Editing Alcuin

{{Short description|8th-century Northumbrian scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher}}
{{About|the scholar Alcuin of York||Alcuin (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| name           = Alcuin of York
| image          = Raban-Maur Alcuin Otgar.jpg
| occupation     = [[Deacon]] of the [[Catholic Church]]
| birth_place    = [[York]], [[Northumbria]]
| death_place    = [[Tours]], [[Francia]]
| notable_works  = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes]]''
* ''[[Quaestiones in Genesim]]''
}}
| caption        = A Carolingian manuscript, {{circa|831}}. [[Rabanus Maurus]] (left), with Alcuin (middle), dedicating his work to Archbishop [[Otgar of Mainz]] (right)
| era            = {{plainlist|
* [[Medieval philosophy]]
* [[Carolingian Renaissance]]
}}
| main_interests = {{plainlist|
* [[Mathematics]]
* [[Philosophy]]
* [[Christian theology]]
* [[Poetry]]
}}
| birth_date     = {{circa|735}}
| death_date     = 19 May 804 (aged around 69)
| influences     = [[Ecgbert of York]]
}}

'''Alcuin of York''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|l|k|w|ɪ|n}};<!-- Editorial note: Lexico uses /a/ for the sound more accurately transcribed in IPA as /æ/ --><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/alcuin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131084858/https://www.lexico.com/definition/alcuin|url-status=dead |archive-date=31 January 2020 |title=Alcuin |website=Lexico |access-date=13 September 2020}}</ref> {{langx|la|Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus}}; {{circa}} 735 – 19 May 804), also called '''Ealhwine''', '''Alhwin''', or '''Alchoin''', was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from [[York]], [[Northumbria]]. He was born around 735 and became the student of [[Ecgbert of York|Archbishop Ecgbert]] at York. At the invitation of [[Charlemagne]], he became a leading scholar and teacher at the [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian court]], where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. Before that, he was also a court chancellor in [[Aachen]]. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according to [[Einhard]]'s ''[[Vita Karoli Magni|Life of Charlemagne]]''{{sfn|Einhard|2003|p=54}} ({{circa|817}}–833), he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the [[Carolingian Renaissance]]. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.

Alcuin wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. In 796, he was made abbot of [[Marmoutier Abbey, Tours|Marmoutier Abbey]], in [[Tours]], where he worked on perfecting the [[Carolingian minuscule]] script. He remained there until his death.

== 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.

== Scholarly and literary output ==
=== Mathematician ===
{{Main|Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes}}

The collection of mathematical and logical word problems entitled ''Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes'' ("Problems to Sharpen Youths"){{sfn|Alcuin|n.d.}} is sometimes attributed to Alcuin.<ref name="Peterson-2005">{{Cite web |url=http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_11_21_05.html |title=Ivars Peterson's MathTrek 21 November 2005}}</ref>{{sfn|Atkinson|2005|pp=354-362}} In a 799 letter to Charlemagne, the scholar claimed to have sent "certain figures of arithmetic for the joy of cleverness",<ref>''Epistola'' 172, MGH ''Epistolae'' 4.2: 285: "aliquas figuras arithmeticae subtilitatis laetitiae causa"</ref> which some scholars have identified with the ''Propositiones''.{{sfn|Jullien|1994|p=482-483}}{{efn|A more skeptical attitude toward Alcuin's authorship of this text and others is taken by {{harvnb|Gorman|2002|pp=101-130}} }}

The text contains about 53 mathematical word problems (with solutions), in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are: four that involve [[river crossing problem|river crossings]], including the [[Jealous husbands problem|problem of three anxious brothers]], each of whom has an unmarried sister whom he cannot leave alone with either of the other men lest she be defiled<ref name="3-brothers">{{Cite web |url=http://logica.ugent.be/albrecht/alcuin.pdf |title=Latin title and English text of the problem}}</ref> (Problem 17); the [[Fox, goose and bag of beans puzzle|problem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage]] (Problem 18); and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19). [[Alcuin's sequence]] is the solution to one of the problems of that book.

=== Theologian ===
Alcuin's work as a theologian was more concerned with conservation than originality. His nine scriptural commentaries—on [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], the [[Psalms]], the [[Song of Solomon]], [[Ecclesiastes]], Hebrew Names, the [[Gospel of John]], the Epistles [[Epistle to Titus|to Titus]], [[Epistle to Philemon|Philemon]], and [[Epistle to the Hebrews|the Hebrews]], The Sayings of St. Paul, and [[Book of Revelation|the Apocalypse]]—consist mostly of sentences taken from the [[Church Fathers]], the apparent motive being to collect into convenient form the observations on the more important scriptural passages of the best commentators who had preceded him. Alcuin also engaged in [[textual criticism]] of the [[Vulgate]], which had many variant readings in his time. Four Bibles are shown by the dedicatory poems affixed to them to have been prepared by him, or under his direction at Tours, probably during the years 799–801. Whatever the exact changes made by Alcuin in the Bible text may have been, the known disposition of the man—that he intended to recover [[Jerome]]'s original text as much as possible—no less than the limits of the scholarship of his time, makes it certain that these changes were not of a far-reaching kind.

Of the three brief moral treatises Alcuin has left us, two, {{lang|la|De virtutibus et vitiis}}, and {{lang|la|De animae ratione}}, are largely abridgments of the writing of [[Augustine]] on the same subjects, while the third, "On the Confession of Sins," is a concise exposition of the nature of confession, addressed to a congregation of monks. Closely allied to his moral writings in spirit and purpose are his sketches of the lives of saints [[Martin of Tours]], [[Vedast]], [[Richarius]], and [[Willibrord]], the last being a biography of considerable length.

Alcuin opposed the [[Spanish Adoptionism|adoptionist Christology]] advanced by [[Felix (bishop of Urgell)|Felix of Urgell]] and [[Elipandus of Toledo]], two bishops from Iberia.

=== Liturgist ===
Besides his fame as an educator and a theologian, Alcuin was also the principal agent of the [[Mass (liturgy)|liturgical]] reform accomplished under the authority of Charlemagne. Upon Charlemagne's accession the [[Gallican Rite]] prevailed in France, but it was so modified by local customs and traditions as to constitute a serious obstacle to complete ecclesiastical unity. It was the purpose of the king to substitute the [[Roman Rite]] in place of the Gallican, or at least to bring about such a revision of the latter as to make it substantially one with the Roman. The strong leaning of Alcuin towards Roman traditions, combined with his conservative character and the universal authority of his name, qualified him for the accomplishment of a change which the royal authority in itself was powerless to effect.

The first of Alcuin's liturgical works appears to have been a homilary, or collection of [[sermon]]s in Latin for use by priests. Another liturgical work of Alcuin consists of a collection of readings to be read on Sundays and holy days throughout the year, the {{lang|la|Comes ab Albino ex Caroli imp. praecepto emendatus}}. As, previous to his time, the portions of Scripture to be read at Mass were often merely indicated [[Marginalia|on the margins]] of the Bibles used, the {{lang|la|Comes}} commended itself by its convenience, and as he followed Roman usage here also, the result was another advance in the way of conformity to the Roman liturgy. The work of Alcuin which had the greatest and most lasting influence in this direction, however, was the [[missal]] which he compiled; prescribed as the official liturgical book of the Frankish church, Alcuin's missal soon came to be commonly used throughout Europe and was largely instrumental in bringing about uniformity in respect to the liturgy of the Mass in the whole [[Latin Church]]. Other liturgical productions of Alcuin were a collection of [[votive Mass]]es drawn up for the monks of [[Fulda]], a treatise called {{lang|la|De psalmorum usu}}, a [[breviary]] for laymen, and a brief explanation of the ceremonies of baptism.

=== Literary influence ===
Alcuin made the abbey school into a model of excellence and students flocked to it. He had many manuscripts copied using outstandingly beautiful [[calligraphy]], the [[Carolingian minuscule]] based on round and legible [[uncial]] letters. He wrote many letters to his English friends, to [[Arno of Salzburg|Arno, bishop of Salzburg]] and above all to Charlemagne. These letters (of which 311 are extant) are filled mainly with pious meditations, but they form an important source of information as to the literary and social conditions of the time and are the most reliable authority for the history of [[humanism]] during the [[Carolingian]] age. Alcuin trained the numerous monks of the abbey in piety, and in the midst of these pursuits, he died.

Alcuin is the most prominent figure of the [[Carolingian Renaissance]], in which three main periods have been distinguished: in the first of these, up to the arrival of Alcuin at the court, the Italians occupy a central place; in the second, Alcuin and the English are dominant; in the third (from 804), the influence of [[Theodulf of Orléans]] is preponderant.

Alcuin also developed manuals used in his educational work – a [[grammar]] and works on [[rhetoric]] and [[dialectics]]. These are written in the form of a [[dialogue]], and in two of them the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He wrote several [[theological]] treatises: a ''De fide Trinitatis'', and commentaries on the Bible.{{sfn|Page|1909|p=15}} Alcuin is credited with inventing the first known [[question mark]], though it did not resemble the modern symbol.{{sfn|Truss|2003|p=76}}

Alcuin transmitted to the [[Franks]] the knowledge of Latin culture, which had existed in [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon England]]. A number of his works still exist. Besides some graceful epistles in the style of [[Venantius Fortunatus]], he wrote some long poems, and notably he is the author of a history (in verse) of the church at York, ''Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae''. At the same time, he is noted for making one of the only explicit comments on [[Old English poetry]] surviving from the early [[Middle Ages]], in a letter to one Speratus, the bishop of an unnamed English [[Episcopal see|see]] (possibly [[Unwona]] of Leicester): {{lang|la|"verba Dei legantur in sacerdotali convivio: ibi decet lectorem audiri, non citharistam; sermones patrum, non carmina gentilium. Quid [[Hinieldus]] cum Christo?"}} ("Let God's words be read at the episcopal dinner-table. It is right that a reader should be heard, not a harpist, patristic discourse, not pagan song. What has [[Ingeld]] to do with Christ?").<ref>Donald A. Bullough, "What has Ingeld to do with Lindisfarne?", ''Anglo-Saxon England'', 22 (1993), 93-125 (p. 93 for the Latin [quoted from ''Epistolae Karolini Aevi II'', ed. by E. Dummler, ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'', Epistula 4 (Berlin, 1895), p. 183 (no. 12)]; p. 124 for the translation); {{doi|10.1017/S0263675100004336}}.</ref>

==== Perceived homoeroticism ====
Some historians, including the queer historian [[John Boswell]], have identified what they consider to be a [[homoerotic]] or homosexual [[subtext]] in Alcuin's writings.{{sfn|Boswell|2015|p=189}}{{sfn|Bromell|2002|p=16}}{{sfn|Coon|2011|p=18}} Others, like [[Allen Frantzen]], have disputed this characterisation of his work; Frantzen identifies Alcuin's language with that of medieval Christian ''amicitia'' or friendship.{{sfn|Frantzen|1998|p=198}}{{efn |See also {{harvnb|Jaeger|1991}} }} Douglas Dales and [[Rowan Williams]] say "the use of language drawn [by Alcuin] from the ''[[Song of Songs]]'' transforms apparently erotic language into something within Christian friendship – 'an ordained affection{{'"}}.{{sfn|Dales|Williams|2013|p=228}} According to David Clark, passages in some of Alcuin's writings can be seen to display homosocial desire, even possibly homoerotic imagery, though he argues that it is not possible to necessarily determine whether they were the result of an outward expression of erotic feelings on the part of Alcuin.{{sfn|Clark|2009|p=80}}

== Legacy ==
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=[[Saint]]
|name          = Alcuin of York
|death_date    =
|feast_day     = 20 May
|venerated_in  = * [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] 
* [[Anglicanism]]
|image         = File:Saint Alcuin F-001803-20120809.jpg
|imagesize     = 100px
|caption       = Painting subtitled {{lang|la|Sanctus Alcuinus}} ({{gloss|Saint Alcuin}}), [[Tyrol]], early 16th century
|birth_place   =
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Alcuin is honoured in the [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|Church of England]] and in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church]] on 20 May the first available day after the day of his death (as [[Dunstan]] is celebrated on 19 May).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.churchintouraine.org/?page_id=2|title=Why Alcuin – Church in Touraine |website=churchintouraine.org |language=en |access-date=29 November 2017 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330082808/http://www.churchintouraine.org/?page_id=2 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=17 December 2019 |publisher=Church Publishing |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Alcuin is also venerated as a Saint by [[Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in the [[British Isles]] and [[Ireland]]. The Orthodox Fellowship of [[John the Baptist]] publishes a liturgical calendar that is widely used in that region, and this calendar includes a feast for St Alcuin.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

[[Alcuin College]], one of the [[colleges of the University of York]], is named after him.<ref>{{Cite web |last=York |first=University of |title=Alcuin - University of York |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/colleges/alcuin/ |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=University of York |language=en}}</ref> In January 2020, Alcuin was the subject of the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[In Our Time (radio series)|In Our Time]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dqy8 |title=BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Alcuin |website=BBC}}</ref> In December 2024, Alcuin was prominently featured in a Part 2 of a 3-part podcast series on Charlemagne in ''[[The Rest Is History (podcast)]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/hu/podcast/charlemagne-pagan-killer-part-2/id1537788786?i=1000679734307 |title=Charlemagne: Pagan Killer (Part 2) |website=The Rest Is History}}</ref>

== Selected works ==
For a complete census of Alcuin's works, see Marie-Hélène Jullien and Françoise Perelman, eds., ''Clavis scriptorum latinorum medii aevi: Auctores Galliae 735–987, Tomus II – Alcuinus'', Turnhout, Brepols, 1999.

=== Poetry ===
* ''Carmina'', ed. [[Ernst Dümmler]], MGH ''Poetae Latini aevi Carolini'' I, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881, 160–351.
** Godman, Peter, trad., ''Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance'', Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1985, 118–149.
** Stella, Francesco, trad., comm., ''La poesia carolingia'', Firenze: Le Lettere, 1995, pp. 94–96, 152–161, 266–267, 302–307, 364–371, 399–404, 455–457, 474–477, 503–507.
** Isbell, Harold, trad.; ''The Last Poets of Imperial Rome'', Baltimore, Penguin, 1971.
* Poem on York, ''Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Euboricensis ecclesiae'', ed. and trad. Peter Godman, ''The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1982.
* ''De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii'', "On the destruction of the monastery of Lindisfarne" (''Carmen'' 9, ed. Dümmler, pp. 229–235).

=== Letters ===
Of Alcuin's letters, over 310 have survived:
* ''Epistolae'', ed. [[Ernst Dümmler]], MGH, ''Epistolae'', IV.2, Berlin, Weidmann, 1895, 1–493;
* Jaffé, Philipp, Ernst Dümmler, and W. Wattenbach, eds. ''Monumenta Alcuiniana'', Berlin, Weidmann, 1873, 132–897;
* [[Colin Robert Chase|Chase, Colin]], ed. ''Two Alcuin Letter-books'', Toronto, [[Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies]], 1975;
* Allott, Stephen, trad. ''Alcuin of York, c. AD 732 to 804 – His life and letters'', York, William Sessions, 1974;
* Sturgeon, Thomas G., trad. ''The Letters of Alcuin – Part One, the Aachen Period (762–796)''. Harvard University PhD thesis, 1953.

=== Didactic works ===
* ''[[Ars grammatica#Alcuin's Ars Grammatica|Ars grammatica]]''. PL 101, 854–902;
* ''De orthographia'', ed. H. Keil, ''Grammatici Latini'' VII, 1880, 295–312; ed. Sandra Bruni, ''Alcuino de orthographia'', Florence, SISMEL, 1997;
* ''De dialectica'', PL 101, 950–976;
* ''Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico'', "Dialogue of Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, with the Teacher Albinus", ed. L. W. Daly and W. Suchier, ''Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Epicteti Philosophi'', Urbana, IL, [[University of Illinois Press]], 1939, 134–146; ed. Wilhelm Wilmanns, "Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastic", ''Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum'', 14 (1869), 530–555, 562.
* ''Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus sapientissimi regis Carli et Albini magistri'', ed. and trad. Wilbur Samuel Howell, ''The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne'', New York, Russell and Russell, 1965 (1941); ed. C. Halm, ''Rhetorici Latini Minores'', Leipzig, Teubner, 1863, 523–550;
* ''De virtutibus et vitiis'' (moral treatise dedicated to Count Wido of Brittany, 799–800), PL 101, 613–638 ([http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0735-0804__Alcuinus__De_Virtutibus_Et_Vitiis_Liber_Ad_Widonem_Comitem__MLT.pdf.html transcript available online]). A new critical edition is being prepared for the ''Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis'';
* ''De animae ratione (ad Eulaliam virginem)'' (written for Gundrada, Charlemagne's cousin), PL 101, 639–650;
* ''De Cursu et Saltu Lunae ac Bissexto'', astronomical treatise, PL 101, 979–1002;
* (?) ''[[Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes|Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes]]'', ed. Menso Folkerts, "Die alteste mathematische Aufgabensammlung in lateinischer Sprache, Die Alkuin zugeschriebenen ''Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes''; Überlieferung, Inhalt, Kritische Edition", in ''idem'', ''Essays on Early Medieval Mathematics: The Latin Tradition'', Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003.

=== Theology ===
* ''Compendium in Canticum Canticorum'': Alcuino, ''Commento al Cantico dei cantici – con i commenti anonimi Vox ecclesie e Vox antique ecclesie'', ed. Rossana Guglielmetti, Firenze, SISMEL 2004;
* ''[[Quaestiones in Genesim]]'', PL 100, 515–566;
* ''De Fide Sanctae Trinitatis et de Incarnatione Christi; Quaestiones de Sancta Trinitate'', ed. E. Knibbs and E. Ann Matter (Corpus Christianorum – Continuatio Mediaevalis 249, Brepols, 2012).

=== Hagiography ===
* ''Vita II Vedastis episcopi Atrebatensis'', Revision of the earlier ''Vita Vedastis'' by [[Jonas of Bobbio]], ''Patrologia Latina'', 101, 663–682;
* ''[[Richarius|Vita Richarii confessoris Centulensis]]'', Revision of an earlier anonymous life, MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, 4, 381–401;
* ''Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis'', ed. W. Levison, ''Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici'', MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, 7, 81–141.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Saints}}
* ''[[Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes]]''
* [[Carolingian art]]
* [[Carolingian Empire]]
* [[:Category:Carolingian period|Category: Carolingian period]]
* [[Correctory]]
* [[Codex Vindobonensis 795]]

== Notes and references ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== References ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book |url=http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0602.HTM |title=Propositiones Alcuini Doctoris Caroli Magni Imperatoris ad Acuendes Juvenes |language=la |trans-title=Propositions of Alcuin, A Teacher of Emperor Charlemagne, for Sharpening Youths |date=n.d. |author=Alcuin}}
* Allott, Stephen; ''Alcuin of York, his life and letters'' {{ISBN|0-900657-21-9}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Leigh |title=When the Pope was a Mathematician |journal=The College Mathematics Journal |volume=36 |issue=5 |year=2005 |pages=354–362 |issn=0746-8342 |doi=10.1080/07468342.2005.11922149 |s2cid=121602358}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |title=Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality - Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kzgCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA254 |year=2015 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-34536-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bromell |first=David |title=Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History - From Antiquity to World War II |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLWTqBmifh0C&pg=PA16 |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15983-8 |chapter=Alcuin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Browne |first=G.F. |year=1908 |title=Alcuin of York |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |publication-date=1908 |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/alcuinyorklectu01browgoog}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bullough |first=Donald A. |title=Alcuin – Achievement and Reputation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5F0AAAAIAAJ |series=Being Part of the Ford Lectures Delivered in Oxford in Hilary Term 1980 |year=2004 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-12865-1}}
* {{cite ODNB |last=Bullough |first=Donald |date=2010 |orig-year=2004 |title=Alcuin (c. 740–804) |id=298}}
* {{Cite CE1913 |last=Burns |first= James Aloysius |volume=1 |wstitle=Alcuin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=David |title=Between Medieval Men - Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval English Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m19Gbl6VKQUC&pg=PA79 |year=2009 |publisher=OUP |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-156788-9}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Colish |first1=Marcia L. |title=Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400 |series=The Yale Intellectual History of the West |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1999 |page=67 |isbn=9780300078527}}
* {{Cite book |last=Coon |first=Lynda L. |title=Dark Age Bodies - Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mndRCyKkWt0C&pg=PA18 |year=2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0491-9}}
* Dales, Douglas J.; "Accessing Alcuin – A Master Bibliography", The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 2013 {{ISBN|978-0227901977}}
* {{cite book |last=Dales |first=Douglas |title=Alcuin - His Life and Legacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5kABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |year=2012 |publisher=[[The Lutterworth Press]] |isbn=978-0-227-17346-6}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Dales |first1=Douglas |last2=Williams |first2=Rowan |title=Alcuin - Theology and Thought |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpsABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA228 |year=2013 |publisher=[[The Lutterworth Press]] |isbn=978-0-227-17394-7 |chapter=24}}
* Diem, Albrecht; "The Emergence of Monastic Schools – The Role of Alcuin", in: Luuk A. J. R. Houwen and Alasdair A. McDonald (eds.), ''Alcuin of York – Scholar at the Carolingian Court'', Groningen 1998 (Germania Latina, vol. 3), pp. 27–44.
* {{Cite book |last=Duckett |first=Eleanor Shipley |title=Alcuin, Friend of Charlemagne - His World and His Work |year=1951 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWWcAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Macmillan |oclc=1010576}}
* Duckett, Eleanor Shipley; ''Carolingian Portraits'', (1962)
* {{Cite book |author=Einhard |translator-last1=Turner |translator-first1=Samuel Epes |title=The Life of Charlemagne |publisher=University of Michigan Press |series=Ann Arbor paperbacks |orig-date=1960 | year=2003 |isbn=978-0-472-06035-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixFni5sydQMC&pg=PA54 |access-date=18 November 2021}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellsberg |first=Robert |title=Blessed Among Us - Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osC5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA286 |year=2016 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-8146-4745-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Frantzen |first=Allen J. |title=Before the Closet - Same-Sex Love from "Beowulf" to "Angels in America" |url=https://archive.org/details/beforeclosetsame00fran |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/beforeclosetsame00fran/page/198 198] |year=1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-26092-1}}
* Ganshof, F.L.; ''The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy'' {{ISBN|0-582-48227-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gaskoin |first=Charles Jacinth Bellairs |title=Alcuin - His Life and His Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTM9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA133 |year=1966 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |id=GGKEY:9CL47HJX2L5}}
* Godman, Peter; ''Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance'' {{ISBN|0-7156-1768-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Gorman |first1=Michael |title=Alcuin before Migne |journal=Revue Bénédictine |volume=112 |issue=1–2 |year=2002 |pages=101–130 |issn=0035-0893 |doi=10.1484/J.RB.5.100616}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Hadley |first1=John |last2=Singmaster |first2=David |title=Problems to Sharpen the Young |journal=The Mathematical Gazette |volume=76 |issue=475 |year=1992 |pages=102–126 |doi=10.2307/3620384 |jstor=3620384 |s2cid=125835186}}
* {{Cite web |first=Fred |last=Hutchison |date=1 June 2006 |title=A cure for the educational crisis - Learn from the extraordinary educational heritage of the West |work=[[Renew America Movement]] |url=http://www.renewamerica.us/analyses/060601hutchison.htm |access-date=2 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602171225/http://www.renewamerica.us/analyses/060601hutchison.htm |archive-date=2 June 2006 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Jaeger |first1=C. Stephen |title=L'Amour des rois - Structure sociale d'une forme de sensibilité aristocratique |journal=Annales - Histoire, Sciences sociales |volume=46 |issue=3 |year=1991 |pages=547–571 |issn=0395-2649 |doi=10.3406/ahess.1991.278964 |s2cid=161706219}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jaeger |first=C. Stephen |title=Ennobling Love: In Search of a Lost Sensibility |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VC9vLpHlYY4C&pg=PR9 |year=1999 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1691-1}}
* {{Cite book |first=Marie-Hélène |last=Jullien |title=Clavis scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi - auctores Galliae, 735–987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDQEoQEACAAJ |year=1994 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |oclc=610811296 |language=la |editor-first=Françoise |editor-last=Perelman |volume=Tomus II - Alcuinus}}
* {{Cite book |last=Liersch |first=Karl |url=http://www.mgh.de/bibliothek/opac/?wa72ci_url=/cgi-bin/mgh/regsrchindex.pl?wert%3Dgedichte+theodulfs,+bischofs+von+orleans&recnums=195542&index=1&db=opac |title=Die Gedichte Theodulfs, Bischofs von Orleans |language=de |location=Halle |date=1880}}
* Lorenz, Frederick; ''[https://archive.org/details/lifeofalcuin00lorerich The life of Alcuin]'', (Thomas Hurst, 1837).
* {{Cite book |last=Mayr-Harting |first=Henry |chapter=Alcuin, Charlemagne and the problem of sanctions |title=Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-0754663317 |editor-given1=Stephen |editor-surname1=Baxter |editor-given2=Catherine |editor-surname2=Karkov |editor-given3=Janet L. |editor-surname3=Nelson |editor-given4=David |editor-surname4=Pelteret}}
* McGuire, Brian P.; ''Friendship and Community – The Monastic Experience'' {{ISBN|0-87907-895-2}}
* Murphy, Richard E.; ''Alcuin of York – De Virtutibus et Vitiis, Virtues and Vices'' {{ISBN|978-0-9966967-0-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Needham |first=N. R. |title=2000 Years of Christ's Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYP8SAAACAAJ |volume=Part Two - The Middle Ages |year=2000 |publisher=Grace Publications Trust |isbn=978-0-946462-56-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Page |first=Rolph Barlow |url=https://archive.org/details/lettersofalcuin00pagerich |title=The Letters of Alcuin |location=New York |publisher=Forest Press |date=1909}}
* Stehling, Thomas; ''Medieval Latin Love Poems of Male Love and Friendship''.
* Stella, Francesco; "Alkuins Dichtung"  in ''Alkuin von York und die geistige Grundlegung Europas '', Sankt Gallen, Verlag am Klosterhof, 2010, pp. 107–128.
* {{Cite book |last1=Stenton |first1=Frank M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0192801395 |edition=3}}
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* Throop, Priscilla; trans. ''Alcuin – His Life; On Virtues and Vices; Dialogue with Pepin'' (Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2011)
* {{Cite book |last=Truss |first=Lynne |title=Eats, Shoots and Leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation |url=https://archive.org/details/eatsshootsleav00trus |url-access=registration |year=2003 |publisher=Profile Books |isbn=978-1-86197-612-3}}
* [[Andrew Fleming West]] ''[https://archive.org/details/alcuinriseofchri00westiala Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools]'' (C. Scribner's Sons, 1912) {{ISBN|0-8371-1635-X}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilmot-Buxton |first=E. M. |title=Alcuin |year=1922 |publisher=P.J. Kenedy & Sons |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/stream/alcuin__00wilm#page/92/mode/2up}}

* {{wikisource-inline|list=
** {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Alcuin|volume=1|short=x|noicon=x}}
** {{cite CE1913|wstitle=Alcuin|volume=1|short=x|noicon=x}}
** {{cite NSRW|wstitle=Alcuin|volume=1|short=x|noicon=x}}
** {{cite SBDEL|wstitle=Alcuin or Ealhwine|short=x|noicon=x}}
** {{cite DNB|wstitle=Alcuin|volume=1|short=x|noicon=x}}
}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource-author}}
{{Wikisourcelang|la|Scriptor:Alcuinus|Alcuinus}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* {{PASE|11518|Alcuin 1}}
* [http://logica.ugent.be/albrecht/alcuin.pdf Alcuin's book, ''Problems for the Quickening of the Minds of the Young'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205163439/http://www.bu.edu/english/levine/alcend.htm Introduction to Alcuin's writings by Robert Levine and Whitney Bolton]
* [http://www.alcuinsociety.com/ ''The Alcuin Society'']
* [http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/timeline/anglo-saxon ''Anglo-Saxon York on History of York site'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081118194921/http://www.corpuschristianorum.org/series/cccm_preparation.html Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis – new critical editions in preparation]
* [https://archive.today/20121204163129/http://kaali.linguist.jussieu.fr/CGL/index.jsp Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum – complete texts and full bibliography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130502224321/http://cristoraul.com/ENGLISH/readinghall/GalleryofHistory/ALCUIN/Alcuin-Door.html The Life of Alcuin by Frederick Lorenz]

* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Alcuin}}
* {{Librivox author|id=1121}}
* {{DNB-Portal|118502026}}
* {{DDB|Person|118502026}}
* {{Geschichtsquellen Person|118502026}}
* {{Hl-Lex|b|Alkuin.htm}}
* {{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Alcuin}}

{{Catholic philosophy footer}}
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{{Authority control}}
[[Category:730s births]]
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