Editing Alcuin (section)

== Biography ==
=== Background ===
[[File:AT 13763 Roof figures at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna-8.jpg|thumb|upright|Alcuin, roof figure, Museum of History of Arts, Vienna]]

Alcuin was born in [[Northumbria]], presumably sometime in the 730s. Virtually nothing is known of his parents, family background, or origin.{{sfn|Bullough|2004|p=164}} In common hagiographical fashion, the ''Vita Alcuini'' asserts that Alcuin was of "noble English stock", and this statement has usually been accepted by scholars. Alcuin's own work only mentions such collateral kinsmen as [[Wilgils|Wilgils of Ripon]], father of the missionary saint [[Willibrord]]; and [[Beornrad (archbishop of Sens)|Beornrad]] (also spelled Beornred), abbot of [[Echternach]] and bishop of [[Sens]].{{sfn|Bullough|2004|pp=146-147, 165}} Willibrord, Alcuin and Beornrad were all related by blood.{{sfn|Mayr-Harting|2016|page=212}}{{sfn|Stenton|2001|page=219}}

In his ''Life'' of St Willibrord, Alcuin writes that Wilgils called a ''[[Pater familias]]'', had founded an oratory and church at the mouth of the [[Humber]], which had fallen into Alcuin's possession by inheritance. Because in early Anglo-Latin writing ''paterfamilias'' ("head of a family, householder") usually referred to a {{lang|ang|[[churl|ceorl]]}} ("[[churl]]"), [[Donald A. Bullough]] suggests that Alcuin's family was of {{lang|ang|cierlisc}} ("churlish") status: i.e., free but subordinate to a noble lord, and that Alcuin and other members of his family rose to prominence through beneficial connections with the aristocracy.{{sfn|Bullough|2004|pp=146-147, 165}} If so, Alcuin's origins may lie in the southern part of what was formerly known as [[Deira]].{{sfn|Bullough|2004|p=165}}

=== York ===
The young Alcuin came to the [[York Minster|cathedral church]] of York during the golden age of Archbishop [[Ecgbert of York|Ecgbert]] and his brother, the Northumbrian King [[Eadberht of Northumbria|Eadberht]]. Ecgbert had been a disciple of the [[Bede|Venerable Bede]], who urged him to raise York to an [[archbishopric]]. King Eadberht and Archbishop Ecgbert oversaw the re-energising and reorganisation of the [[History of the Church of England|English church]], with an emphasis on reforming the clergy and on the tradition of learning that Bede had begun. Ecgbert was devoted to Alcuin, who thrived under his tutelage.<ref>Mayr-Harting "Ecgberht" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref>

The York school was renowned as a centre of learning in the liberal arts, literature, and science, as well as in religious matters.{{sfn|Hutchison|2006}} From here, Alcuin drew inspiration for the school he would lead at the [[Franks|Frankish]] court. He revived the school with the [[Trivium (education)|trivium]] and [[quadrivium]] disciplines,{{sfn|Burns|1907}} writing a [[codex]] on the trivium, while his student [[Rabanus Maurus|Hrabanus]] wrote one on the quadrivium.

Alcuin graduated to become a teacher during the 750s. His ascendancy to the headship of the York school, the ancestor of [[St Peter's School, York|St Peter's School]], began after [[Æthelbert of York]] became [[Archbishop of York]] in 767. Around the same time, Alcuin became a [[deacon]] in the church. He was never ordained a priest. Though no real evidence shows that he took monastic vows, he lived as if he had.

In 781, King [[Ælfwald I of Northumbria]] sent Alcuin to Rome to petition the Pope for official confirmation of York's status as an archbishopric and to confirm the election of the new archbishop, [[Eanbald (died 796)|Eanbald I]]. On his way home, he met [[Charlemagne]] (whom he had met once before), this time in the Italian city of [[Parma]].{{efn|{{harvnb|Mayr-Harting|2016|page=207}} asserts Charlemagne met Alcuin – for the second time – at Parma in 781. {{harvnb|Story|2005|p=137}} reports that Alcuin had previously been sent to Charlemagne by Ethelbert.}}

=== Charlemagne ===
{{Main|Scholasticism}}

Alcuin's intellectual curiosity allowed him to be reluctantly persuaded to join Charlemagne's court. He joined an illustrious group of scholars whom Charlemagne had gathered around him, the mainsprings of the [[Carolingian Renaissance]]: [[Peter of Pisa]], [[Saint Paulinus II|Paulinus II of Aquileia]], Rado, and Abbot [[Fulrad|Saint Fulrad]]. Alcuin would later write, "the Lord was calling me to the service of King Charles".

Alcuin became master of the [[Charlemagne's Palace in Aachen|Palace]] School of Charlemagne in [[Aachen]] ({{lang|la|Urbs Regale}}) in 782.{{sfn|Burns|1907}} It had been founded by the king's ancestors as a place for the education of the royal children (mostly in manners and the ways of the court). However, Charlemagne wanted to include the [[liberal arts]], and most importantly, the study of religion. From 782 to 790, Alcuin taught Charlemagne himself, his sons [[Pepin the Hunchback|Pepin]] and [[Louis the Pious|Louis]], as well as young men sent to be educated at court, and the young clerics attached to the [[Palatine Chapel in Aachen|palace chapel]]. Bringing with him from York his assistants Pyttel, Sigewulf, and Joseph, Alcuin revolutionised the educational standards of the Palace School, introducing Charlemagne to the liberal arts and creating a personalised atmosphere of scholarship and learning, to the extent that the institution came to be known as the "school of Master Albinus".

In this role as adviser, he took issue with the emperor's policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe". His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.{{sfn|Needham|2000|p=52}}

Charlemagne gathered the best men of every land in his court and became far more than just the king at the centre. It seems that he made many of these men his closest friends and counsellors. They referred to him as "David", a reference to the Biblical king [[David (biblical king)|David]]. Alcuin soon found himself on intimate terms with Charlemagne and the other men at court, where pupils and masters were known by affectionate and jesting nicknames.{{sfn|Wilmot-Buxton|1922|p=93}} Alcuin himself was known as 'Albinus' or 'Flaccus'. While at [[Aachen]], Alcuin bestowed pet names upon his pupils – derived mainly from [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Eclogues]]''.{{sfn|Jaeger|1999|p=38}} According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "He loved Charlemagne and enjoyed the king's esteem, but his letters reveal that his fear of him was as great as his love."<ref name=EB/>

After the death of [[Pope Adrian I]], Alcuin was commissioned by Charlemagne to compose an epitaph for Adrian. The epitaph was inscribed on black stone quarried at Aachen and carried to Rome where it was set over Adrian's tomb in the south transept of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] just before Charlemagne's coronation in the basilica on Christmas Day 800.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Story |first=Joanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMq8EAAAQBAJ |title=Charlemagne and Rome: Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I |date=2023 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-920634-6 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Return to Northumbria and back to Francia ===
In 790, Alcuin returned from the court of Charlemagne to England, to which he had remained attached. He dwelt there for some time, but Charlemagne then invited him back to help in the fight against the [[Spanish Adoptionism|Adoptionist]] heresy, which was at that time making great progress in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], the old capital of the [[Visigoths]] and still a major city for the Christians under [[Al-Andalus|Islamic rule in Spain]]. He is believed to have had contacts with [[Beatus of Liébana]], from the [[Kingdom of Asturias]], who fought against Adoptionism. At the [[Council of Frankfurt]] in 794, Alcuin upheld the orthodox doctrine against the views expressed by [[Felix, Bishop of Urgel|Felix of Urgel]], an [[heresiarch]] according to the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]].{{sfn|Burns|1907}} Having failed during his stay in Northumbria to influence King [[Æthelred I of Northumbria|Æthelred I]] in the conduct of his reign, Alcuin never returned home.

He was back at Charlemagne's court by at least mid-792, writing a series of letters to Æthelred, to Hygbald, Bishop of [[Bishop of Durham|Lindisfarne]], and to [[Æthelhard]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in the succeeding months, dealing with the [[Viking]] attack on Lindisfarne in July 793. These letters and Alcuin's poem on the subject, {{Lang|la|"De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii"}}, provide the only significant contemporary account of these events. In his description of the Viking attack, he wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain. Behold the [[St Cuthbert's Society, Durham|church of St Cuthbert]], splattered with the blood of God's priests, robbed of its ornaments."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crossley-Holland |first=Kevin |title=The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology |date=24 June 1999 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0192835475 |page=186}}</ref>

=== Tours and death ===
In 796, Alcuin was in his 60s. He hoped to be free from court duties and upon the death of Abbot Itherius of Saint Martin at [[Tours]], Charlemagne put [[Marmoutier Abbey, Tours|Marmoutier Abbey]] into Alcuin's care, with the understanding that he should be available if the king ever needed his counsel. There, he encouraged the work of the monks on the beautiful [[Carolingian minuscule]] script, ancestor of modern Roman typefaces using a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters.<ref name=EB>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alcuin |title=Alcuin - Anglo-Saxon scholar |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=12 February 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Colish|1999|p=67}} Latin [[paleography]] in the 8th century leaves little room for a single origin of the script, and sources contradict his importance as no proof has been found of his direct involvement in the creation of the script.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dales |first1=Douglas |title=Alcuin II: Theology and Thought |date=2013 |publisher=ISD LLC |isbn=978-0-227-90087-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNDYDwAAQBAJ&q=Carolingian+minuscule+alcuin&pg=PP143 |language=en}}</ref> Carolingian minuscule was already in use before Alcuin arrived in [[Francia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mckitterick |first1=Rosamond |title=The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians 751–987 |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87247-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_6rDwAAQBAJ&q=Carolingian+minuscule+alcuin&pg=PT167 |language=en}}</ref> Most likely he was responsible for copying and preserving the script<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bowen |first1=James |title=Hist West Educ: Civil Europe V2 |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-50096-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHl0DwAAQBAJ&q=Carolingian+minuscule+alcuin&pg=PT35 |language=en}}</ref> while at the same time restoring the purity of the form.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Morison |first1=Stanley |title=Selected Essays On the History of Letter-forms in Manuscript and Print |date=2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-18316-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-G2tQVnPiCAC&q=Carolingian+minuscule+alcuin&pg=PA255 |language=en}}</ref>

Alcuin died on 19 May 804, some 10 years before the emperor, and was buried at St. Martin's Church under an epitaph that partly read:{{sfn|Duckett|1951|p=305}}
{{poemquote|Dust, worms, and ashes now ...
Alcuin my name, wisdom I always loved,
Pray, reader, for my soul.}}

The majority of details on Alcuin's life come from his letters and poems. Also, autobiographical sections are in Alcuin's poem on York and in the ''Vita Alcuini'', a [[hagiography]] written for him at [[Ferrières Abbey|Ferrières]] in the 820s, possibly based in part on the memories of Sigwulf, one of Alcuin's pupils.