Alcuin of York
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Poet, historian and educator, Alcuin became private tutor to Charlemagne and head of the palace school at Aachen. He made important reforms in the Catholic liturgy, brought Anglo-Saxon traditions of humanism into Europe, wrote histories and poetry, and was the foremost scholar of the Carolingian Renaissance. Although he encouraged the use of "Carolingian minuscule" (the small style of handwriting that became the basis of our modern lower-case letters), whether he actually invented the alphabet himself is unknown.
Alcuin left more than 300 letters that are a valuable source for the history of early medieval Europe.
Important Dates
Died: May 19, 804
Quotation
"And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God (Vox Populi, Vox Dei), since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness."
-- Letter to Charlemagne, 800 C.E.
At About
Alcuin - Celebrated Ecclesiastic
A two-page article from the 1911 Encyclopedia, online here at the Medieval History site.
On the Web
Alcuin
Concise biography by John J O'Connor and Edmund F Robertson at the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive.Catholic Encyclopedia: Alcuin
Substantial biography by J. A. Burns.
In Print
Alcuin of York in Print
Related Resources
Philosophy & Theology
A multi-page index of philosophical and theological theories and the individuals who contributed them, from the early Middle Ages to the early Modern Age.Dark-Age Britain
A directory of sites that examine Britain during late antiquity, or the "dark ages," from Sub-Roman cultures to the end of Anglo-Saxon England.Medieval France
General history, people, places, maps and more about France in the Middle Ages.
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