, where will he be but with the devil in eternal\ndestruction. Fear not, hate not, him who speaks to you the truth; for to\nthis which I say, the books sent forth by the Holy Spirit testify. My\ndesire is that you be without stain in the sight of God; that you reign\nfelicitously in this present world, and rejoice for ever with Christ.\nLive and be strong and happy in Christ.\u201d\n\nEanbald I did not abdicate. He died on August 10, 796, and the electors\nimmediately proceeded to the election, their choice falling upon Eanbald\nII. The election was so hasty that Eanbald II was consecrated five days\nafter the Archbishop\u2019s death.\n\nThis is Alcuin\u2019s letter to the new Archbishop:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 72. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cTo his best-loved son in Christ, Eanbald the Archbishop, his in all\nthings devoted father Albinus sends greeting.\n\n\u201cLaud and honour to the Lord God omnipotent who hath preserved my days in\nprosperity, so that I can rejoice in the exaltation of my dearest son;\nand have been allowed, though the lowliest servant of the Church, to\ntrain up one of my pupils to be regarded as worthy to become a dispenser\nof the mysteries of Christ and to labour in my stead in the Church where\nI was nourished and instructed; and to preside over those treasures of\nwisdom of which my beloved master Helbrecht left me his heir. I must\npray with all intentness the divine clemency that he may be my survivor\nin this life as he was my solace alway in the time of his obedience; not\nthat I wish for my own death but that I desire that his life should be\nprolonged. For not sons to fathers but fathers to sons should leave an\nheritage.[163]\n\n\u201cSee, my dearest son, by God\u2019s favour you have all that man could hope\nfor, and more than all that our small desert dared hope for. Now, then,\nact as a man and a strong man. The work of God which is put into your\nhands do to the full, for the profit of your own soul and the welfare\nof many souls. Let not your tongue cease from preaching; nor your foot\nfrom going about among the flock committed to you; nor your hand from\nlabouring that alms be given and the holy Church of God be everywhere\nexalted. Be the outward expression of the well-being of all. In thee let\nthere be the example of most holy manner of life; in thee let there be\nthe solace of the miserable; in thee the strengthening of the doubting;\nin thee the rigour of discipline; in thee the confidence of truth; in\nthee the hope of every good. Let not the pomp of the world lift thee up;\nnor luxury of food enervate thee; nor the vanity of vestures make thee\nsoft; nor the tongues of flatterers deceive thee; nor the gainsaying of\ndetractors disturb thee; nor troubles break thee; nor joys lift thee up.\nBe not a reed shaken by the wind; be not a flower falling with the gale;\nbe not a tottering wall; be not a house built upon the sand; but be the\ntemple of the living God, built on the firm rock, whose indweller be the\nvery Spirit, the Paraclete.\n\n\u201cHow many days do you suppose you have to live? Put it in your mind at\nfifty years. Even that has its end; and you cannot expect to live so\nlong as that. Let the weakness of your body make you strong in soul; be\nwith the Apostle,\u2014\u2018when I am weak, then am I strong.\u2019 Let the affliction\nof your body be the gain of your soul. Show yourself gentle and humble\nto the better; hard and rigid to the proud; all things to all men that\nyou may gain all. Have in your hands honey and wormwood; let each man\neat which he chooses. Let him who would live on pious preaching have\nthe honey; let him who needs hard invective drink of the wormwood, but\nso that he may hope for the honey of pardon to follow, if the blush and\nconfusion of penitence go before.\u201d\n\nAlcuin would have been an excellent man to have as preacher at the\nconsecration of a bishop.\n\nIn a letter which quickly followed, Alcuin begged Eanbald to read\nfrequently the above letter, and expressed the hope that if there was\nanything in it which could be regarded as less than quite affectionate,\nthe Archbishop would feel sure that it was unintentional. One thing, and\nonly one, he wished to add:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 73. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cDo not allow the nobleness of mind which I so well know to be in you,\nand the integrity of faithfulness which is your wont to all, by any\nadvice of friends, by any ambition of secular desires, to be corrupted\nor changed. Not every friend is fit to be an adviser; the Scripture[164]\nsays, Let thy friends be many, thine adviser one only. Do not allow your\ngoodness to be clouded by the wickedness of others.\u201d\n\nIn yet another letter he finds a good deal to add:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 74. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cIf there is joy over a rise, there is fear for a fall: the loftier the\nposition, the more dangerous the fall. According to your appellation be\nthe chief overseer not only of the flock committed unto thee, but also\nof thyself, that in a few days of labour you may earn a great reward of\nbliss.\n\n\u201cThese are dangerous times in Britain. The death of kings[165] is a\nsignal of misery. Discord is the road to prison. The things which you\nhave very often heard our master Archbishop Albert predict are hastening\nto come true.\n\n\u201cBe not covetous of gold and of silver but of gain of souls. Me remember\ndaily in prayers and alms, thyself always in keeping of the commandments\nof God. If storms threaten on every side, steer manfully the ship of\nChrist, that in time you may arrive with your sailors at the port of\nprosperity. Let your tongue never be silent from the word of holy\npreaching, your hand never be benumbed from good work.\n\n\u201cLet not your mind become soft in adulation of princes or slow in\ncorrection of those under you. Let not the flatteries of the world\ndeceive you, the transient honours uplift, the favour of the people\nsubvert you. Be a very firm pillar in the house of God, not a reed shaken\nwith the wind. Be a candle set on a candlestick, not hid under a bushel.\nBe to all a way of salvation, not an artery of perdition, that by thee\nvery many may be corrected and saved, and with thee may attain unto\neternal life.\n\n\u201cWherever you go, let the Pastoral treatise of the blessed Gregory go\nwith you. Read it, re-read it, very often, and see in it yourself and\nyour work, that you may always have before your eyes how you ought to\nlive, how you ought to teach. It is a mirror of a bishop\u2019s life, and a\nspecific against all the wounds of the devil\u2019s fraud.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 173. A.D. 801.]\n\nLate in Alcuin\u2019s life, he became very anxious about the conduct of this\nfavourite pupil, Archbishop Eanbald II. Five years after the election he\nwrote two letters on the subject, one direct to the Archbishop, and one\nto two monks whom he sent to visit and advise him. To Eanbald he writes\nas to one in tribulation, the king Eardulf being set against him. \u201cBut\u201d,\nhe says, \u201cI think that a part of your tribulation arises from yourself.\nIt may be that you shelter the enemies of the king, or protect their\npossessions. If you suffer justly, why be troubled? If unjustly, why not\ncall to mind the Saints? As the apostle James says[166]\u2014\u2018Ye have heard of\nthe tribulations of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn this letter he goes no further into detail, remarking at its close\nthat the Cuckoo will say more. The Cuckoo was one of his messengers,\nCuculus, whom he calls in his playful way the bird of spring, the name\nbeing the Latin word for a cuckoo. To the Cuckoo, then, and the presbyter\nCalvin, he sends a letter of instructions.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 174. A.D. 801.]\n\n\u201cI have heard of the tribulations of my dearest son Simeon [that\nis, Eanbald]. You are to exhort him to act faithfully and be not\npusillanimous in trials. His predecessors suffered such; and not they\nonly but all the Saints. John Baptist, we read, was slain for testifying\nto the truth. Let the archbishop see to it that there is in him no cause\nof trial other than his preaching the truth. I fear that he is suffering\nfor his acquisitions of lands, or his support of the enemies of the king.\nLet what he has suffice him; let him not grasp at what belongs to others,\nwhich often turns out to be very dangerous.\n\n\u201cAnd why is there in his following such a large number of soldiers? He\nappears to keep them from pity for their condition. But it is harmful to\nthe inhabitants of the monasteries which receive him and his. He has, as\nI hear, far more than his predecessors had. And his soldiers have under\nthem far more of a lower class than is necessary. My master [Archbishop\nAlbert] allowed none of his followers to have more than one such under\nhim, except the rulers of his household, and they were only allowed two.\nIt is imprudent charity to help a few, and they perhaps criminals, and to\nharm many and they good men. Let him not blame me for suggesting this,\nbut amend his conduct.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 149.]\n\nAlcuin had in the previous year, 800, written a letter to the Cuckoo\u2019s\ncolleague, Calvinus, in which he was very urgent that Eanbald II should\nhave the best spiritual advice. He entreats Calvinus to warn him of\nperils, and to strengthen him in all good ways. In giving advice to the\narchbishop, he bids Calvinus \u201cconsider sagaciously time, place, and\nperson; at what time, in what place, to what person, what should be said\nby the archbishop; all which can be best learned in the book of the\nblessed Gregory on the Pastoral Care\u201d.\n\nAlcuin frequently presses upon his correspondents the value of a careful\nstudy of Pope Gregory\u2019s treatise on Pastoral Care. It was this book that\nKing Alfred selected to have translated into English for the benefit of\nthe clergy of England. Inasmuch as Alfred was born only fifty years after\nthe death of Alcuin, there is no great improbability in the idea that\nAlcuin\u2019s influence in regard of this book survived to Alfred\u2019s time. The\nfact that it is chiefly on English bishops that he urges its frequent\nstudy may point in this direction. It was, however, not always the\nEnglish bishops who received this advice.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 71. A.D. 796.]\n\nTo Arno, Bishop of Salzburg, Alcuin wrote a long and very valuable letter\nof advice as to the manner in which the Huns whom Karl was conquering\nshould be brought to the faith. He speaks strongly of the necessity of\nadapting the teaching and discipline to the character of each individual,\nas also of each race.\n\n\u201cThere be some infirmities which are better treated by sweet potions\nthan by bitter; others better by bitter than by sweet. Whence a teacher\nof the people of God, while he ought to shine clear with all the lights\nof virtues in the house of God, should specially excel in the utmost\nsagacity of discretion. He should know what treatment best suits the\nsex, the age, the aim, even the occasion, of each person. All which the\nblessed Gregory, the most lucid doctor, in his book on the Pastoral Care\nhas most diligently investigated, has adapted to various persons, has\ndriven home by examples, has made sure by the authority of the divine\nscriptures. To the study of which book I refer you, most holy prelate;\nbeseeching you to have it very frequently in your hands as a manual, to\nkeep it in your heart.\u201d\n\nTo Higbald of Lindisfarne he writes:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 81. A.D. 797.]\n\n\u201cRead very often, I beseech you, the book of the blessed Gregory, who\nbrought the Gospel to us, on the Pastoral Care, that in it you may learn\nthe peril of the episcopal office and may not forget the reward of him\nwho serves the office well. Let that book be very often in your hands,\nlet its points be firmly fixed in your memory, that you may know how a\nman should attain to the office of a bishop, and, having attained, with\nwhat circumspection he should guide himself, how exemplary his life\nshould be, how earnest his preaching. The author of the book has also\ngiven the most discreet advice as to the different ways of dealing with\npersons of different characters.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n Summary of Alcuin\u2019s work in France.\u2014Adoptionism, Alcuin\u2019s seven\n books against Felix and three against Elipandus.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n advice that a treatise of Felix be sent to the Pope and\n three others.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s name dragged into the controversy on\n Transubstantiation.\u2014Image-worship.\u2014The four _Libri Carolini_\n and the Council of Frankfurt.\u2014The bearing of the _Libri\n Carolini_ on the doctrine of Transubstantiation.\n\n\nHaving seen something in detail of the earnestness and faithfulness of\nAlcuin\u2019s exhortations to the kings and bishops of his native land of\nEngland, and having learned from them to how sad a state things had\nfallen, especially in Northumbria once the nursery of saints, we must now\nturn to Alcuin\u2019s work on the continent of Europe.\n\nIt may be well to state again the leading dates.\n\nEthelbert, or Albert, master of the School of York and afterwards\narchbishop, took Alcuin with him as a tonsured youth on one of his visits\nto France and Rome, and on that occasion he appears to have studied for\na short time in French monasteries. The first letter of his that has\ncome down to us is a letter to the abbat of St. Martin at Tours, where\nhe was destined to spend the latest years of his life, about a fugitive\nmonk whom he had rescued; it was written some eight years before he first\nsettled in France. On his return from this journey he was ordained deacon\nby Albert, probably in 768, when he would be about thirty-five years of\nage. He was sent again to Italy by Albert, on a mission to Karl, the\nking of the Franks, and it would appear that Karl noticed him favourably.\nAll this time he was working hard as master of the School of York. In\n780 the new archbishop of York sent him late in the year to Rome for the\npallium, and on his way back he again met Karl, at Parma, and Karl asked\nhim to settle in France. He obtained leave of absence from York, and\njoined Karl in 782. His definite work was to govern the school at which\nthe youths at the court of Karl, including Karl\u2019s own sons, were taught;\nthe king himself often being present as a learner. He then planned for\nKarl a number of schools in various parts of the country, all based on\nthe model of the Palace school, which he had organized on the plan of the\nSchool of York. Then he took in hand the correction of the service-books,\nwhich had become seriously debased by ignorant copyists; his liturgical\nwork produced such an effect that the service-books of the Middle Ages\nowed more to Gallican than to Roman influences. Tradition tells us that\nAlcuin himself wrote the Office for Trinity Sunday, at that time not\nfixed as now to a particular day. He found that the Holy Scriptures\nthemselves had become debased by the same process of ignorant copying of\nmanuscripts, and in his later years he was set by Karl to take seriously\nin hand the revision of the Scriptures. From 790 to 792 he had lived in\nNorthumbria; but the aggression of heresy in Karl\u2019s dominions had called\nhim away again, and he had never returned. He was about fifty-eight years\nold when he finally left England, and he died in 804, at the age of\nsixty-nine.\n\nThe tendency towards attempting to define and explain the method in\nwhich Almighty power conducts its operations was a marked tendency of\nAlcuin\u2019s time. He combated it, on sound principles. The whole matter,\nfor example, of the union of the two natures in Christ, he reminded his\nreaders, was supernatural; therefore, it could not be fitly measured by\nhuman analogies. To deny the perfect union of the two perfect natures in\none Person was to impugn the Divine omnipotence; to claim to understand\nand to define the method and manner of the union was to impugn the\ninfiniteness of the mystery.\n\nIt was to this tendency to inquire into and seek to fathom divine\nmysteries that the controversy about transubstantiation was due. That\ncontroversy came into being a full generation after the death of\nAlcuin; and one of the most prominent opponents of any approach to a\nmaterialistic view of the manner of the Real Presence was a pupil of\nAlcuin\u2019s, Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz.\n\nThe heresy which reached such dimensions as to call Alcuin back from\nEngland to France was the heresy known as Adoptionism. It became\nprominent in the same manner, from the same tendency to pry into the\ndivine secrets of operation, as did the theory of transubstantiation. The\npoint was, how exactly did the human nature of the Son come into union\nwith the divine nature? The answer given by Felix, Bishop of Urgel in\nCatalonia, was this\u2014by adoption. Hence he and his followers were called\nAdoptionists.\n\nThe term Adoption had been applied to the Incarnation by some early\nFathers, and indeed in the Spanish Liturgy, which Felix naturally used.\nIt was used probably as equivalent to assumption\u2014He took upon Him\u2014that\nis, assumed\u2014our flesh. This use of the word Adoption in their liturgy\nled Felix and his followers to take a large step beyond the equivalence\nto assumption. They carried it to its full meaning in ordinary affairs,\nand declared that the divine nature of the Second Person of the Trinity\nadopted the human nature into sonship, as Son. The so-called Athanasian\nCreed has in our English form, \u201cby taking the manhood into God.\u201d In the\noriginal Latin the word \u201cassumption\u201d is used, _assumptione humanitatis in\nDeum_.[167]\n\nCatalonia was at that time a part of Karl\u2019s dominions, and therefore he\ncould operate upon Felix. But Elipandus, who supported Felix, was bishop\nof Toledo and primate of Spain under the Mohammedan dominion, and thus\nwas beyond the reach of Karl. He was a man who, in his letters at least,\nused very abusive language.\n\nThe Adoptionists held that it was a confusion of the two natures in\nChrist to say that Christ was proper and real Son of God not only in his\nGodhead but in His whole Person. The highest that could befall humanity,\nthey maintained, was to be adopted into sonship with God; therefore\nChrist\u2019s humanity is adopted into sonship. This adoption had three stages\nthey said; the first at the moment of conception, the second at His\nbaptism, the final stage at His resurrection. The Adoptionists professed\nto deny that they were Nestorians, that is, that they divided Christ into\ntwo Persons; but it was urged against them that if they did not divide\nChrist into two persons, their theory did, when it was pressed to its\nnecessary consequence. That is the history of the origin of many of the\nheresies.\n\nVarious measures had been taken against the heresy of the Adoptionists,\nboth by Karl and by the Pope, Adrian. In course of time Karl sent the\ntreatise of Felix to Alcuin, who was at the time in England, and Alcuin\nreturned to France, never again to visit his native country. Simeon of\nDurham tells us that the English bishops made him their representative\nfor the refutation of Felix. As such, probably, in part, but also by the\nspecial wish of Karl, he attended the Council of Frankfort in 794, and\nthough only a deacon, argued against Felix. Felix was condemned. Alcuin\u2019s\nargument was at Karl\u2019s request or command developed into a treatise\nin seven books; and he wrote also a treatise in three books against\nElipandus.\n\nWe have these ten books. They fill 220 very closely printed columns in\nMigne\u2019s series. The books against Felix are among the best and most\nindependent of Alcuin\u2019s dogmatic work.\n\nThis by no means ended the matter. In the year 798 Karl sent to Alcuin a\ntreatise by Felix, which he desired Alcuin to refute. Alcuin\u2019s reply has\nbeen the subject of so much controversy that it will be well to give it\nas literally as possible. The point is, the place assigned to the Pope as\na judge of doctrine. I only quote that part of the very long letter.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 100. July, 798.]\n\n\u201cI beseech you, if it please your piety, that a copy of the treatise be\nsent to the apostolic lord [that is of course the Pope] and another to\nPaulinus the patriarch [of Aquileia]; similarly to Richbon [of Tr\u00e8ves]\nand Theodulf [of Orleans] bishops, doctors, and ministers; that they may\n(_singuli_) severally answer for themselves.[168] Your Flaccus [Alcuin]\nlabours with you in giving account of the catholic faith. Allow him\nsufficient time to consider with his pupils, quietly and carefully,\nthe opinions of the Fathers, what each has said on such views as this\nsubverter has set forth in his book. Then, at a time appointed by you,\nlet the answers of the above several persons (_singulorum_) be brought\nto you. And whatever of opinion or of meaning in that book is found to\nbe contrary to the catholic faith, let it be overthrown by catholic\nquotations. And if the writings of all [of the above] sound forth equally\nand concordantly in profession or defence of the catholic faith, it will\nbe clear that one spirit speaks through the voice and heart of all; but\nif anything diverse is found in the words or the writings (_dictis vel\nscriptis_) of any one of them, let it be judged which is most in accord\nwith sacred scripture and the catholic fathers, and give the palm to him\nwho is most firm in the divine evidences.\u201d\n\nIt seems to be perfectly clear that Alcuin\u2019s plan was that he and his\nstudents should draw up a chain of passages from the Fathers, such as\nthat which at an earlier stage he had himself sent to Felix;[169] that\nin this way they should spend the time till Karl had got answers by\nletter, or by the mouth of a messenger, or even at a personal interview,\nfrom each of the four, Pope, patriarch, and two bishops; and then that\nall the answers should be tested by the passages extracted from the\nwritings of the Fathers. There is not the slightest sign of Pope Hadrian\nhaving a preponderant voice, or a voice on a doctrinal question more\nauthoritative than that of the learned Bishop of Orleans. But if, as\nthe Roman controversialist endeavours to maintain, the Pope was not\nincluded in the curious competition, and only the three others were\nto be counted, that is worse still for the position of the Pope; for\nAlcuin and Karl were to settle the matter without paying any attention\nto the Pope, indeed without considering anything that he might say. The\nRoman controversialist has to play tricks with the punctuation and with\nthe Latin to separate off the Pope from the patriarch. There was no\npunctuation[170] in the letter, we must suppose; those who wrote in Latin\nas good as Alcuin\u2019s could make a sentence clear in its meaning without\ncommas and semicolons; and if the passage is read without stops the Pope\nis included, as he is also with any punctuation other than that of the\nRoman controversialist. But, as I have said, if he was included with the\nother three he was given a full chance of making his opinion felt on\nequal terms with that of each of the others; if he was not included, the\nverdict was to be final without him.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 11. July, 786.]\n\nAlcuin is drawn by the Romans into the controversy on Transubstantiation,\nwhich, as we have seen, had not commenced in his time. In a letter to\nPaulinus, the Patriarch of Aquileia, dated about 787, he requests his\ncorrespondent not to forget him in his prayers. \u201cStore up my name in\nsome treasure-house of your memory, and bring it out at that fitting\ntime when you have consecrated the bread and wine into the substance of\nthe body and blood of Christ.\u201d If that expression had been used after\nthe long controversy on the subject, it would have been very much more\nimportant than at most it is. But it comes nearly fifty years before\nthe controversy was raised by Paschasius Radbert of Corbie in his\ntreatise _De Corpore et Sanguine Domini_ (A.D. 831). Paschasius wrote\nthat after consecration \u201cthere is nothing but the Body and Blood of\nthe Lord\u201d, a material statement which Ratramn at once controverted. It\nwas Ratramn\u2019s treatise, denying the carnal presence and maintaining a\nspiritual view, that had a dominant influence on Ridley and Cranmer. The\nmore subtle refinement of the schoolmen of later times, which we know\nas transubstantiation, avoids the blunt materialism of Paschasius by\ndistinguishing between an essential and a non-essential element of an\nexistence such as that of bread; giving to the essence which cannot be\napprehended by the senses the name of substance, and to the non-essential\nthe name of accident. The change effected by consecration did not, in\ntheir view, affect the non-essential, the accident, the part that can\nbe perceived by the senses; it affected only that which can not be so\nperceived, the essential, the substance. But all this is very far beyond\nany point which had been reached in Alcuin\u2019s time, or was reached for\nsome long time after him. From him we do not hear anything of substance\nand accident, of essential and non-essential. He presumably used the\nexpression quoted as a simple and strong statement of his belief in a\nvery real presence, which he and the men of his time unquestionably held,\nbut did not attempt to define.\n\nWe have an interesting opportunity of realizing the true feeling of\nleading personages of Alcuin\u2019s time in this matter of the Presence in the\nEucharist, just where we might not have expected to find it, namely, in\nthe controversy on the use of images, of which we must now see something.\nThe Holy Eucharist is used as an illustration in this controversy. The\nSynod of Constantinople, which decided that the images of the Saviour\nmust be destroyed, declared that the Eucharist is the only true image of\nthe Saviour; meaning that the union of the divine grace with the earthly\nelements represents that union of Godhead and manhood in His Person which\nimages failed to convey, inasmuch as images of the Lord could only set\nforth His humanity. The objection was raised by the opposition Council\nof Nicaea that none of the Fathers had applied the term _imago_ to\nthat which is His Body and His Blood; but otherwise they did not raise\nobjection to the force of the comparison. If the modern Roman doctrine\nhad been held by either side in the controversy, it must have shown\nitself in a declaration that a comparison was impossible, on the ground\nthat the consecrated elements actually are, by a change of substance,\nthat which an image can never be, namely, the very Body and Blood of\nChrist. The controversialists of the time would certainly have brought\nout, in one form or another, this vital point, if they had held it or\neven had only heard of it.\n\nThe controversy about images is so entirely a part of general Church\nHistory, that our mention of it must be only in relation to the part\nwhich Alcuin played in it. In the year 754 a Council at Constantinople\nhad decreed the abolition of images, and this decree was carried out\nwith terrible cruelty towards those who defended the images. In the year\n787 a Council was held at Nicaea to re-establish the use of images of\nthe Saviour and the Blessed Virgin, of angels and of saints, whether in\npainting or in mosaic or in any other suitable material, as objects of\nreverence, not as objects of that worship which is due to God alone. This\ndecision restored peace between the East, which had previously condemned\nimages, and the West, which had retained their use. The Pope, Adrian,\nsent the decrees to Karl, no doubt expecting that he would accept them.\nIt was never quite safe to expect that Karl would do what he was expected\nto do.\n\nThe subject was not a new one among the Franks. They had held a mixed\nassembly of clergy and laity under Karl\u2019s father in 767. There were\npresent representatives of the then Pope, Paul I, and the iconoclast\nEmperor Constantine; and it is supposed that the decision, which is not\nrecorded, was in accordance with the national feeling. That national\nfeeling was guided by abhorrence of the abominations of the idol-worship\nof the pagans by whom they were surrounded. Karl himself strongly shared\nthis feeling. He sent the decrees, which the Pope had sent to him, to\nAlcuin, who, as we have seen, was then in England. Alcuin made remarks\non them in a letter, out of which grew a treatise in four books called\nthe _Libri Carolini_, the chief author of which was Alcuin, who was no\ndoubt assisted by other ecclesiastics. Probably Karl himself kept his\nhand upon the work up to the time of its publication. The general line\nof the treatise is that images are useful for ornament and historical\nremembrance, and therefore they must not be destroyed; but worship of\nthem must not be required. We must bear in mind that the word image\nmeans any kind of representation, the Nicaean Council of 787, as we\nhave seen, specifying paintings and mosaics. One of the points on which\nthese Caroline Books condemn the iconoclasts is, that they do not\ndistinguish between images and idols; but this is a less grave mistake,\nthe Caroline Books declare, than that committed by the Nicaean Council,\nin confusing the use of images with the worship of them. The former error\nis attributed to ignorance; the latter\u2014it was a severe remark considering\nthat the Pope had forwarded the decrees\u2014is attributed to wickedness. It\nmay be well, in this connexion, to recall the fact that the _imago_, the\nimage of our Lord, which was carried in procession by Augustine and his\nmonks at their interview with Ethelbert of Kent, was not an idol, but a\npainting on a tablet[171]. We of the Church of England keep this meaning\nof _imago_, in the allowance of paintings and mosaics in our churches,\nquite separate from the idea of an idol, which we disallow.\n\nAdrian made a long but feeble reply to the Caroline Books. The great\nFrankish Council of Frankfort, in 794, which had the double character of\nan imperial diet and an ecclesiastical synod, and was presided over by\nKarl in person, held in strong terms the views of the Caroline Books;\nindeed, it appears to be far from certain that they were published before\nthe Council was held. Alcuin, though he had not proceeded beyond deacons\u2019\norders, was admitted to the Council on account of his learning. The\nCouncil spoke with contempt of the Greek synod; showed no regard to the\nRoman view; refused both adoration and service of all kinds to images. It\nwas a tremendously independent blow to the Pope as an arbiter of faith\nand morals. But Karl was much too important a person in the eyes of the\nPope to be quarrelled with, and Adrian remained on excellent terms with\nhim. Adrian died in 796, when his successor Leo sent the keys of the\nConfessio of St. Peter and the standard of the City of Rome to Karl, and\nbegged him to send some of his chief men to Rome, to bind the people of\nRome by oath to subjection and fidelity to the Pope.\n\nThese Caroline Books are so important in their unexpected bearing on the\ncurrent belief on the nature of the real Presence in the Holy Eucharist,\nthat we must look into their phrases with some little care.\n\nIn the second book of the four _Libri Carolini_ Karl deals with the\nquestion of the adoration of images. In the twenty-seventh chapter\nhe argues against the temerity and absurdity of those who presumed\nto compare, as of equal importance, images and the Body and Blood of\nthe Lord. He quotes these absurd persons as saying that \u201cas the Body\nand Blood of the Lord passes across from the fruits of the earth to\na remarkable mystery, so images pass across to the veneration of the\npersons whom they represent\u201d. No one of Karl\u2019s arguments against this\nparallel or equivalence gives the slightest indication of a belief or\nidea on his part that in consecration there is a change of substance.\nHe says, \u201cThe sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord is effected\nby the hand of the priest and the invocation of the divine name to the\ncommemoration of His passion and to the grant to us of our salvation by\nthe same mediator between God and men\u201d; whereas images are completely\nmade by skilled workmen, &c. For the consecration, the vested priest,\nmingling the prayers of the people standing round with his own prayers,\nwith groaning of spirit makes memorial of the Lord\u2019s Passion, of His\nresurrection from the dead, and of His most glorious ascension into\nHeaven, and entreats that these may be borne to the sublime altar of God\nby the hands of an angel and into the sight of His Majesty; the painter\nof images merely looks out a suitable place to execute his works, and\npaints them that they may look beautiful. Thus any one who attempts to\ncompare on equal terms images and the Body and Blood of the Lord strays\nvery far from the path of truth, of reason, and of discrimination.\nThe commemoration of His most sacred Passion is not in the works of\nartificers, but in consecration of His Body and Blood. That elect vessel\nPaul the Apostle says that the Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Body and Blood is\nnot to be put on an equality with all sacraments, but is to be set before\nalmost all sacraments, when he says, He that eats and drinks unworthily\neats and drinks his own damnation. Nothing of that kind is said of\nthose who will not adore images. Karl sums up the discussion by stating\nconcisely ten points of vital difference between the Lord\u2019s Supper and\nimages. For our present purpose we need only take the ten points as they\nrelate to the former. Our purpose is to consider how far the points\nstated can indicate a belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation, and\nhow far they square better with that reticent doctrine of a Real Presence\nwhich is consistent with the formularies and the services of our own most\ntruly Catholic Church of England. These are the ten points: The Sacrament\nof the Lord\u2019s Body and Blood (1) is effected by the invisible operation\nof the Spirit of God; (2) is consecrated by the priest by the invocation\nof the divine name; (3) is carried by angel hands to the sublime altar of\nGod: (4) by it sins are remitted; (5) it has no growth or diminution of\npower; (6) it is confirmed by new antiquity and ancient newness; (7) it\nis the life and the refreshment of souls; (8) it leads by eating thereof\nto the entrance of the heavenly kingdom; (9) it cannot be abolished from\nthe Church by persecution: (10) without reception of it no one is saved.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n Karl and Rome.\u2014His visits to that city.\u2014The offences and\n troubles of Leo III.\u2014The coronation of Charlemagne.\u2014The Pope\u2019s\n adoration of the Emperor.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s famous letter to Karl prior\n to his coronation.\u2014Two great Roman forgeries, the Donation of\n Constantine and the Letter of St. Peter to the Franks.\n\n\nWe must now turn to the connexion of Karl with Rome, and especially\nto Alcuin\u2019s advice to him in the matter of declaring himself or being\ndeclared emperor. It is a highly noteworthy fact that the Englishman\nBoniface was the most trusted counsellor of Charlemagne\u2019s father Pepin at\nthe time when it was proposed to raise him from Mayor of the Palace to\nKing of the Franks, and that Alcuin the Englishman was the most trusted\ncounsellor of Charlemagne himself, when it was under consideration that\nhe should be raised or should raise himself from King of the Franks to\nEmperor of the West.\n\nIn 773 Pope Adrian had invited Karl to come to Italy and rid him of the\noppressions of the Lombards. The Pope\u2019s messenger could not get through\nby land, by reason of the Lombard power, and he went by sea. Karl agreed\nto do as the Pope asked. He went with all his force to Geneva. There he\ndivided his army into two parts, sending his uncle Bernard with one\nportion by the Mons Jovis (the great St. Bernard, called the Mount of\nJove because of the statue of Jupiter Peninus placed at its summit) and\nhimself went by the Mont Cenis. The two parts joined at Clusae on the\nsouth side, between Susa and Turin, and proceeded to the siege of Pavia,\nthe Lombard capital. Karl spent his Easter at Rome, and on his return to\nPavia took the city and captured the king with his family and treasure.\n\nAt this visit he was received at Rome with the highest honours. In\nreturn, he confirmed and enlarged the donation of Pepin his father,\nadding, it is said, large parts of Italy\u2014indeed, almost the whole\npeninsula. He laid the deed of gift on the tomb of the Apostle Peter.\n\nKarl visited Rome again in 781, and it is this visit that from one point\nof view most concerns us, for it most concerned the course of Alcuin\u2019s\nlife.\n\nKarl had been to Rome again in the year 787, to visit Pope Adrian and\nsettle terms with the Duchy of Beneventum. He had purposed to devastate\nthe duchy, its bishoprics, and its monasteries; but in council with his\nbishops and chief men he determined to accept hostages, including the two\nsons of the hostile Duke, who did not himself dare to see the angry face\nof Karl. Karl completed his visit by adoring the tombs of the blessed\nApostles, and paying there his vows; another sign that the great object\nof visits to Rome was to visit the tombs of the twin princes of the\nApostles, Peter and Paul. He then returned to France and rejoined his\nwife Fastrada, his sons and daughters, and his court, at Worms.\n\nThe all-important visit to Rome came at the end of the year 800. Pope\nLeo III, elected in 795, had been seized in the spring of 799 by his\nopponents, among whom two nephews of the late Pope, Adrian, played a\nleading part, and an attempt had been made to put out his eyes and cut\nout his tongue. He recovered[172] and escaped, and was called\u2014or fled\u2014to\nKarl at Paderborn. Leo had on his consecration sent to Karl, as the\nPatrician, the standard of Rome, the keys of Rome, and even the keys\nof the tomb of St. Peter, in recognition of his supremacy, the Eastern\nEmperor Constantine VI being disregarded. Karl was therefore doubly bound\nto take cognisance of the Pope\u2019s case. There were very grave charges\nagainst Leo. Alcuin names[173] adultery and perjury; but he writes very\nstrongly against subjecting Leo to trial on these charges. He has read,\nhe says, that by a canon of the blessed Silvester there must be not less\nthan seventy-two adverse witnesses of blameless life if a pontiff was to\nbe brought to trial. He has read in other canons that the Apostolic See\njudges, is not judged. What pastor, he asks, in the Church of Christ can\nbe immune, if he who is the head of all the churches is overthrown by\nmalefactors?\n\nWe may compare with this the reasons which another member of the trilogy\nof Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastics and scholars, St. Aldhelm, gave at Rome\nagainst condemning the Pope of his time, Sergius, for alleged immoral\npractices. The reasons were three. First, it was a wretchedly base thing\nto suspect their own pontiff of crimes. Next, what influence could the\nRoman pontiff have with the Britons and other nations across the seas,\nif he was attacked by his own citizens? Lastly, it did not seem likely,\nit could not be true, that one who remembered that he was set over the\nwhole world would entangle himself in such a sin as this. Unhappily, for\nlong periods in the history of the Papacy, it not only was likely, it was\nundoubtedly and overtly true.\n\nLeo was received by Karl with great honour, and was sent back to Rome to\nresume his high office. Karl followed him[174] towards the end of the\nnext year, 800, and was received by him at the twelfth milestone from\nRome \u201cwith the greatest humility and the greatest honour\u201d. This was on\nNovember 23. The next day Leo with great pomp received Karl on the steps\nof the basilica of St. Peter, made an oration to him, and led him into\nthe church. Seven days later, on December 1, Karl convoked an assembly,\nand expounded to them his reasons for coming to Rome, the first and\nmost difficult being the need of a judicial inquiry into the charges\nagainst the Pope. It turned out that no witness appeared to substantiate\nthe charges; but that seems to have been regarded as insufficient, and\na formal abjuration was made by Leo. The Pope, Eginhart[175] says, in\nthe presence of all the people, in the basilica of the blessed Peter\nthe Apostle, carrying in his hands the Gospel, ascended the ambo, and\ninvoking the name of the Holy Trinity, purged himself by oath from the\ncrimes laid against him[176].\n\nOn the most sacred day of the Nativity of the Lord, Karl attended Mass\nat St. Peter\u2019s. As he rose from prayer before the Confessio[177] of\nthe Apostle, Leo placed on his head a crown, the whole Roman people\nacclaiming\u2014\u201cTo Charles Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific\nEmperor of the Romans, life and victory!\u201d After which the Pope adored\nhim, that is, prostrated himself before the emperor and kissed his feet,\nas had been the custom with the former emperors. The title of Patrician\nwas abandoned, and Charlemagne became Imperator and Augustus.\n\nThis is not the occasion for discussing the debated question whether\nthe Pope acted on an impulse of gratitude, or was guided by a desire\nto interpose the most powerful personage in the West between Rome and\nthe Emperor of the East; or the equally debated question whether Karl\nwas an active and understanding receiver of the new burden of honour\nand responsibility; or the question what sort of right the Pope had to\ntake such a step. To my mind the most pointed question is whether the\nPope skilfully forestalled Charles by suddenly crowning him, in order to\nprevent his making himself emperor and crowning himself. But we cannot\npass by without a word of comment the remarkable fact that the Pope\nperformed the barbaric, Byzantine, humiliating, ceremony of prostration\nbefore the emperor and kissing his feet in adoration, as earlier Popes\nhad had to do to earlier emperors. It is this same barbaric custom of\nwhat is technically called adoration, that the Popes, who used to perform\nit to their imperial superiors, have now for some centuries expected\nothers to perform to them\u2014the kissing of the Pope\u2019s toe as it is called\nby some, of the Pope\u2019s foot by others. The state of the foot of the great\nbronze figure of St. Peter in his church at Rome certainly renders the\nformer the more accurate phrase.\n\nIt is clear that Karl had for many months been carefully considering the\nquestion of assuming the imperial crown in asserted succession to the\nEmperors of the West, who had come to an end three centuries and a half\nbefore.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 114.]\n\nThis is the letter which Alcuin wrote to Karl at this most critical point\nin the history of Europe, a letter which has been described as the most\nimportant of all which Alcuin is known to have written. His remark that\nKarl\u2019s position was higher and his power for good greater than that of\nthe Emperor of the East and that of the Pope, has been understood to mean\nthat Karl would do well to restore in his own person the Empire of the\nWest, so as to be supreme in title as well as in fact. The date is May\n799.\n\n\u201cTo the peace-making Lord David the king, Flaccus Albinus greeting.\n\n\u201cWe give thanks to thy goodness, most clement, most sweet David, that\nthou hast deigned to have in mind our littleness, and to note down for\nus that which thy faithful servant hath told us by word of mouth. And\nnot for this only do we give continual thanks to thy piety, but for all\nthe boons which thou hast conferred upon me from the day on which my\nlittleness became known to thee. Thou didst begin with the very best for\nme, thou hast gone on to better still. Wherefore with continual prayers\nI pray the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that having granted thee all\nthat is best in earthly felicity, He may deign to grant to thee eternally\nthe far realms of everlasting beatitude.\n\n\u201cIf I were present with thee I would urge very many things on thy\nvenerable dignity, if opportunity were afforded for thee to hear and for\nme to speak. For the pen of love is often wont to stir the deep things\nof my heart, to treat of the prosperity of thy excellency, the stability\nof the kingdom to thee by God given, and the profit of the holy Church\nof Christ. The Church is perturbed by the multiform wickedness of evil\nmen, and stained by the nefarious attempts of the vilest, not of ignoble\npersons only, but of some also among the greatest and highest. This is\nmatter for deep fear.\n\n\u201cUp to this time, there have been three loftiest persons in the world.\nOne, the apostolical sublimity, which is wont to rule by vicarial office\nthe see of the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles. What has been done\nagainst him who has been the ruler of that see, thy venerated goodness\nhas taken care to make known to me. Another, the imperial dignity and\nsecular power of the second Rome. How impiously the governor of that\nempire has been deposed, not by those of another race, but by his own\npeople and fellow citizens, is becoming known everywhere. [This was\nConstantine VI, Emperor of the East, who had been affianced to Karl\u2019s\ndaughter Rotrudis some eighteen years before, but had been forced by his\nmother Irene to break the contract. In 797, two years before Alcuin\u2019s\nletter, Irene had deposed him and put out his eyes; she was now reigning\nalone.] The third is the royal dignity, in which the dispensation of our\nLord Jesus Christ has placed thee, more excelling in power than the other\ndignities named, more clear in wisdom, more sublime in dignity of reign.\nLo, on thee alone the whole safety of the churches of Christ has fallen\nand rests. Thou art the punisher of crimes, thou the guide of the erring,\nthou the consoler of them that mourn, thou the exalter of good men.\n\n\u201cIs it not the case that in the see of Rome, where the greatest piety\nof religion once shone clear, the very worst examples of impiety have\nburst forth into view? They themselves, blinded in their own hearts, have\nblinded their own Head. There is not seen there fear of God, or wisdom,\nor love: what good thing can be there if nothing of these three is found\nthere? If there had been fear of God they would not have dared, if there\nhad been wisdom they would never have wished, if there had been love they\nwould by no means have done, what they have done. These are the perilous\ntimes, foretold of old by the very Truth, because the love of many grows\ncold.\n\n\u201cThe care of the head must never be neglected; it is a less evil that the\nfeet suffer than the head.\n\n\u201cLet peace be made with those wicked Saxons, if that can be done. Let\nthreats be to some extent relaxed, so that men may not be hardened and\ndriven away, but may be kept in hope until by wholesome counsel they be\nbrought back to peace. Hold on to what has been won from them, lest if\nthey are allowed to gain a little, the larger part be lost. Keep safe\nyour own sheep-fold, that the ravening wolf devour not it. Let such\nlabour be spent on outside affairs that no loss be suffered in your\nown affairs. Some time ago I spoke to your piety about the exaction of\ntithes: that it is decidedly better to abstain from the exaction, even\nfor a considerable time, until the faith has got its roots fixed in the\nhearts, if indeed that Saxon land be held worthy of the choice of God.\nThose who have gone away were the best Christians, as is well known; and\nthose who remained have continued in the dregs of wickedness. For by\nreason of the sins of the people, Babylon has become the habitation of\ndevils, as it is said in the prophets.\n\n\u201cNone of these things can have been overlooked by thy wisdom; for we\nknow how well learned thou art in the sacred scriptures and in secular\nhistories. From all of these full knowledge has been given to thee by\nGod, that by thee the holy Church of God among a Christian people may be\nruled, exalted, and preserved. What reward may be given by God to thy\nbest devotion, who is able to say? For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,\nneither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath\nprepared for them that love him.\u201d\n\nAlcuin ends his letter with a pair of hexameters and some elegiacs,\nboth because Karl was interested in his versification, and\u2014we may\nsuppose\u2014because high-flown compliments, from which Karl was not averse,\ncome better in so-called poetry than in prose.\n\n \u201cFrom lofty heaven may Christ in mercy mild\n Thee rule, exalt, defend, adorn, and love.\n\n The holy stars of the sky, the grasses of the green earth,\n All things together cry, May David prosper alway.\n The earth and the sky and the sea, the men and the birds and the beasts,\n Cry with concordant voice, Father be it well with thee.\u201d\n\nAs we are dealing with the relations of the Papacy with the Franks, it\nmay be well to say here something that ought to be said about the demands\nof the Popes for money and territories. The two demands which may on the\nwhole be called the most monstrous of all the long series, were made, the\none probably, the other certainly, in Alcuin\u2019s time: one by Hadrian, to\ninfluence Karl, the other by one of his predecessors to influence Karl\u2019s\nfather, Pepin.\n\nA ridiculous document was produced by the Popes, probably about the\nmiddle of this eighth century, with which we are dealing. It was called\nthe Imperial Edict of Donation. Its alleged author was Constantine\nthe Great. It professed to give to Silvester, the Bishop of Rome in\nConstantine\u2019s time, and to his successors, the Imperial Palace (that is,\nthe Lateran) and the City of Rome; all the provinces, districts, and\ncities of the whole of Italy; and, in the Latin copy of the forgery,\nall islands. The islands are absent from the Greek copy of the forgery.\nIt was on the strength of this forged donation of islands that a later\nHadrian, the one English Pope, Hadrian IV, professed to be the owner\nof Ireland, and gave it to our king Henry II just four centuries after\nthe time with which we are dealing. Muratori was of opinion that this\naudacious forgery was concocted between 755 and 766, that is, when Alcuin\nwas from twenty to thirty years of age, and while Offa was king of\nMercia. In 774, when Karl had conquered the Lombards, he went to Rome,\nas we have seen; ratified the donation of his father Pepin, of which we\nmust next speak, and laid the deed of donation on the altar or on the\ntomb of St. Peter in the ancient basilica of St. Peter. The original deed\nof Karl\u2019s donation has, so far as is known, long since perished; its\nterms are at best only vaguely known. It is said to have comprehended the\nwhole of Italy, the exarchate of Ravenna, from Istria to the frontiers\nof Naples, and the island of Corsica. Karl, then, ratified the forged\nDonation of Constantine, at that time a quite recent forgery. The whole\nstory, however, is very vague, and historians differ considerably in\nthe deductions which they draw from the inadequate records. They differ\nalmost more widely as to the date at which the document was first brought\nforward, the dates ranging from 760 to 1105. Of the fact of the forgery\nthere is no question; it cannot be denied, and so far as I know no one of\nthe Romans now is bold enough to deny that it is a forgery. There is one\npoint in the forgery which has an important bearing on a very important\nquestion, namely, the true basis of the reputation of the city of Rome as\nthe chief ecclesiastical centre of the Church of the West. Constantine is\nmade to declare, in this forged donation, that it was by the merits of\nSt. Peter and St. Paul that he emerged from the font at baptism cleansed\nof his sins. More than that, he is made to declare that he makes this\nenormous donation to the blessed chiefs of the Apostles, Peter and Paul,\nand through them to Silvester, the Bishop of Rome. Either, then, at the\ntime of the forgery it was completely recognized as a fact that the Popes\nclaimed their sovereignty on the twin authority, in the twin name, by the\ntwin princeship, of Peter and Paul; or it was completely recognized at\nthe time of the forgery that in the earliest times, and notably in the\ntime of Constantine the Great, whose baptism took place in the year 337,\nRome did base its claims to pre-eminence on its possession of the relics\nof St. Peter and St. Paul, and on the twin supremacy of those two princes\nof the Apostles, and, therefore, that it might stand the test of the\ntouchstone of history, it was essential to use the twin names of Peter\nand Paul; if it had been Peter alone, it would have been detected as a\nforgery. See Appendix D.\n\nWhen we come to the document which was produced for the purpose of\ninfluencing Pepin, Karl\u2019s father, we pass out of the atmosphere of\nvagueness, and find ourselves face to face with a scandalous, an impious,\nfact. Pope Stephen II[178], who held the Papacy from 752 to 757, was\nreduced to extremities by the arms of the Lombard kings of North\nItaly. He went in person to Pepin, king of the Franks, to entreat him\nto come over and succour the city of Rome and the domain of St. Peter.\nTo show how difficult it is to be sure about facts of history when the\nchroniclers have a partisan bias, it may be mentioned that the Italian\nchronicler states that Pepin went to meet Stephen, and on meeting him\ndismounted from his horse, prostrated himself on the ground before the\nPope, and then walked to the royal residence by the side of the Pope\u2019s\npalfrey. The Frankish chroniclers say that the Pope and his clergy, with\nashes on their heads and sackcloth on their bodies, prostrated themselves\nas suppliants at the feet of Pepin, and would not rise till he had\npromised his aid against the Lombards.\n\nThe king lodged Stephen in the monastery of St. Denys for the winter, and\nwell on into the next summer. There Stephen was attacked by an illness\nso dangerous that his recovery was regarded as a miracle, due to the\nintercessions of St. Dionys, St. Peter, and St. Paul; where again we\nnotice the twinship of St. Peter and St. Paul as regards the protection\nof the Pope, with the local saint added. After the return of the Pope to\nRome, he was besieged by the Lombard king, who vowed not to leave him\na scrap of territory the size of the palm of his hand. The Pope sent\nto Pepin a letter of entreaty and threat. The king, he said, hazarded\neternal condemnation. He had vowed to secure to St. Peter the vast\ndonation to which reference has been made, and St. Peter had promised to\nhim eternal life. If the king was not faithful to his word, the Saint\nkept firmly the donation, as it were the sign manual of the king, and\nthis he would produce against him at the day of judgement.[179] The\nenvoys came late in the year, and the king could not conduct an army into\nItaly in the winter. In February, 755, or a little earlier, Stephen wrote\nanother letter, with a literally awe-full account of the horrors of the\nsiege, which had then lasted fifty-five days. He conjured Pepin to come\nand help, \u201cby God and his holy Mother, by the powers of the heavens,\nby the apostles Peter and Paul, and by the last day.\u201d The collocation\nand the order of these adjurations is significant. Still Pepin did not\ncome. The Pope then resorted to the blasphemous proceeding which it has\nseemed necessary to describe. We may suppose that the Pope\u2019s metaphorical\nstatement\u2014that St. Peter had Pepin\u2019s sign manual to a document which\nwould be produced against him at the day of judgement\u2014had suggested to\nthe harassed mind of the Pope the idea that an immediate letter from\nSt. Peter himself would be more effective than the threat to produce\nsignatures at the day of judgement; and that if the letter was addressed\nto the Franks at large, and not as the former letter to Pepin and his\nsons, the whole nation would be terrified into prompt action. However\nthat may have been, a letter[180] was written with the heading: \u201cPeter,\ncalled to be an Apostle by Jesus Christ the Son of the living God ...\nand [after a long paragraph] Stephen the prelate of the catholic and\napostolic Roman Church, ... to the most excellent kings Pepin, Charles,\nand Carloman, with all the bishops, abbats, priests, and all monks; all\njudges, dukes, counts, military officers, and the whole people of the\nFranks.\u201d The letter begins with the words \u201cEgo Petrus Apostolus\u201d, I,\nPeter the Apostle. In it St. Peter adjures those whom he addresses to\nrescue Rome from the Lombards, making a special appeal that his own body,\nwhich suffered torture for the Lord Jesus Christ, may be preserved from\ndesecration. \u201cWith me,\u201d he proceeds, \u201cthe Mother of God likewise adjures\nyou, and admonishes and commands you, she as well as the thrones and\ndominions and all the host of heaven, to save the beloved city of Rome\nfrom the detested Lombards. If ye hasten, I, Peter the Apostle, promise\nyou my protection in this life and the next; I will prepare for you the\nmost glorious mansions in heaven; I will bestow upon you the everlasting\njoys of paradise. Make common cause with my people of Rome, and I will\ngrant whatsoever ye may pray for. I conjure you not to yield up this\ncity to be lacerated and tormented by the Lombards, lest your own souls\nbe lacerated and tormented in hell with the devil and his pestilential\nangels. Of all nations under heaven, the Franks are highest in the esteem\nof St. Peter; to me you owe all your victories. Obey, and obey speedily,\nand, by my suffrage, our Lord Jesus Christ will give you in this life\nlength of days, security, victory; in the life to come, will multiply His\nblessings upon you, among His saints and angels.\u201d That little summary is\nonly about a twelfth part of the length of the letter itself.\n\nThe letter brought Pepin with a great host; he overcame the Lombard king;\nand he bestowed on the Pope as a donation, by right\u2014it would appear\u2014of\nconquest, not only what are called the States of the Church, but also\u2014and\nthat in the teeth of the ambassador of Constantine Copronymus, the\nEmperor of Constantinople, who demanded its restoration to the Eastern\nEmpire\u2014the whole exarchate of Ravenna. Thus it was that the Pope became\na temporal sovereign over vast portions of Italy. St. Peter\u2019s letter was\nprobably the most important letter never written.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n Alcuin retires to the Abbey and School of Tours.\u2014Sends\n to York for more advanced books.\u2014Begs for old wine from\n Orleans.\u2014Karl calls Tours a smoky place.\u2014Fees charged to the\n students.\u2014History and remains of the Abbey Church of St.\n Martin.\u2014The tombs of St. Martin and six other Saints.\u2014The\n Public Library of Tours.\u2014A famous Book of the Gospels.\u2014St.\n Martin\u2019s secularised.\u2014Martinensian bishops.\n\n\nAs time went on, Alcuin felt that he must withdraw from the varied and\nheavy work which he was accustomed to do at the court, whether at Aachen\nor elsewhere, and must retire to work quietly at one of his abbeys. He\nobtained the king\u2019s leave[181]. In 796 he wrote to inform Karl that he\nhad, in accordance with the king\u2019s wish, opened the school at Tours; that\nhe must send to York for books; and that he hoped the king would order\nthe palace youths to continue to attend the palace school which he had\nnow left.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 78. A.D. 796.]\n\n\u201cI, your Flaccus, in accordance with your desire and good pleasure, am\nbusy with ministering, under the roof of the holy Martin, to some the\nhoney[182] of the holy Scriptures; others I seek to inebriate with the\nold wine of ancient disciplines; others I shall begin to nourish with the\napples of grammatical subtlety; some I purpose to illumine with the order\nof the stars, as the painter nobly adorns the roof of the house of God. I\nbecome very many things to very many men, that I may educate very many\nto the profit of the holy Church of God and the honour of your imperial\nrealm, that no grace of Almighty God in me be unemployed, and no part of\nthy bounty be without fruit.\n\n\u201cBut I, your poor servant, need some of the more abstruse books of\nscholastic learning which I had in my own land by the devoted labour\nof my master[183], and to some extent of myself. I say this to your\nexcellency that you may be pleased to allow me to send some of our young\nmen to pick out what I need, and bring to France the flowers of Britain;\nthat not in York only there may be a garden enclosed[184], but in Tours\nalso the scions of paradise may bear fruit; that the south wind may\ncome and blow through the gardens by the river Loire, and the spices\nthereof may flow out. I take as a parable of the acquisition of wisdom\nthe exhortation of Isaiah[185], \u2018Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye\nto the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea,\ncome, buy wine and milk without money[186] and without price.\u2019 Your most\nnoble mind knows well that there is nothing loftier that can be acquired\nfor a happy life, nothing more joyous as an exercise, nothing stronger\nagainst vices, nothing more laudable in all dignity. As the philosophers\nhave told us, there is nothing more necessary for the ruling of a people,\nno better guide of the life to the very best principles, than the glory\nof wisdom, the praise of discipline, the efficacy of learning. To the\nearnest study and daily exercise of wisdom, exhort, O king, the youths of\nyour excellency\u2019s palace, that they may so advance while in the bloom of\nyouth that they may be held worthy to bring to honour their grey hairs,\nand by wisdom may attain to perpetual happiness. To sow the seeds of\nwisdom in these parts, I, so far as my poor intellect enables me, shall\nnot be found slack. In the morning of life, in the vigour of study, I\nsowed in Britain; now, my blood running cold, as in the evening of life,\nI cease not to sow in France. To me, shattered in body, an expression of\nthe holy Jerome, in his letter to Nepotianus, is a solace: \u2018Almost all\nthe powers of the body are changed in old men. Wisdom alone continues to\nincrease; all the rest decrease.\u2019 And a little further on he says, \u2018The\nold age of those that have trained their youth in honourable arts, and\nhave meditated in the law of God day and night, grows more learned with\nage, more expert with use, more wise with the process of time; it gathers\nthe very sweetest fruits of former studies.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe brethren of St. Martin of Tours had not a high character for\npropriety of conduct. There are many evidences of this. It is interesting\nto know that the earliest letter of Alcuin to which we can reasonably\nassign a date is a letter appealing for a lapsed brother of this same\nabbey of St. Martin of Tours, over which Alcuin was now called to\npreside as an old man. The abbat to whom Alcuin addressed this letter\nwas Wulfhard, of whom the life of Hadrian I, as printed by Muratori\n(iii. 1, 184, _Rer. Ital. Script._), states that he was sent along with\nAlbinus, that is, Alcuin, to Hadrian, by Karl in 773.[187] The letter\nwas probably written in 774.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 1. A.D. 774.]\n\n\u201cTo the pious father Uulfhard the abbat Albinus the humble levite wishes\nhealth.\n\n\u201cI found this poor lamb wandering through the rough places of neglect.\nMoved by pity, I brought him by sedulous admonition to the home of our\ndiscipline, binding up his wounds, pouring in wine and oil. To your\npiety, gentlest of fathers, I send him back, beseeching you to receive\nhim for the love of Him who, amid the joy of the angels, has brought\nback on His own shoulders into the home of His delights all of us, who\nwere wandering among the precipices of sins. Do not in austerity repel\nfrom thee one whom Christ has for pity gathered back to Himself, nay,\nhas met penitent, has run to and embraced, has brought back to the house\nof feasting. And if any envious man advise you to reject him, let such\nan one fear lest he himself be rejected by Him who has said, \u2018With what\nmeasure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.\u2019... And though he\nhave sinned ten times, have not we sinned an hundred times; and though he\nowe an hundred pence, do we not owe ten thousand talents?...\u201d\n\nAlcuin had a high regard for the wines of the Loire, and he particularly\nliked them old. The best wine of that time would appear to have been\ngrown about the city of Orleans, and to have been kept under the charge\nof the Bishop of Orleans as the chief owner of the terraced lands on\nwhich the vines grew.[188] Here is a frolicsome letter about a present\nof wine from Orleans. It is full of quotations from the Song of Songs\napplied to local conditions, for the most part rather obscure. When he\ncomes to his concluding words, there is no obscurity in his request that\nif wine is coming, good old wine may be sent.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 153. A.D. 796-800.]\n\n \u201cTo Theodulf, bishop of Orleans.\n\n\u201cTo the great pontiff and father of vineyards, Teodulf[189], Albinus\nsends greeting.\n\n\u201cWe read in the Chronicles[190] that in the time of David, the king most\nloved of God, Zabdi was over the wine-cellars of the vineyards. Now,\nby the mercy of God, a second David [Karl] rules over a better people,\nand under him a nobler Zabdi [Theodulf] is over the wine-cellars of the\nvineyards. The king has brought him into the house of wine and set over\nhim the banner of love, that students may stay him with flowers and fill\nhim full of the apples of them that languish with love,[191] that is,\nlove of that which maketh glad the heart of man.\n\n\u201cNow even though there be a lack of that which strengthens, namely bread,\nthere is perhaps no lack of that which maketh glad, namely wine, in the\ncellars of Orleans; for our hope is set on a thriving vineyard and not\non a fig-tree dried up. Wherefore Jonathan, the counsellor of David, a\nman of letters,[192] sends unto Zabdi, saying: Let us get up early: let\nus see how well the vineyard of Sorech thrives: to them that chant the\ntreaders\u2019 cry therein the streams of the cellarer are dispersed abroad.\nBut now that the storehouse is opened with the key of love, let this\nverse be sung by the ruler of the vineyard in the towers of Orleans:[193]\nEat with me, my friends; drink, and drink abundantly: come ye and take\nwine and milk without price. My throat is as the best wine meet for the\ndrinking of my beloved, to be tasted by his lips. I am my beloved\u2019s and\nmy beloved is mine.\n\n\u201cIt must not be replied\u2014I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I\nhave washed my feet, how shall I defile them?[194] I cannot rise and give\nto thee.[195] If by chance the three loaves are not at hand, which were\nlacking in the store-houses of Gibeon,[196] by the blessing of Christ\nthe seven water-pots are full of the best wine, which has been kept till\nnow. Who does not know that some of this wine, according to the command\nof the Virgin\u2019s Son,[197] is to be borne to the ruler of the feast of\nthe city of Tours? But remember this: You must not put new wine into old\nskins. No one, having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new; for he\nsaith\u2014The old is better.\n\n\u201cBlessed is he that speaks to an attentive ear.\u201d\n\nTours was not in Alcuin\u2019s time the bright place which it is now. When\nKarl endeavoured to persuade Alcuin to accompany him to Rome in 779,\nAlcuin begged that he might be excused. The journey was long, and he\nwished to remain at Tours. It is evident that Karl in his reply spoke of\nthe splendours of Rome and contrasted them with \u201cthe smoky dwellings\u201d of\nTours.\n\nThis is what Alcuin had said to the king:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 118. A.D. 799.]\n\n\u201cNow about that long and laborious undertaking of going to Rome. I\ncannot in any way think that this poor little body of my frailty\u2014weak\nand shattered with daily pains\u2014could accomplish the journey. I should\nhave earnestly desired to do it, if I had had the strength. I therefore\nentreat the most clement benevolence of your paternity that you leave me\nto aid your journey by the faithful and earnest prayers of myself and of\nthose who with me serve God at St. Martin\u2019s.\u201d\n\nKarl\u2019s answer we have not got. Alcuin\u2019s rejoinder to it contains this\npassage:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 119. A.D. 799.]\n\n\u201cWith regard to that with which it is your will to upbraid me, that I\nprefer the houses of Tours, sordid with smoke, to the gilded citadels of\nthe Romans, I know that your prudence has read that elogium of Solomon\u2019s,\n\u2018it is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, than with a brawling\nwoman in a wide house\u2019.[198]\n\n\u201cAnd, if I may be pardoned for saying it, the sword hurts the eyes more\nthan smoke does. For Tours, content in its smoky houses, by the gift of\nGod through the providence of your goodness dwells in peace. But Rome,\nwhich is given up to fraternal strife, ceases not to hold the implanted\nvenom of dissension, and now compels the power of your venerated dignity\nto hasten from the sweet dwellings of Germany to restrain this pernicious\nplague.\u201d\n\nFrom the foundation of the School of Tours, the students paid fees. The\ngreat endowments of the abbey, much enlarged by Karl in 774 when he\ngranted to Abbat Wulfhard a large amount of property in the neighbourhood\nof Pavia, do not appear to have been applied to the maintenance of the\nSchool. A change was made about forty years after Alcuin, and then the\neducation of the school was given free. We learn that after Alcuin\u2019s\ndeath the school continued to flourish under Abbats Wulfhard II,\nFridugisus, and Adalard, the masters of the school receiving stipends\nfrom the fees of the students. This \u201cmercantile\u201d arrangement was hateful\nto Abbat Adalard, and the change came in his time, and by his order; but\nit was not financed from the regular income of the abbey. The master at\nthe time was Amalric, who afterwards became Archbishop of Tours, dying\nin 855. He gave to the abbey from his own private property certain funds\nfor the payment of the teachers, and in August, 841, it was decreed that\nthe schooling should be free. Amalric had many students under his tuition\nwho rose to important positions, of whom Paul the Archbishop of Rouen,\nand Joseph the Chancellor of Aquitaine, are specially mentioned. He was\na good example of the \u201cschool master bishops\u201d with whom the Church of\nEngland was well stocked a generation ago.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE I\n\nThe Abbey Church of St. Martin of Tours, before the pillage.\n\n_To face p. 210._]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE II\n\nSt. Martin\u2019s, Tours; the Horloge.\n\n_To face p. 211._]\n\nThe church of St. Martin, so magnificent in the times of the historian\nArchbishop Gregory of Tours (573-94), became more and more magnificent\nafter several destructions by fire. It had reached its greatest splendour\nwhen it was pillaged by the Huguenots. Tours claims to have originated\nthe name of those destructive people, who in the beginning used to steal\nout for secret meetings at night beyond the walls of the city, flitting\nabout like the local bogey _le roi Hugon_.[199] And Tours possesses to\nthis day in the name of one of its streets a reminiscence of the early\nhunting down of the Huguenots as a highly enjoyable form of the _chasse\naux renards_. When their time came, they wreaked a savage revenge, and\npractically destroyed the noble Abbey Church. A reproduction of its\nappearance in the perfection of symmetry has been prepared from plans\nand drawings, and is shown in Plate I. The only remains left by the\nRevolution and by the necessity for new streets are the south-west\ntower, called of St. Martin,[200] or of the Horloge, and a tower of the\nnorth transept, called of Charlemagne.[201] They are of 12th-century\nfoundation, but the latter has a capital of earlier date still clinging\nto it. Louis XI had surrounded the shrine of St. Martin with a rich and\nvery massive gallery of solid silver, but his needy successor Francis was\nbeforehand with the Huguenots and coined it into crown pieces.\n\nThe tombs of St. Martin and the Saints who lay near him were destroyed by\nthe Huguenots, and their relics were burned. Portions were saved, and in\nthe new basilica of St. Martin, close to the site of the old basilica,\nthere is a noble crypt with a reproduction of the massive tomb of St.\nMartin.[202] On the wall is an inscription to the following effect:\n\n Nomina corporum sanctorum qu\u00e6 hic sepulta erant circa tumulum\n Beati Martini.\n\n SS. Briccius, Spanus, Perpetuus, Gregorius Tur., Eustochius,\n Eufronius, quorum venerabiles reliqui\u00e6 in capsis existentes ab\n h\u00e6reticis impiissime in dicta ecclesia fuerunt combust\u00e6 anno\n 1562.\n\n EUSTOCHIUS BRICCIUS\n PERPETUUS MARTINUS SPANUS MARTYR\n GREGORIUS EUFRONIUS\n\n Sic erant corpora horum in ecclesia B. Martini Tur. ordinata.\n\nThe Rue des Halles runs right through the site of the old basilica. The\nnew basilica lies at right angles to the old one, its axis lying north\nand south, an arrangement which places the modern _confessio_, with\nits reproduction of the old tomb, practically on the site of the old\n_confessio_.\n\nThe connexion of St. Martin with Tours came about in this way. He was\nborn about 316, a native of Lower Hungary; had a taste for the monastic\nlife; was compelled by edict to become a soldier; served for three years\nup to the age of eighteen; went to visit Hilary at Poitiers; after some\nyears came again to Hilary, and founded the monastery of Lugug\u00e9, near\nPoitiers, said to have been the first monastic institution in Gaul. His\nreputation stood so high that in 371 he was elected by the populace to\nthe bishopric of Tours, much against his will. He built the monastery of\nMarmoutier, _Maius Monasterium_, about two miles to the north-east of the\nwalls of Tours, where a large number of students received an education in\nsuch learning as then was known. His time was mostly spent in conversion\nof the pagans in his diocese. At the age of eighty, in 396, he was called\nto Condate to settle an ecclesiastical dispute, was seized with fever,\nand died. It was just at that time that his great admirer, Ninian, was\nfinishing his stone church at Whithern, in Galloway, and to Martin he\ndedicated it. From that time, and owing to the connexion between Britain\nand Gaul, dedications to St. Martin were frequent, as is instanced by the\nold British church of St. Martin at Canterbury.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE III\n\nSt. Martin\u2019s, Tours; the Tour Charlemagne, with the dome of the new St.\nMartin\u2019s on the left.\n\n_To face p. 212._]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IV\n\nThe modern reproduction of the Tomb of St. Martin.\n\n_To face p. 213._]\n\nWhen Martin died, the people of Poitiers flocked to Condate to claim the\nbody of their former abbat. But the people of Tours asserted their better\nclaim, and carried him off in a ship to Tours. The body of the saint\nwas landed from the ship on the south bank of the Loire, and deposited\nin a small oratory; the spot was called the Station of the Body of St.\nMartin. It was moved thence to a more central spot, and miracles began to\nbe wrought at its new abode. Briccius, his successor in the bishopric,\nbuilt a church over it in the eleventh year after the Saint\u2019s death.\nPerpetuus removed this church and built a more magnificent structure.\nThe rich gifts of kings and others made the church of Perpetuus very\nbeautiful. St. Odo, in a sermon on its destruction by fire, described it\nas lined with various coloured marbles; in one place the walls were red\nwith Protonis marble, in another white with Parian, in another green with\nPrasine. This church was burned by Willicharius. Chlotaire I rebuilt it.\nThe Normans burned it again in 853 and 903, and soon after the year 1000\nit was rebuilt by Hervey the Treasurer in the form in which it existed to\nthe time of the Revolution. The Calvinists pillaged it, as has been said\nabove. At the destruction in the time of the Revolution the various parts\nof the church were sold to speculators, and under the First Empire all\ndisappeared except the two towers which now remain. The Cathedral church\nin the old Roman city, the eastern part of the present city, was burned\nin the wars between Louis VII of France and our Henry II, who was Lord of\nTours and Count of Anjou.\n\nIn 1861 a rock-hewn tomb was found under a house which was known to stand\non the site of the high altar of the Abbey church. A subterranean chapel\nwas built over the tomb, and adorned with red granite. This is now the\nConfessio of the new basilica of St. Martin.\n\nThere had only been two bishops of Tours before Martin. The first,\nGatian, died in 301. He had officiated secretly[203] in the remarkable\ncave, across the front of which the ancient church of St. Radegonde now\nstands, with its inscriptions.\n\n Sca Radegundis Gemma Galli\u00e6 Pretiosissima, Ora pro nobis. S.\n R. Regina Galli\u00e6. Scus Gatianus Turonum Primus Episcopus huius\n Parochi\u00e6 Fundator Primo S\u00e6culo.\n\nLidorius succeeded Gatian after a lapse of thirty-seven years, and built\na small basilica for his bishop\u2019s stool.\n\nMartin had, during his bishopric, brought from St. Maurice, in the valley\nof the Rhone, some relics of that saint, which he deposited in a chapel\nbuilt by Lidorius, to which also he removed from the cemetery the remains\nof Gatian. This was the origin of the Cathedral church of Tours, and we\nare thus enabled to see why its primary dedication was to St. Maurice,\nand its second and permanent dedication is to St. Gatian.\n\nThe public library at Tours, which is now on the quay facing the Loire,\nand not at the place, as indicated by the guide-books, where the Mairie\nstands, has a remarkably interesting collection of manuscripts. Two of\nthe finest of them are undoubtedly of Charlemagne\u2019s time. One of these,\nTours No. 22 (St. Martin No. 247) is a beautiful Book of the Gospels,\nwritten all in gold on very white parchment, in remarkably perfect\ncondition. The gold employed must have been singularly pure. There are\n277 leaves each with double columns of 25 lines, and in all 289 leaves;\nthe size is 12\u2156 by 9\u2155 inches. The initial letters are quite simple, and\nin exceedingly good taste. The other, Tours No. 23 (St. Martin No. 174),\nis also a Book of the Gospels, with 193 leaves, 11\u2157 by 9\u2155 inches. It\nhas so-called Hibernian initial letters, purple, with interlacements,\nand birds\u2019 heads with the characteristic eyes and beaks. It is much\nmore probably Anglian than Hibernian, and we may attribute it to the\nscriptorium of the school of York, or to that of St. Martin of Tours as\na copy from a York manuscript. The present librarian assigns it to the\nwriting school of Marmoutier, across the Loire, which he thinks was the\nchief writing school of Tours in Alcuin\u2019s time. That opinion is founded\non a remark in connexion with the first establishment of Marmoutier, to\nwhich reference will be made below;[204] the English student may well\nattribute the MS. to St. Martin\u2019s itself, produced, as a copy, under\nAlcuin\u2019s own eye, especially as it has always appeared in the catalogue\nof St. Martin\u2019s and not in that of Marmoutier, and is now classed as a\nSt. Martin\u2019s MS.\n\nThe _Evangeliarium_ first mentioned, in gold letters on white parchment,\nis a book of historic fame. It is the book on which the kings of France\ndown to Louis XIV, in 1650, took their oath of fidelity and protection\nto St. Martin of Tours, when admitted as abbat and first canon of the\ncollegiate church. The book was bound with great magnificence of gold\nand gems; and when the Huguenots, under the Prince of Cond\u00e9, sacked\nthe place, they carried off the rich binding, but fortunately left the\nmanuscript itself quite uninjured. The oath of the kings is written on\nthe reverse of folio 277, in a style closely copied from the manuscript\nitself, probably in the eleventh or twelfth century, all in small gold\ncapital letters, with a point after every word. The entry runs as\nfollows;\u2014\n\n Hoc est iuramentum regis Francie quod facere tenetur dum primo\n recipitur in abbatem et canonicum huius ecclesie beati Martini\n Turonensis.\n\n Ego N. annuente Domino Francorum rex Abbas et canonicus huius\n ecclesie Beati Martini Turonensis iuro Deo et Beato Martino\n me de cetero protectorem et defensorem fore huius Ecclesie in\n omnibus necessitatibus et utilitatibus suis custodiendo et\n conservando possessiones honores iura privilegia libertates\n franchisias et immunitates eiusdem Ecclesie quantum divino\n fultus adiutorio secundum posse meum recta et pura fide sic me\n Deus adiuvet et hec sancta verba.\n\nThe first king who held the secular abbacy of St. Martin of Tours was\nCharles the Bald, Charlemagne\u2019s grandson, who became king of France\n(Neustria) in 843, about thirty years after Charlemagne\u2019s death. There\nwere ecclesiastical abbats till the year 845, when the Count Vivian\nbecame the first lay abbat. After Charles the Bald it is probable that\nthe kings held the abbacy. Hugh Capet (987-996) united the title of Abbat\nof St. Martin to that of King of France. The fifteen kings from Louis VII\nin 1137 to Louis XIV in 1630 took the oath on this book on admission to\nthe abbacy.\n\nThe status of the abbat and of the brethren of St. Martin was long in\nuncertainty. Charlemagne refers to the vague status of the brethren in\nhis letter of rebuke to them, which is given on p. 237; they called\nthemselves canons, or monks, as best suited the necessities of an\noccasion. Probably there had been a time when the monastery included both\nsecular and regular inmates. It is uncertain also whether the brethren\nelected the bishop (or archbishop) of Tours, and, indeed, whether they\nhad not a bishop of their own. Hadrian I, addressing the abbat Itherius,\nwho was the first founder of Cormery as a place of residence for regular\nmonks of St. Benedict, writes thus[205] of St. Martin\u2019s\u2014\u201cwe decree that\nit be lawful to have a bishop there as has been from ancient times up\nto now, by whose preaching the people who come from various parts with\ndevoted mind to the holy thresholds of the said confessor of Christ may\nreceive remedial help from the Creator of souls.\u201d Urban II, in 1096,\nat the Council of Tours, recognized this, and \u201cunited the Martinensian\nbishopric to the Apostolic See\u201d, a very honourable extinction. We\nhave the names of eight abbats before Itherius. The seventh of them,\nWicterbus, was bishop and abbat; the eighth, the immediate predecessor of\nItherius, Wulfhard I, was abbat only. It is supposed that the appointment\nof Alcuin, one of the secular clergy and in deacon\u2019s orders, was a\ndecided step in the secularization of the Abbey, and that his policy\nwas in the same direction. It may be suggested that already in the time\nof Itherius that abbat was conscious of a secularizing tendency, and on\nthat account founded Cormery; and that Alcuin found the existence of the\nregular abbey at Cormery a convenient outlet for the remnant of regular\nbrethren at St. Martin\u2019s, and handed St. Martin\u2019s over to his successor,\nWulfhard II, as a purely secular foundation. The step to a lay abbacy was\nthen not a long one.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n Further details of the Public Library of Tours.\u2014Marmoutier.\u2014The\n Royal Abbey of Cormery.\u2014Licence of Hadrian I to St. Martin\u2019s to\n elect bishops.\u2014Details of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church\n of Tours.\n\n\nThe Public Library of Tours, as we have seen, has a very large and\ninteresting collection of manuscripts, which have come mainly from three\nsources, the libraries, namely, of (1) the Cathedral church of Tours, (2)\nthe Monastery known as Marmoutier, and (3) the Collegiate church of St.\nMartin. Twenty-one other churches and foundations in the neighbourhood\ncontributed manuscripts, besides such collections as the expelled nobles\npossessed. In 1791 the libraries of the old churches were collected into\none depot, the French Church having been organized as a civil institution\nin that year and monastic vows made illegal. In 1793 the Conseil G\u00e9n\u00e9ral\nof the Indre-et-Loire ordered that \u201cles livres et manuscrits provenant\ndes maisons religieuses et des \u00e9migr\u00e9s seront plac\u00e9s au ci-devant \u00c9v\u00each\u00e9,\n\u00e0 l\u2019effet de quoi le citoyen Suzor sera averti de l\u2019\u00e9vacuer au plus\ntard le 15 mars prochain\u201d. The third floor of the \u00c9v\u00each\u00e9 was used for\nhousing the manuscripts, &c., and by a most fortunate appointment a true\nlover of the old things was made librarian. This was Dom Jean Joseph\nAbrassart, ex-religious of Marmoutier. He succeeded in saving a very\nlarge proportion of the ancient manuscripts known to be in existence in\nthe neighbourhood, especially those at Marmoutier.\n\nThe library of the Cathedral church at Tours dated from the time of St.\nPerpetuus, the sixth bishop, who left to his Cathedral church all his\nmanuscripts except the copy of the Gospels written by the hand of St.\nHilary of Poitiers (353-68) whom St. Martin had visited.[206] Perpetuus\nwas Bishop of Tours from 460 to 494. Ruinart, whose edition of Gregory\nof Tours Migne took as the original of his edition, notes that he had\nseen in the Cathedral library at Tours a book in Saxon characters which\nhad been supposed to be the work of Hilary\u2019s own hand; but he found that\nit contained matter much later than Hilary\u2019s time, and that the author\nhad appended an inscription stating himself to be Holaindus by name.\nA catalogue of the Cathedral library was made in 1706 by the Chanoine\nVictor d\u2019Avanne, at which time the library contained 461 manuscripts.\nThe Chanoine complained that many other manuscripts had been borrowed\nby savants and not returned; he names as culprits Auguste de Thou,\nAndr\u00e9 Duchesne, Maan, and Michel de Marolls. Of the 461 manuscripts\ncatalogued, the Public Library now has 309.\n\nThe library of Marmoutier was founded by St. Martin himself with the\nabbey: so at least the phrase is understood to mean, \u201cexcept writing\n(or scripture) no art was exercised there.\u201d Dom G\u00e9rou, librarian of\nMarmoutier, made a catalogue of the manuscripts in his charge, and\nChalmel\u2019s copy of that catalogue is now in the library of Tours. There\nwere, in 1754, 360 manuscripts, and there are now 263 of them in the\nlibrary. Many of these are of value. Marmoutier was always rich in Latin\nmanuscripts. In 1716 a great collection made by the Lesdigui\u00e8res family\nwas bought at Toulouse; these were chiefly French, and thus it comes\nabout that the library of Tours now possesses some of the very first rank\nof the most ancient monuments of French literature.\n\nSulpicius Severus, who made a special visit to St. Martin at Tours,\ngives us an exact description of the site of this monastery, founded by\nMartin in or about 372, at a distance of two miles from the city, on\nits north-east side. He describes it as bounded on the north by a range\nof precipitous rock, and on the south by a portion of the stream of the\nriver Loire, here divided. In those times it was only accessible by\none narrow way. Martin\u2019s own cell was of wood, but many of the eighty\nbrethren excavated cells for themselves in the rock, the nature of which\nlends itself to such excavation. The range of cliff is honeycombed to\nthis day for stables, wagon-sheds, &c.; indeed, excavations of this\ncharacter are a feature of the district, observable from Poitiers to many\nmiles on the Orleans side of Tours. This abbey, like that of St. Martin,\ngradually became secularized, and it, like St. Martin\u2019s, was ruled by\nCount Vivian forty years after Alcuin\u2019s death. The names of many of its\nabbats before Alcuin\u2019s time are known, but it is only from the year 814\nthat a continuous series is recorded. A photograph of some remains of the\nabbey is given in Plate V.\n\nThe library of the Collegiate church of St. Martin was founded by Alcuin,\nwho borrowed books from England, mainly from York, and had them copied;\nprobably some of the borrowed books remained at Tours, for Northumbria\nwas in too disturbed a state to look after manuscripts lent to France.\nIn 1739 Bernard de Montfaucon published an inventory of this library,\nwhich then contained 272 manuscripts. Of these the library of Tours\nnow possesses 140. The twenty-one other sources referred to above have\nprovided 96 manuscripts, and the library has, besides, 159 which cannot\nbe traced to their source. This makes nearly 1,000 manuscripts in all\nfrom these sources. The twenty-one sources referred to, and the number of\nmanuscripts each has provided, are as follows: The Augustins of Tours 16;\nles Carmes 11; les Capucins 1; les Dames du Calvaire 3: l\u2019Oratoire 19;\nles R\u00e9collets 1; le Grand S\u00e9minaire St. Julien 3; St. Pierre le Puellier\n2; l\u2019Union Chr\u00e9tienne 3; la Visitation 2; Aigues Vives 1; Amboise 3; St.\nFlorentin d\u2019Amboise 1; l\u2019Abbaye de Beaumont 4; Bois-Rayer 1; Cormery\n5; Notre-Dame de Loches 2; la Chartreuse du Liget 5; les Augustines de\nBeaulieu-l\u00e8s-Loches 1; les Religieuses Hospitali\u00e8res de Loches 1; les\nMinimes du Plessis-l\u00e8s-Tours 11. What endless treasures England would\nnow have possessed if municipal authorities had taken such care as this\nof the monastic libraries in the time of Henry VIII.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE V\n\nSome remains of Marmoutier.\n\n_To face p. 222._]\n\nIn translating the life of Alcuin, we omitted one of the examples of\nAlcuin\u2019s insight into the ways of men which the anonymous author gives.\nIt relates to Cormery, some miles up the river Indre, one of the places\nfrom which manuscripts were brought into the library of Tours. The trick\nplayed was as clever in itself as the detection of it was. It got over\nthe difficulty of the vessels being found to be partly empty, and the\ndifficulty that, if they were filled up with water, the taster of the\nmonastery would detect the fraud at once.\n\nThis is the passage in the _Life_:\u2014\n\n\u201cTo the brothers of Cormery, whom he greatly loved, the father had\nordered a hundred measures of wine to be given. When the wine was to\nbe taken to the monastery, he ordered the stewards of the monastery,\nthrough Sigulf, a monk of Abbat Benedict, that they should detain the\nconveyors of the wine, until in their presence the wine should be poured\nfrom the vessels in which they had brought it into others; because some\nof them had stealthily taken out some of the wine, and, in order that\nthe vessels might be full when they reached the monastery, had put\ninto them river-sand. That this had been done, the fathers proved most\nconclusively.\u201d\n\nThe monastery of St. Paul at Cormery has a special interest for students\nof Alcuin. William of Malmesbury makes mention of it in the famous\npassage in which he so highly praises Alcuin.[207] After quoting\nAlcuin\u2019s request[208] to Karl that he may have sent over from his library\nof York some of the manuscripts which he describes as the flowers of\nBritain, \u201cthat the garden of paradise may not be confined to York, but\nsome of its scions may be transplanted to Tours,\u201d William proceeds thus:\n\u201cThis is that same Alcuin who, as I have said, was sent into France to\ntreat of peace, and during his abode with Charles, captivated either by\nthe pleasantness of the country or the kindness of the king, settled\nthere; and being held in high estimation, he taught the king, during his\nleisure from the cares of state, a thorough knowledge of logic, rhetoric,\nand astronomy. Alcuin was, of all the Angles of whom I have read, next to\nSt. Aldhelm and Bede, certainly the most learned, and has given proof of\nhis talents in a variety of compositions. He lies buried in France, at\nthe church of St. Paul of Cormery[209], which monastery Charles the Great\nbuilt at his suggestion; on which account, even at the present day (about\n1130 A.D.), the subsistence of four monks is distributed in alms for the\nsoul of our Alcuin in that church.\u201d\n\nWe have the documents which relate to the foundation of St. Paul of\nCormery, and they do not quite carry out William\u2019s statement. Itherius,\nthe predecessor of Alcuin at St. Martin\u2019s of Tours, had acquired land\nat Cormery for the residence of monks, and in 791 had issued a precept\nfor the construction of a monastery. Much discussion has centred round\nthis fact, to which further reference is made in another part of this\nbook.[210] In the year 800, Karl issued two interesting documents[211],\nboth dated from St. Martin\u2019s at Tours, one signed by the king himself,\nthe other certified by Genesius, acting as deputy for the chancellor\nHercambold. The first of these documents has interesting features, and in\nit we find the reason for the abbey being called, down to the Revolution,\n_l\u2019Abbaye Royale de Cormery_, and having as its armorial bearings the\ncrowned eagle of the empire impaling the lilies of France ancient. It is\naddressed to \u201call the faithful men of St. Martin at that time serving\nin the holy place where that precious confessor of Christ rests in the\nbody, and to all who shall follow them. Our beloved master Albinus has\nwith pious devotion begged of us that he may be allowed to settle monks\nin the cell of St. Paul, which in rustic speech is called Cormery, there\nto live the regular life according to the statutes of the holy Benedict.\nThis place his predecessor Abbat Itherius had acquired; he had built it,\nand handed it over to St. Martin. We have thought it right to give our\nassent to his pious devotion, and have caused it to be confirmed by our\nletters under the seal of our authority, in order that no severance may\never take place. For if divine piety has given to our parents and to us\nthe power over the whole monastery of St. Martin, and the right to give\nit to whom we will, how much more have we the power of assigning to God\nthe aforesaid place. It is not lawful for any one to contemn the donation\nor confirmation of royal benignity, especially in an order so pious and\nwholesome as this. Therefore we entirely order that this our donation\nstand to all time fixed and inviolate, and that this place be never taken\naway from the possession of St. Martin, but that there monks shall live\nunder the full rule of St. Benedict and have protection and help from\nthe abbats of the monastery of St. Martin. If any abbat in time to come\nshould disregard this our precept, let him know that he shall render an\naccount of his presumption to our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His\ngreat advent. So also shall any who diminishes aught of the things which\nAbbat Itherius of blessed memory acquired, of the property of St. Martin\nwhich he gave to the church of St. Paul, or of the things which the said\nAbbat Albinus has given, at whose request we have caused write these\nletters, or anything which any one may have given in alms for his soul.\nThat this may stand the more firm, we have determined to subscribe it\nwith our own hand and have caused it to be sealed with our ring.\u201d\n\nThe other document, addressed to all bishops, counts, officers, &c.,\ngrants licence to the monks, \u201cat the request of our most beloved and\nfaithful the venerable Abbat Albinus\u201d, to have two ships coming and going\nwith necessary things on the rivers Loire, Sarthe, and Vienne, free from\ntoll. This was ordered to be sealed with Karl\u2019s ring. The navigation\nof the Indre, being their own river, was no doubt free to them without\ngrant.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VI\n\nCapital found at Cormery.\n\n_To face p. 227._]\n\nIthier governed St. Martin\u2019s at Tours from 770 to 791. Soon after 791\nhe died, and was buried in a grave at the entrance of the nave of the\nabbatial church of Cormery, on the north side. The place can still be\npointed out. Fridugisus, the Nathanael of Alcuin\u2019s letters, who was\ndesignated by Alcuin as his immediate successor, became abbat of St.\nMartin\u2019s after Wulfhard II. He built a stone church, the west front\nof which still stands in considerable part, with the eleventh-century\nRomanesque tower, most of which still stands, applied to it, the east\nwall of the tower being the west front of Fridugisus. Plate VI shows\na capital which has recently been found, evidently of the time of\nFridugisus. Considerable parts of the later Gothic walls still stand.\nThey are carefully tended by M. Octave Bobeau, the local correspondent of\nthe Minister of Public Education, whose apartments are in the refectory\nof the abbey. The cur\u00e9 of Cormery, M. l\u2019abb\u00e9 Jaillet, is a most obliging\nguide to the ruins, as also to his own very fine cruciform parish church.\nIn these most recent days \u201chis own\u201d is a misdescription. The inventories\nhave been taken, and Monsieur le Maire is the master of the parish church\nand its services. The large house of the abbats of Cormery is now a\ndwelling-house in connexion with the communal school. An early engraving\nin a French account of Touraine shows that the western tower was crowned\nwith a gallery and spire, not unlike that shown in the illustration of\nMarmoutier, Plate V.\n\nSome commentators suppose that the \u201cother monastery\u201d, which Alcuin\ninforms Arno he has built some eight miles from the city, was this\nmonastery of Cormery. But the distance named is not easily reconciled\nwith the geographical facts, and Alcuin could not properly have stated\nthat he was the founder of Cormery.\n\nCormery provided a home for the severer side of the monastic life, St.\nMartin\u2019s and Marmoutier remaining secular. Cormery being a considerable\ndistance away, a Benedictine abbey, of St. Julien, was established in the\neastern part of Tours, in the tenth century, by Archbishop Th\u00e9otolon,\nand a Romanesque abbey-church was built, the square tower of which still\nremains; the church in its present state has some ancient paintings, and\ndeserves a visit. Being within the limits of the ancient Roman town, it\nwould naturally be under the jurisdiction of the archbishop.\n\nThis will be a convenient point at which to give further details[212]\nof the remarkable licence of Hadrian for a permanent bishopric of the\nwestern part of the present city, at that time a district separate from\nthe ancient city, in which latter was the stool of the archbishop of\nTours.\n\nThe licence of Hadrian I, allowing the abbat and brethren of St. Martin\u2019s\nto elect and to have their own bishop, is printed (from Baluz) in _Gallia\nChristiana_, vol. xiv, p. 7 of the _Instrumenta_ relating to Tours.\nThe date is 786. The licence is addressed to Abbat Autherius, that is,\nItherius. It sets forth that by royal and papal privileges the Abbey of\nSt. Martin of Tours was in all respects independent of the episcopal\nauthority of the bishop of Tours;[213] whatsoever in the flock of St.\nMartin needed arranging, ruling, or correcting, was a matter for the\nabbat, provost, dean, and other most approved men. Hadrian declares that\nthey may have a bishop of their own, as had been the custom from ancient\ntimes until most recent times, because of the great numbers of persons\nwho flocked from all parts to visit the shrine and needed instruction\nin the faith. The person elected by the abbat and the flock shall be\nordained by the neighbouring bishops. The metropolitan bishop\u2014that is,\nthe archbishop of Tours\u2014shall not enter the church for any exercise of\nhis episcopal office, such as ordinations, or making the chrism, nor\nshall he have power to summon any of the priests of the monastery to\nappear before him. The abbey bishop must not be impleaded without the\nassent of the abbat. He is to have the pastoral care of the neighbouring\ndistricts held by the abbey, and is to amend and correct in canonical\nmanner and due order with the consent of his abbat. If the abbat does not\nchoose to settle any matter of dispute which may arise between the St.\nMartin\u2019s bishop and the bishops of the neighbourhood, the matter must\ncome direct to the apostolic see.\n\nThat is a very remarkable document. We are not without indications of\nother unusual customs in the province of Tours.\n\nThe Archbishop of Tours had eventually eleven suffragans, Le Mans,\nAngers, Rennes, Nantes, Vannes, Cornouaille, L\u00e9on, Tr\u00e9quier, St. Brieuc,\nSt. Malo, Dol. Some of these bishoprics trace their origin to refugees\nfrom Britain in the middle of the sixth century. A marked feature of\nthe Archbishopric was the existence and permanence of the office of\nArchpresbyter. The Chapter of Tours itself, in its most complete\nform, consisted of Dean, Archdeacon of Tours, Treasurer, Praecentor,\nChancellor, two other Archdeacons, the Archpresbyter of Tours, and fifty\nor more Canons. The Princeps Archipresbyter preached on the greater\nSundays, as the Ecclesiastes Theologus did on other Sundays. At Le\nMans, before Alcuin\u2019s time at Tours, there were two Archpresbyters,\neach in management of half of the diocese; in the eleventh century\nthere were three; in 1200, eight. In 1230 Maurice replaced them by\nseven Archdeacons, who had under them a number of rural deans, _decani\nrusticanis negotiis_, an office into which the Archpresbyters, once so\nimportant, subsided. Archdeacons of Le Mans are first named in the will\nof St. Bertramn, in 623. At Angers the chief Archdeacon had under him\nfour Archpresbyters; the second Archdeacon had one Archpresbyter and two\nRural Deans; the third Archdeacon had three Rural Deans. At Angers the\nArchbishop of Tours acted in 1334 much as the Archbishop acted at St.\nMartin\u2019s at Tours in or before Alcuin\u2019s time; he freed the Chapter from\nepiscopal control and himself confirmed the Deans[214].\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n Great dispute on right of sanctuary.\u2014Letters of Alcuin on the\n subject to his representatives at court and to a bishop.\u2014The\n emperor\u2019s severe letter to St. Martin\u2019s.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s reply.\u2014Verses\n of the bishop of Orleans on Charlemagne, Luitgard, and Alcuin.\n\n\nIn the year 801, or early in 802, a question of sanctuary arose on which\nAlcuin and Charlemagne took opposite views. The Emperor was imperious in\nhis dealing with the matter.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 179.]\n\nTwo of Alcuin\u2019s pupils, Candidus and Nathanael, held offices in the\ncourt of the Emperor at Aachen. Nathanael was the pupil to whom Alcuin\nwrote a well-known letter about the temptations and occupations of the\ncourt, his warnings against the temptations being conveyed under cover\nof figurative language. \u201cLet not the crowned doves come to thy windows,\nthat flit about in the chambers of the palace; let not wild horses break\nin at the door of thy chamber; do not occupy thyself with dancing bears.\u201d\nTo Candidus and Nathanael he wrote, in evident anxiety, to tell them what\nhad happened, and to bid them put it before the Emperor in a favourable\nlight. This is what he says.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 180. A.D. 801-2.]\n\n\u201cThe venerable father Theudulfus the Bishop [of Orleans] has a dispute\nwith some of your brethren of St. Martin\u2019s about a certain fugitive\nculprit. This culprit, after suffering very many kinds of punishment,\nsuddenly escaped from confinement, fled to the church of St. Martin a\nchief confessor of Christ, confessed his sins, begged for reconciliation,\nappealed to Caesar, and demanded to go to his most holy presence. We\ngave him up to the messengers of the said bishop. They knew, it is said,\nthat preparations had been made to waylay them; they dismissed him as\nhe stood before the doors of the church, and went their way. Thereupon\nthere came a large number of the men of the said venerated bishop, in a\nhostile manner as we have ascertained. Eight principal men entered the\nchurch on the Lord\u2019s day with our own bishop [Joseph, the Archbishop of\nTours]. These were not the \u2018eight principal men\u2019 who are read of in the\nprophet[215] as wasting the land of Nimrod with swords and lances; they\ncame to carry off the culprit, to profane the sanctity of the house of\nGod, to belittle the honour of the holy confessor of Christ, Martin;\nindeed they rushed into the sanctuary within the gates of the altar. The\nbrethren drove them out before the front of the altar. If they deny this,\nthey say what is absolutely false. No one of them at that time bowed the\nhead before the altar of God.\n\n\u201cThe report spread that a hostile force had come from Orleans [a distance\nof seventy miles] to violate the rights of St. Martin, for they were\nknown to be Orleans men. The pensioners rushed together from every part\nof the city to the defence of their own defender. Tumult and fear grew\nrapidly all over. Our brethren rescued the men of the aforesaid bishop\nfrom the hands of the crowd, lest they should be evil intreated, and\ndrove the people out of the church.\n\n\u201cNow I know that the above-named pontiff will bring many accusations\nagainst our brethren; will exaggerate what was done; will say that things\nwere done which were not done; for we have it in his letters.\n\n\u201cI therefore charge you, my dearest sons, that you cast yourselves at\nthe feet of my lord David the most just and serene emperor. Beg of him\nthat when the bishop comes to complain, an opportunity of defence may be\nafforded, and of disputing with him whether it is just that an accused\nperson should be taken by force from a church and subjected to the very\npunishments from which he has fled; whether it is right that one who has\nappealed to Caesar should not be brought to Caesar; whether it is lawful\nto spoil of all his goods, even to a boot-lace, one who is penitent and\nhas confessed his sins; whether that saying of the Scripture[216] is well\nobserved, Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.\u201d\n\nAlcuin then criticises the letter of the Bishop of Orleans, which has not\nbeen preserved. In the course of the criticism he says two rather clever\nthings.\n\n\u201cThe venerable father says that an accused sinner ought not to be\nreceived in the church. But if sinners are not to enter the church, how\nare you to have a priest to say mass in the church, or who will there be\nto respond except some quite newly baptised person? For does not St. John\nsay, If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth\nis not in us. Again, we find that in the venerable bishop\u2019s letter the\naccused man is called a devil, not a man. Think what the Apostle says,\nJudge not before the time.\u201d\n\nAlcuin then proceeds to quote the canons on fugitives, and to describe\nthe arrangements made in all parts for men to take sanctuary. He ends\nwith a powerful appeal to the Emperor to bear in mind the danger of\nallowing any supreme dignity to be made light of.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 181. A fragment.]\n\nIn another letter, written at the same time, and in great part in the\nsame words, to a bishop not named, Alcuin adds something to what he\nhas said in the letter to his pupils. The man, he says, had certainly\ncommitted many sins and done very impious wickedness. But he had the\nevidence of two priests, Christian of St. Benedict of Tours and Adalbert\nof St. Martin, that he had made confession to them before he was seized\nand bound and tortured. Probably Alcuin thought that would not appeal\nvery forcibly to the mind of the Emperor, and that the impiousness of the\nman would do more harm to his cause than the fact of confession would\ndo good. The man was given up by the brethren of St. Martin not that he\nmight be taken off to Orleans, but that he might be taken before the\nArchbishop of Tours by the messengers of the Bishop of Orleans, a matter\nvery different from what it appeared to be in Alcuin\u2019s letter to his\nrepresentatives at Court. The attempt to carry off the fugitive was very\nunscrupulous, for the man was within the altar rails and was actually\nlying prostrate in supplication and appeal before the sepulchre of St.\nMartin.\n\nAlcuin thought it best to send the fugitive far out of the way. We do not\nknow what he had done, or who he was; but we may gather that his name was\nsomething like Kalb from the words which Alcuin applies to him in sending\nhim to Salzburg, to the safe keeping of Arno the Archbishop.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 183. A.D. 801-2.]\n\n\u201cI have sent to you this animal, the calf of my hand, that you may help\nhim and keep him out of the hands of his enemies. Help him as much as you\ncan, for the venerable bishop, that is Theodulfus, is greatly enraged\nagainst us. I have put into the mouth of this youth, the calf being\nan animal unnaturally rational, what he must moo in the ears of your\nholiness.\u201d\n\nNow let us hear the voice of the emperor, by no means the moo of a calf.\nWe learn from his letter what on other grounds we should have imagined,\nnamely, that the culprit was a cleric. Well might the bishop of Orleans\nrage against the Abbat of St. Martin.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 182.]\n\n\u201cIn the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Charles\n&c.[217] to the Venerable Master Albinus and the whole congregation of\nthe monastery of St. Martin.\n\n\u201cThe day before your letter reached our presence, a letter was\nbrought to us from Bishop Theodulf [of Orleans], containing complaint\nof dishonour done to his men, or rather to the bishop of the city [of\nTours], and in contempt of the order of our empire. Which order we caused\nwrite under the authority of our name for the rendering up of a certain\ncleric, escaped from the bishop\u2019s custody, and in hiding in the basilica\nof St. Martin, a copy of which you have sent to us. In it we think that\nwe did not decree anything unjustly, as you have thought we did.\n\n\u201cWe have had both letters read to us again, yours [that is, Alcuin\u2019s] and\nTheodulf\u2019s. Your letter appears to us to be much harsher than Theodulf\u2019s,\nand to have been written in anger, without any seasoning of charity\ntowards him; in defence of the fugitive, and in accusation against the\nbishop. Under cover of a concealed name it maintains that the accused\nperson could and should be allowed to bring an accusation, whereas both\ndivine and human law forbids to allow a criminous person to accuse\nanother. For this he was defended and protected by you, under pretext\nof the authority of our name; as though one who had been accused and\njudged in sight of the people of his own city of Orleans should have an\nopportunity of bringing an accusation by appeal to the emperor, after the\nexample of the blessed Paul the Apostle. But Paul, when accused by his\nown nation before the princes of Judaea, but not as yet judged, appealed\nto Caesar, and by the princes he was sent to Caesar to be judged. That\ndoes not at all coincide with the present case. For this cleric of evil\nrepute was accused, and judged, and sent to prison, and thence escaped,\nand contrary to law entered the basilica, which he ought not to have\nentered till after he had done penance, and still\u2014it is said\u2014ceases not\nto live perversely; this man you say has appealed to Caesar in the same\nmanner as Paul. But he certainly is not coming to Caesar as Paul did.\n\n\u201cWe have given orders to Bishop Theodulf, by whom he was judged and sent\nto prison, and from whose custody he escaped, that he be brought back;\nand the bishop must bring him to our audience, whether he speaks truth or\nfalsehood; for it consists not with our dignity that for such a man as\nthis there should be any change of our original order.\n\n\u201cWe greatly wonder that to you alone it should seem fit to go against\nour authoritative sanction and decree, when it is quite clear, both from\nancient custom and from the constitution, that the decrees of enactments\nought to be unalterable, and that to no one is it permitted to disregard\ntheir edicts and statutes. And herein we can not sufficiently marvel that\nyou have preferred to yield to the entreaties of that wretch, rather than\nto our authoritative commands.\n\n\u201cNow you yourselves, who are called the congregation of this monastery\nand the servants of God, yea the true God, know how your life is now\nfrequently evil spoken of by many, and not without cause. You declare\nyourselves sometimes to be monks, sometimes canons, sometimes neither.\nAnd we, acting for your good and to remove your evil repute, looked out\na suitable master and rector for you and invited him to come from a\ndistant province. He by his words and admonitions, and\u2014for that he is a\nreligious man\u2014by his example of good conversation, could have amended the\nmanner of your life. But\u2014ah, the grief of it\u2014all has turned out the other\nway. The devil has found you as his ministers for sowing discord exactly\nin the wrong place, namely, between wise men and doctors of the church.\nAnd those who ought to correct and chastise sinners you drive into the\nsin of envy and wrath. But they, by God\u2019s mercy, will not lend an ear to\nyour evil suggestions.\n\n\u201cAnd you, who stand out as contemners of our command, whether you be\ncalled canons or monks,[218] know that at our pleasure, as our present\nmessenger will indicate to you, you must appear before us; and although a\nletter sent to us here excuses you of actual sedition, you must come and\nwipe out your unjust crime by condign amends.\u201d\n\nAlcuin\u2019s reply was more than twice as long.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 184.]\n\n\u201cTo the lord most excellent, and of all honour most worthy, Charles,\nking, emperor, and most victorious most great most good and most serene\nAugustus, Albinus his servitor wishes the welfare of present prosperity,\nand of future beatitude, eternal in Christ the Lord God.\n\n\u201cOn the first face of this letter I see that thanks from my whole heart\nmust be given by me to our Lord God for your safety and welfare, not to\nme only but to all Christians most necessary. Next, with prostrate body,\ncontrite heart, tearful voice, mercy must be begged of the piety of your\ngoodness for the brethren of St. Martin, to whose service your goodness\ndelegated me however little worthy. I call God as the witness of my\nconscience that never have I understood the brethren to be such as I hear\nthat they are called by some who are more ready to accuse than to save.\nAs far as can be seen and known, they worthily perform the office in the\nchurches of Christ, and I most truly bear witness that never any where\nhave I seen other men celebrating more perfectly or more diligently,\nin daily course interceding for your safety and the stability of the\nChristian empire. Of their life and conversation you can learn from a\nperfect man, an incorrupt judge, and a faithful messenger, Wido [Count\nof the shore of Britany]. He has looked into all their affairs and knows\nwhat they have done and how they have lived.\n\n\u201cI have not been slow to admonish them concerning the strictness of the\nmonastic life, as they themselves will testify, if any one will accept\ntheir testimony. And I do not know what faults they have committed\nagainst their accusers, that they should pursue them with such hatred.\n\n\u201cIt is a matter of wonder why they[219] wish to push themselves, contrary\nto the edict of the law, into another\u2019s harvest. The illustrious doctor\nforbids this where he says[220] Who art thou that judgest another man\u2019s\nservant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea he shall stand,\nfor God is able to make him stand. For the city of Tours has a pastor\n[Joseph, the Archbishop], in his life elect, in preaching devout, who\nknows how best to give to the family of Christ their portion of meat. Let\neach shepherd watch over his own flock, that no member of it lack the\ngrace of God; that when the shepherd of all shall come He may find them\nworthy of eternal reward.\n\n\u201cWith regard to the concourse and tumult which arose in the church of\nSt. Martin, or without in the atrium, I testify in the sight of Him that\nknows the heart of each that it took place without any incitement or\nforeknowledge or even wish of mine. And I confess that never was I in\ngreater trouble for other men\u2019s offences than then. Nor, as far as I have\nbeen able to understand or to hear, was any thing done by design of the\nbrethren. I have not even been able to learn that they wished it; and\nthere can be no doubt that no one who fears God and cares for his own\nsalvation, should\u2014I will not say do such a thing but\u2014even think of it.\n\n\u201cDid not the venerable man Teotbert, sent by your authority, spend\nnineteen days among them for the purpose of this enquiry? Whom he would,\nhe flogged; whom he would, he put in chains; whom he would, he put on\noath; whom he pleased, he summoned to your presence.\n\n\u201cIn vain have I so long time served my Lord Jesus Christ if His mercy\nand providence have so forsaken me that I should fall into this impious\nwickedness in the days of my old age....\n\n\u201cThe true cause of this tumult, as far as I have been able to understand,\nI am not ashamed to lay before your excellency, sparing no one, so that I\nmay produce testimony to the truth.\n\n\u201cIt appears to me that in the doing of this impious deed no one has\noffended more gravely than the guard of this wretch, from whose\nnegligence so many evils came. If I may say so to those who hear this\nletter read, I think it would be more just that he by whose negligence\nthe accused man escaped from his bonds should suffer the same bonds, than\nthat the fugitive to the protection of Christ our God and of His saints,\nshould be sent back from the church into the same bonds. I will not put\nthis on my own opinion, I am supported by the word of God who bade[221]\nthe prophet say to the king of Israel who had let go out of his hand the\nking of Syria, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go a man worthy\nof death, thy life shall be for his life.\n\n\u201cIn the second place, I take it that the men were the cause of the tumult\nwho came armed in larger number than was necessary from Orleans to Tours;\nespecially because the report ran through the populace that they had\ncome to carry off with violence a man who had fled to the protection of\nthe Church of Christ and St. Martin. For all men everywhere take it ill\nthat their holy ones are dishonoured. Perhaps, too, the miserable man had\ncalled upon the rustics who came to his dwelling in their cups to defend\nthe church of St. Martin and not allow him to be snatched from it.\n\n\u201cThere was a third cause of the tumult. Our holy father and pontiff\n[Archbishop Joseph] inopportunely, the people being present, entered\nthe church along with the men who were supposed to have come to drag\naway the man. He may have done this in the simplicity of his heart, not\nimagining that any harm could come.[222] When the ignorant people, always\ndoing thoughtlessly inconvenient things, saw this, they cried out, they\ntook to their clubs; some energetic men ran out when they heard the bells\nsound. They were rung by unskilled hands; your own judges ascertained\nthat, and our accusers themselves allowed that it was so, for in their\npresence the holy Gospel was brought; there was laid upon it the wood\nof the holy Cross; they made such of the brethren as they chose, swear\nby that. When the brethren heard the bells, they rushed out of the\nrefectory to learn why they were being rung. As I am informed, they did\nwhat they could to allay the tumult; only some youths, who were found and\nsent to your presence, were the offenders in the concourse. From them\nit can be learned what they did; they have sworn that they acted on the\nprompting of no man, only on the impulse of their own folly. Not one of\nthe servants of St. Martin was there, except a man called Amalgarius, who\nwas with me at the moment. Him I sent at once with the other brethren\nto appease the tumult, and to extricate the men of the venerable bishop\nfrom the hands of the people, so that no harm should be done them. As\nsoon as the tumult was appeased, they were brought into the monastery,\nwhere they were safe. These men were so burning with wrath against me\nthat they turned a kindness I had ordered to be done to them into evil,\nsaying that it was in insult that I had sent them some food.[223] This\nwas absolutely false. They did not know that I was imbued with the Lord\u2019s\ncommand, Do good unto them that hate you.\n\n\u201cLet your holy piety, most pious lord, consider these facts and recognize\nthe truth. Be favourable to thy servants in the love of God omnipotent\nand in the honour of the holy Martin your intercessor, who always has\nbeen honoured in the kingdom and by the kings of the Franks.\n\n\u201cWe are wont to say in confessing our sins, If thou, Lord, wilt be\nextreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? And to\nthee we may say, forasmuch as we know thee to be a member of that same\nHead, if thou wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who, lord, may\nabide it? Above all, because the special virtue, goodness, and praise\nof emperors has always been their clemency towards their subjects; in\nso much that the most noble emperor Titus said that no one should leave\nthe presence of the emperor sad. Rejoice the minds of thy servants by\nthe highest gift of thy mercy; let mercy rejoice against judgement. Men\nwho have been guilty of the greatest crimes of perfidy against your\nauthority you have been able to pardon with laudable piety; overlook\nour infelicity, in accordance with the most pious nobility of your most\nholy disposition, which I have always known to abound in a marvellous\ndegree in the mind of your wisdom. We read how David, the ancestor of\nChrist, was praised in the greatness of his mercy and the justness of his\njudgements. In like manner we know that your blessedness is, by the gift\nof Christ, always worthy of all laudation and praise for these two great\nmerits.\n\n\u201cMay the omnipotent God the Father, by His only Son our Lord Jesus\nChrist, illumine, fill, and rejoice the heart of your blessedness with\nall blessing and wisdom in the Spirit the Comforter, and deign to grant\nto your most noble offspring, for the welfare of a Christian people,\nperpetual prosperity, most dearly loved lord, best and most august father\nof the fatherland.\u201d\n\nWe know no more than this. There appears to be no possibility of carrying\nthe investigation further. Reading between the lines we seem to see signs\nof ecclesiastical tension between the archbishop, seated at his cathedral\nchurch of St. Gatian, and Abbat Alcuin of St. Martin\u2019s. Until the time of\nAlcuin\u2019s penultimate predecessor, the abbat of St. Martin\u2019s had been the\narchbishop of Tours, and, as we have seen, there are curious references\nto a claim of St. Martin\u2019s to have bishops of its own. This may have\ncaused tension, beyond that which was not very improbable under the\nordinary conditions.\n\nTheodulf of Orleans was an old friend of Alcuin, and an admirer. He gives\nto Alcuin a large place in his description of the court of Charlemagne.\nTheodulf was a laudatory poet, and his poem was very properly meant to\nplease those whom he described. Of the king himself he says\u2014\n\n O face, face more shining than gold thrice refined,\n Happy he who always is with thee.\n The head illustrious, the chin, the neck so beautiful,\n The hands of gold, that banish poverty.\n The breast, the legs, the feet, all laudable,[224]\n All shining forth in beauty and in strength.\n\nThe latest wife of the king, Luitgard, has eight pretty lines devoted\nto her, after an inauspicious opening address to \u201cthe fair virago,\nLuitgard\u201d. This dates the poem before 801, in which year Luitgard died at\nTours. The tower of St. Martin\u2019s, now called the tower of Charlemagne,\nwas raised over her tomb.[225]\n\nAlcuin was evidently a very prominent figure at court, keeping things\nalive by his knowledge and wit and subtleties.\n\n And Flaccus too is there, the glory of our poets,\n Who pours forth many things in lyric foot.\n An able sophist, a poet, too, melodious,\n Able in mind and able in practice alike.\n He brings forth pious lessons from Holy Writ,\n And solves the puzzles of numbers with favouring jest.\n He puts an easy question now, and then a hard;\n Of this world now, then of the world above.\n The king alone, of many that fain would,\n Can solve the skilful puzzles Flaccus sets.\n\nThere was evidently no standing ill-feeling against the Abbat of St.\nMartin\u2019s on the part of the Bishop of Orleans.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letters to Charlemagne\u2019s sons.\u2014Recension of the\n Bible.\u2014The \u201cAlcuin Bible\u201d at the British Museum.\u2014Other supposed\n \u201cAlcuin Bibles\u201d.\u2014Anglo-Saxon Forms of Coronation used at the\n coronations of French kings.\n\n\nThere is in the Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale in Paris a letter headed\n\u201cIn nomine Dei summi incipit scriptum Albini magistri ad Karolum\nimperatorem\u201d. It is, however, held to be uncertain whether the letter is\naddressed to the emperor or to his son Charles, who died some three years\nbefore his father. The internal evidence appears to be decidedly against\nits having been addressed to the emperor. Alcuin could not have denied\nhimself the pleasure of referring to the emperor when he mentions king\nDavid as the authority for his advice, and we have no letter of Alcuin to\nthe emperor so completely free from honorific titles and phrases, with\nnothing but the simple _vos_ throughout. It is to be said on the other\nhand that the author of the _Life of the blessed Alchuin the Abbat_, with\nwhich we dealt fully in Chapters I and II, refers[226] to a _libellus_\nwhich Alcuin wrote for Charlemagne, setting forth the psalms which he was\nto use according as penitence, tribulation, or joy, was his theme.\n\nThe interest of the letter in question fortunately lies in its advice,\nnot in the person to whom the advice is given. This is the letter, with\nits ordinary heading:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 244.]\n\n\u201cAlcuin dedicates to Charles the Emperor a breviary[227] of prayer to God.\n\n\u201cThe blessed David, the great king and servant of God most high, gave us\nthe rule of singing, how man should pour forth prayers to God at certain\nstated hours. \u2018Seven times a day,\u2019 he says, \u2018do I praise Thee,\u2019\u2014that\nis, at the first hour of the day, the second, third, sixth, ninth, the\nevening hour, and the twelfth. David the king, then, gave praise to God\nat these seven hours. The holy Daniel, the prophet, at the third, sixth,\nand ninth hour of the day, went into his chamber to pray to the Lord,\nand with hands stretched upward to Heaven entreated God for himself and\nfor the people of Israel. The same David said[228] further, \u2018I will make\nmention of Thy righteousness only.\u2019 And again, \u2018At midnight I will rise\nto give thanks unto thee,\u2019 that is, at the hour of night. And again he\nsays, \u2018I have thought upon Thy name in the night season,\u2019 that is, at\ncock-crow. And, \u2018Have I not remembered Thee in my bed, and thought upon\nThee when I was waking?\u2019 Here are three courses of the office during the\nnight, and seven by day, making the ten courses which we sing, following\nthe number of the ten laws of Moses. But you have asked me to write to\nyou in a net form the order in which a layman in active life should pray\nto God at the stated hours. You live after a Christian fashion, and you\ndesire to do Christian deeds; you are not ignorant how prayer should be\nmade to the Lord; but at your request I will briefly state my opinion.\nWhen you have risen from your bed, say first \u2018O Lord Jesu Christ, son\nof the living God, in Thy name will I lift up my hands, make haste to\ndeliver me.\u2019 Say this thrice, with the psalm \u2018Ponder my words, O Lord,\nconsider my meditation. O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling, my\nking and my God, for unto Thee will I make my prayer. My voice shalt thou\nhear betimes, O Lord, early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto\nThee.\u2019 Then, \u2018Our Father,\u2019 and the prayers, \u2018Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us\nthis day,\u2019 \u2018Perfect my steps,\u2019 \u2018Praised be the Lord daily,\u2019 \u2018Direct and\nsanctify,\u2019 \u2018O Lord let Thy mercy lighten upon us.\u2019 Then, rising, begin\nthe verse \u2018Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord\u2019. When that is ended, with\nthe Gloria, begin the psalm \u2018Lord how are they increased\u2019. Then follows\n\u2018God be merciful unto me\u2019. Then \u2018O come, let us sing unto the Lord\u2019. Then\npsalms, as many as you will.\u201d\n\nWe have two letters of Alcuin which were certainly written to Charles\nthe king, the eldest son of Charlemagne. The first was written in 801 to\ncongratulate Charles on his anointment as king by Leo III on the same day\n(Christmas Day, 800) that saw his father crowned as emperor.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 162.]\n\n\u201cI have heard from the lord apostolic [Leo III] that with the consent of\nthe most excellent Lord David [Charlemagne] the title of king and the\ncrown of kingly dignity have been conferred upon you. I greatly rejoice\nin the honour both of the title and of the power. I pray that your\ndignity and nobleness may be for the safety of many peoples, nations,\nand churches of Christ; may be glorious in the world and terrible to the\nadversaries of the Christian religion; may be vigorous and strong through\na long season of prosperity; and with the blessing of God may always\nfollow after better things, ascend to higher, and grow even unto the\nperfect day of eternal blessedness.\n\n\u201cDo justice, my best-loved son, and mercy, among Christian people, for it\nis these, as Solomon testifies, that exalt the throne of a kingdom and\nrender the kingly power laudable and pleasing to God. Have as counsellors\nmen good, pious, prudent, and god-fearing; men in whom truth reigns, not\ncovetousness, for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words\nof the righteous.[229] Never allow the dishonesty of others to sully\nthe name of your dignity, nor permit others to do with wicked mind in\ncovetousness that which you would not yourself do; the fault of the\nsubject is often imputed to the ruler. Let not the impious will of some,\nunder the name of thy beatitude, fill their money-bags with the mammon of\nunrighteousness.\n\n\u201cGood examples are not far to seek. In the home in which you were brought\nup you have the best examples of all goodness. You may have perfect\nconfidence that you will by the gift of God attain to the blessing of\nthat most excellent and in all honour most noble father of thine, ruler\nand emperor of a Christian people, if you strive to imitate the manner\nof his nobility and piety and complete discretion; and will most fully\nobtain the mercy of God, which is better than all the glory of the world.\n\n\u201cWheresoever your way may lead, may the footsteps of piety ever follow\nthee, that you may have praise of men and eternal reward with God.\u201d\n\nAlcuin must needs end a congratulatory letter to a royalty with hexameter\nand pentameter:\u2014\n\n Prosperous even for ever be thou great hope of the nations.\n Be to thee Christ as love, light, way, and safety, and life.\n\nThe next letter to King Charles was probably later. It seems to indicate\nsome anxiety on the part of Alcuin, and, indeed, Charles was not as fine\na character as his brother Louis, who is mentioned in this letter. Alcuin\nwould appear to have kept a copy of the former letter, and to have made a\ngood deal of it do service a second time.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 245.]\n\n\u201cI rejoice, my dearest son, in the devotion of your good will which Osulf\nyour attendant has narrated to me, whether as regards the largeness of\nyour alms-giving, or as regards the gentleness of your rule. Know of a\nsurety that all this is greatly pleasing to God, and deserves at the hand\nof His mercy perpetual blessing. Do thou, my son, my dearest son, always\nto the utmost of your power work for the honour of God Almighty in all\ngoodness and piety; following the example of your most excellent father\nin all honesty and sobriety, that the divine clemency of Christ the God\nmay grant to thee to possess his blessing by right of inheritance.\n\n\u201cBe a pious hearer of the wretched, and judge their cause with the\nutmost justness. Do not permit the judges who are under you to judge for\npresents and gifts; for gifts, it is said in Holy Scripture, blind the\nhearts of the wise, and subvert the words of the just. Hold in honour the\nservants of Christ, those who are true servants of God, for some come in\nsheeps\u2019 clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves. The Truth says, By\ntheir fruits ye shall know them. Have as counsellors wise men, who fear\nGod; not flatterers, for a flatterer, as it is said, is a bland enemy\nand often seduces those who consent unto him. Be prudent in thought and\ncautious in speech; always setting your hope on God, for He never faileth\nthem whose hope is set on Him.\n\n\u201cWould that it were allowed me more frequently to address a letter of\nadvice to thy benignity, as the most noble youth Louis your brother has\nasked me to do frequently for him. This I have done, and, if God will, I\nshall continue to do; he reads my letters with great humility.\n\n\u201cMy greatest joy is when I hear\u2014as, indeed, it is right that I should\nhear\u2014of a good manner of life on your part. For this is the gift of\nGod, the prosperity of a kingdom, that the rulers of a Christian people\nlive most strict lives, and have their conversation among men in a way\npleasing to God. Thus a blessing from heaven is certain to come on the\nnation and kingdom, which may God vouchsafe to grant eternally to your\nnobility.\n\n\u201cMay you flourish, grow, and be strong, advancing in all that is good and\nprosperous, to the exaltation of His Holy Church, my dearest son.\u201d\n\nWe have only one of Alcuin\u2019s letters to King Pepin, who died young,\nleaving a son Bernard who became king on his father\u2019s death.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 77.]\n\n\u201cTo the most noble and beloved son Pippin Albinus sends greeting in the\nlove of Christ.\n\n\u201cWe give thanks to thy benevolence and to the piety of the lord King\nwho has piously consented to our petition concerning the redemption of\ncaptives. I know that in such works of piety you earn blessing and a long\nand prosperous reign.\n\n\u201cAnd do thou, most excellent youth, study to adorn nobility of birth by\nnobility of conduct. Strive with all thy power to fulfil the will and\nthe honour of the omnipotent God, that His ineffable piety may exalt the\nthrone of thy kingdom and extend its bounds, and subject the nations to\nthy power. Be liberal to the wretched, good to foreigners, devout in the\nservice of Christ, treating honourably His servants and His churches that\ntheir sedulous prayer may aid thee. Be clean in conversation, chaste in\nbody. Rejoice with the wife of thy youth and let not other women have\nany part in thee, that the blessing granted unto thee may lead to a long\nposterity of descendants.\n\n\u201cBe strong against adversaries, faithful to friends, humble to\nChristians, terrible to pagans, affable to the wretched, provident in\ncouncil. Use the advice of the old men, the service of the young. Let\nequity be the judgement in thy kingdom. Let the praise of God everywhere\nresound at the fitting hours, and especially in the presence of thy\npiety. This kind of devotion to the offices of the church will render\nthee loveable to God and honoured among men. Let thoughts of sobriety be\nin your heart, words of truth in your mouth, examples of honour in your\nconduct, that the divine clemency may in all ways exalt and preserve thee.\n\n\u201cI pray you let this letter go with you as a testimony of my love. Though\nit be not worthy to be hung at the girdle of thy veneration, yet let its\nadmonition be worthy to be stored in the mind of thy wisdom.\u201d\n\nWe must now say something on the part which Alcuin played in connexion\nwith the revision of the manuscripts of the Bible.\n\nAlcuin is credited with a revision of the whole of the Latin Bible,\nboth the Old Testament and the New. We have a letter of his in which\nhe states in precise terms that he had been commissioned by Karl to\ncorrect the corrupted text. The letter is addressed to Gisla, Abbess of\nChelles, Karl\u2019s sister, and Rotruda, Karl\u2019s daughter, whom he addresses\nas Columba, the Dove.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 136. A.D. 800.]\n\n\u201cI have sent for the solace of your sanctity a small book, written in\nshort sections, that you may use it during these days[230] for your\nholy devotion. In such study you best spend these most holy days, and\nespecially in the Gospel of the blessed John, wherein are the deeper\nmysteries of divinity, and the most holy words of our Lord Jesus Christ\nwhich He spoke on that night when He willed to be betrayed for the\nsalvation of the world.\n\n\u201cI might have sent you an exposition of the whole Gospel, if I had not\nbeen occupied, by the command of the lord king, in the emendation of the\nOld and the New Testament. But if life last and God help, I will, when\noccasion serves, finish the task now begun, and dedicate the completed\nwork to your name.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 137.]\n\nGisla and Rotruda sent him a delightfully affectionate and bright letter\nin reply. They liken Alcuin to Jerome sending the Scriptures from his\ncave in Bethlehem to Rome; and in begging him to send the rest of the\ncommentary on St. John they remind him that the shallow Loire is crossed\nwith less danger than the Tuscan Sea, and that a messenger gets more\neasily from Tours to Paris than from Bethlehem to Rome.\n\nIt is certain from the dedicatory verses of Alcuin\u2019s which have been\npreserved, that at least four complete copies of the whole Bible had been\ncorrected by him or under his direction, and sent to the emperor. Of\nthese, not one is known to be still in existence. Of one of them Alcuin\nmakes definite mention in the following letter:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 205. A.D. 801-3.]\n\n\u201cTo the most desired and entirely loveable David the king Albinus wishes\npresent prosperity and eternal beatitude in Christ.\n\n\u201cI have long deliberated upon the question what could the devotion of\nmy mind think of as worthy to be given towards the splendour of your\nimperial power and the increase of your most rich treasury. I feared lest\nthe poor intelligence of my mind should remain torpid in empty idleness,\nwhile others were offering various rich gifts, and the messenger of my\nlittleness should come before the presence of your beatitude with empty\nhands. I have at length, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, found\nsomething which it is fitting that I should send and it may be agreeable\nto your prudence to receive.\n\n\u201cIn the most sacred solicitude of your piety it is clear beyond doubt\nwhat the Holy Spirit works through you for the safety of the whole\nChurch, and how earnestly all faithful people should pray that your\nempire be extended to full glory, and be loved at home by all God\u2019s\npeople, and terrible abroad to all the enemies of His Son. To my\nquestioning and desiring mind, nothing seemed more worthy of your most\npeace-giving honour than a present of the divine books, which by the\ndictation of the Holy Spirit and the ministration of Christ God have been\nwritten by the pen of divine grace for the salvation of the whole race of\nman. These, brought together into the sanctity of one most clear body,\nand diligently emended, I have sent to your most lofty authority by this\ndearest son of ours and faithful servant of yours, that with full hands\nhe may with most joyous service stand before your dignity. He has been\nill for a long time, but now that by God\u2019s mercy he has to some extent\nrecovered, he has with the greatest satisfaction hastened to approach\nyour piety.\n\n\u201cThe small gifts of my tears I send by faithful promise in prayer to\nSt. Martin for the ardently desired prosperity of your authority. Let\nmy messenger serve the most pious lord as is fitting; I will pray for\nthe most loved lord as the visitation of the Holy Spirit shall deign to\nillumine my heart. If the devotion of my mind could have found anything\nbetter, I would with ready will offer it towards the increase of your\nhonour.\u201d\n\nThe messenger was Nathanael, that is, Fredegisus. We learn this from\nLetter 206, which commences \u201cAlbinus greets Nathanael\u201d, and after\naddressing him as though he were the real Nathanael who was seen under\nthe fig-tree by Jesus, proceeds thus:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 206.]\n\n\u201cSalute Lucia my sister and Columba our daughter.[231] Pray them to\nbe mindful of my old age in sacred prayers and of their own salvation\nin good works. And hide not from them the beauty of your wisdom, but\nirrigate the flower-beds of good will in them. What is more beautiful\nthan the flowers of wisdom, which never fade? What is richer than the\nwealth of knowledge, which is never exhausted? To this exhort them. Let\nthem live day and night in meditation on the law of God, that they may\nfind Him of whom Moses in the law wrote, and the prophets. Bid them hold\nHim and not let Him go till they are led into the chambers of the Kings\nglory to be supported by flowers of eternal blessedness, the Bridegroom\u2019s\nleft hand of present prosperity under their head, and the right hand of\neternal bliss embracing them.[232]\n\n\u201cConvey the letter of my littleness, with the most holy gift of divine\nScripture and peaceful words of salutation, to my lord David. To him we\nowe as many thanks and praises for all his goodness to me and to my sons\nas this Book has syllables; to him may God give as many blessings as in\nthis Book there are letters.\u201d\n\nThe natural supposition is that Alcuin brought\u2014or had sent\u2014from York\naccurate copies of the Scriptures, from which he corrected the faulty\nmanuscripts of France and Germany, to use modern names. Errors were\ndue, probably, at least as much to mispronunciation on the part of the\nperson who dictated to the writers, or to mis-hearing on their part, as\nto carelessness in transcribing. We have to remember that the practice\nwas for one monk to read out word by word the sentence which the writers\nin the scriptorium were to take down, so that in this way twenty or\nthirty\u2014it is said as many as two hundred\u2014copies of a poem or a book could\nbe written at the same time. This practice gave many opportunities for\nerror.\n\nWe have at the British Museum a magnificent Bible, one of the largest\nmanuscripts in existence, called Alcuin\u2019s Bible. It contains 449 sheets\nof very fine parchment, 20 by 14\u00bd inches. It was purchased for the\nMuseum in 1836 for \u00a3750, the price asked at first being \u00a312,000, reduced\nto \u00a36,500 as \u201can immense sacrifice\u201d. The story of its acquisition, and\nthe question of its date and its connexion with Alcuin, were stated and\ndiscussed by Sir F. Madden in the _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_ for 1836, pages\n358 to 363, 468 to 477, 580 to 587. That able archaeologist believed it\nto be of Alcuin\u2019s own time, and, indeed, to be the very copy which Alcuin\npresented to Charlemagne in 801, on the completion of the recension which\nKarl had entrusted to him. The evidence in favour of this view is found\non the last page of the MS., in some elegiac verses composed by Alcuin.\nThe verses begin with an appeal from the book itself to its readers that\nit may be called a Pandect, and not a Bibliotheca,[233] and after eight\nmore verses, in which it is called a Codex, they end as follows:\u2014\n\n Mercedes habeat, Christo donante, per aevum\n Is Carolus qui iam scribere iussit eum.\n Haec dator aeternus cunctorum, Christe, bonorum\n Munera de donis accipe sancta tuis,\n Quae Pater Albinus, devoto pectore supplex,\n Nominis ad laudes obtulit ecce tui;\n Quem tua perpetuis conservet dextra diebus,\n Ut felix tecum vivat in arce poli.\n Pro me quisque legas versus orare memento,\n Alchuine dicor ego. Tu sine fine vale.\n\n\u201cMay Charles, who bade this book be written, receive eternal rewards. May\nthe giver of all good accept this offering of His own gifts, which Father\nAlbinus has made, whom may Thy hand preserve to live with Thee. Thou\nwho readest these verses, remember to pray for me; my name is Alchuine;\nmayest thou for ever fare well.\u201d\n\nThat these verses were written in the great Pandect of Alcuin\u2019s\nrecension, which Alcuin presented to Charlemagne, we may take to be\ncertain. But we may also take it as certain that they would be written\nalso in copies made from that special Pandect; and it has been decided\nby the most competent modern critics that the Bible in the Museum was not\nwritten till a generation had passed away after Alcuin\u2019s death.\n\nThat the verses were entered in other copies also is certain. The Fathers\nof the Oratory della Vallicella at Rome had a copy of this recension,\nwhich was believed to be written by Alcuin\u2019s own hand and presented to\nCharlemagne. In it there is a long copy of verses, including those in\nthe Museum Bible, but with curious alterations and additions, which make\nit probable that the Vallicella Bible was written for Charlemagne\u2019s\ngrandson, Charles le Chauve. _Quae Pater Albinus devoto pectore supplex_\nis altered into _Quae tibi devoto Carolus rex pectore supplex_, and\nverses are added, stating that the Bible was written for a new church\nwhich Charles had just built. The alteration cuts out the personal note\nof Alcuin, and the addition cuts out Charlemagne and points to another\nCharles. This is far from being the only case in which confusion is\ncaused by the fact that Charlemagne was himself for many years Charles\nthe king; that his oldest son was Charles the king; that his grandson was\nCharles the king; as also two great grandsons, a great great grandson,\nand even two generations further still.\n\nOthers besides Alcuin and the royal family were interested in the various\nversions of Scripture. For example, his contemporary Theodulf, the\nlearned bishop of Orleans, sent to his own daughter Gisla a psalter,\nradiant with silver and gold, with both the earlier and the later\nversions of Jerome.\n\nOur use of the word _Graduale_ for the book containing the words and\nthe music sung by the choir at the service of the Mass is an evidence\nof the large part played by the Gallican Church in the arrangement and\nimprovement of the early mediaeval service books. Rome spoke of the\nAntiphonale Missarum and Antiphonale Horarum, while Gaul spoke of the\nGraduale for Mass Music and Antiphonale for the Music of the Hours. Under\nAlcuin\u2019s guiding hand, the influence of Charlemagne and his times upon\nthe services was wide and deep. In the document described as Ep. 31, A.D.\n794, Karl has a good deal to say about the success of his own efforts to\nput down irregular methods of singing the services, and to bring all into\ngeneral accord with the Roman method.[234] Alcuin\u2019s work re-acted upon\nthe Roman use itself, and is understood to have been the operating cause\nof the mark left upon it.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 72. A.D. 796.]\n\nAlcuin had strong opinions as to the best manner of singing the services.\nIn a letter to Eanbald II, he writes thus, for the benefit of the Church\nof York:\u2014\u201cLet the clergy chant with moderated voice, striving to please\nGod rather than men. An immoderate exaltation of voice is a sign of\nboastfulness. And let them not be above learning the Roman Orders of\nService, that they may have eternal benediction from the blessed Peter,\nchief of the Apostles, whom Our Lord Jesus Christ made the head of His\nelect flock.\u201d\n\nAlcuin was versed in secular music also. We learn from Ep. 100 that Karl\nhad asked him to write peaceful and soothing songs, both words and\nmusic, for soldiers to sing when engaged in the horrors of war, and that\nhe complied with the request.\n\nWe have some very interesting evidences of the borrowing of Anglo-Saxon\nmanuscripts for use in France, and of the influence of Anglo-Saxon forms\non French services. There are two Anglo-Saxon forms for the coronation\nof a king. One of these is found in the Pontifical of Ecgbert, the\nBishop and later the Archbishop of York, to which a date of about 745\nmay be given. It is merely the supplement to the Mass on the occasion\nof a coronation, and accordingly it does not give the details of the\nceremony. The other is a later form, and it gives at length the details\nof the ceremony, one of the longest prayers describing the king as raised\nto the royal throne of the Angles and Saxons. But, curiously enough,\nwe learn the most interesting parts of the ceremony of crowning an\nAnglo-Saxon king, not from this manuscript, but from three manuscripts\nof the form for the coronation of a king of the French. The first of\nthese to be mentioned is a manuscript form of an Abbat of Corbie. In it\nwe find the prayer for \u201cThis thy servant whom with suppliant devotion we\nelect equally to the kingdom of the whole of Albion, that is to say, of\nthe Franks ... That he may nourish and teach the Church of the whole of\nAlbion, with the peoples committed to his charge\u201d. Here it would appear\nthat a marginal note had been added to the Anglo-Saxon form at the first\nmention of \u201cAlbion\u201d, \u201cthat is to say, of the Franks,\u201d and has afterwards\nbeen incorporated in one place and not in the other. The \u201celect equally\u201d\nindicates that the form was used for an Anglo-Saxon king who claimed to\nbe king of the whole land, while yet the old division into three main\nnations was fresh in mind.[235] It is a further evidence in favour of\nthis being an Anglo-Saxon form, that the only saint mentioned besides the\nBlessed Virgin and St. Peter is \u201cHoly Gregory, Apostolic of the Angles\u201d.\nIn the preparation of the Sens Order, to be mentioned later, this flaw\nhad been discovered, and St. Denys and St. Remy put in the place of St.\nGregory.\n\nIn a manuscript in the National Library of Paris, we have a second Order\nfor the Coronation of a King of the Franks, which is indubitably an\nAnglo-Saxon Order. The following phrases occur: \u201cThis thy servant whom\nwith suppliant devotion we elect equally ... That the sceptre desert\nnot the royal throne, that is to say, of the Saxons, Mercians, and\nNorthumbrians (Nordanchimbrorum) ... That supported by the due subjection\nof both of these peoples...\u201d\n\nIn a third Order for the Coronation of French Kings, from the Pontifical\nof the illustrious Church of Sens, we find the prayer \u201cthat the sceptre\ndesert not the royal throne, that is to say, of the Saxons, Mercians, and\nNorthumbrians (Nordan Cymbrorum)\u201d, and \u201cthat the king, supported by the\ndue subjection of both these peoples....\u201d\n\nIt may be added that the French Benedictional of Archbishop Robert, now\nat Rouen, has the form \u201cAngles and Saxons\u201d. So late as 1364 Charles V\nof France was crowned with a form which named the throne as that of the\nSaxons, Mercians, and Northchimbrians; while at the same time the peers\nof Guienne swore to protect him against the king of England, his people,\nand allies.[236]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\n Examples of Alcuin\u2019s style in his letters, allusive,\n jocose, playful.\u2014The perils of the Alps.\u2014The vision of\n Drithelme.\u2014Letters to Arno.\u2014Bacchus and Cupid.\n\n\nA letter written by Alcuin in September, 799, may be taken as an extreme\nexample of his allusive style. A good deal of interpretation is needed\nbefore the letter can be understood; it is a collection of riddles.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 121. A.D. 799.]\n\nThe opening sentence runs thus: \u201cThe first letter to the first, and the\nfifteenth to the sixth. The number consecrated in steps to the number\nperfect in the works of God.\u201d\n\nThe first letter is A, and thus the first words mean A(lcuin) to\nA(dalhard), Abbat of Corbie, or Arno, Archbishop of Salzburg; but\ninasmuch as A is described in the letter as _gallus monasticus_, and Arno\nwas Aquila, we must understand that the Abbat of Corbie is meant. No\nother known A satisfies the conditions. The fifteenth letter is P, the\nsixth is F, and therefore we have P(ater) F(ilio), the father to the son.\nThe Psalms of Degrees are fifteen, the day of completion of the works of\nGod in creation was the sixth, and therefore the concluding words are\nonly a repetition of \u201cfather to son\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhy does that brother come with empty hands? In his tongue he brought a\n_Hail!_ to my ears; in his hands he brought nothing to my eyes. Thou who\nart seated at a dividing of the ways [Corbie], why hast thou demanded\nnothing certain of him who dwelleth in Maresa? The crows fly about the\nroofs of the houses and cry out; and the dove, nourished on the pavements\nof the church, is silent. I should have trusted that dove had he said\nanything about the eagle [Leo III] which lately deserted the roofs of the\ncitadel of Rome to drink at the fountains of the Saxon land [the Pope had\ncome to Paderborn] to see the lion [Karl]; or if our blackbird, flying\nbetween them, had demanded of the monastic cock [Adalhard] who rouses the\nbrethren to their matin watch, that by means of him the sparrow [Alcuin]\nsitting alone upon the house top might know what is the convention\nbetween the lion and the eagle; and if the youth of the eagle, as the\npsalmist prophesies, is renewed[237] to pristine gladness; and if new\ndwellings grow up in the marshes of perfidy that were cleansed[238]; and\nif the lion, in pursuit of the ibex, meditates crossing the heights of\nthe Alps.\n\n\u201cThe sparrow hath his ears open. But I see that the proverbial wolf [this\nis said to mean the devil] in the fable[239] has taken away the cock\u2019s\nvoice; lest it happen that if he crowed, the apostolic denial[240]\nshould be renewed in the city of his former power, and the last error be\nworse than the first.\n\n\u201cWhy has love sinned, which has not seen _Vale_ [fare thee well] written,\nwhile I hear that the partridges [messengers], running across the fields,\nhave come to the dwelling [Corbie] of the cock. Perfect love driveth away\nfear. Perfect love with the sparkling pupils of the eyes sees everything,\nand with the clear intuition of piety will always find a fixed rule of\nwholesome counsel. It would seem that the cock is turned into a cuckoo,\nwhich is silent when the sun ascends into the summer constellation of the\ncrab, while the nest-making sparrow at every season alike twitters on the\nsmoky roofs.[241]\n\n\u201cThat sparrow now in this September month flies to revisit his beloved\nnest[242], that he may feed his young[243], gaping with hungry beaks,\nwith little grains of piety: desiring that some time on the banks of this\nriver Loire, rich in fish, he may hear the voice of the cock sounding\nforth the _Vale_, and that he who with flapping of his wings rouses\nhimself to matutinal melodies may come and exhort the sparrow in the\nmidst of his young.\u201d\n\nAt this point the letter changes its character, and we need not follow it\nfurther.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 16. A.D. 790.]\n\nThus Alcuin could write a jocose letter, even quoting Scripture in that\nvein. Let us see another. He was detained in Britain at the end of the\nyear 790 by an unexpected event, of which mention has already more than\nonce been made. Ethelred, the king of Northumbria, had been deposed and\nkept in prison till the end of 790. Alcuin wrote to his pupil Joseph, in\nGaul, to tell him that Ethelred had passed from prison to throne, from\nmisery to majesty; and things were so unsettled that he did not like to\nleave for France. He was evidently not well supplied with money, food,\nor clothing. He begged Joseph to send him what was necessary for the\nsea voyage; also five pounds weight of silver which he had sent to his\ncharge, and another five from his possessions in France; three garments,\nof goat-skin and of wool for the use of his attendants, lay and clerical,\nand of linen for his own use; also black and red cloaks of goat skin,\nif he could find such, and many pigments of sulphur and colours for\npictures. Then he turns to the question of meat and drink. Quoting 2\nKings iv. 40, he exclaims, \u201c\u2018O, thou man of God, there is death in the\npot\u2019, for [again quoting, from 1 Sam. ix. 7, and putting wine in place of\nbread] the wine \u2018is spent in our vessels\u2019: and [he adds] the acid beer of\nthese parts makes havoc in our stomachs.\u201d\n\nHere is another example of his playfulness and lightness of touch.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 9. A.D. 783-6.]\n\n\u201cTo the most illustrious man Flavius Damoeta Albinus sends abundant\ngreeting of perpetual peace.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 12.]\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 101.]\n\nThis was Riculfus, Archbishop of Mainz, whom in another letter he\naddresses as the great fisherman, probably because of piscatorial rights\nwhich he naturally had as a riparian proprietor. Alcuin himself\u2014we may\nnote\u2014was a fisherman. He writes to Arno in 798, from Tours, that he does\nnot know in which of two places he will be the next month, but whichever\nit was it would find him fishing. \u201cI know not whether I shall play the\ndiver on the banks of the Meuse and catch fish, or float on the waters\nof the Loire and catch salmon.\u201d There are salmon now both in the Meuse\nand in the Loire; but the phrases in Alcuin\u2019s letter seem to point to\nbottom-fishing on the Meuse and surface-fishing on the Loire. Alcuin\nlearned to fish on the Ouse at York, of which he writes, as we have seen\nabove[244], \u201cHanc piscosa suis undis interluit Usa.\u201d We must return to\nLetter 9.\n\n\u201cI greatly rejoice in your welfare, and am much delighted with your\nloving present, sending you as many thanks as I have counted teeth in\nyour gift. It is a wonderful animal, with two heads, and with sixty\nteeth, not of elephantine size but of the beauty of ivory. I am not\nterrified by the horror of this beast, but delighted by its appearance; I\nhave no fear of its biting me with gnashing teeth. I am pleased with its\nfawning caresses, which smooth the hair of my head. I see not ferocity in\nits teeth; I see only the love of the sender.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Carmen ccxix, ed. Quercet.]\n\nAlcuin afterwards made this ivory comb the subject of a poetic riddle:\u2014\n\n A beast has sudden come to this my house,\n A beast of wonder, who two heads has got,\n And yet the beast has only one jaw-bone.\n Twice three times ten of horrid teeth it has.\n Its food grows always on this body of mine,\n Not flesh, not fruit. It eats not with its teeth,\n Drinks not. Its open mouth shows no decay.\n Tell me, Damoeta dear, what beast is this?\n\nWe can imagine the beauty of this ivory comb, with one row of sixty\nteeth,[245] the solid piece at the top being ornamented with a lion\u2019s\nhead at each end looking outwards. A hundred years later, the comb, if\nmade in Northumbria, might have had a ridged top, with two bears\u2019 heads,\nthe muzzles looking inwards. It was, no doubt, this beautiful comb that\nplayed a large part in the miracles wrought by Alcuin after his death, as\ndescribed at page 49.\n\nConsidering the frequent passings to and fro across the Alps in Alcuin\u2019s\ntime by Karl, and, indeed, by Alcuin himself, and the coming and going\nbetween Salzburg, Arno\u2019s see, and Gaul, we should have expected more\nreference to the hardships of the way than we find in the letters of\nAlcuin.\n\nIn writing to Remedius or Remigius, the Bishop of Chur, or Coire, a place\nvery well known now, he makes no reference to any difficulty in reaching\nthe city. It was, as we know, a place of considerable importance, and it\npossesses to this day some very interesting Carolingian charters. The\nonly local allusion which Alcuin makes in his various letters to Remedius\ninforms us of the heavy tolls charged by those who held the passes, a\nmatter about which our King Canute spoke so strongly to the Pope.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 213.]\n\n\u201cBy this letter I commend to your fatherly protection this merchant of\nours, who is conveying merchandise to Italy. Let him have safe passage\nover the roads of your land in going and in returning. And in the defiles\nof the mountains let him not be troubled by your officers of custom, but\nby the freedom of your charity let him have free passage.\u201d\n\nThe inconsiderable references which we do find to the difficulties of the\nway come chiefly in the addresses of his letters. Thus he addresses a\nletter to Arno, Archbishop of Salzburg, in these words:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 91.]\n\n\u201cTo the eagle that flies across the Alps; goes swiftly over the plains;\nstalks through the cities; a humble inhabitant of the earth sends\ngreeting.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 129.]\n\n\u201cTo Paulinus, Patriarch of Aquileia.\n\n\u201cFour friends send greeting across the waters of the Alps in a ship laden\nwith love.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 200.]\n\n\u201cTo Peter, Archbishop of Milan.\n\n\u201cO that I had the wings of an eagle, that I might fly across the heights\nof the Alps swifter than the winds.\u201d\n\nIn his _Life of Willibrord_,[246] cap. xxxii, he says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Alps of St. Maurice are exalted more felicitously by the blood of\nthe Theban saints than by the height of their snows.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 151.]\n\nTo Arno.\n\n\u201cTo my father, of most sweet love, the eagle prelate, a swan from across\nthe sea sends wishes for perpetual health with the pen-feathers of holy\naffection.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 134.]\n\nTo Arno.\n\n\u201cTo the eagle, of all the birds of the Alpine heights most dear, Albinus\nsends greeting.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 126.]\n\nTo Arno.\n\n\u201cA love which neither the cold of the Alps nor the heat of Italy can\noverthrow.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 101.]\n\nTo Arno.\n\n\u201cI long to hear when the eagle, flying high, transcends the summits of\nthe Alps, and, wearied with flight, composes its wings in the parts of\nRhetia.\u201d\n\nIt will have been noticed that most of these are addressed to the Tyrol.\nIt may be remarked that there are traditions of the presence of Karl in\nthe far east of the Alps, especially in a valley about twenty miles due\nwest of the city of Trent. Mr. D. W. Freshfield has printed[247] the long\nLatin inscription which gives an explanation of frescoes in the Church of\nSan Stefano in Val Rendena, showing Karl and a Pope baptizing heathen.\nThe inscription credits the district with having been full, in Karl\u2019s\ntime, of castles held by pagan lords or by Jews, who were converted or\nslain.\n\nWe have an interesting evidence of the sufferings endured in crossing the\nAlps in the later Anglo-Saxon times. It is well known that persons who\ngranted charters of lands, under conditions, invoked desperate penalties\non the heads of any who should attempt to alienate the lands or trifle\nwith the conditions. In the reigns of Athelstane and Eadmund, under\ndates ranging from A.D. 938 to 946, a West Saxon scribe produced and\nemployed frequently a new form and idea of curse. He made the royal and\narchiepiscopal signatories indulge in the pious and fervent wish that any\none who endeavoured to violate the gift set forth in the charter might\nsuffer from the cold blasts of the ice-fields and the pennine host of\nmalignant spirits[248].\n\nWilliam of Malmesbury relates[249] the death of an Archbishop of\nCanterbury from cold in the passage of the Alps. When Odo died in 959,\nAelfsin, the Bishop of Winchester, bought the archbishopric and behaved\nwith mad violence. He stamped on the grave of Odo, addressing him as\n\u201cworst of old men\u201d, taunting him that he had got his desire (which Odo\nhad always opposed), namely, the succession to the archbishopric. That\nnight the departed Odo appeared to him in a dream and warned him of a\nspeedy end. Aelfsin disregarded the warning, and set off to Rome for the\npallium. On the way across the Alps he was overcome with cold. His feet\nwere frost-bitten, and there was no remedy but to put them into the warm\ncarcasses of disembowelled horses, these feet with which he had done\nviolence to the grave of Odo. Even so he could not get warm, and he was\nfrozen to death. His death made way for Dunstan, and he is not reckoned\namong the archbishops.\n\nThe misery of extreme cold was a familiar fact to the Northumbrians\nafter the experiences of Benedict Biscop and others in crossing the Alps.\nIt is brought out in a very graphic way in the description which Bede\ngives of the trance of one Drithelme[250], who had appeared to be dead\nfor six hours. Among other remarkable visions of the other world, he came\nin his trance to a valley, on one side of which was piercing cold, and on\nthe other unquenchable fire. The unhappy souls, tortured in the biting\ncold, leaped madly across for warmth into the flames. Then, scorched in\nthe fearful heat, they sprang back again for coolness into the torturing\ncold. In that continual alternation of tortures their time was spent.\nDrithelme was wont ever after, in beating down his animal passions, to\nstand up to his neck in the river, even in winter with broken masses of\nice dashing against him. And when one called to him from the bank, \u201cI\nwonder, brother Drithelme, that you endure such cold,\u201d he would reply,\n\u201cI, at least, have seen worse cold than this.\u201d\n\nHere is a peep behind the scenes in connexion with the morals of a Pope,\nand an example of wisdom in burning letters that ought not to see the\nlight. Alcuin is writing to Arno.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 127. A.D. 799.]\n\n\u201cYou were the third cause of my [proposed] journey. The first was that\nof the churches of Christ. The second was that of the lord king, because\nmourning in tears I left him; my desire being to inscribe on my soul a\nperpetual memory of the joy of his presence. The third was the longing\nto see the most sweet face of your dearness. But I am prevented from\naccomplishing that which I have strongly wished to accomplish. It will\ncome to pass through your holy prayers, if it do but please Him without\nwhom nothing good can be done.\n\n\u201cYour former letter[251], which reached us under your name, contained\nsome complaints about the manner of life of the apostolic[252] and about\nthe danger you were in when with him by reason of the Romans. Your clerk\nBaldric, as I suppose, brought it, bringing also a cope stitched together\nin the Roman fashion, a vestment of linen and wool. As I did not wish\nthat your letter should fall into other hands, Candidus alone read it\nwith me; and then I put it in the fire, lest any scandal should arise\nthrough carelessness on the part of the keeper of my papers....\n\n\u201cI would gladly write more, but the runner has your orders to get back\nquickly.\u201d\n\nNothing could exceed the affectionateness of Alcuin\u2019s letters to Arno,\nthe Archbishop of Salzburg, to whose care in preserving the letters\naddressed to him we owe so much. Arno\u2019s name recalled to Alcuin\u2019s mind\nthe early days when he saw hovering in the Yorkshire skies the great\neagles that gave their Anglian name of _earn_ (_arn_) to Arncliffe and\nother places. He always thought of him as the Arn, addressed him as the\nAquila, the eagle.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 108. A.D. 798.]\n\n\u201cTo the Eagle, most noble of birds, the Goose, with strident voice, sends\ngreeting.\n\n\u201cWhen I heard of you as winging your way from transalpine hills to your\nnest of sweetest quiet, a great repose shone suddenly forth upon my mind\nanxious on your account. My mind flew back, as from crashing storms, to\na haven of placid peace. For love is wont to be joyful in prosperity\nand oppressed in adversity. Thus it is that the voice of the bride,\nbewailing the absence of the longed-for spouse, cries \u2018I am wounded with\nlove\u2019.[253] For both are true: your love wounds, and it heals. One part\nof the wound inflicted by love remains an open sore, your longed-for\nface has not yet beamed upon the eyes of your lover. The anxiety of not\nknowing that you were well has been removed from my mind, but the hunger\nof the eyes is not yet appeased by the sight of your countenance. This\nSorrow we trust may very soon be taken away, by the ministry of that\ngrace which has deigned to remove the anxiety of mind by the arrival of\nyour letters; and then he who desires both health and vision will be full\nof joy in the arrival of yourself.\n\n\u201cYou have written to me of the religious life and justness of the lord\napostolic[254], what great and unjust trials he suffers at the hands\nof the children of discord. I confess that I glow with great joy that\nthe father of the churches sets himself about the service of God with\npious and faithful mind, without guile. No wonder that justice suffers\npersecution in his person at the hands of evil men, when in our Chief,\nthe fount of all goodness and justice, the God Christ, justice suffered\npersecution even unto death.\u201d\n\nAfter referring sympathetically to Arno\u2019s complaints that his life has\nbeen a very unquiet one of late, by reason of much travelling, Alcuin\ncontinues:\u2014\n\n\u201cThere is one journey upon which I wish that you would enter. Would that\nI could see you praying in the venerable temple of blessed Martin our\nprotector, that thy supplication and ours might restore my strength, that\nby Christ\u2019s mercy the pious consolation of love might advance us both\non the way of perpetual beatitude. How this may come about, let your\nprovidence consider. If the opportunity of the present year does not\ngrant to us our will, by reason of the hindrance of affairs, may we meet\nin quiet times and at a quiet season, after Easter of next year, at St.\nAmand[255]. The frequent infirmity of my poor little body would make a\nlong journey very fatiguing to me in the storms of winter.\u201d\n\nArno could himself write a genial and affectionate letter. One of his\nletters to the Cuckoo[256] has been preserved:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 287.]\n\n\u201c_Kartula dic: Cuculus valeat per saecula nostra._ To the very dear bird\nthe Cuckoo the Eagle sends greeting.\n\n\u201cBe mindful of thyself and of me. Do what I have enjoined, accomplish\nwhat you have promised. Be gentle and true to our father [Alcuin],\nobedient and devoted to God. Love Him who has raised thee from the mire\nand set thee to stand before princes. Stand like a man against your\nadversary; go higher, never lower; advance, never fall back....\n\n\u201cI have dipped my pen in love to write this letter. Rise, rise, most\npleasing bird. The winter is passing away; the rains have gone; the\nflowers are showing on the earth; the time of song has come. Let your\nfriends\u2014that is, the angelic dignities\u2014hear your voice. Your voice is\nsweet to them, may your appearance be fair in the eyes of the Lord thy\nGod, who desires your presence.\u201d\n\nThe Cuckoo\u2019s enemy, against whom he was to fight manfully, was drink.\nHe was evidently a very sweet and sympathetic singer at the frequent\nfeasts,[257] and was not sufficiently careful in respect of strong drink.\nAlcuin\u2019s Carmen 277 mourns in forty-eight lines the absence of the\nCuckoo, gone they did not know where. Some of the lines are significant:\n\u201cAh me! if Bacchus has sunk him in that pestiferous vortex!\u201d And again:\n\u201cAlas! that impious Bacchus, I suppose, is entertaining him, Bacchus who\ndesires to subvert all hearts. Weep for the Cuckoo, weep all for the\nCuckoo. He left us in triumph, in tears he will return. Would that we had\nthe Cuckoo, even in tears; for then with the Cuckoo we could weep.\u201d\n\nThough himself a judge of wine, with a decided preference for good and\nripe wine, Alcuin was a determined advocate for strict temperance.\nTotal abstinence was not his idea of temperance. Of another temptation\nof the physical senses he says surprisingly little; indeed, he hardly\never refers to it. In Carmen 260, _To his brothers of York_, a poem\nwith a charming description of spring in its opening verses, he gives\nto the younger brethren a very direct warning on both of these physical\ntemptations[258]:\u2014\n\n\u201cLet not the tipsy Bacchus cast his fetters upon you, nor, noxious, wipe\nout the lessons engraved on your minds. Nor let that wicked Cretan boy,\narmed with piercing darts, drive you from the citadel of safety.\u201d\n\nThe conversion of Arno into Aquila was very natural to a Yorkshireman.\nIn several cases we can only guess at the Teutonic names which Alcuin\ntranslated into Latin; for example, Gallicellulus (Ep. 260). In two\ncases, at least, he translates into Greek. Cambridge men who remember\nwith much affection their private tutor in Mathematics, William Walton,\nwill remember his skill in thus rendering names; his Prosgennades still\nsurvives, known to the world as Atkinson. With Alcuin, Hechstan becomes\nAltapetra. The abbess Adaula evidently had a Teutonic name. Anthropos was\nhis friend Monna. Stratocles had some such name as Heribercht. Epistle\n282 is addressed, very near the end of his life, \u201cto my best-loved\nfriends in Christ, brother and son, Anthropos and Stratocles, the humble\nlevite Alchuine sends greeting.\u201d Epistle 283, of the same late date,\nis addressed \u201cto my dearest son Altapetra, the levite Albinus sends\ngreeting\u201d. In the course of this letter to Hechstan, Alcuin sends\ngreetings and requests for prayers to two friends whose names would not\nfall very easily into Latin, Scaest and Baegnod, the latter a common\nAnglo-Saxon name, usually in the form Beagnoth, with the final _d_\naspirated. It occurs in runes on a knife in the British Museum, and is\nfound in Kent and Wessex.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\n Grammatical questions submitted to Alcuin by Karl.\u2014Alcuin and\n Eginhart.\u2014Eginhart\u2019s description of Charlemagne.\u2014Alcuin\u2019s\n interest in missions.\u2014The premature exaction of\n tithes.\u2014Charlemagne\u2019s elephant Abulabaz.\u2014Figures of\n elephants in silk stuffs.\u2014Earliest examples of French and\n German.\u2014Boniface\u2019s _Abrenuntiatio Diaboli_.\u2014Early Saxon.\u2014The\n earliest examples of Anglo-Saxon prose and verse.\n\n\nIn many of Alcuin\u2019s letters we find answers or allusions to questions\naddressed to him by Karl. In Epistle 253 Alcuin writes twelve paragraphs\nto the emperor in answer to twelve questions. In Epistle 252 he writes\nto Homer (Angilbert), who has been commanded by the emperor to consult\nhim on the gender of the word _rubus_ and on the difference in meaning\nof _despicere_ and _dispicere_. In regard to _rubus_, he sums up a long\nlist of authorities on both sides by the correct remark that a bramble\nmust not be counted as a tree, and therefore _rubus_ follows the ordinary\nrule of words ending in _us_ and is masculine. On the difference between\n_despicere_ and _dispicere_ he has much to write, and in the course of\nhis letter he makes free use of quotations from the Greek. From Epistle\n254 we find that Charlemagne had inquired, through Candidus, as to\nthe distinction between _aeternum_ and _sempiternum_; _perpetuum_ and\n_inmortale_; _saeculum_, _aevum_, and _tempus_. In Epistle 240, a very\nlong letter, he writes to the emperor in reply to his inquiry as to the\nforce of a question put by the Greek master\u2014an Athenian sophist\u2014about the\nprice of human salvation.\n\nConsidering the large part which the annalist Eginhart played in the\nadministrative work of Charlemagne\u2019s reign, as secretary to the king\nand emperor, it is remarkable that we find only one reference to him in\nAlcuin\u2019s letters. This one reference is affectionate in tone, and gives\nno reason at all for supposing that Alcuin was jealous of the quick and\nskilful secretary. The reference occurs in Ep. 112, A.D. 799, a letter\naddressed to Karl by Alcuin. The letter itself is of so interesting a\ncharacter that the opportunity of giving it in its entirety should not be\nlost. From its contents we gather that Alcuin had sent to Karl a treatise\nwhich he had hastily dictated and had not read over and corrected. Karl\nhad noted errors in the writing and punctuation, and had sent it back to\nbe corrected, a charming piece of discipline which raises Karl higher\nthan ever in our appreciative regard.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 112. A.D. 799.]\n\n\u201cTo the most pious and excellent lord king David, Flaccus wounded[259]\nwith the pen of love sends greeting.\n\n\u201cWe give thanks to your venerable piety that you have caused to be read\nto the ears of your wisdom the booklet sent to you in accordance with the\ninjunction of your command; and that you have had errors in it noted, and\nhave sent it back for correction. It would, however, have been better\ncorrected by yourself, because in any work the judgement of another is\nmost frequently of more value than that of the actual author.\n\n\u201cYou have done somewhat less than the full office of love demanded, in\nthat you have not in like manner noted opinions not learnedly set forth\nor catholically worked out. I have a suspicion that your letter indicates\nthat not all which is written in my booklet has your approval. For you\nhave directed a defence of the work to be sent to your excellency,\nwhereas my poor words could have no defender or emender better than\nyourself. The authority of him who commands should defend the work of him\nwho obeys.\n\n\u201cThat the booklet does not run so scholarly in letter and punctuation as\nthe order and rule of the art of grammar demands is no unusual effect of\nrapidity of thought, while the mind of the reader forestalls the action\nof the eyes. Wearied with a bad headache I cannot examine the words which\nflow by a sudden rush from my mouth as I dictate; and one who is not\nwilling to impute to himself the negligence of another should not impute\nnegligence to another.\n\n\u201cThe account of the disputation of Felix with a Saracen I have not seen,\nnor can we find it here; indeed I never heard of it before. But in the\ncourse of very diligent inquiry whether any of our people have heard of\nits existence, I have been told that it might be found with Laidrad the\nBishop of Lyon. I have at once sent a messenger to the said bishop in\norder that if it can be found there it may be sent as quickly as possible\nto your presence.\n\n\u201cWhen I went as a young man to Rome, and spent some days in the royal\ncity of Pavia, a certain Jew, Lullus by name, had a disputation with\nMaster Peter, and I heard in the same city that there was a written\nrecord of the controversy. This was the same Peter who with such\nclearness taught grammar in your palace[260]. Perhaps our Homer[261] has\nheard something about it from him.\n\n\u201cI have sent to your excellency some modes of expression, supported by\nexamples or verses from venerable fathers, and also some figures of\narithmetical subtlety for your amusement, on the blank part of the paper\nwhich you have sent to us; in order that what offered itself to our eye\nnaked may come back to you clothed. It seemed right that paper which\ncame to us ennobled by your seal should receive honour from our letters.\nAnd if any of the said forms of expression are inadequately supported by\nexamples, Beselel[262] your familiar\u2014yea and ours too\u2014will be able to add\nothers. He can also make out the arithmetical puzzles.\n\n\u201cThe major and minor distinctions of punctuation add greatly to the\nbeauty of sentences; but the use of them has been almost lost by the\nrusticity of our scribes. Now that the beauty of all wisdom and the\nornament of salutary learning is beginning to be renewed by the exertions\nof your nobility, so there is good hope that the use of punctuation is to\nbe restored in the hands of scribes.\n\n\u201cI for my part, though little proficient, fight daily against rusticity\nat Tours. Let your authority teach the palace youths to produce in the\nmost elegant manner whatsoever your most lucid eloquence shall have\ndictated, that documents which circulate in the name of the king may bear\non their face the nobility of the royal wisdom.\u201d\n\nThat appears to be the only case in which Eginhart is spoken of by\nAlcuin. Curiously enough, it appears that Alcuin is only once spoken of\nby Eginhart. We might have expected some mention of Alcuin in Eginhart\u2019s\nstatement of Karl\u2019s fondness for foreigners[263]. The remarkable passage\nin which Eginhart mentions Alcuin forms chapter 25 of the _Vita Caroli\nMagni_, coming in the course of this fine description of a man clearly\nworthy to be called Great:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn eloquence he was copious and exuberant; whatever he wished to express\nhe could express in the clearest manner. Nor was he content to speak only\nin his native tongue; he worked hard at learning foreign tongues. Latin\nhe had learned so well that he was wont to pray in that tongue equally\nwith his own. Greek he understood better than he spoke. He was so able\nin speech that he appeared as a teacher. He cultivated most studiously\nthe liberal arts, and exceedingly respected and greatly honoured those\nwho taught them. In learning grammar he heard the aged Peter of Pisa,\na deacon. In other studies he had as his preceptor Albinus, whose\ncognomen was Alcuin, also a deacon, of the Saxon race, from Britain, a\nman most learned. With him he spent much time and labour on rhetoric\nand dialectic, and especially on the study of astronomy. He learned the\nart of computation, and with much sagacity he scrutinized most closely\nthe courses of the stars. He made efforts, too, to become a scribe, for\nwhich purpose he used to have tablets and specimens carried about under\nthe pillows of his bed, that he might practise his hand in writing when\nhe had any spare time; but he did not make much way with a task begun so\nlate in his life.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 13. A.D. 789.]\n\nIt would have been strange if Alcuin had not taken special interest in\nthe spread of Christianity among the pagan races on the eastern borders\nof the kingdom of Karl. Our West-Saxon Boniface had made such a mark,\nby himself and by his Malmesbury monks Lull and Burchardt and others,\nand his Wimborne nuns and _magistrae_, that Alcuin found familiar names\nin many parts of the eastern and north-eastern fringe, and made many\ninquiries about the progress of the work. In one of the earliest of his\nletters which have been preserved, he addresses an abbat who had gone\nto visit the Bishop of Bremen. \u201cSalute a thousand times my best loved\nbishop Uilhaed. It sorely grieves me that I have parted from him. Would\nthat I could see him.\u201d This was our own Northumbrian Angle Willehad,\nborn in 730, five years before Alcuin, and no doubt his school-fellow.\nHe had narrowly escaped martyrdom, and had bent before the storm; but he\nreturned to the scene of his dangerous labours, and Karl caused him to\nbe consecrated at Worms first bishop of Bremen on July 13, 787. He built\nhis cathedral church at Bremen, and consecrated it on November 1, 789;\non November 8 he died of fever at Blexen, close by. In this letter Alcuin\ncharges the abbat\u2014\n\n\u201cInform me by letter how far the Saxons fall in with your preaching, and\nif there is any hope of the conversion of the Danes, and if the Wilts and\nVionuds[264], whom the king has recently[265] acquired, accept the faith\nof Christ, and what is going on in those parts, and what the lord king\nintends to do about the Huns[266].\u201d\n\nIn a letter to Colcu[267], in the beginning of the next year, he says:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 14. A.D. 790.]\n\n\u201cLet your dilection know that by the mercy of God the holy Church in\nthe parts of Europe has peace, advances, grows. The Old Saxons and the\nFrisians have been converted to the faith of Christ at the instance of\nKarl, some by rewards, some by threats. Last year the said king with a\ngreat host attacked the Sclaves, whom we called Vionuds, and brought them\ninto subjection.\n\n\u201cFurther, the dukes and tribunes of the same most Christian king have\ntaken from the Saracens a large part of Spain, with a coast line three\nhundred miles in length. But\u2014ah the grief!\u2014those same accursed Saracens\nare dominant over the whole of Africa and the greatest part of Asia.\u201d\n\nTo Higbald of Lindisfarne, in the letter given at page 132, he writes:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 24. A.D. 793.]\n\n\u201cAlmost the whole of Europe was destroyed by the fire and the sword of\nthe Goths or the Huns. But now, by the mercy of God, as the sky shines\nbright with stars so Europe shines with the ornament of churches, and in\nthem the offices of the Christian religion flourish and increase.\u201d\n\nWriting to his most intimate friend Arno, Archbishop of Salzburg, who was\nabout to accompany an army against the Avars, Alcuin warns him against\nthe premature imposition of tithes:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 64. post Mai. 796.]\n\n\u201cBe a preacher of piety, not an exactor of tithes; for the freshly\nconverted soul is to be fed with the milk of apostolical piety until it\ngrows, strengthens, and becomes strong enough to receive solid food.\nTithes, it is said, have subverted the faith of the Saxons. Why should\nwe place on the neck of the ignorant a yoke which neither we nor our\nbrethren have been able to bear?\u201d\n\nAgain, writing to Karl after the subjugation of the Huns, Alcuin says\nthis:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 67. post Aug. 796.]\n\n\u201cNow let your most wise and God-pleasing piety provide for the new people\npious preachers, of honest life, learned in sacred science, imbued with\nevangelical precepts, intent in their preaching on the examples of the\nholy Apostles, who were wont to minister milk\u2014that is, gentle precepts\u2014to\ntheir hearers who were beginners in the faith....\n\n\u201cThese things being thus considered, let your most holy piety take into\nwise consideration whether it is well to impose upon an ignorant race,\nat the beginning of the faith, the yoke of tithes, so that they shall\nbe fully exacted from house to house. It is worth considering whether\nthe Apostles, taught by the God Christ Himself, and sent to preach to\nthe world, required the exaction of tithes or anywhere demanded them. We\nknow that the tithing of our substance is a very good thing; but it is\nbetter to sacrifice the tithe than to lose the faith. And indeed we, born\nand brought up and taught in the Catholic faith, scarce consent to tithe\nto the full our substance; how much does feeble faith not consent to the\ngift of tithe, and the infant will, and the covetous mind. But when faith\nhas become strong, and the practice of Christianity is confirmed, then,\nas to perfect men, may stronger precepts be given, from which the mind,\nbecome solid in the Christian religion, may not recoil.\u201d\n\nHe then proceeds to urge that the adults of the conquered Huns shall\nnot be baptized until they have first been carefully taught, \u201clest the\nablution of sacred baptism of the body profit nothing.\u201d On this subject\nof the baptism of the Huns a long report is found in a tenth-century\ncollection of Alcuin\u2019s letters, written by Paulinus the Patriarch of\nAquileia, describing a discussion which took place at a meeting of\nbishops, or in the College of Bishops, summoned by King Pippin in the\nsummer of this year 796.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 69.]\n\nIn the autumn of 796, Alcuin again writes on the subject of tithes, this\ntime addressing his friend[268] Megenfrid, the treasurer of the palace,\nand dealing not with the Huns, but with the Saxons. Alcuin writes to him\nas to one of the principal advisers of Karl, enters fully into the oft\nrepeated argument about milk and strong meat, and arrives thus at his\npoint.\n\n\u201cIf the yoke easy and the burden light of Christ had been preached to\nthis most hard race, the Saxons, as carefully as the rendering of tithes\nwas required, and the legal penalties for the very smallest faults, it\nmay be that they would not have abhorred the sacraments of baptism. As to\nthose who are sent to teach them, _sint praedicatores non praedatores_,\nlet them preach, not prey.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 71.]\n\nIn another letter of that autumn, he sends full advice to Arno, the\nbishop of Salzburg, as to the manner of teaching the faith to the Huns.\nIn the course of this letter he reminds Arno that the wretched race of\nthe Saxons has repeatedly lost the sacrament of baptism, because it never\nhad in heart the foundation of the faith.\n\nIn the year 801 the news reached Charlemagne that one Isaac the Jew,\nwhom he had sent four years before to the King of Persia, was returning,\nbringing with him an elephant and many other presents. He had got as far\nas Fez. Special arrangements were made for bringing the elephant across\nthe sea, and he arrived at Spezzia in October, wintering at Vercelli\nbecause the Alps were already covered with snow. Eginhart thought the\narrival of the elephant at Aix-la-Chapelle to be of sufficient importance\nto have the precise day named, the only event thus honoured in a year\nrather full of events. It was the twentieth of July; and the elephant\u2019s\nname was Abulabaz. Under the year 810, another year full of important\nevents, Eginhart records that Charlemagne heard of a sudden and\nsuccessful raid of Northmen upon the Frisians; he set off in great haste,\nsummoned all his forces from all parts, crossed the Rhine at Lippenheim,\nand waited there a few days for the troops to assemble. He had taken\nhis favourite animal with him. While he was waiting, the elephant died\nsuddenly. See Appendix E.\n\nThe strange form of an elephant made it a frequent subject for the\nornamentation of silk and woollen robes. We hear of silk pallia thus\nadorned in Charlemagne\u2019s lifetime, and it is probable that in a stuff of\nthis kind his body was clothed in the grave at Aachen. Alcuin\u2019s great\npredecessor in learning, Aldhelm, had a chasuble of scarlet silk, wrought\nwith black scrolls containing the representations of peacocks,[269] and\nthis chasuble was preserved at Malmesbury in the time of William of\nMalmesbury, about 1140. The silk robes in which the body of St. Cuthbert\nwas wrapped were ornamented with large circular spaces containing men\non horseback with hawk and hound, and an island with trees, fishes, and\neider ducks.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VII\n\nElephant from the tomb of Charlemagne.\n\n_To face p. 290_]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VIII\n\nThe fringe of the robe from the Tomb of Charlemagne.\n\n_To face p. 291._]\n\nPlate VII shows one medallion of a piece of silk found on the body of\nCharlemagne when the grave was opened in the time of the present German\nEmperor. It is certainly not of Charlemagne\u2019s time. But it seems a fairly\nsafe guess to suppose that his well-known regard for his favourite beast\nAbulabaz, who died only four years before him, caused his son to have\nthe body wrapped in one of the robes decorated with elephants which we\nknow that he possessed; and that either in the year 1000, when Otho\nIII opened the tomb, or in 1166, under Barbarossa, when Charlemagne\nwas canonized, this piece of silk replaced the decayed robe originally\nburied there. We know of the two elephant-robes referred to from\nAnastasius[270], who gives an enormous list of the art works in gold\nand silver and silk and cloth of gold which were wrought for Leo III,\nCharlemagne\u2019s contemporary. One item is \u201ctwo robes of Syrian purple, with\nborders of cloth of gold wrought with elephants\u201d. These robes Leo gave to\nCharlemagne.\n\nWe can all but give the exact date of this remarkable Byzantine beast.\nThe inscription breaks off exactly where the date came. The Greek\ninscription worked in the stuff (Plate VIII) sets forth that it was\nmade \u201cunder Michael the great chamberlain and controller of the privy\npurse of the emperor, when Peter was the manager of Zeuxippos\u201d, i. e.\nthe Byzantine court factory in Negropont. Then comes the tantalizing\n_Indictionos_ (? B), and the date is lost.\n\nDreger, in his _Europ\u00e4ische Weberei und Stickerei_,[271] gives some early\nexamples of elephants in art. His Figure 37_b_ shows an archaic silver\nrelief of an elephant with a castle containing armed men. His Figure\n37_a_ shows a silk stuff of the seventh or eighth century, of Asiatic\nmanufacture, with circular medallions containing elephants, griffins and\nwinged horses, hippogryffs; and he remarks that \u201cthe elephant is one of\nthe most holy beasts of Buddhism\u201d. This silk stuff is shown in our Plate\nIX from a photograph of the original. A comparison of these elephants\nwith the elephant shown in Plate VIII makes it fairly clear that the\nCharlemagne stuff is later than the other, while in all of the details\nof the beast itself, ears, three toes, eye, trunk, they are exactly the\nsame. Each has a tree behind the elephant; but while the Charlemagne tree\nis a piece of stiff conventional work, the other is a natural tree with\nleaves and fruit, much resembling the vegetable ornamentation of some\nearly Egyptian stuffs. Another feature pointing in the same direction is\nthe thirty-two conventional patterns on the circular enclosing border.\nThese in the earlier piece are twenty-eight plain disks.\n\nThere is an example of sculptured elephants something like this one, but\nmuch more like the real beast, especially about the feet. The elephants\nare the legs of the ivory chair[272] of Urso, at Canossa; he was Bishop\nof Bari and Canossa 1078-89.\n\nSomething should be said about the language spoken by the people of\nFrance and Germany in the times with which we are dealing, the reference\nto a rustic tongue being not infrequent.\n\nIn the Council convened by Charlemagne at Tours in the year 813, equally\nrepresenting Eastern France and Western France, Austrasia and Neustria,\nGermany and the Galliae, the bishops in the Transalpine Empire were\nenjoined to be diligent in preaching, and to take care that their\ndiscourses should be rendered either into Romana Rustica or into\nTheotisc or Deutsch, that all might understand. It may be of interest\nto give the earliest specimens we have of these native languages.\nPhilologically, these examples are of the very highest importance.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IX\n\nSilk stuff of the seventh or eighth century.\n\n_To face p. 292._]\n\nIn 841, after the dreadful battle of Fontenai near V\u00e9zelay in Burgundy,\nwhere Charles-le-Chauve and Louis-le-Germanique combined against their\nbrother Lothar and their nephew Pepin and defeated them, they held a\nCongress at Strassburg to confirm their alliance.\n\nLouis and Charles each made announcement in Latin of the purpose of\ntheir agreement, and of their intention to take in public an oath each\nto other. That done, Louis, as the elder, first took the oath. Being\nthe ruler of the German portion of the empire, he took the oath in the\nlanguage of the Franks, the Romance tongue, Rustica Romana, in order that\nthe adherents of Charles might hear and understand his undertaking. These\nwere the words of his oath, probably read by a chancellor, for the Latin\naccount[273] says _haec se servaturum testatus est_:\u2014\n\n\u201cPro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, dist\ndi[274] in avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat[275], si salvarai\neo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in aiudha et in cadhuna[276] cosa, si cum\nom[277] per dreit[278] son fradra salvar dist, in o quid il mi altresi\nfazet[279]; et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai, qui meon vol[280]\ncist meon fradre Karle in damno sit.\u201d\n\nThen Charles said the same in the language of the Germans, the Teudisc or\nDeutsch tongue. The Latin account uses a different phrase here, _haec\neadem verba testatus est_.\n\n\u201cIn Godes minna ind in thes christianes folches ind unser bedhero\ngehaltnissi, fon thesemo dage frammordes, so fram so mir Got geuuizci\nindi mahd furgibit, so haldi thesan minan bruodher, soso man mit rehtu\nsinan bruodher scal, in thiu, thaz er mig so sama duo; indi mit Ludheren\nin nohheiniu thing ne gegango, the minan uuillon imo ce scadhen uuerdhen.\u201d\n\nThe peoples then swore an oath, each in their own, not the other\u2019s,\ntongue. The Frank people swore in the Romance language:\u2014\n\n\u201cSi Lodhuvigs sagrament, que son fradre Karlo iurat, conservat, et Karlus\nmeos sendra de suo part non los tanit, si io returnar non l\u2019int pois: ne\nio ne neuls, cui eo returnar int pois, in nulla aiudha contra Lodhuuuig\nnun li iv er.\u201d\n\nThe others then swore in the Teudisc language:\u2014\n\n\u201cOba Karl then eid, then er sinemo bruodher Ludhuuuige gesuor, geleistit,\nindi Ludhuuuige min herro then er imo gesuor forbrihchit, ob ih inan es\niruuenden ne mag: noh ih no thero nohhein, then ih es iruuenden mag,\nuuidhar Karle imo ce follusti ne uuirdhit.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: PLATE X\n\nThe _abrenuntiatio diaboli_ of Archbishop Boniface.\n\n_To face p. 295._]\n\nAn example of language nearly a hundred years earlier than this is found\nin the renunciation of the devil and the declaration of belief in God\nwhich our own Boniface required of his converts from paganism. The form\nis found attached to the decrees of a Council[281] held by Boniface,\nprobably in the year 743. It exists in a Vatican manuscript (Vat. Palat,\nnro. 577, fol. 6, 7), which Pertz and other scholars believe to be of\ncontemporary date. The form is of such extreme interest that I have had\nthat part of it which is at the foot of folio 6 photographed, by the kind\nhelp of a friend in the Vatican Library; see figure 10, the four lowest\nlines.\n\nThis is the form:\u2014\n\n\u201cForsachistu diobolae? Ec forsacho diabolae.\n\nEnd allum diobolgelde? End ec forsacho allum diobolgeldae.\n\nEnd allum dioboles uuercum? End ec forsacho allum dioboles uuercum and\nuuordum thunaer ende uuoden ende saxnote ende allum them unholdum the\nhira genotas sint.\n\nGelobistu in Got alamehtigen fadaer? Ec gelobo in Got alamechtigen fadaer.\n\nGelobistu in Crist Godes suno? Ec gelobo in Crist Godes suno.\n\nGelobistu in halogen Gast? Ec gelobo in halogen Gast.\u201d\n\nAn isolated piece of early \u201cSaxon\u201d is found in one of the letters\ncontained in vol. iii of the _Epistolae_ of the _Monumenta Germaniae\nHistorica_, the volume containing _Epistolae Mer\u00f2wingici et Karolini\nAevi_ (Berlin, 1892). The letter is No. 146 of the \u201cletters of Boniface\nand Lull\u201d. It is written by a poor and humble monk to a personage\ndescribed as _reverentissimus atque sanctissimus_, who would appear to\nhave had the reputation of not carrying out his purposes. The proverb\nlooks like the eighth century; Brandl thinks that it is pre-Christian.\nThe dialect is probably Northumbrian, varied by a West-Saxon or a German\nscribe.\n\n\u201cI hear of thee that thou proposest to make a journey: I exhort thee not\nto fail. Do what thou hast begun. Remember the Saxon saying\n\n Oft daedlata d\u00f4me foreldit\n Sigisitha gahuem suuyltit thi \u00e2na\u201d.\n\nThat is, Often the tardy man (deed-late) loses glory, some victory; thus\nhe dies solitary.\n\nThe suggested date of the letter is A.D. 757-786.\n\nMention was made on page 57 of the inscriptions which exist on the great\nshaft of a cross in the churchyard of Bewcastle in Cumberland. These\ninscriptions are the earliest extant pieces of English prose. They give\nthe names of the King of Mercia, Wulfhere, his queen and her sister, with\nthe date \u201cfirst year of Ecgfrith King of this realm\u201d, that is, A.D. 670.\nWe have another inscription dated in Ecgfrith\u2019s reign, that, namely, on\nthe dedication stone of the basilica of St. Paul at Jarrow, \u201cin the 15th\nyear of King Ecgfrith and the fourth year of Abbat Ceolfrid\u201d, so that\nthe manner of dating the Bewcastle cross was that usual at the time;\nthe Jarrow inscription is in Latin[282]. Plate XI shows a facsimile of\nall except the two top lines (which were beyond my reach) of the main\ninscription on the Bewcastle cross, a copy of which is given in a note\non page 57. The runes on Plate XI begin with the _gar_ of _Wothgar_, the\nsecond of the three persons who \u201cset up this slender token of victory in\nmemory of Alchfrith once King and son of Oswy\u201d, the half-brother of King\nEcgfrith; mention has been made of him on page 9.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XI\n\nRunes incised on the Bewcastle Cross.\n\n_To face p. 296._]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XII\n\nRunes incised on the Ruthwell Cross.\n\n_To face p. 297._]\n\nThe earliest pieces of English verse in existence in their original\nform are found on the Cross at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, a monument of\nequal magnificence with the Bewcastle Cross, and probably about fourteen\nyears later. King Ecgfrith was slain by the Picts in 685, and the Angles\nwere never dominant in the south-west of Scotland after his death. Plate\nXII shows a portion of the many runes on this great monument, which is\ndescribed at pages 235-254 of my little book on _Theodore and Wilfrith_.\nReading across the top and down the right side the runes are as follows:\u2014\n\n_Krist w\u00e6s on rodi hwethr\u00e6 ther fus\u00e6 fearran kwomu \u00e6ththil\u00e6 til anum ic\nth\u00e6t al bih[eald]._ Christ was on the cross, and there hastening from far\ncame they to the noble prince. I that all beh[eld].\n\nBeginning at the top again and reading down the left side, we have:\u2014\n\n_Mith strelum giwundad alegdun hi\u00e6 hin\u00e6 limwoerign\u00e6 gistoddun him (\u00e6t his\nlic\u00e6s heafdum)._ With missiles wounded, they laid Him down limb-weary,\nthey stood at His body\u2019s head.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\n Alcuin\u2019s latest days.\u2014His letters mention his ill health.\u2014His\n appeals for the prayers of friends, and of strangers.\u2014An\n affectionate letter to Charlemagne.\u2014The death scene.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 147. June 26, 800.]\n\nAlcuin\u2019s health began to break in the later part of the year 800, or\nearly in 801. In June, 800, he wrote a letter to Arno of Salzburg which\nshows that he had in the first days of the month travelled with Karl\nfrom Tours to Aix by way of Orleans and Paris, and after a debate with\nFelix the Adoptionist had returned to Tours. We do not find in this\nlong letter any mention of failing health. Indeed, he overflows with\naffectionateness, a feeling always displayed in his letters to Arno. \u201cI\nam sending to your dearness three little gifts; a tent to protect your\nvenerated head from the rain[283], a bed-cover to keep warm your sacred\nbreast, and a glass in which your bread may be dipped at table, that\nwhenever they are used they may bring to your sanctity a recollection of\nmy name.\u201d\n\nIn this letter he describes his debate with Felix.\n\n\u201cI have had a great dispute with the heretic Felix in presence of\nthe lord king and holy fathers. He was obdurate; would recognize the\nauthority of no one who took an opposite view; held himself to be wiser\nthan all in this, that he was more foolish than all. But the divine\nclemency touched his heart; he confessed that he had of late been carried\naway by a false opinion; he professed that he held firmly the Catholic\nfaith. We could not see into his mind, and we left the cause to the Judge\nof secret things. We handed him over to Laidrad [the Bishop of Lyon\n(798-814)] our dearest son, who is to keep him and see whether it is true\nthat he believes, and whether he will write letters condemning the heresy\nwhich he has preached. The king had intended to send him to Archbishop\nRiculf [of Maintz] to be kept and chastised; and his presbyter, who is\nworse than his master, was to be sent to you and your providence. But now\nthat they say they are converted to the Catholic faith, they have been\nhanded over to Laidrad, who is to test their sincerity.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 189. May, 802.]\n\nOn May 24, 801, Alcuin received a letter from Arno, Archbishop of\nSalzburg, at nine o\u2019clock in the morning, and the messenger told him he\nmust leave again at three in the afternoon. In the course of the six\nhours he dictated fourteen paragraphs in reply. One of these concerned\nhis health. \u201cMy Candidus has been able to tell you all about my weakness.\nIt is therefore superfluous to write on the subject, except to say that\nall bodily fitness has left me, and pleasures of the world have fled far\naway.\u201d\n\nThe interesting remark in this letter that the messenger from Salzburg to\nTours, a distance of some six hundred miles, must go back in six hours is\nnot the only interesting detail. We learn, also, that many letters were\nlost in the difficulties of the journey. The eyes of the Sassenach of\nto-day, who rides some forty miles in a Scottish mail-cart in Sutherland,\nand sees the letters shied out into kailyards and steadings, are opened\nto the possibilities of loss in primitive methods of letter-carrying. The\nadmirable arrangements of the early Roman empire, for conveyance of men\nand things, had been thrown into chaos long before Alcuin\u2019s time, and\nspecial messengers, or \u201crunners\u201d, were used by important people for the\ntransmission of letters.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 189. May, 802.]\n\n\u201cTo Arno. My devotedness is greatly grieved by the unfaithfulness of\nthose whom I have trusted with letters to you. Last year I sent to you on\nyour return from Italy two letters, and I also sent to you other two to\nmeet you on your arrival at the palace [Aachen]. I do not know that any\nof them reached your presence.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 193.]\n\nAlcuin wrote to the Emperor Charles in 802, or possibly in 803, begging\nthat he might be allowed to stay quietly at St. Martin\u2019s, Tours. \u201cI am so\nvery weak in body that I am unequal to any more travelling or labour. To\nspeak truth, all the fitness and strength of my body has left me; it has\ngone, and day by day will be further away; I fear it will never come back\nto me in this world.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 194.]\n\nAgain, writing to Arno in 802 or 803, he tells him how he longs to see\nhim at St. Martin\u2019s, \u201cnot for the sake of your black hair, but for your\nmost sweet eyes and lovable talk.\u201d Though bidden to the palace, where he\nwould have met him, his poor little body was too weak for the journey: he\ncould not go.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 196. A.D. 802-3.]\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 198. A.D. 802-3.]\n\nIn another letter to Arno he writes: \u201cI have been summoned to my lord\nDavid [Charlemagne], but my bodily weakness prevented my going: the will\nof God detained me.\u201d We have his letter of excuse to the emperor. He\nbegins with the simile of the aged soldier, unable not only to bear the\nweight of armour, but even to support his own body. Then he proceeds: \u201cTo\nspeak simply, let not the mind of my lord be inflamed against me for my\ndelay; I am not strong enough to come. A more favourable opportunity may\noccur.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 230.]\n\nHe became more than ever pressing in his entreaties that his friends\nwould pray for him. In seeking for the prayers of others we find him\nturning to a part of England of which we do not appear to have any other\nmention in his letters, namely, Norfolk and Suffolk, called then the\ndioceses of Elmham and Dunwich (see page 159). In like manner, and for a\nlike purpose, he wrote to the brethren of Candida Casa, i. e. Whithorn in\nGalloway, the following letter:\u2014\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 271. A.D. 804.]\n\n\u201cI pray the unanimity of your piety to have my name in memory. Deign to\nintercede for my littleness in the church of your most holy father Nynia\nthe bishop.\n\n\u201cHe shone bright with many virtues, as has recently been related to me by\na skilful poem which our faithful disciples the scholars of the church of\nYork have sent. In that poem I have discerned in that which I have read\nthere both the skill of the writer and the holiness of him who wrought\nthe miracles. Wherefore, I pray you, by your holy intercessions to\ncommend me to his prayers, that by the most holy prayers of the same your\nfather, and by the assiduous intercessions of your love, I may receive\npardon for my sins, by the mercy of the God Christ, and may come to the\ncommunion of saints who have bravely conquered the labours of the world,\nand have received the crown of perpetual praise.\n\n\u201cI send to the body of our holy father Nyniga (_sic_) a robe of whole\nsilk, that my name may be remembered, and that I may merit to have always\nthe pious intercession both of him and of you.\n\n\u201cMay Christ\u2019s right hand protect and rule you, brothers.\u201d\n\nHere is a very touching letter, which sets clearly before our eyes the\ndear affectionate old man\u2014old as men then counted age\u2014beaten at last by\nbodily weakness, while his heart was as loving as ever. It is addressed\nto \u201cthe most longed for lord David, most worthy of all honour.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 170. A.D. 801, early autumn.]\n\n\u201cDay by day, with hungry intentness of heart, my ears hanging on the\nwords of messengers, I wondered anxiously what they could tell me of my\nmost sweet lord David: when he would come home; when he would return to\nhis own land. At last, though late, the wished-for voice sounded in the\nears of my desire: \u2018He will soon come. He has already crossed the Alps,\nhe whose presence thou hast desired, O Albinus, with such fervour of\nmind.\u2019 And then I cried over and over again with tearful voice: \u2018O Lord\nJesu, why dost thou not give me the wings of an eagle? Why dost thou not\ngrant me the translation of the prophet Abacuc[284] for one day, or even\none hour, that I might embrace and kiss the steps of him my dearest one,\nand\u2014above all that can be loved in this world\u2014see the most clear eyes of\nmy sweetest one, and hear his most joyous words. And why dost thou, mine\nenemy of fever, oppress me at this inopportune time, and not permit me to\nhave my wonted alacrity of body, so that, though tardily, that might be\naccomplished which promptly it cannot do.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe dates and the story of his final illness and his death are found, as\nwe have seen (Ch. II), in the life written about twenty years later by\na pupil of Alcuin\u2019s favourite priest Sigulf, and more concisely in the\nAnnals of Pettau, a monastery not far from Salzburg, and therefore likely\nto be well-informed. Some of the touching facts should be repeated here.\n\nEarly in 804 he was evidently failing. He prayed earnestly that he might\ndie on the day on which the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles in tongues\nof fire. All through Lent he was able to move about, night after night,\nto the several basilicas of saints which were included in the monastery\nof St. Martin, cleansing himself from his sins with much groaning. He\nkept the solemnity of the Lord\u2019s Resurrection; but on the night of\nthe Ascension he fell upon his couch, oppressed by languor even unto\ndeath, and unable to speak. The Annals of Pettau tell us that this was a\nparalytic stroke, and that it fell on Thursday, May 8, in the evening,\nafter sunset. On the third day before his death he recovered the power\nof speech, and with a voice of exultation sang through his favourite\nantiphon, _O clavis David_, based upon Isaiah xxii. 22: \u201cThe key of\nthe house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open and\nnone shall shut, he shall shut and none shall open.\u201d Then he repeated\na number of verses from several psalms: \u201cLike as the hart desireth the\nwaterbrooks.\u201d \u201cO how amiable are Thy dwellings, Thou Lord of hosts;\nblessed are they that dwell in Thy house.\u201d \u201cUnto Thee do I lift up mine\neyes.\u201d \u201cOne thing I have desired of the Lord.\u201d \u201cUnto Thee, O Lord, will\nI lift up my soul.\u201d And others of like kind. On the day of Pentecost,\nmatins having been said, at full dawn, just at the hour at which he was\nwont to enter the church for Mass, the holy soul of Alcuin was released\nfrom the flesh. He had prayed months before that he might die on Whit\nSunday; on Whit Sunday he died.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX A\n\n(Page 26)\n\n\nIt would appear that when Alcuin was not allowed by Charlemagne to\nretire to Fulda, as he had wished to do, an impulse of affectionate\nresponsibility brought him to pour himself out in advice and help to\nthose with whom he had hoped to spend his last days. This is his letter\nto the monks of Fulda.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 186. A.D. 801-2.]\n\n\u201cTo the most holy, and by us with all love to be cherished, the brethren\nof the holy Boniface[285], our father and protector, the humble levite\nAlchuin wishes eternal beatitude in Christ.\n\n\u201cI am mindful of your most sweet love, with which you most benignantly\nreceived me long ago with all joy. Greatly as I then was glad in your\npresence, so greatly is my mind now tortured in your absence, desiring to\nsee you whom it loves, to have present you whom it esteems. Since this is\ndenied to the eyes of the flesh, let love be made perpetual by spiritual\npresence; love which can come to an end has never been true love.\n\n\u201cLet us therefore aim at that which is never to have an end, where is\nblessed eternity and eternal blessedness. That ye may deserve to attain\nto this, let no labour affright you, no blandishments of this life keep\nyou back. Let there always burn in your hearts the love of Him that\nappeared as their companion on the way to the two apostles, who, when He\nwas removed from their carnal eyes, said \u2018Did not our hearts burn within\nus, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the\nScriptures?\u2019 In the writings of the holy fathers let us seek Him whom\nthey, not yet learned in the Scriptures, understood. Now all is open;\nnow He has opened the meaning of Whom it was said \u2018Then opened He their\nunderstanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.\u2019 Now the gospel\ntruth shines forth in all the world; now the enigmas of the prophets\nare clearer than the sun in the churches of Christ. This light of truth\nfollow ye with your whole soul and understand Christ; in it love Christ,\nfollow Christ; that cleaving to His most sacred footsteps ye may merit to\nhave in His most holy presence life eternal.\n\n\u201cBe mindful of the apostolic mandate,[286] \u2018My brethren, be ye stedfast,\nunmovable; always in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that\nyour labour is not in vain in the Lord.\u2019 Be stedfast in your own place\nand in the devotion of your purpose. Leave not your most holy father.\nStand about his sepulchre, that he may offer your prayers to Almighty\nGod. Desire not the vanities of the world, but love celestial blessings.\n\u2018And,\u2019 as the teacher of the Gentiles says,[287] \u2018be not conformed to\nthis world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.\u2019 It is\na base thing for a monk to lose the spiritual warfare and to immerse\nhimself in the affairs of the world.\n\n\u201cLet there be no murmurings among you, no hatreds, no envyings, no evil\nspeakings.[288] Judge not one another. Let everything be done in humility\nand concord, in obedience to those set over you, not to the eye only but\nfrom the heart, as in the presence of God. Let your obedience, your love,\nyour humility be known to all, that very many may be taught by your good\nexamples and may advance in the salvation of their souls.\n\n\u201cIf the venerable father Bouulf,[289] my most loved friend, is unable by\nreason of his weakness to observe the full hardness of the life by rule,\njudge ye not him, but obey him from your heart and love him as a father,\nfor he will have to give account of your souls. He labours for you in\nwanderings and journeyings, that you may live quiet and keep the life by\nrule and have what is necessary for your bodies. Do you act as very dear\nsons. Fear God, love God, and have care of your most holy father in your\nprayers, that he may live in long prosperity with you, and that he with\nyou and you with him may merit to have everlasting life.\n\n\u201cWarn, instruct, teach your young men in all holy discipline and Catholic\ndoctrine; that they may be held worthy to stand in the place of you and\nto send up prayers for you wherever you may remain. Warn them about\nchastity of body, about confession of their sins, about study and manual\nlabour without murmur, and about all things which seem necessary at their\nage. And let them become subject to their elders and masters in good\nhumility, in most pious religion. And do you who are older afford to them\ngood examples, so that they may learn not from your words only but by the\nreligion of your life. Let them not be given to luxury, not slaves to\ndrink, not despisers, not following empty games; but let them learn to\nbe good servants in the house of God, that by the intercession of holy\nBoniface their father they may deserve to receive from the God Christ\nblessing and favour.\n\n\u201cAnd as to myself, I pray you have me in perpetual recollection with\nyourselves in your holy prayers. For the time is at hand which no man can\nescape. Let each one prepare himself, that he may appear in the presence\nof his God not naked but clothed with good practices.\n\n\u201cI have sent a pall for the body of the holy Boniface our father, on\nwhose holy intercession for my sins I place great reliance; that I, a\nsinner, may even merit pardon in that day, when your holiness shall\nreceive the crown of eternal blessedness.\n\n\u201cTo you, O most holy presbyters, I have sent a little collection of words\nfor the Mass, for use on various days on which any one desires to offer\nprayers to God, whether in honour of the Holy Trinity[290], or in love\nof wisdom, or in tears of penitence, or in perfect love, or asking for\nangelic support, or in address to any one of all the saints; or if any\none wish to offer prayers for his own sins, or for any living friend, or\nfor many friends, or for brothers departing this life; or, especially,\nwhen one wishes to invoke the intercessions of blessed Mary, mother of\nGod, ever virgin; or when any desires to chant and invoke by his prayers\nthe most pious presence of the most holy Boniface your father. All these\nthings we have been at the pains to send to you by the intuition of love,\npraying your humility to receive benignantly that which with the fullest\nlove we send you. Let each make of it such use as each pleases; and\nblame me not in this office of love. Let each be fully persuaded in his\nown mind[291] and do always such things as are pleasing to God and all\nsaints, that with them they may be found worthy to enjoy the perpetual\nvision of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\u201cMay the Lord God hearken to your holy blessedness mindful of me in all\nholy supplication, and deign to grant unto you present felicity and\nfuture beatitude, my most loved brothers.\n\n\u201cI beg that you make known to me by letter from your blessedness, if this\nletter reaches you, and what it pleases your prudence to do. What it is\nmine to do I have done, fulfilling the office of affection in the love\nand honour of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX B\n\n(Page 91)\n\n\nWe have the report which the legates George and Theophylact sent to Pope\nHadrian on their mission. No reference is made in it to the matter of\nthe Archbishopric of Lichfield. Iaenbricht is still the sole southern\narchbishop, and Higbert of Lichfield is only bishop.\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 10. A.D. 786.]\n\n\u201cYour holy prayers favouring us, we set sail with joyous countenance\nobeying your commands. But the tempter hindered us with a contrary wind.\nHe who stills the waves hearkened unto your deprecatory entreaty, calmed\nthe blue strait, led us across to a safe haven, and brought us to the\nshore of the English unharmed, but afflicted with many dangers.\n\n\u201cWe were received first by Iaenberht, Archbishop of the holy church of\nDorovernia,[292] whose other name is Cantia, where the holy Augustine\nrests in the body; dwelling there we gave him the necessary information.\n\n\u201cGoing on thence, we arrived at the dwelling of Offa, King of the\nMercians. With great joy, for reverence of the blessed Peter and honour\nof your apostolate, he received both us and the messages sent from the\nhighest see. Then Offa the King of the Mercians, and Cynewulf the King\nof the West Saxons, came together in a council to which we delivered your\nholy writings; and they forthwith promised that they would correct the\nvices named.[293] Then, after counsel held with the said kings, pontiffs,\nand elders of the land, considering that that corner of the world\nstretches far and wide, we gave permission to Theophylact, the venerable\nbishop, to go to the King of the Mercians[294] and the parts of Britain.\n\n\u201cI for my part, taking with me the companion whom your most excellent\nKing Karl sent with us out of reverence to your apostolate, Wighod,\nabbat and presbyter, went on to the country of the Northanymbrians, to\nAelfuald the King, and the Archbishop of the holy church of the city of\nYork, Eanbald. The King was living far off in the north, and the said\nArchbishop sent his messengers to the King, who at once with all joy\nfixed a day for a council,[295] to which the chief men of the district\ncame, ecclesiastical and secular. It was related in our hearing that\nother vices,[296] and by no means the least, needed correction. For,\nas you know, from the time of the holy pontiff Augustine no Roman\npriest[297] [or bishop] has been sent there except ourselves. We wrote\na Capitular of the several matters, and brought them to their hearing,\ndiscussing each in order. They, with all humility of subjection and\nwith clear will, honoured both your admonition and our insignificance,\nand pledged themselves to obey in all things. Then we handed to them\nyour letters to be read, charging them to keep the sacred decrees in\nthemselves and in those dependent on them.\n\n\u201cThese are the chapters which we delivered to them to be kept.[298]\n\n\u201c1. Of keeping the faith of the Nicene Council.\n\n\u201c2. Of Baptism, the Creed, the Lord\u2019s Prayer.\n\n\u201c3. Of two Councils to be held every year.\n\n\u201c4. Of the service and vesture of Canons and Monks.\n\n\u201c5. Of the elections of Abbats and Abbesses.\n\n\u201c6. Of ordaining Priests and Deacons.\n\n\u201c7. Of the Canonical Hours.\n\n\u201c8. Of the rights of churches granted by the See of Rome.\n\n\u201c9. That ecclesiastics do not take food secretly.\n\n\u201c10. That priests do not perform sacred rites with bare legs[299]; of the\nofferings of the faithful; that chalice and paten for sacrificing to God\nbe not made from ox-horn, because they are bloody; that bishops in their\ncouncils judge not secular matters.\n\n\u201c11. Let kings and princes study justice, obey bishops, venerate the\nchurch, employ prudent counsellors.\n\n\u201c12. That in the ordination of kings no one permit the assent of evil\nmen to prevail; kings must be lawfully elected by the priesthood and the\nelders of the people, and be not born of adultery or incest; let honour\nbe paid by all to kings; let no one be a detractor of a king; let no one\ndare to conspire for the death of a king, because he is the anointed of\nthe Lord; if any one have part in such wickedness, if he be a bishop\nor of priestly order let him be thrust out from it, and every one who\nhas assented to such sacrilege shall perish in the eternal fetters of\nanathema. For by examples among yourselves it has frequently been proved\nthat those who have been the cause of the death of sovereigns have soon\nlost their life, being outside the protection of divine and human law.\n\n\u201c13. That powerful and rich men decree just judgements.\n\n\u201c14. Of the forbidding of fraud, violence, rapine; that unjust tribute be\nnot imposed on churches; of keeping peace.\n\n\u201c15. Unlawful and incestuous unions are forbidden to all, alike with the\nhandmaids of God and other illicit persons and with those in affinity and\nkindred and with other men\u2019s wives.\n\n\u201c16. Lawful heirship is by decree refused to the children of harlots.\n\n\u201c17. Of tithes to be given; of usury to be forbidden; of just measures\nand equal weights to be established.\n\n\u201c18. Of vows to be fulfilled.\n\n\u201c19. We have added that each faithful Christian must take example from\nCatholic men; and if anything has remained of the rites of pagans it must\nbe plucked out, contemned, cast away.\n\n\u201cFor God made man fair in form and appearance; but the pagans with\ndiabolical instinct have inflicted most horrible scars,[300] as\nPrudentius says:\n\n He tainted the innocent ground[301] with sordid spots,\n\nfor he evidently does injury to God, who fouls and defiles His creature.\nWithout doubt a man would receive a rich reward who underwent for God\nthis injury of staining. But to one who does it from gentile superstition\nit profiteth nothing, as circumcision to the Jews without belief of heart.\n\n\u201cFurther, you wear your clothes after the manner of the gentiles whom by\nGod\u2019s help your fathers drove out of the land by arms. It is a wonderful\nand astonishing thing that you imitate the fashion of those whose life\nyou always hate.\n\n\u201cYou have the evil habit of maiming your horses: you slit their nostrils,\nyou fasten their ears together and make them deaf, you cut off their\ntails; and though you could have them entirely unblemished, you will not\nhave that, but make them odious to every one.\n\n\u201cWe have heard also that when you go to law with one another you cast\nlots after the fashion of the gentiles. This is counted as completely\nsacrilegious in these days.\n\n\u201cFurther, many of you eat horses, which no Christian in eastern lands\ndoes. This you must give up. Strive earnestly that all your things be\ndone decently and in order.\n\n\u201c20. Of sins to be confessed and penance to be done.\n\n\u201cThese decrees, most blessed Pope Hadrian, we propounded in a public\ncouncil in presence of King Aelfuuald, Archbishop Eanbald, and all the\nbishops and abbats of that region, also of the ealdormen, dukes, and\npeople of the land. And they, as we said above, with all devotion of mind\nvowed that they would in all things keep them according to the utmost of\ntheir power, the divine clemency aiding them. And they confirmed them in\nour hand (in your stead) with the sign of the holy cross. And afterwards\nthey wrote on the paper of this page with careful pen, affixing the mark\nof the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Aelfuualdus king of the Transhumbrane race, consenting, have\nsubscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Dilberch[302] prelate[303] of the church of Hexham joyfully have\nsubscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Eanbald by the grace of God archbishop of the holy church of York have\nsubscribed to the pious and catholic force of this document with the sign\nof the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Hyguuald bishop of the church of Lindisfarne obediently have\nsubscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Aedilberch bishop of Whithern[304] suppliant have subscribed with the\nsign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Aldulf bishop of the church of Mayo[305] have subscribed with devoted\nwill.\n\n\u201cI Aetheluuin[306] bishop have subscribed by delegates.\n\n\u201cI Sigha the patrician with placid mind have subscribed with the sign of\nthe holy cross.[307]\n\n\u201cTo these most salutary admonitions we too, presbyters and deacons of\nchurches and abbats of monasteries, judges, chief men, and nobles,\nunanimously consent and have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI duke Alrich have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI duke Siguulf have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI abbat Aldberich[308] have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI abbat Erhart have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cAll this having been accomplished, and the benediction pronounced,\nwe set out again, taking with us illustrious representatives of the\nking and the archbishop, the readers Maluin[309] to wit and Pyttel.\nWe travelled together, and they brought the above decrees to a council\nof the Mercians, at which the glorious King Offa was present, with\nthe senators of the kingdom, the Archbishop Iaenbercht[2] of the holy\nDorovernian Church, and the other bishops of those parts. In presence\nof the council the several chapters were read out in a clear voice,\nand lucidly expounded both in Latin and in Teuton so that all could\nunderstand. Then all with one voice and with eager mind, grateful for the\nadmonitions of your apostolate, promised, that they would according to\ntheir ability with most ready will keep in all respects these statutes,\nthe divine favour supporting them. Moreover, as at the northern council,\nthe king and his chief men, the archbishop and his colleagues, confirmed\nthem in our hand (in the stead of your lordship) with the sign of the\nholy cross, and again ratified this present document with the sacred sign.\n\n\u201cI Ieanbrecht[310], archbishop of the holy church of Dorovernum,\nsuppliant have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Offa king of the Mercians, consenting to these statutes, with ready\nwill have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Hugibrecht[311] bishop of the church of Lichtenfelse have subscribed\nwith the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI Ceoluulf bishop of the Lindisfaras[312] have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Unuuona bishop of the Legorenses[313] have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Alchard[314] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Eadberht[315] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Chumbrech[316] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Harchel[317] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Acine[318] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Tora[319] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Uuaremund[320] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Adalmund[321] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI Adored[322] bishop have subscribed.\n\n\u201cEdrabord abbat. Alemund abbat. Boduuin abbat. Uttel abbat.\n\n\u201cI duke Brorda have subscribed with the sign of the holy cross.\n\n\u201cI duke Eadbald have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI duke Bercoald have subscribed.\n\n\u201cI count Othbald have subscribed.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX C\n\n(Page 177)\n\n\nSed obsecro si vestrae placeat pietati ut exemplarium illius libelli\ndomno dirigatur apostolico aliud quoque Paulino patriarchae similiter\nRichobono et Teudolfo episcopis doctoribus et magistris ut singuli pro\nse respondeant Flaccus vero tuus tecum laborat in reddenda ratione\ncatholicae fidei tantum detur ei spatium ut quiete et diligenter liceat\nilli cum pueris suis considerare sensus quid unusquisque diceret de\nsententiis quas posuit prefatus subversor in suo libello et tempore\npraefinito a vobis ferantur vestrae auctoritati singulorum responsa et\nquidquid in isto libello vel sententiarum vel sensuum contra catholicam\nfidem inveniatur omnia catholicis exemplis destruantur et si aequaliter\net concorditer cunctorum in professione vel defensione catholicae\nfidei resonant scripta intelligi potest quod per omnium ora et corda\nunus loquitur spiritus sin autem diversum aliquid inveniatur in dictis\nvel scriptis cuiuslibet videatur quis maiore auctoritate sanctarum\nscripturarum vel catholicorum patrum innitatur et huic laudis palma\ntribuatur qui divinis magis inhaereat testimoniis.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX D\n\n(Page 197)\n\n\nThe following are the passages of the Donation which touch the question\nof the joint patronage of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Church of\nRome. The edition from which they are taken is thus described on the\ntitle-page:\u2014\n\n Constantini M. Imp. Donatio Sylvestro Papae Rom. inscripta:\n non ut a Gratiano truncatim, sed integre edita: cum versione\n Graeca duplici, Theodori Balsamonis, Patriarchae Antiocheni, et\n Matthaei Blastaris, I(uris) C(anonici) Graeci.\n\n Typis Gotthardi Voegelini\n (1610).\n\nThe first page of the Latin Edict is not represented in the Greek\nThespisma. It ends with the words: \u201cPostquam docente beato Silvestro\ntrina me mersione verbi salutis purificatum et ab omni leprae squalore\nmundatum beneficiis beati Petri et Pauli Apostolorum cognovi.\u201d\n\n Iustum quippe est, ut ibi lex sancta caput teneat principatus,\n ubi sanctarum legum institutor salvator noster beatum Petrum\n Apostolatus obtinere praecepit cathedram, ubi et crucis\n patibulum sustinens beatae mortis poculum sumpsit suique\n magistri et domini imitator apparuit: et ibi gentes pro Christi\n nominis confessione colla flectant, ubi eorum doctor beatus\n Paulus Apostolus pro Christo extenso collo martyris coronatus\n est: illic usque in finem quaerant _doctorem, ubi sancti\n doctoris corpus quiescit_; the Greek has \u03c4\u1f42\u03bd \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03ac\u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u1f45\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u1f70\n \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f01\u03b3\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c0\u03b1\u03cd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Construximus itaque ecclesias beatorum Petri et Pauli\n Apostolorum, quas argento et auro locupletavimus: ubi\n sacratissima eorum corpora cum magno honore recondentes, et\n thecas ipsorum ex electro (cui nulla fortitudo praevalet\n elementorum) construximus, et crucem ex auro purissimo et\n gemmis pretiosis per singulas eorum thecas posuimus et clavis\n aureis confiximus.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Pro quo concedimus ipsis sanctis Apostolis dominis meis,\n beatissimo Petro et Paulo, et per eos etiam beato Silvestro\n patri nostro summo Pontifici et universali urbis Romae Papae\n et omnibus eius successoribus Pontificibus, qui usque in finem\n mundi in sede beati Petri erunt sessuri, atque de praesenti\n concedimus palatium imperii nostri Lateranense, quod omnibus\n praefertur atque praecellit palatiis.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Si quis autem (quod non credimus) temerator aut contemptor\n extiterit, aeternis condemnationibus subiaceat innodatus,\n et sanctos Dei principes Apostolorum Petrum et Paulum, sibi\n in praesenti et in futura vita sentiat contrarios, atque in\n inferno inferiori concrematus cum diabolo et omnibus deficiat\n impiis.\n\nThe learned editor makes an interesting comment on the recognition by\nConstantine of the _par utriusque meritum_, the equal merit of the two\napostles Peter and Paul. The fate of Paul, he says, resembles that of\nPollux. The two brothers, Castor and Pollux, had a Temple in common in\nthe Forum, but it came to be called the Temple of Castor alone.\n\nIn using such a document as this, the temptation to alter words must have\nbeen very great. As an example of such change, the words which follow\non our first quotation may be cited\u2014\u201cutile iudicavimus una cum omnibus\nsatrapis et universo senatu, optimatibus etiam et cuncto populo Romani\ngloriae imperii subiacente.\u201d For _gloriae_ Gratian reads _ecclesiae_. The\nGreek version has \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1fe5\u03c9\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9\u03ba\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b7\u03c2.\n\nOn a phrase of the Donation\u2014\u201celigentes nobis ipsum principem Apostolorum\nvel eius vicarios firmos apud Deum esse patronos\u201d\u2014the editor quotes a\nremarkable passage from Aimoin[323] v. 2, which it is specially fitting\nto reproduce here, since it relates to Charlemagne and his sons: \u201cPost\nnon multum tempus incidit ei desiderium dominam quondam orbis videre\nRomam, principis Apostolorum atque doctoris gentium adire limina, seque\nsuamque prolem eis commendare; ut talibus nitens suffragatoribus, quibus\ncoeli terraeque potestas attributa est, ipse quoque subiectis consulere,\nperduellionumque [si emersissent[324]] proterviam proterere posset. Ratus\netiam non mediocre sibi subsidium conferri, si _a Vicario eorum_ cum\nbenedictione sacerdotali tam ipse quam et filii eius regalia sumerent\ninsignia.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Ep. 33. A.D. 794.]\n\nIn a letter to Karl of the highest importance, Hadrian I uses a\nremarkable phrase in describing Karl\u2019s regard for the Church of Rome.\nHe speaks of his faith and love towards the church of the blessed\nchiefs of the apostles Peter and Paul,\u2014_quantum erga beatorum principum\napostolorum Petri et Pauli ecclesiam fidem geritis et amorem_. In the\nsame letter he employs an argument which\u2014while it would naturally have\nforce with Karl\u2014appears to assign to national churches other than that of\nRome a remarkable position of independence. \u201cIf,\u201d he says, \u201ceverywhere\ncanonical churches possess their dioceses intact, how much more should\nthe holy catholic and apostolic Roman church, which is the head of all\nthe churches of God,\u2014Si enim ubique Christianorum ecclesiae canonicae\nintactas suas possident dioeceses, quanto amplius sancta catholica et\napostolica Romana ecclesia, quae est caput omnium Dei ecclesiarum....\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX E\n\n(Page 290)\n\n\nEginhart gives the name of Charlemagne\u2019s elephant as Abulabaz. This\nprobably represents _Abu\u02bel\u02bfAbb\u00e1s_, the elephant being in that case\nnamed after his royal donor, the first Abbasid Caliph, who was none\nother than our old friend of many tales of adventure, Harun al Raschid.\nHis caliphate lasted from 786 to 809, and thus coincided with the most\nbrilliant period of Charlemagne\u2019s reign as king and emperor. His policy\nwas to remain on most friendly terms with Charlemagne, while sending to\nIrene\u2019s supplanter at Constantinople, Nicephorus, communications of the\nfollowing character:\u2014\n\n\u201cHarun al Raschid, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman\ndog.\n\n\u201cI have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt\nnot hear, but behold my reply!\u201d\n\nEginhart tells us under the year 807 of noble presents sent by the\nSaracen king of the Persians to Charlemagne. They included a pavilion\nand court tents, all, including the ropes, of linen of divers colours;\npalls of silk many and precious; scents, unguents, and balsam; two great\ncandelabra of brass (orichalc) of marvellous size and height; and above\nall a wonderful clock made of brass (orichalc). The principle of this\nremarkable machine was that of the water clock. At each complete hour\nlittle balls of brass were set free, which fell on to a cymbal below with\na tinkling sound, while at the same time twelve knights on horseback\nopened windows and pushed out, closing windows which had been open.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] _Mendacia._\n\n[2] See the story of his conversion, p. 11.\n\n[3] The following inscription is found in this book:\u2014\u201cHunc Vergilii\ncodicem obtulit Berno gregis beati Martini levita devota mente Deo et\neidem beato Martino perpetualiter habendum ea quidem ratione ut perlegat\nipsum Albertus consobrinus ipsius et diebus vitae suae sub pretextu\nsancti Martini habeat et post suum obitum iterum sancto reddatur Martino.\u201d\n\n[4] It appears to be impossible to identify the site of the cell of\nWilgils. The local idea is that Kilnsea may be the place. But then the\nlocal idea is that Kilnsea means \u201cthe cell by the sea\u201d.\n\n[5] The church of St. Andrew in Rome was the first church which Wilfrith\nin his youth visited on his first appearance in that city. It was on the\naltar of that church that he first saw a magnificent copy of the Gospels,\nwhich so fired his enthusiasm that he had a similar copy made, written\nin letters of gold on purple parchment and adorned with gems, for his\nchurch at Ripon. His great church at Hexham, the finest church north of\nthe Alps, he dedicated to St. Andrew, and the dedication thus became a\nfavourite one in Northumbria. See my _Theodore and Wilfrith_, p. 17.\n\n[6] Horreense, the Germans think; now Oeren.\n\n[7] Epternach.\n\n[8] See my _Conversion of the Heptarchy_, pp. 202-4.\n\n[9] See my _Conversion of the Heptarchy_, p. 190.\n\n[10] iii. 20, plate xiii.\n\n[11] Ps. lxxvii. 11.\n\n[12] The relative numbers of these three \u201csides\u201d of the School of York\nmay possibly be indicated by the _quidam_, _alii_, _nonnulli_, of the\nauthor.\n\n[13] Biscop.\n\n[14] After a parenthetical paragraph the writer continues, \u201cCuius iam, ut\ndictum est, sequens Hechbertus vestigia.\u201d\n\n[15] Gregory, it must be supposed. If one of the Apostles of the Lord had\nbeen meant, much more honorific words would have been used.\n\n[16] Used antiphrastically for malediction: see Job i. 5.\n\n[17] Deut. xxxii. 11.\n\n[18] Chapter viii of the Rule of St. Benedict directs that a monk shall\nnot conceal from his abbat evil thoughts which come into his heart.\n\n[19] John xiii. 25 to xviii. 1 inclusive.\n\n[20] Sigulf, as we have seen, told the writer the facts of Alcuin\u2019s life\nwhich he recorded.\n\n[21] Dial. ii. 85. Benedict there narrates that he saw the whole world\ncollected into one ray of the sun, in which the soul of Germanus, bishop\nof Capua, ascended to the heavens.\n\n[22] Ps. cvi. 1.\n\n[23] _Francia_, both here and in Alcuin\u2019s Letter 35, where he writes as\nif with these words in his mind: \u201cI came to France, under pressure of\necclesiastical need, and to confirm the reason of the Catholic Faith.\u201d\n\n[24] There is a tradition that Alcuin wrote the Office for the Mass on\nTrinity Sunday. See Appendix A.\n\n[25] The \u201chereditary right\u201d seems to indicate that by these\n\u201cbenedictions\u201d the library of York is meant, of which more will be said\nlater on.\n\n[26] \u201cTalentum sui domini\u201d, sc. Elcberti?\n\n[27] The perpetual presence of Sigulf was needed for the celebration of\nmasses, Alcuin remaining a deacon. There is a curious mention of Alcuin\u2019s\npart in the administration of Holy Communion, and of the action of the\nyoung King Louis when receiving at his hand; see p. 32.\n\n[28] We can date this meeting fairly closely by the fact that Karl\ngranted a privilegium to Parma on March 15, 781.\n\n[29] The bishop George whom we know as intimately concerned with the\naffairs of Hadrian I and with British interests was Bishop of Ostia.\nIf this is he, we shall hear of him again in connexion with the\nArchbishopric of Lichfield.\n\n[30] Abbat of St. Martin of Tours, a curiously early connexion of Alcuin\nwith his future home. To him Alcuin addressed the earliest letter of his\nwhich is extant; see p. 205.\n\n[31] Alcuin was about seven years older than Karl. They were at this time\nabout forty-six and thirty-nine years of age.\n\n[32] St. Peter of Ferri\u00e8res, dio. Sens.\n\n[33] Alcuin makes mention of his residence here during the autumn of 798\nin his correspondence with Gisla, Karl\u2019s sister; see p. 253. The Museum\nof Troyes is housed in the old buildings of the Abbey of St. Loup.\n\n[34] Matt. x. 23.\n\n[35] He was subject to febrile attacks.\n\n[36] For Alcuin\u2019s letter to Fulda, written after Karl\u2019s refusal of\npermission, see Appendix A.\n\n[37] \u201cIn psalmorum et missarum multa celebratione.\u201d\n\n[38] See p. 13.\n\n[39] Called Witto by Alcuin (ep. 107), and Candidus (106) as the Latin\nrendering of the Teutonic name.\n\n[40] To Fredegisus Alcuin wrote letters on the three kinds of visions\n(257) and on the Trinity (258). He is understood to be the \u201cNathanael\u201d of\nother letters. Of Fredegisus, Theodulfus, the Bishop of Orleans, wrote to\nKarl:\n\n Stet levita decus Fredegis sociatus Osulfo,\n Gnarus uterque artis, doctus uterque bene.\n\nHe was a master in the school of the Palace and afterwards Archdeacon. He\nbecame Abbat of Cormery, and eventually of Tours.\n\n[41] See the mention of him in previous note. Osulf was a household\nofficer of the young King Charles, see p. 250. The last words of Alcuin\u2019s\ninterpretation of the vision suggest that he was an Englishman, one of\nthe youths whom Alcuin brought from York as his assistant masters.\n\n[42] This was Benedict, the Abbat of Aniane in Languedoc. That region is\nhere spoken of as Gothia, because the Goths had settled about Toulouse in\nthe fifth century. The fact that Benedict used often to come to consult\nAlcuin is an interesting illustration of the disregard of distance in\nthose days. As the crows fly, Toulouse is some 270 miles from Tours, and\nthe journey was a long and arduous one.\n\n[43] The three sons of Karl were all of them kings (practically\nsub-kings) of one part or another of his vast domains. The great\npartition of the empire was not arranged by Charlemagne till after\nAlcuin\u2019s death.\n\n[44] It will be borne in mind that Alcuin was only in deacon\u2019s orders.\n\n[45] This is one of the various indications of date which enable us to\ncalculate the time at which the biography was written.\n\n[46] Charles and Pepin died before their father, and Louis became sole\nemperor and ruler of all that Charlemagne had held.\n\n[47] With regard to some possible confusion here between Karl and his\neldest son Charles, see p. 246.\n\n[48] Vita, c. 21.\n\n[49] It is frequently impossible to calculate a man\u2019s nationality from\nhis name in the century with which we are dealing, and it is unsafe to\nguess at it. Aigulf, for instance, was the name of the Gothic Count of\nMaguelone, the cup-bearer of Karl\u2019s son, Pepin of Aquitaine, and father\nof Benedict of Aniane.\n\n[50] Engelsaxo.\n\n[51] \u201cVenit iste Britto vel Scotto.\u201d The Scot in those days was the\nIrishman. We may imagine that \u201cScotto\u201d was formed derisively to match\n\u201cBritto\u201d. But it should be remembered that in Alcuin\u2019s dialogue on\ngrammar the disputants are Saxo and Franco, a very similar formation.\n\n[52] It is of at least local interest to remark that the latest of many\nburnings of York Minster, Alcuin\u2019s old abode, was caused very much in\nthe same way. Carpenters had been at work, in the bell-chamber of the\nsouth-west tower, and left a candle burning on the table where they\nhad been planing wood. The candle burned low and fell over on to some\nshavings, to which it set fire, and thence the flame grew and grew till\nit burst out, and the great fire of May 20, 1840, was the result. This\npresent writer was a boy of six at the time, and from his bedroom window\nsaw it all, from the beginning, through the sounding boards of the\nchamber. He was eventually carried off in a blanket, as the tower would\nhave fallen into his father\u2019s house if it had come down. The house, it\nmay be added, was the house in which Guy Fawkes was born. See also p. 82.\n\n[53] The word _monasterium_ has so many meanings that we cannot be\nsure what precisely is here meant. It may possibly mean the _maius\nmonasterium_, Marmoutier, see p. 221.\n\n[54] The historian here quoted, a contemporary of St. Martin, must not\nbe confused with Sulpicius, Archbishop of Bourges, A.D. 584, surnamed\nSeverus to distinguish him from a second Sulpicius Archbishop of Bourges,\nsurnamed Pius, who died A.D. 644.\n\n[55] \u201cHesterna die indicatur mihi,\u201d &c. We fortunately have the letter.\nIt is Epistle I of the collected works of Sulpicius.\n\n[56] It may be that we have here an early hint of a practice of which we\nhave record in later times. The water which had been used for washing\nthe tomb of St. Martin was held to have healing properties in the later\nmiddle ages.\n\n[57] Believed at that time to have been written by St. Paul.\n\n[58] In our editions, Arno and not Fredegisus was the recipient of this\ntreatise.\n\n[59] Presumably the same as Withso and Witto.\n\n[60] \u201cFranci et Saxonis,\u201d the author says. But in the disputatious\ndialogue they are called Saxo and Franco. Saxo addresses Franco as _O\nFranco!_ but on one occasion he slips into the vocative _France_: \u201cEn\nhabes, France, de adverbio satis.\u201d _Fr._ \u201cNon satis; pausemus tamen ad\nhoram.\u201d _Saxo._ \u201cPausemus.\u201d The dialogue is much of the same kind as that\nfound in Aldhelm\u2019s works a hundred years earlier between Magister and\nDiscipulus. See my _St. Aldhelm_, ch. xii.\n\n[61] We have seen from the author that he could very seldom shed tears,\np. 27.\n\n[62] There is a delicate touch in putting into the devil\u2019s mouth the\nliteral name and not the intimate name.\n\n[63] Cant. iv. 4.\n\n[64] A cynic might remark that Alcuin did not answer the clever question\nof the enemy. He could not deny that he was elaborately deceiving his\nattendants.\n\n[65] Sulpicius Severus, Life, c. 25.\n\n[66] Theodulf of Orleans makes a little apology to Karl for Alcuin\u2019s use\nof wine and beer (not English beer! see p. 267):\n\n Aut si, Bacche, tui aut Cerealis pocla liquoris\n Porgere praecipiat, fors et utrumque volet;\n Quo melius doceat, melius sua fistula cantet,\n Si doctrinalis pectoris antra riget.\n\nIf he bids bring forth cups of thy liquor, O Bacchus, or cups of the\nliquor of corn, and perhaps takes both; it is that he may teach the\nbetter, the better may sing his stave, if he moistens the recesses of his\ninstructive breast.\n\n[67] \u201cCelebrabat omni die missarum solemnia multa.\u201d\n\n[68] Based on Isa. xxii. 22.\n\n[69] See p. 211.\n\n[70] The biographer here passes in a telling manner to the present tense.\n\n[71] Again the use of Alcuin\u2019s baptismal name at a critical point.\n\n[72] This is one of the endless number of cases in which it is made quite\nclear that the original attraction to Rome was not the asserted bishopric\nof Peter, but the fact of the tombs of Peter and Paul. The cult of these\ntwo chiefs, princes of the Apostles, was the source of the reputation of\nRome. See Appendix D.\n\n[73] See p. 268.\n\n[74] The title consists of twenty-four elegiacs, with only ordinary\nthoughts.\n\n[75] _Gesta Regum_, i. 3.\n\n[76] The mention of Ascension Day in the account of Bede\u2019s death is in\nthe judgement of some scholars more easily reconciled with the incidence\nof Ascension Day in the year 742.\n\n[77] The see of Dunwich appears to have been vacant then.\n\n[78] All this tells against the now exploded belief that Theodore\nestablished the parochial system. His _paroichia_ was the diocese.\n\n[79] The earliest pieces of English now extant in the original form are\nthe inscriptions in Anglian runes on the cross erected in 670 in the\nchurchyard of Bewcastle, in memory of the sub-king Alchfrith (see p.\n9). The main inscription runs thus: + This sigbecn thun setton hwaetred\nwothgar olwfwolthu aft alkfrithu ean k\u00fcning eac oswiung + gebid heo sinna\nsowhula. + This token of victory Hwaetred Wothgar Olwfwolthu caused make\nin memory of Alcfrith once king and son of Oswy. + Pray for the high sin\nof his soul. See also p. 296.\n\n[80] See p. 5.\n\n[81] _In ordinatione._\n\n[82] _Constituant._\n\n[83] He was Bishop of Winchester A.D. 1367 to 1398; Wilfrith was Bishop\nof York A.D. 669 to 678.\n\n[84] Eton was founded, in a very small way, in 1440.\n\n[85] As to the treatment of ancient ecclesiastical MSS. in one part of\nFrance at the time of the Revolution, see pages 219, &c.\n\n[86] It is now maintained that \u2018Saxon\u2019 is formed from _saxa_, stones,\nbut for a different reason, being taken as describing \u2018armed men\u2019 in the\nstone age.\n\n[87] It is so, also, in Eddi\u2019s prose account, \u201cpro lachrymis ad aures Dei\npervenientibus.\u201d\n\n[88] See also p. 137.\n\n[89] See my _Lessons from Early English Church History_, pp. 74, 75.\n\n[90] Our word \u201cinn\u201d means a place enclosed, or a place comprising an\nenclosure.\n\n[91] p. xxiii.\n\n[92] See also p. 141.\n\n[93] \u201cMonasterium\u201d is used in the middle ages for a parish church in\nthe country. \u201cMinster\u201d has always been a special Yorkshire word, \u201cYork\nMinster,\u201d \u201cRipon Minster,\u201d \u201cBeverley Minster.\u201d The unique inscription\nat the side of the sun-dial at Kirkdale Church, dated as in the days of\nTostig the Earl, sets forth that \u201cOrm Gamal-suna bohte Sanctus Gregorius\nminster\u201d.\n\n[94] The writer of this cannot refrain from mentioning a curious\ncoincidence of dates and experience between himself and his schoolfellow\nand head master Alcuin. York Minster was burned on May 23, 741, when\nAlcuin was six years old. The cathedral school being within the\nprecincts, Alcuin would have to be removed to a place of safety.\nYork Minster was burned on May 20, 1840, curiously near to being the\neleven-hundredth anniversary of the burning on May 23, 741, and the\npresent writer, then aged six, was carried from his bed in the minster\nprecincts to a place of safety in Castlegate.\n\n[95] An. DCC.XLI. Her forbarn Eoferwic. This entry is found in the two\nMSS. of the Chronicle known as Cotton. Tib. B. 1 and Bodl. Laud. 636.\nThese two MSS. have special information about Northumbrian affairs.\nThey differ in the spelling of proper names, but in this case they take\nthe same spelling of the Anglian name of York, which appears in five\ndifferent forms in the Chronicle.\n\n[96] Before Froben this was read Alcuinus, clearly an impossible reading\nin a list drawn up by Alcuin himself, and at a time when his chief effort\nof versification could not be in the library.\n\n[97] See Appendix B, p. 310.\n\n[98] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 440.\n\n[99] A.D. 790-805.\n\n[100] \u201cSacerdos.\u201d It appears clear that Alcuin is using the word as\nequivalent to \u201cepiscopus\u201d, as it frequently was.\n\n[101] Mal. ii. 7.\n\n[102] \u201cSpeculator.\u201d\n\n[103] \u201cSuper-speculator.\u201d Isidore explains in his Etymologies that\nbishops are called \u201cepiscopi\u201d by the Greeks and \u201cspeculatores\u201d by the\nLatins, because they are set on high in the church.\n\n[104] \u201cSacerdotes.\u201d That Alcuin is speaking of bishops, not of priests\nin general, is clear from his verses at the end of the letter, where he\nrepeats his phrases \u201cterrae sal\u201d, \u201clumina inundi\u201d, and adds \u201cBis sex\nsigna poli\u201d, the twelve stars of the sky, namely the bishops of the\nSouthern Province. These were, not counting Athelhard himself, Higbert of\nLichfield, Kenwalch or Eadbald of London, Kinbert of Winchester, Unwona\nof Leicester, Ceolwulf of Lindsey, Denefrith of Sherborne, Aelhun of\nDunwich, Alheard of Elmham, Heathred of Worcester, Ceolmund of Hereford,\nWiothun of Selsey, Weremund of Rochester.\n\n[105] \u201cConsacerdotes.\u201d\n\n[106] Prov. xviii. 19. The Vulgate and the Septuagint versions give the\nforce of the passage in Alcuin\u2019s sense. The Authorised Version gives, \u201cA\nbrother offended _is harder to be won_ than a strong city.\u201d The Revised\nVersion agrees exactly with the A.V.\n\n[107] Gildus, in Alcuin.\n\n[108] It may be supposed that Offa was engaged in building an abbey\nchurch at St. Albans. William of Malmesbury says of the church built by\nOffa in honour of St Alban (_Gesta Regum_, i. 4): \u201cThe relics of St.\nAlban, at that time buried in obscurity, he had reverently taken up and\nplaced in a shrine decorated to the fullest extent of royal munificence\nwith gold and jewels; a church of most beautiful workmanship was there\nerected, and a society of monks assembled.\u201d The black stones may have\nbeen wanted for pavements.\n\n[109] Pope Hadrian I. He died December 27, 795, having held the Papacy\nfor twenty-three years, with great distinction, at a most important time\nin its history.\n\n[110] Simeon of Durham, under the year 795.\n\n[111] This would naturally mean Ireland at that time, but it is far from\nclear that Ireland is meant.\n\n[112] Isa. i. 4.\n\n[113] Offa died July 26, 796, and Ecgfrith died in the middle of December\nin the same year, after a reign of 141 days.\n\n[114] In each of these two cases the new king was, in this year 796, most\nunexpectedly raised to the throne from a comparatively poor position, in\nwhich he had married a wife of his own position. Alcuin fears that they\nwill be tempted to cast off the early wife and take some lady more fitted\nfor a throne.\n\n[115] This prophecy was not fulfilled. It was not till nine years after\nthe date of this letter that Eardwulf was expelled from the kingdom.\n\n[116] Prov. xx. 28.\n\n[117] Ps. xxiv. 10, Vulgate; xxv. 10, A. V.; xxv. 10, Psalter.\n\n[118] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 521, from _William of Malmesbury_, G. R. i.\n4.\n\n[119] A mancus was more than one-third of a pound, but that conveys no\nreal idea to the modern mind of its actual value.\n\n[120] _Gesta Regum_, i. 4.\n\n[121] Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils_, iii. 483. The names stand as\nfollows: \u201c+ Ego Offa Rex Dei dono propriam donationis libertatem signo\nsanct\u00e6 crucis confirmo. + Ego Ecgferth, filius Regis, consensi. +\nSignum Hygeberhti Archiepiscopi. + Signum Ceolulfi Episcopi. + Signum\n\u00c6thelheardi Archiepiscopi.\u201d Followed by eight bishops and three abbats.\n\n[122] It has already been noted that Alcuin found it very difficult to\nshed tears.\n\n[123] \u201cCeolmund the duke,\u201d \u201cCeolmund the minister,\u201d often appears in the\nMercian documents of the time.\n\n[124] Simeon of Durham, under the year 779, has the entry, Duke Aldred,\nthe slayer of King Ethelred, was slain by Duke Thorhtmund in revenge for\nhis lord.\n\n[125] This amounts to an official representation of the three great\npowers, the West Saxons, the Mercians, and the Northumbrians.\n\n[126] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 486.\n\n[127] An Irishman.\n\n[128] From 784 to 819.\n\n[129] Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 487.\n\n[130] We know nothing certain of this person.\n\n[131] We cannot trace his pedigree.\n\n[132] Simeon of Durham says that he committed suicide.\n\n[133] In theory, at least, we know better now.\n\n[134] A.D. 779 to 788.\n\n[135] James ii. 13.\n\n[136] Pet. iv. 17.\n\n[137] He died in 703.\n\n[138] He resigned in 716, and took from the library of Wearmouth the\nCodex Amiatinus as a present to the Pope. This huge and noble codex is\nnow in the Laurenziana, in Florence. See my _Lessons from Early English\nChurch History_, pp. 72-75.\n\n[139] See my _Theodore and Wilfrith_, pp. 106, 124, and for Acca\u2019s Cross,\npp. 257-61.\n\n[140] Bishop of Whithern (Candentis-Casae, Ep. 20, usually Candidae\nCasae), 777-789; of Hexham, 789-797.\n\n[141] Writing to an Englishman, Alcuin gives his Anglian name in its\nAnglian spelling and without a Latin termination.\n\n[142] See p. 123. The full story is given by Simeon of Durham under the\nyear 790, meaning 791: \u201cIn the second year of Ethelred (i. e. of his\nrestored sovereignty) Duke Eardulf was captured and taken to Ripon, and\nwas ordered by the said king to be put to death outside the gate of the\nmonastery. The brethren carried the body to the church with Gregorian\nchants, and placed it in a shed outside the door. He was found after\nmidnight in the church, alive.\u201d\n\n[143] In April, 796, the Patrician Osbald was made king by certain\nleading men of the nation. But after twenty-seven days he was deserted by\nthe whole of the royal family and the chief men, and was put to flight\nand banished from the kingdom. He escaped with a few followers to the\nIsle of Lindisfarne, and thence went by sea with some of the brethren to\nthe king of the Picts. Sim. Dur. 795.\n\n[144] Slain at Cobre (Corbridge has been suggested), April 18, 796.\n\n[145] The Picts of the east of Scotland.\n\n[146] Matt. xviii. 15, \u201cGo and tell him his fault between thee and him\nalone.\u201d\n\n[147] John viii. 34.\n\n[148] Cant. viii. 7.\n\n[149] 1 Tim. v. 20.\n\n[150] Matt. xii. 50. It will be seen that Alcuin does not quote exactly.\nThe Vulgate has _frater et soror et mater_.\n\n[151] _Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum_, p. 272.\n\n[152] No doubt oil specially pure, and vegetable; we may safely say olive\noil, for purposes of chrism. Theodore of Canterbury informs us (_Theodore\nand Wilfrith_, S.P.C.K. p. 180) that \u201caccording to the Greeks a presbyter\ncan ... make the oil for exorcism and the chrism for the sick, if\nnecessary; but according to the Romans only a bishop can do so\u201d. Hence\nthe mention of bishops in the letter of Alcuin. See also page 245, note 2.\n\n[153] In this case Alcuin writes _Karli regis_; in other cases he uses\nthe full form Carolus, which comes from rolling the r in Karlus.\n\n[154] Shekels. On the argument that the didrachma was the shekel in the\nNew Testament the sicle may be put at 1_s._ 7\u00bd_d._, but that gives no\nidea of its purchasing power then, which was probably nearer \u00a31. It will\nbe seen that in a later sentence sicles of pure gold are specified.\n\n[155] See p. 79.\n\n[156] As in _year_ the Anglo-Saxon _g_ was pronounced as _y_, hence the\nname Mayo. In east Yorkshire a gate is still called a _yet_.\n\n[157] See Appendix B.\n\n[158] The passage is incomplete, but this is the sense of it.\n\n[159] This is not Lull of Malmesbury, who was so great a help to\nBoniface; he died an archbishop in 787.\n\n[160] A presbyter, who succeeded his namesake in the archbishopric.\n\n[161] We cannot imagine another dignity open to an aged Archbishop of\nYork to be preferred to that which he already held. But it is evident\nthat Alcuin referred to his retirement upon an abbacy, which would set\nhim comparatively free from calls for exertion.\n\n[162] Eph. v. 23.\n\n[163] It has been supposed that Alcuin refers to some purpose of\nbequeathing the library of York to Eanbald II.\n\n[164] Ecclus. vi. 6.\n\n[165] Ethelred of Northumbria was killed and Offa of Mercia died in this\nyear 796.\n\n[166] James v. 11. Our version would have suited the occasion better than\nthe Vulgate, \u201cYe have heard of the patience of Job.\u201d\n\n[167] In the older MSS. _in Deo_, which has a subtle unintentional\nbearing on the controversy with which we are dealing; unintentional if,\nas seems certain, we possess MSS. of the Athanasian symbol of a date\nearlier than the beginning of the heresy of Felix.\n\n[168] The punctuation is that of Wattenbach and D\u00fcmmler. Migne puts a\nfull stop after the Pope and another after the Patriarch: this would seem\nto make _singuli_ refer to two persons only, the two bishops. The Roman\ncontroversialist makes a different punctuation, putting a full stop after\nthe Pope and running the three others together. The whole passage ought\nto be read in the Latin without any punctuation. See Appendix C, p. 319.\n\n[169] Ep. 30, A.D. 793.\n\n[170] But see p. 283.\n\n[171] Bede i. 25, \u201cImaginem Domini salvatoris in tabula depictam.\u201d\n\n[172] The historian-monk of St. Gallen says that his new eyes were better\nthan his old ones, both for use and to look at.\n\n[173] Ep. 120, to Arno.\n\n[174] The account which follows is taken from the contemporary annals of\nEginhart.\n\n[175] Under the year 800.\n\n[176] The actual words are given by Baronius, but with a vague reference\nto his authority. They are given at length by Milman, _Hist. of Lat.\nChristianity_, ii. 205.\n\n[177] The ordinary word for the crypt or other receptacle of the body of\na saint.\n\n[178] Stephen I was Pope 252 to 257. Another Stephen was elected on March\n14, 752, but died before his consecration. On March 26, 752, the Stephen\nhere spoken of was elected. He is thus more properly called Stephen II\nthan Stephen III; and Stephen IV, who appears in Karl\u2019s time, should be\ncalled Stephen III. Many writers, however, call them Stephen III and\nStephen IV.\n\n[179] Labbe, _Concil._ xii. 539.\n\n[180] Labbe, _Concil._ xii. 543.\n\n[181] See p. 26.\n\n[182] The district was rich in wine, fruit, flowers, and honey.\n\n[183] Archbishop Albert of York; see p. 84.\n\n[184] Solomon\u2019s Song, iv. 12\u2014v. 2.\n\n[185] Isaiah, lv. 1.\n\n[186] But see p. 209.\n\n[187] There are great difficulties in the way of accepting this statement\nof a mission by Karl in 773. The passage calls Albinus _deliciosus ipsius\nregis_, and is quoted by Ducange as an evidence of the use of the word.\nIt appears to imply a more intimate acquaintance than at that early date\nthere can have been.\n\n[188] In modern times, better wine is grown near Tours than near Orleans.\nThe wines of Vouvray, for example, beyond Marmoutier, are much esteemed.\nA waiter at Tours concedes that wine is still grown at Orleans, _mais pas\nde sp\u00e9cialit\u00e9 comme ici_.\n\n[189] The spellings of ordinary names are varied in those times almost at\nwill, and it is interesting to note how often the letter _h_ plays a part\nin the variation.\n\n[190] 1 Chron. xxvii. 27.\n\n[191] Song of Songs, ii. 4. Alcuin takes on the whole the Vulgate\nversion. It will be seen by reference to the text and margin of the\nAuthorised and the Revised Versions that there is much variety in the\nrendering of the Hebrew, especially as regards the word here rendered\n\u201cflowers\u201d. The Septuagint gives a sixth meaning, \u201cperfumes\u201d or \u201cunguents\u201d.\n\n[192] 1 Chron. xxvii. 32. Alcuin makes here an unusually bold use of\nScripture, first in taking to himself the description of David\u2019s uncle,\nJonathan, and then in putting into his mouth a cento of phrases from\nJudges xvi. 4, Jer. xlviii. 33, Prov. v. 16.\n\n[193] This song is built up from Song of Solomon vii. 12, v. 1, 2, vii.\n9, vi. 3, and Isa lv. 1.\n\n[194] Song of Songs v. 3.\n\n[195] Luke xi. 5, 7.\n\n[196] 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2.\n\n[197] This appears to be going beyond a joke.\n\n[198] Prov. xxv. 24.\n\n[199] This is of course not the usually assigned derivation; but it\nsounds the more reasonable of the two.\n\n[200] Plate II.\n\n[201] Plate III.\n\n[202] Plate IV.\n\n[203] Multitudo paganorum idolatriis dedita. Per cryptas et latibula cum\npaucis Christianis per eumdem conversis, mysterium solemnitatis diei\nDominici clanculo celebrabat.\n\n[204] See p. 221.\n\n[205] For further extracts from Hadrian\u2019s decree, see p. 228.\n\n[206] His last testament is printed by Migne in the Appendix to the works\nof Gregory of Tours, columns 1148-51. \u201cSimul et omnes libros meos praeter\nEvangeliorum librum quem scripsit Hilarius quondam Pictavensis sacerdos\nquem tibi Eufronio fratri et consacerdoti dilectissimo cum prefata theca\ndo lego volo statuo.\u201d This theca was one of silver, containing relics of\nsaints, which he used to carry about with him. Another theca, gilt, was\nin his chest, with two chalices of gold and a gold cross made by Mabuin;\nthese he left to his church.\n\n[207] _Gesta Regum_, i. 3.\n\n[208] See p. 203.\n\n[209] But see p. 50.\n\n[210] See p. 217.\n\n[211] Printed in _Gallia Christiana_ under Tours. See p. 228.\n\n[212] See p. 217.\n\n[213] It may be helpful to remember that the abbey was originally outside\nthe ancient Roman city, and its district was called Martinopolis. The\nancient Gallican bishoprics were bishoprics of cities rather than of\ndioceses in our wide sense of the word. This may conceivably have a\nbearing on the curious question raised by Hadrian.\n\n[214] See my _Constitution of French Chapters_, Proceedings of St. Paul\u2019s\nEcclesiological Society, Vol. III, 1895.\n\n[215] Micah v. 5, 6.\n\n[216] James ii. 13.\n\n[217] We know from other sources that this \u201c&c.\u201d meant Most Serene\nAugustus, crowned by God, great peace-making Emperor, Governor of the\nRoman Empire, by the mercy of God King of the Franks and of the Lombards.\n\n[218] The emperor irresistibly reminds us of the Eton master and the boy\nwho complained that his name was not that called for punishment:\u2014\n\n Sive tu mavis B\u014ds\u0103nquet vocari\n Sive B\u014ds\u0103nquet,\n Te vapulabo.\n\n[219] That is, Theodulfus, the Bishop of Orleans.\n\n[220] Romans xiv. 4.\n\n[221] 1 Kings xx. 42.\n\n[222] This refers, no doubt, to the immunity of St. Martin\u2019s from the\nintervention of the Archbishop.\n\n[223] _Eulogias._ Wattenbach and D\u00fcmmler gloss this _cibos_. From its\noriginal meaning of the consecrated wafer it came to mean the _pain\nbenit_, then any present, and then a salutation. There is no clue to its\nspecial meaning here.\n\n[224] The character of the Latin verse may be gathered from the closing\nwords of this hexameter, _est non laudabile cui nil_.\n\n[225] In another poem Theodulf begs Queen Luitgard to send him some oil\nof balsam, to enable him to compose and consecrate cream for chrism. We\nmust suppose that Luitgard had some special connexion with ports to which\nbalsams were brought.\n\n Balsameum regina mihi transmitte liquorem,\n Quo bene per populos chrismatis unguen eat.\n Inde seges crescet tibimet mercedis opimae\n Christicolum nomen cum dabit unguen idem.\n\n[226] See p. 33.\n\n[227] That is, a summary, epitome; not as yet a service-book.\n\n[228] Ps. lxx. 14. The Vulgate, which Alcuin quotes, has more point for\nhis present purpose, _adiiciam super omnem laudem tuam_, \u201cI will add Thy\npraise above all praise.\u201d\n\n[229] Exod. xxiii. 8. Alcuin reads _corda sapientium_ where the Vulgate\nhas _prudentes_.\n\n[230] The letter was written in Lent. Easter day in 800 was April 19.\n\n[231] These were Gisla, Charlemagne\u2019s sister, and Rodtruda, his daughter;\nsee also p. 253.\n\n[232] Adapted from chapters i and ii of Solomon\u2019s Song.\n\n[233]\n\n Nomine pandecten proprio vocitare memento\n Hoc corpus sacrum, lector, in ore tuo.\n Quid nunc a multis constat bibliotheca dictum\n Nomine non proprio, ut lingua pelasga probat.\n\nA _pandect_ was the whole Bible, Old and New Testament, as its name,\n\u201ccontaining everything,\u201d implies. A _bibliotheca_, like our word\n\u201clibrary,\u201d meant both a room or case where books were stored, and also\nthe collection of books in the place; hence it might be used for the\npandect, on the ground that it was a collection of all the books of the\nBible.\n\n[234] Wattenbach and D\u00fcmmler, 223-4.\n\n[235] See on this point pp. 86-9.\n\n[236] See my _Anglo-Saxon Coronation Forms, and the use of the word\nProtestant in the Coronation Oath_, S. P. C. K.\n\n[237] That is, if the Pope has recovered from the attempt to blind him\nand cut out his tongue.\n\n[238] Presumably, if new charges are made against the Pope.\n\n[239] A reference to Pliny\u2019s Natural History, where wolves are credited\nwith this power; see also Virgil, _Ecl._ ix. 53, 54.\n\n[240] A reference to Leo\u2019s denial of the charges against him at\nPaderborn, and also to St. Peter\u2019s denial. We must credit Alcuin with\nhaving seen that he would be taken to mean that one was as true as the\nother. The denial was renewed at Rome, see p. 189.\n\n[241] See p. 208.\n\n[242] St. Martin\u2019s at Tours.\n\n[243] His pupils.\n\n[244] See p. 72.\n\n[245] It is a curious coincidence that the ivory comb found in St.\nCuthbert\u2019s coffin, provided by Westone after the Norman Conquest, had\u2014as\nnearly as we can count\u2014sixty teeth, sixteen large and forty-four small.\nAlcuin\u2019s comb may have had the same double row of teeth, with a knob in\nthe shape of a lion\u2019s head projecting from the ends of the central ivory.\n\n[246] _Monumenta Alcuiniana_, Wattenbach and D\u00fcmmler, p. 63.\n\n[247] _Italian Alps_, Longmans, 1875, Appendix D, pp. 371-3.\n\n[248] Kemble, _Cod. Dipl._ ii. 208-62. Coolidge, _Swiss Travel_, 160.\n\u201cPerpessus sit gelidis glacierum (and _glaciarum_) flatibus, et pennino\nexercitu malignorum spirituum.\u201d\n\n[249] _Gesta Pontificum_, Rolls series, pp. 25, 26, 265.\n\n[250] See my _Lessons from Early English Church History_, pp. 45, 46.\n\n[251] Written from Rome; not preserved.\n\n[252] Leo III.\n\n[253] See p. 281 note.\n\n[254] Leo III, see p. 188.\n\n[255] There were two monasteries with this dedication. One of these,\n_Iuvavense_, was at Salzburg, and probably it is the one to which\nreference is made.\n\n[256] See p. 168.\n\n[257] It is probable that he was called Cuckoo from the refrain of some\nfavourite song of his. The Teutonic name for the \u201cbird of spring\u201d was not\na likely personal name, any more than cuckoo is with us.\n\n[258] See also Epistle 186 in Appendix A.\n\n[259] Here, and in Ep. 108, to Arno, Alcuin combines two phrases from the\nSong of Solomon, v. 7 and 8: \u201cThe watchmen have wounded me,\u201d \u201cI am sick\nof love.\u201d In the letter to Arno he appears to quote the actual words of\na text in his possession: _vulnerata karitate ego sum_; in the present\nletter he writes _caritatis calamo vulneratus sum_. The Vulgate has\n_vulneraverunt me_\u2014_amore langueo_. See p. 275.\n\n[260] Eginhart in his life of Karl (ch. 25) states that the king studied\ngrammar under Peter of Pisa, an aged deacon.\n\n[261] This was Angilbertus.\n\n[262] That is, Eginhart, the man skilled in many arts, as was Bezaleel,\nthe chief architect of the Tabernacle.\n\n[263] See p. 33.\n\n[264] The Wends.\n\n[265] Eginhard tells us under this year 789 that Karl crossed the Rhine\nat Cologne with a great army, pushed through Saxony as far as the Elbe,\nand brought the Wiltzi to terms. That, he says, is their name in the\nFrank tongue. In their own tongue they are Welatabi.\n\n[266] The Huns, or Avars, had in the previous year invaded Italy and\nBavaria.\n\n[267] See p. 151.\n\n[268] \u201cAmice carissime.\u201d\n\n[269] See my _Aldhelm_, S.P.C.K., p. 129.\n\n[270] Mansi, _Concilia_, xiii. 937.\n\n[271] Vienna, 1904.\n\n[272] Cummings, _History of Architecture in Italy_, ii. 71.\n\n[273] Pertz, _Monumenta_ (_Scriptores_), ii. 665, 6.\n\n[274] de ista die.\n\n[275] savoir et pouvoir me donne.\n\n[276] chacune.\n\n[277] comme homme.\n\n[278] droit.\n\n[279] faciet.\n\n[280] secundum meum velle.\n\n[281] _Concilium Liptinense._\n\n[282] A photograph of this inscription is reproduced at p. 209 of my\n_Conversion of the Heptarchy_.\n\n[283] This must have come very near to being an umbrella.\n\n[284] Dan. xiv. 35, Vulgate.\n\n[285] _Bonefatii._ This was, of course, the great English missionary\nArchbishop of Maintz, martyred at Dorkum in 755.\n\n[286] 1 Cor. xv. 58.\n\n[287] Rom. xii. 2.\n\n[288] Based on 1 Pet. ii. 1.\n\n[289] He was Abbat of Fulda from 780 to 802, when he resigned the office.\n\n[290] This, no doubt, is the origin of the tradition that Alcuin wrote\nthe Office for Trinity Sunday. See pp. 20, 173.\n\n[291] Rom. xiv. 5.\n\n[292] It will be observed that no mention is made of a king of Kent. See\np. 91.\n\n[293] See the list on the next pages.\n\n[294] This would indicate that the _aula_ at which they had met the king\nand held the council was one of Offa\u2019s outlying manors, and not his\ncentral royal residence.\n\n[295] Supposed, on slight reasoning, to have been held at Corbridge, see\np. 216.\n\n[296] Besides those in the Pope\u2019s list.\n\n[297] _Sacerdos._ It is uncertain to how late a date _sacerdos_ is to be\nrendered bishop.\n\n[298] Wattenbach and D\u00fcmmler give only the headings of the chapters, as\nhere. The chapters themselves will be found in Haddan and Stubbs, iii.\n448-58.\n\n[299] There are many injunctions that priests and others serving at the\naltar must wear drawers. There is quite a large literature on the subject\nof these garments (_femoralia_), in which such of the early fathers as\nare given to symbolism find symbolic meanings. They were an essential\npart of the dress of the Levitical priesthood (Exod. xxviii. 42, 43).\n\n[300] Probably referring to the practice of tattooing.\n\n[301] Prudentius (_Dipt._ i. 3) has \u201cAdam\u201d not \u201chumum\u201d.\n\n[302] This was Tilbert, Bishop of Hexham (Augustald) 781-789. There is\nno reason of seniority or priority that should make him sign above the\nArchbishop. If, as is probable, the Council was held at Corbridge, in his\ndiocese, he might sign first as bishop of the place.\n\n[303] _Praesul._ In the other signatures _episcopus_ is used.\n\n[304] _Candens-casa_, usually _Candida-casa_, so named from its being the\nfirst church built of white stone in that region.\n\n[305] _Myensis._ See p. 156. Aldulf was consecrated in 786, the year of\nthis Council, by Eanbald, Tilberht, and Hygbald, at Corbridge. It is on\nthis account that the Germans think the Council was held at Corbridge.\nHexham would equally meet the case, and better meets the suggestion of a\nprevious note.\n\n[306] Not as yet identified.\n\n[307] It is rather quaint that Sigha should have chosen _placido mente_\nas the phrase to describe his manner of assent to No. 12 above, for two\nyears later he killed King Aelfwald, and he eventually died by his own\nhand.\n\n[308] Of Ripon, 786-787.\n\n[309] Some read Alquinum here, and make Alcuin one of the two lectores.\n\n[310] The text has two forms of this variously spelled name.\n\n[311] Higbert of Lichfield 779-802.\n\n[312] Lindsey 767-796. The Lindisfaras had nothing to do with Lindisfarne.\n\n[313] Leicester 781-802.\n\n[314] Elmham 786-811, see p. 159.\n\n[315] London 794-801.\n\n[316] Kinbert of Winchester 785-801.\n\n[317] Hendred of Dunwich, 781-789.\n\n[318] Esne of Hereford 781-789.\n\n[319] Tolta of Selsey 781-789.\n\n[320] Rochester 785-803.\n\n[321] Sherborn 766-793.\n\n[322] Worcester 781-798.\n\n[323] \u201cAimoini monachi, qui antea Annonii nomine editus est, Historiae\nFrancorum\u201d Lib. V. _Parisiis._ 1567.\n\n[324] Omitted in the quotation.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n A\n\n Abrenuntiatio diaboli, 295.\n\n Abulabaz, 289, 324.\n\n Acca, 137.\n\n Adalbert, 2, 27.\n\n Adoptionism, 24, 174.\n\n Adoration of Charlemagne, 190, 191.\n\n Aigulf, 32.\n\n Aimoin, 322.\n\n Albert (York), 16, 53, 80.\n\n Albinus (Alcuin), 15.\n\n Alchfrith, 8.\n\n Alchred, 122.\n\n Alcuin, called Flaccus, 1;\n Albinus, 15;\n studies Virgil, 2, 11;\n conversion, 11;\n trained by Ecgbert, 12,\n by Albert, 16;\n a vision, 18;\n ordained deacon, 19;\n master of the School of York, 20;\n joins Karl, 22;\n revisits England, 24;\n returns to France, 24;\n refutes Felix, 25, 176, 299;\n wishes to retire to Fulda, 26;\n manner of life, 26;\n knowledge of secrets, 2, 29, 30, 33, 34, 223;\n extinguishes fire, 37;\n writings, 42, 51-3,\n poem on York, ch. iv,\n lesser poems, 268, 277, 298,\n a riddle, 268;\n drinks wine, 45,\n beer (not English, 267), 45 _n._;\n interview with the devil, 43;\n death, 46, 303;\n miracles, 49;\n alms for his soul, 224;\n his chief dates, 52, 85, 172;\n the pallium, 77;\n inherits the library of York, 84;\n a fisherman, 268;\n liturgical work, 260, 308;\n singing, 260;\n interest in missions, 285-9;\n Bibles, 257;\n advises reference to Hadrian, 177-9;\n settles at Tours, 202;\n his styles, 264-9;\n mentions Eginhart, 283;\n is mentioned by Eginhart, 284;\n praised by William of Malmesbury, 52;\n described by Theodulf, 45 _n._, 245.\n\n Alcuin\u2019s letters to:\u2014\n Abbat, an, 285.\n Adalhard, 264.\n Arno, 170, 235, 268, 270, 271, 273-6, 287, 289, 298, 299, 300.\n Athilhard, 94, 115, 116, 117.\n Beornwin, 98.\n Bishop, a, (sanctuary), 234.\n Britain, the pontiffs of, 157.\n Candida Casa, 301.\n Candidus and Nathanael, 231.\n Charles (Karl\u2019s son), 248, 250.\n Colcu, 150, 286.\n Cuckoo, the, 168, 169.\n Dunwich and Elmham, 159, 301.\n Eanbald I, 161.\n Eanbald II, 164, 166, 167.\n Eardulf, 141.\n Elmham and Dunwich, 159, 301.\n Etheldryth, 146, 148.\n Fulda, 305.\n Gisla and Rotruda, 253.\n Hexham, 137.\n Hibernia, 153.\n Higbald, 132, 170, 287.\n Jarrow, 135.\n Joseph, 267.\n Karl, 117, 191, 202, 208, 238, 247 (?), 254, 287, 300, 301, 302.\n Kenulf, 109.\n Leo III, 77.\n Lindisfarne, 132, 135.\n Mayo, 154.\n Megenfrid, 288.\n Mercian, a, 107.\n Offa, 93, 103.\n Osbald, 143.\n Paulinus, 270.\n Pepin, 252.\n Peter of Milan, 270.\n Pontiffs of Britain, 157.\n Remedius, 270.\n Rotruda, 253.\n Theodulf, 206.\n Uulfhard, 205.\n Wearmouth, 135.\n York, 162.\n\n Aldhelm, 52, 107.\n\n Aldric, 2.\n\n Alfwold, 123.\n\n Alps, 269-72.\n\n Amalgarius, 242.\n\n Anglo-Saxon, Coronation Forms, 261-3.\n\n Anglo-Saxon, Earliest Examples of, 296, 297.\n\n Archpresbyters, 230.\n\n Areida, 151.\n\n Arno, 47, 276.\n\n Aust, 114.\n\n\n B\n\n Baldhuninga, 151.\n\n Balther, 79.\n\n Bede, letter to Ecgbert, ch. iii.\n\n Bede, Story of, 70.\n\n Beer, 45 _n._\n\n Beer, acid in Northumbria, 267.\n\n Benedict of Aniane, 30.\n\n Beornrad, 7.\n\n Bewcastle Cross, 9, 57, 296.\n\n Bibles, Alcuin\u2019s, 257.\n\n Billfrith, 125.\n\n Biscop, 127.\n\n Bishops, their conduct, 55.\n\n Bishops, dioceses too large, 57.\n\n Bishops, election of, 163.\n\n Boniface, 26, 285, 305.\n\n Boniface, his abrenuntiatio diaboli, 295.\n\n Bouulf, 307.\n\n Bremen, 285.\n\n British Museum, Alcuin\u2019s Bible, 257.\n\n\n C\n\n Ceolfrith, 78.\n\n Charlemagne, _see_ Karl.\n\n Chur, 269.\n\n Coire, 269.\n\n Colcu, 150-3.\n\n Cold in the Alps, 271-3.\n\n Columba, _see_ Rotruda.\n\n Comb, riddle of, 269.\n\n Constantine Copronymus, 201.\n\n Constantine the Great, Donation by, 195, 320.\n\n Constantine VI, 193.\n\n Cormery, 31, 223-8.\n\n Coronation Forms, Anglo-Saxon, 261-3.\n\n Cuckoo, the (Cuculus), Arno\u2019s letter to, 276.\n\n Cuckoo, Alcuin\u2019s lament on, 277.\n\n\n D\n\n Danes, 126.\n\n Devil, interview of Alcuin with, 43;\n of St. Martin, 44.\n\n Dictated letters, &c., 7.\n\n Donation of Constantine, 195, 320, 321.\n\n Drithelme, vision of, 273.\n\n Dunwich, 159, 301.\n\n\n E\n\n Eadbert, 76, 122.\n\n Eadfrith, 125.\n\n Eanbald I (York), 21, 161.\n\n Eanbald II, 163-9.\n\n Eanred, 124.\n\n Eardulf, 123.\n\n Eata, 79.\n\n Ecgbert (Ireland), 8.\n\n Ecgbert (York), 12, 13, 53, 54, 76.\n\n Ecgfrith, 106.\n\n Eginhard (Bezaleel), 33, 283, 284.\n\n Elephants, 289-92.\n\n Elfwald, 124.\n\n Elmham, 159, 301.\n\n Epternach, 6.\n\n Ethelred I, 123.\n\n Ethelred II, 124.\n\n Ethelwald, 122, 125.\n\n\n F\n\n Felix, 174-9, 298.\n\n Ferri\u00e8res, 1, 28.\n\n Frankfort, Council of, 183.\n\n Fredegisus (Fridugisus), 27, 226, 227, 256.\n\n Fulda, 26, Appendix A.\n\n\n G\n\n George, legate, 310.\n\n Gisla (Lucia), 253;\n letter to Alcuin, 254, 256.\n\n Graduale, 260.\n\n Gregory, Pope, the Pastoral Care, 169-71.\n\n\n H\n\n Hadrian I, 21;\n raises Lichfield to an Archbishopric, ch. v;\n fears Offa, 92;\n to be consulted on a treatise of Felix, 177;\n letter to Karl, 323.\n\n Harun al Raschid, 324.\n\n Hereditary descent, 5-7.\n\n Hexham, 137.\n\n Higbald, 132.\n\n Huguenots, 210.\n\n\n I\n\n Image-worship, 181-3.\n\n Irene, 193.\n\n Itherius, 217, 224-6.\n\n\n J\n\n Jaenbert of Canterbury, despoiled, ch. v.\n\n Jarrow, 127, 135.\n\n Joseph, Archbishop of Tours, ch. xiv.\n\n\n K\n\n Karl, 21, 22;\n visits Alcuin at Tours, 31;\n loved foreigners, 33;\n invites Alcuin, 54;\n quarrels with Offa, 98;\n letters to Offa, 99, 119;\n letter to Athelhard, 120;\n his visits to Rome, 186-91;\n grants to Cormery, 225;\n blames the brethren of St. Martin\u2019s, ch. xiv;\n letter to Alcuin (sanctuary), 235;\n described by Theodulf, 245;\n questions to Alcuin, 280-4;\n described by Eginhart, 284.\n\n Kenulf, 93, 111.\n\n\n L\n\n Languages of Carolingian times, 292-6.\n\n Lectores, 317.\n\n Legates, papal, 91, 310.\n\n Leo III deprives Lichfield, ch. vi;\n charges against, 188-90;\n crowns Charlemagne as Emperor, 190.\n\n Libraries, at the Cathedral Church of Tours, 220;\n Marmoutier, 221;\n St. Martin\u2019s, 222;\n Tours and the neighbourhood, 219, 222;\n York, 84, 85.\n\n Libri Carolini, 183.\n\n Lichfield, made an Archbishopric, ch. v.\n\n Lindisfarne, 125-7, 132.\n\n Liturgies, 260.\n\n Louis, son of Karl, 31.\n\n Lucia, _see_ Gisla.\n\n Luitgard, 245.\n\n\n M\n\n Malmesbury, William of, 51, 92, 113, 224, 272;\n property restored, 106.\n\n Maluin, 317.\n\n Manuscripts, Alcuin sends to York for, 203;\n of Coronation Forms, 261-3.\n\n Marmoutier, 212.\n\n Martin, _see_ St.\n\n Martinensian Bishops, 217, 228.\n\n Mayo of the Saxons, 153-6.\n\n Mercia, Archbishopric of, ch. v.\n\n Missions, 285.\n\n Monasteries, suppression of, 59-61;\n hereditary descent, 62;\n bad state of, 65.\n\n\n N\n\n Nathanael, _see_ Fredegisus.\n\n Nicephorus, 323.\n\n Ninian, 301.\n\n Northumbria, list of kings, 122-4.\n\n\n O\n\n Oeren, 6.\n\n Offa, ch. v; Appendix B.\n\n Orleans, 206, 232.\n\n Osbald, 141.\n\n Osred, 123.\n\n Osulf, 23, 25.\n\n Oswulf, 122.\n\n\n P\n\n Pallium, for York, 76, 77;\n for Lichfield, ch. v.\n\n Pandect, 258.\n\n Pastoral Care, the, 169-71.\n\n Paul, _see_ Peter and.\n\n Pepin, son of Karl, 31, 252.\n\n Peter and Paul, Saints, 187, 197, 320-3.\n\n Peter, St., his long letter to the Franks, 199.\n\n Pettau, 303.\n\n Pilgrimages, evils of, 65.\n\n Popes, gifts to, 92, 111;\n charges against, 188-190;\n adoration by, 191.\n\n Purton, 106.\n\n Pyttel, 317.\n\n\n R\n\n Raganard, 27-9.\n\n Remedius (Remigius), 269.\n\n Ripon, 8.\n\n Rotruda (Columba), 193, 253, 256;\n letter to Alcuin, 254.\n\n Runes, 9, 296, 297.\n\n Rustica, Romana, 293.\n\n\n S\n\n Sanctuary, right of, ch. xiv.\n\n Saxon, early, 295.\n\n Scriptures, revision of, 253-9.\n\n Sigha, 16.\n\n Sigulf, 1, 20, 27, 49.\n\n Silk robes, 290, 302.\n\n Singing, 260.\n\n Spurn Point, 4.\n\n St. Martin, scenes in his life, 38-41, 44;\n at Tours, 212, 214, 221.\n\n St. Martin\u2019s, Tours, fire at, 36;\n status of, 216;\n bishops of, 217, 228.\n\n Sulpicius Severus, 38, 44, 221.\n\n Synod, Mercian, 92, 317;\n Northumbrian, 311.\n\n\n T\n\n Tetbury, 106.\n\n Theodulf of Orleans, 206, ch. xiv, 245;\n describes Karl, 245;\n describes Alcuin, 45 _n._, 235.\n\n Theophylact, legate, 310.\n\n Theotisc (Deutsch), 294.\n\n Tithes, 287.\n\n Tours, Alcuin settles at, 202;\n character of the brethren, 204, ch. xiv;\n its amenity defended by Alcuin, 209;\n fees at the School, 209;\n the Church of St. Martin, 210-13;\n the Cathedral Church, 213, 214;\n Public Library, 214-16, 219-23;\n Secularisation of St. Martin\u2019s, 216-18;\n two sets of bishops, 217, 228.\n\n Transubstantiation, 179, 184.\n\n Tr\u00e8ves, 6.\n\n\n U\n\n Uulfhard, 22, 205.\n\n Uilhaed (Willehad), 285.\n\n\n V\n\n Vetulus, 1.\n\n Violence in Northumbria, 123.\n\n\n W\n\n Waldramn, 27, 44.\n\n Wearmouth, 127, 135.\n\n Westbury on Trym, 114.\n\n Whithorn, 301.\n\n Wido, 239.\n\n Wighod, 311.\n\n Wilgils, 4, 5.\n\n Willibrord, 2-9.\n\n Wine, 45 _n._, 205-8, 267, 277.\n\n Withso (variously spelled), 27.\n\n\n Y\n\n York, Bishops and Saints of, ch. iv;\n Cathedral Church of, 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