tation to virtue,' addressed to Henry, count or duke of Friuli. It was written about 795, and consists of sixty-six chapters upon the virtues to be practiced and the vices to be shunned by the duke. The style is excellent. The work was once claimed for Augustin, but this is now conceded to be an error. Nine of the chapters (x.-xv. xvii.-xix.) are copied from The contemplative life, a work by Pomerius, a Gallican churchman of the fifth century. On the other hand, chapters xx.-xlv. have been plagiarized in an Admonitio ad filium spiritualem which was long supposed to be by Basil the Great.

3

(5) Epistles. (a) To Heistulfus, who had murdered his wife on a charge of adultery preferred against her by a man of bad character. It was written from Frankfort, in 794, during the council mentioned above. Paulinus sternly rebukes Heistulfus for his crime, and tells him that if he would be saved he must either enter a monastery or lead a life of perpetual penitence, of which he gives an interesting description. The letter passed into the Canon Law about 866. It has been falsely attributed to Stephen V. (b) To Charlemagne, an account of the council of Altinum' in 803. (c) Fragments of three other letters to Charlemagne, and of one (probably) to Leo III.8

6

(6) Verses. (a) The rule of faith, a poem of one hundred and fifty-one hexameters, devoid of poetical merit, in which along with a statement of his belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation Paulinus gives a curious description of Paradise and of Gehenna, and to the latter sends the heretics, several of whom he names. (b) Hymns and verses, upon different subjects.

(c) A poem on duke Eric."

'Liber exhortationis, ibid. col. 197–282.

3 Ibid. col. 181-186.

10

* Col. 206, 212 n. a.

Smith and Wace, Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v. Heistulfus. 5 Madrisius in Migne, l. c. col. 185.

Ibid. col. 511-516.

'The present Altino, a town on the Adriatic, near Venice.

8 Migne, l. c. col. 503-510.

10 Hymni et rhythmi, ibid. col. 479-504.

11 De Herico duce, ibid. col. 685–686.

De regula fidei, ibid. col. 467-472.

(7) A Mass.1

(8) The preface to a tract upon repentance, which enjoins confession to God in tender words.

(9) A treatise upon baptism.3

§ 159. Alcuin.

I. Beatus FLACCUS ALBINUS seu ALCUINUS: Opera omnia, Migne, Tom. C. CI., reprint of the ed. of FROBENIUS. Ratisbon, 1772, 2 vols. fol. Monumenta Alcuiniana, a P. Jaffé preparata, ed. WATTENBACH et DUEMMLER (vol. vi. Bibliotheca rerum germanicarum). Berlin, 1773. It contains his letters, poems and life of Willibrord. His poems (Carmina) have been separately edited by E. Dümmler in Poetæ Latini aevi Carolini, I. 1. 169–351, and some additional poetry is given in Addenda, Tom. II. 692.

II. Vita (Migne, C. col. 89-106), anonymous, but probably by a monk of Ferrières, based upon information given by Sigulf, Alcuin's pupil and successor as abbot of Ferrières. De vita B. F. Albini seu Alcuini commentatio (col. 17-90), by FROBEN, for the most part an expansion of the former by the introduction of discussions upon many points. Eulogium historicum Beati Alcuini (CI. col. 1416-1442), by Mabillon. Of interest and value also are the Testimonia veterum et quorumdam recentiorum scriptorum (col. 121–134), brief notices of Alcuin by contemporaries and others.

III. Modern biographies and more general works in which Alcuin is discussed. FRIEDRICH LORENTZ: Alcuin's Leben, Halle, 1829, Eng. trans. by Jane Mary Slee, London, 1837. FRANCIS MONNIER: Alcuin et son influence littéraire, religieuse et politique chez les Francs, Paris, 1853, 2d ed. entitled Alcuin et Charlemagne, Paris, 1864. KARL WERNER: Alcuin and sein Jahrhundert, Paderborn, 1876, 2d ed. (unchanged), 1881. J. BASS MULLINGER: The schools of Charles the Great, London, 1877. Cf. DU PIN, VI. 121–124. CEILLER, XII 165-214. Hist. lit. de la France, IV. 295-347. CLARKE, II. 453-459. BAHR, 78–84; 192-195; 302-341. WATTENBACH, 3d ed. I. 123 sqq; EBERT, II. 12-36. GUIZOT: History of Civilization, Eng. trans., Bohn's ed. ii. 231-253. The art. Alcuin by Bishop STUBBS in Sinith and Wace, Dict. Chr. Biog. (i. 73-76), deserves particular mention. FLACCUS ALBINUS, or, as he is commonly called in the Old English form, ALCUIN ("friend of the temple"), the ecclesiastical

1 Ibid. col. 625-627.

Not in Migne, but in Mansi, Tom. XIII.

♦ Other forms are Ealdwine, Alchwin, Alquinus.

2 Ibid. col. 627-628.

prime minister of Charlemagne, was born in Yorkshire about 735. He sprang from a noble Northumbrian family, the one to which Willibrord, apostle of the Frisians, belonged, and inherited considerable property, including the income of a monastic society on the Yorkshire coast.' At tender age he was taken to the famous cathedral school at York, and there was educated by his loving and admiring friends, Egbert, archbishop of York (732–766) and founder of the school, and Ethelbert, its master. With the latter he made several literary journeys on the continent, once as far as Rome, and each time returned laden with MS. treasures, secured, by a liberal expenditure of money, from different monasteries. Thus they greatly enlarged the library which Egbert had founded. In 766 Ethelbert succeeded Egbert in the archbishopric of York, and appointed Alcuin, who had previously been a teacher, master of the cathedral school, ordained him a deacon, Feb. 2, 767, and made him one of the secular canons of York minster. In 767 he had Liudger for a pupil. Some time between the latter year and 780, Ethelbert sent him to Italy on a commission to Charlemagne, whom he met, probably at Pavia. In 780 Ethelbert retired from his see and gave over to Alcuin the care of the library, which now was without a rival in England. Alcuin gives a catalogue of it, thus throwing welcome light upon the state of learning at the time. In 780 Alcuin again visited Rome to fetch the pallium for Eanbald, Ethelbert's

successor.

On his return he met Charlemagne at Parma (Easter, 781), and was invited by him to become master of the School of the Palace. This school was designed for noble youth, was attached to the court, and held whenever the court was. Charlemagne and his family and courtiers frequently attended its sessions,

1 Vita S. Willibrordi, I. i. (Migne, CI. col. 695).

De pontificibus et sanctis eccles. Ebor., vv. 1453–56 (CI. col. 841).

Mullinger (p. 47) says in 768.

De pont. et sanct. eccles. Eb. vers. 1535-1561 (Dümmler, l. c. 203, 204; Migne, CI. col. 843 sq.).

although they could not be said to be regular scholars. The invitation to teach this school was a striking recognition of the learning and ability of Alcuin, and as he perceived the possibilities of the future thus unexpectedly opened to him he accepted it, although the step involved a virtual abnegation of his just claim upon the archiepiscopate of York. In the next year (782), having received the necessary permission to go from his king and archbishop, he began his work. The providential design in this event is unmistakable. Just at the time when the dissensions of the English kings practically put a stop to educational advance in England, Alcuin, the greatest teacher of the day, was transferred to the continent in order that under the fostering and stimulating care of Charlemagne he might rescue it from the bondage of ignorance. But the effort taxed his strength. Charlemagne, although he attended his instruction and styles him "his dear teacher," at the same time abused his industry and patience, and laid many very heavy burdens upon him.' Alcuin had not only to teach the Palatine school, which necessitated his moving about with the migratory court to the serious interruption of his studies, but to prepare and revise books for educational and ecclesiastical uses, and in general to superintend the grand reformatory schemes of Charlemagne. How admirably he fulfilled his multifarious duties, history attests. The famous capitulary of 787,2 which Charlemagne issued and which did so much to advance learning, was of his composition. The Caroline books, which were quite as remarkable in the sphere of church life, were his work, at least in large measure. For his pecuniary support and as a mark of esteem Charlemagne gave him the monasteries of St. Lupus at Troyes and Bethlehem at Ferrières, and the cell of St. Judecus on the coast of Picardy

3

1 On this ground Guizot (l. c. 246-7) explains in part Alcuin's frequent expressions of weariness.

2 There is an English translation in Guizot, l. c. 237, and in Mullinger, 97-99.

3 See pp. 465 sqq.

(St. Josse sur mer). But the care of these only added to his burdens. In 789 he went to England on commission from Charlemagne to King Offa of Mercia, and apparently desired to remain there. Thence in 792 he sent in the name of the English bishops a refutation of image-worship. But in 793 Charlemagne summoned him to his side to defend the church against the heresy of Adoptionism and image-worship, and he came. In 794 he took a prominent part, although simply a deacon, in the council of Frankfort, which spoke out so strongly against both, and in 799, at the council of Aachen, he had a six days' debate with Felix, the leader of the Adoptionists, which resulted in the latter's recantation. In his negotiations with the Adoptionists he had the invaluable aid of the indefatigable monk, Benedict of Nursia. In 796, Charlemagne gave him in addition to the monasteries already mentioned that of St. Martin at Tours and in 800 those of Cormery and Flavigny. The monastery of Tours owned twenty thousand serfs and its revenue was regal. To it Alcuin retired, although he would have preferred to go to Fulda. There he did good work in reforming the monks, regulating the school and enlarging the library. His most famous pupil during this period of his life was Rabanus Maurus. In the year of his death he established a hospice at Duodecim Pontes near Troyes; and just prior to this event he gave over the monastery of Tours to his pupil Fredegis, and that of Ferrières to another pupil, Sigulf. It is remarkable that he died upon the anniversary the anniversary on which he had desired to die, the Festival of Pentecost, May 19, 804. He was buried in the church of St. Martin, although in his humility he had requested to be buried outside of it.

1

One of his important services to religion was his revision of the Vulgate (about 802) by order of Charlemagne, on the basis of old and correct MSS., for he probably knew little Greek and no Hebrew. This preserved a good Vulgate text for some time. 1 Already spoken of in connection with Gregory of Tours. * See the old life of Alcuin, cap. VIII. in Migne, C. col. 98.