Alcuin of York was an English scholar, clergyman, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He is noted for being a Charlemagne’s educational advisor, who brought Anglo Saxon learning and teaching methods to the Franks.
Background
Ethnicity:
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 was born circa 735 in Northumbria to a noble Northumbrian family. His English name was Ealhwine (Alchvine), but he preferred the Latin form, Albinus; at the court of Charlemagne he acquired the surname Flaccus. Virtually nothing is known of his parents, family background, or origin. Alcuin's own work only mentions such collateral kinsmen as Wilgils, father of the missionary saint Willibrord; and Beornred, abbot of Echternach and bishop of Sens, who was more distantly related.
Education
Alcuin was early entrusted to the cathedral school there under the master teacher, Egbert, who had been a pupil of the great English historian Bede. When Egbert became archbishop of York, Alcuin had the rare good fortune to study under the scholars Aelbert and Eadbert. With the former, Alcuin visited the Continent to secure books and art treasures to enrich the library at York, which until its demolition in the Danish wars was the greatest library in the Western world.
Alcuin's education was firmly classical, since at this time the vast resources of Mediterranean erudition were being poured into England by such men as Paulinus, Theodore, and Hadrian. Under the impact of Bede, such secular studies as literature, science, history, and music, which were uncommon in early monastic schools, were also included in the curriculum.
Career
Alcuin’s abilities attracted the attention of his teachers, and he became the protégé of Aelbert. At the death of Egbert in 766, Aelbert became archbishop and Alcuin assumed a major role in the leadership of the school; in 778 he became head of the school and library. When Eanbald became archbishop in 780, Alcuin was sent to Rome to receive the pallium. On his return journey the following year, he met Charlemagne at Parma. By this time Alcuin’s fame as an educator and scholar had spread to the Continent. The Frankish king needed a competent educational advisor, for education in his kingdom was in a state of decline; he therefore invited Alcuin to become his minister of education.
Upon accepting the offer in 782, Alcuin initiated a reform of the Frankish schools. He now became the guiding force behind Charlemagne’s educational policies and the leading spirit of the palace school. Charlemagne rewarded Alcuin well for his services: he was granted the abbeys of Ferrières, Troyes, and St. Martin at Tours.
Alcuin expressed some interest in astronomy, but it was an interest based on the need for an understanding of calendrical calculations. He helped to develop the Continental interest in the computus, and to aid the development of the skills needed to establish the date of Easter, he encouraged the study of mathematics. Alcuin is not famous for contributing to a specific scientific discipline; rather, his reputation and renown are based upon more general accomplishments.
After serving Charlemagne for many years, Alcuin withdrew to the abbey of St. Martin of Tours and died there in 804.
Religion
In his religious affiliation Alcuin was a Roman Catholic. He implemented a number of important reforms in the Roman Catholic liturgy leaving more than 300 Latin letters.
Views
Alcuin popularized the study of the seven liberal arts in France and wrote elementary textbooks on these subjects. While these works do not demonstrate brillant philosophical insight, they do reflect the mind of a creative teacher. His dialogue method of instruction brought needed vitality to teaching; there was now more give and take between teacher and pupil.
The emphasis on the elementary subjects of the trivium and quadrivium encouraged both secular and sacred learning—indeed, the schools themselves were opened to both clerics and laymen, for both church and state needed educated servants. The knowledge of science imparted by the schools was restricted, and Alcuin's works show only a limited awareness of the physical world.
In his Disputation of the Royal and Most Noble Youth Pepin with A Ibinus, the Scholastic, there is a very general discussion of man, the universe, and the natural world. This work is presented in the form of 101 questions, problems, and riddles, with symbolic answers. There are almost no natural or scientific answers; the explanations are in terms of effects rather than causes:
Pepin: What is the sun?
Albinus: The splendor of the universe, the beauty of
the sky, the glory' of the day, the divider of the hours.
Quotations:
"Remember to care for the soul more than the body, since the former remains, the latter perishes."
"And do not listen to those who keep saying, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God. ' because the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness."
"In the morning, at the height of my powers, I sowed the seed in Britain, now in the evening when my blood is growing cold I am still sowing in France, hoping both will grow, by the grace of God, giving some the honey of the holy scriptures, making others drunk on the old wine of ancient learning. .."
"Man thinks, God directs.”