ALCUINO. – Adviser to Carlomagno. The Anglo-Saxon name, Alhwin (Alchoin, Alcuin, Alclavine, that is, Ealh-wine “friend of the temple”), was Latinized as Alcuinus (Alcivinus) and Albinus. According to the academic custom that he himself introduced into the palatine school, he called himself Flaccus, hence Flaccus Albinus.
LIFE. — Born around 735 in Northumbria to a noble Anglo-Saxon family, and a relative of s. Willibrord, he was educated at the episcopal school of York, where he learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew under the direction of Archbishop Egberto and Aelberto, with whom he traveled to Rome. When Aelberto became Archbishop of York in 767, he ordained him deacon, a rank that A. was to retain throughout his life, and entrusted him with the direction of the school, whose prestige and renown he increased. In the spring of 781, having gone to Rome to ask Pope Adriano I for the pallium for his new archbishop Eanbaldo, he met Carlomagno at Parma, who strongly urged him to settle with him. Having obtained the consent of his own ordinary and of King Etelredo, A. arrived at Aquisgrana at the end of that same year or at the beginning of 782. Assuming the direction of the Schola Palatina, he introduced there the system of the « trivio » and the « quadrivio », already held in honor at York, and also founded a kind of literary academy, of which Carlomagno himself was a member. According to Eginardo, A. was the sovereign’s « tutor » in all the sciences (Vita Caroli M., 25). While at court, he formed friendships with the Lombards Paolo Diacono and Pietro da Pisa, with the Visigoth Teodulfo, and above all with Paolino, the future patriarch of Aquileia.
In 790 he returned to his homeland on a political mission to Offa, king of Mercia, whom he reconciled with Carlomagno. At Carlomagno’s urging, however, he returned to him in 793 and took an active part in the theological questions that were then disturbing the Frankish kingdom: Spanish Adoptionism (v.) and the controversy over images. He therefore took part in the two great Councils of Francoforte (794) and Aquisgrana (799). At Carlomagno’s behest he was given the governance of various abbeys: Ferrières, Troyes, Saint-Josse-sur-Mer, and finally, in 796, the famous monastery of S. Martino di Tours, where he went that same year for reasons of health and to restore its fortunes. He immediately enriched the precious library and also brought that school to great splendor; it later remained famous in the history of medieval paleography (minuscula carolina). Among his pupils there were, among others, Amalario and Rabano Mauro. He took care to complete the foundation of the monastery of Cormery, near Tours, and there initiated the community with twenty monks of the reform of s. Benedetto di Aniano.
He died at Tours on Pentecost, 19 May 804.
Rabano Mauro inserted him in his martyrology (19 May); chroniclers and historians bestowed on him the title of blessed: but, as far as can be ascertained, no public cult has ever been rendered to him. We do not know with certainty whether A. was a monk, as many maintain with Mabillon.
WORKS AND DOCTRINE. — A. produced a multifaceted literary output, which in various respects recalls that of Bede.
I. Pedagogy. — As a teacher, A. left several writings of considerable didactic interest for their dialogical method: «per interrogationes et responsiones, memoriae causa» (PL. 101, 854 B). It seems that, following the example of Cassiodorus, he composed a complete treatise on the seven liberal arts, but only the initial parts, those of the Trinitum, have survived: the De grammatica, with a moral introduction in dialogical form, and the two short treatises De dialectica and De rhetorica. Of the De musica, the first discipline of the Quadrivium, a fragment is preserved, published by Gerbertus in the Scriptores eccl. de Musica (I, pp. 26-27): a highly important fragment, since it is the first work in the West to provide a classification of the eight musical tones, 4 authentic and 4 plagal.
Mathematical and astronomical questions are treated in the short work De cursu et de saltu lunae ac bis-sexto, and in various letters to Carlomagno, who took great pleasure in astronomy (MGH, Epist., IV, Epp. 126, 148, 149, 155, 170, 171).
Also worthy of mention are the short work De Orthographia, arranged according to the letters of the alphabet, and the brief but important Pappini (the son of Carlo) disputatio cum Albino scholastico, consisting of 106 questions and answers, whose catechetical method encourages ingenious expressions very close to the riddle, so dear to the Anglo-Saxons.
Several ninth-century codices preserve, among A.’s works, the Disputatio puerorum per interrogationes et responsiones, whose authenticity Frobenius considers doubtful (PL. 101, 1097-1144). Silva-Tarocca, however, regards it as at least a product of A.’s school; according to him, A. would likewise have composed an entire Catechism in questions and answers (Fontes historiae ecclesiasticae, p. 327, note 5).
The celebrated Propositiones ad acnendos invenes, already classified by Frobenius among his doubtful works (PL. 101, 1143-60), and a commentary on Priscian (Excepciones super Priscianum), preserved in three codices (cf. Manitius, I, pp. 282 and 286), also seem to be by A.
II. Philosophy. — To the short treatise De dialectica must be added two brief treatises: 1) De animae ratione, «ad Eulaliam virginem», inspired by s. Agostino and Cassiano and written around 801, which represents the first attempt at a medieval psychology; 2) De virtutibus et vitiis, «ad Widonem comitem» (ca. 801), an example of a medieval ethics.
III. Poetry. — A. left many compositions, generally brief, sometimes mediocre, but often successful: hymns, epigrams, inscriptions for churches and altars, didactic compositions, occasional verses, eclogues, riddles, and several prayers. Particularly well known in literature are the Oratio in nocte, the De cuculo, and the Certamen or Conflictus Veris et Hiemis. The short poem De clade Lindisfarnessis monasterii or De rerum humanarum vicissitudine (PL. 101, 805-812) is an elegiac poem recalling the sack of the church of S. Cutberto, carried out by the Normans in 793. As a rule, A. employs classical meters, especially the hexameter, and possesses a sure command of technique. Although he was not a great poet, he was nevertheless greatly admired by his contemporaries, who described him as nostrorum gloriis notum (Teodulfo, Carm., 15, vv. 131-40; MGH, Poetae Aevi Carol., I, 486; cf. p. 162).
IV. A. wrote works of history and hagiography in both prose and verse. Of exceptional importance is the poem inspired by love of his homeland: De sanctis Euboricensis (or Eboracensis) Ecclesiae, which, composed between 780 and 782, recounts the history of the church of York and its bishops.
Between 782 and 789, or after 793, he wrote the Vita di s. Willibrordo, founder of the monastery of Echternach, in two books, one in prose for liturgical use, the other in verse for the exercise of schoolboys. He also wrote in prose the lives of s. Martino di Tours, s. Vedasto (Vaast) d’Arras, and s. Richerio (Riquier).
V. Theology. — In refutation of adoptionism, A. wrote: Liber adv. haeresim Felicis; Adv. Felicem libri VII; Adv. Elipandum libri IV, and several Polemic Letters. For the emperor he composed the treatise De fide sanctae et individuae Trinitatis: he himself calls this work of his libellus de catholica fide (Ep. 258; MGH, Epist., IV, 416). In addition, there are the XXVIII Quaestiones de Trinitate, a kind of advanced catechism, and the short treatise De pretio salutis in the form of a letter to Carlomagno (Ep. 165; PL. 100, 431-37).
The Libellus de processione Spiritus Sancti, classified by Frobenius among A.’s genuine works (PL. 101, 63-84), is considered inauthentic by Dimmler (MGH, Epist., IV, 482). On the other hand, according to Bastgen’s investigations, the celebrated Libri Carolini (v.) on the controversy over images would be by A.
A. exalts the authority of the Roman Church, called Apostolica sublimitas (cf. Epp. 90 and 95; PL. 100, 293 and 301), accepts purgatory (De fide S. Trinit., 3, 21) and the efficacy of suffrages (Ep. 178; PL. 100, 449); he upholds the intercession of the saints, the efficacy of relics (Epp. 23, 26, 34; PL. 100, 177, 181, 191), and the beatific vision for the just without its being postponed until the universal judgment (Ep. 113; PL. 100, 342); he combats superstition (Ep. 267; MGH, Epist., IV, 425 ff.) and simony (cf. ibid., p. 416, note 1). He clearly teaches transubstantiation (Ep. 41; PL. 100, 203), defends the Roman use of unleavened and unsalted bread for the Eucharistic sacrifice (Ep. 90; PL. 100, 289), and induced the sovereign to suppress the deplorable practice, which had become widespread in certain places, of celebrating Mass without Communion (Adm. gen. of 789, no. 6; MGH, Capit., I, 54). Against the error that had spread in Linguadoca (Gothia), he asserted the dogmatic necessity of auricular confession (Ep. 112; PL. 100, 337-41).
VI. Law. — A.’s legal learning is revealed by his writings. Of particular interest is Epistola 245 (MGH, Epist., IV, 393-98), in which he defends the right of asylum. In letters 174 and 255 he sets out the fundamental principles of public ecclesiastical law; and in letter 137 he refers to the Regesto of s. Gregorio Magno received from Rome. This, however, was apparently an abridged edition, and since A. did not find in it the letter invoked by the supporters of single immersion in baptism, he confirmed himself in his erroneous view that three immersions were instead necessary for the validity of the sacrament. The question, which had become serious because of the weight of his authority, was subsequently settled at the Council of Worms in 868 (canon 5; Manisi, 15, 869-71). The Admonitia generalis, the capitulary of Carlomagno of 789, should also be recalled (MGH, Capit., I, 52-62). A fragment by Alcuino — De virtutibus et vitiis, chap. 17: De eleemosynis — entered the Corpus Iuris Can. (Decreto di Graziano, Dist., 45 chap. 12).
VII. Missiology. — His role in the evangelization of the pagan world was active: he encouraged bishops, resolved doctrinal controversies, and issued directives for the apostolate. Although he urged Carlomagno to be like Christ’s missionary among the barbarians by sending them «pios praedicatores», he condemned their forced conversion to Christianity (Epp. 110 and 113; MGH, Epist., IV).
A.’s principles prevailed at the synod convened by Pipino, king of Italy, in 796 «ad Ripas Danubii», under the presidency of Paolino d’Aquileia, to establish the conduct to be followed in evangelizing the Avars, and at the assembly of Aquisgrana in 797, at which the second Capitolare for Saxony was promulgated, inspired by gentleness and equity (MGH, Capit., I, 71-72).
VIII. Holy Scripture. — 1. Old Testament: Interpretationes et responsiones in Genesis: 281 brief answers to as many questions; the last, De benedictionibus Patriarchorum, longer than the others, also appears as a separate booklet, falsely attributed to Eucherius and St. Augustine (PL. 35, 2199-2206), as well as to St. Jerome (PL. 23, 1307-18); Enchiridion, seu expositio pia ac brevis in Psalmos poenitentiales, on Ps. 118 and the graduales; Compendium in Canticum Canticorum, excerpted from the work of Cassiodorus and Bede; Commentaria super Ecclesiastes, in which St. Jerome is his guide.
2. New Testament: Commentaria in s. Ioannis Evangelium in seven books, A.’s principal exegetical work;
Tractatus super tres s. Pauli ad Titum, ad Philem, et ad Hebraeos Epistolas, in which he uses Chrysostom for the last and St. Jerome for the first two; Commentariorum in Apocalypsin libri V, on the first 12 chapters, whose authenticity is uncertain according to A. Wilmart (Auteurs spir., Paris 1932, p. 52, note 6). Finally, the Interpretationes nominum hebraicorum progenitorum D. N. Iesu Christi, according to the literal, allegorical, and moral senses, and three letters (PL 100) dealing with biblical questions: Ep. 163 on Lk. 22:36; Ep. 164, particularly interesting, on the hymn sung after the Lord’s Supper; Ep. 203, «de comparatione numerorum Veteris et Novi Test.»; and Ep. 204 on the nature of visions.
3. But A. is especially celebrated for his revision of the Vulgate, carried out «per ordine» of Charlemagne (cf. In Ioan., I. VI, beginning). He collated exclusively Latin manuscripts, above all with orthographic and grammatical aims; but since he based himself on the exemplars of York (the Amiatine type), he thereby also produced a text of excellent substance. The Bible of Alcuin or of Charlemagne spread throughout the empire and served as a model for many books until the thirteenth century.
IX. Liturgy. — 1. His first liturgical work, commissioned by Charlemagne, was the revision, chiefly orthographic, of the Lectionary or Epistles of the Mass (Comes Albini), completed before the Roman Gregorian Sacramentary reached the court at Aachen. In addition, A. «collegit multis de Patrum operibus homiliarum duo volumina» (Vita, col. 12), which were believed to have been lost; but Morin found at least one copy.
But the work that places A. in the foremost position in the history of Roman liturgy and liturgical books is the «critical edition» of the Gregorian Sacramentary, undertaken no earlier than 801. Having first corrected the text of the Sacramentary «artis stylo», he added a Supplementum, employing Gallican elements and the Gelasian Sacramentary, which was widely used in France. According to the important observation of A. Paredi (I Prefazi Ambrosiani, Milan 1937, p. 90), approximately seventy of the prefaces reproduced in that appendix are also Ambrosian prefaces.
2. To foster private devotion, A. also composed a Liber Sacramentorum (PL 101, 445-66), or weekly Missal, unrelated to the liturgical cycle; the proper Masses for each day are followed by common and votive Masses. Although a work of private devotion, it greatly influenced the official liturgy. The dedication of Sunday to the Trinity, Friday to the Cross, and Saturday to the Virgin immediately entered into use and became an expression of Catholic devotion: the present Mass of the Most Holy Trinity, with its collects and its preface of Gelasian origin, is A.’s own; so too are his Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin and most of his common and votive Masses.
3. The De Psalmorum usu and the Officia per ferias (PL 101, 465-508, 509-612) are not authentic (cf. A. Wilmart, in Rev. Bénéd., 48 [1936], pp. 262-65).
4. The brief treatise De Baptismi caeremoniis (PL 101, 611-14; MGH, Epist., IV, 202 ff.) explains to the priest Oduinus the order and meaning of the baptismal rite.
5. In 798 A. exchanged letters with Charlemagne concerning the addition of the three weeks to Lent (Ep. 80 and 81: PL 100, 259-66).
6. His poem, or invocatio, to the Most Holy Trinity (PL 101, 54-56 and 1409 ff.) supplied nearly all the antiphons for the festive office of the august mystery.
By adapting the Roman books to Frankish-German usage, A. contributed powerfully to that liturgical uniformity of the Carolingian empire which marks, as it were, the point of departure for the liturgical unity of the West.
X. Asceticism. — Not only the De virtutibus et vitiis and the hagiographical works mentioned above, but almost all his writings, especially the letters, have a pronounced ascetical character. Of great interest is the booklet De confessione peccatorum ad pueros s. Martini (PL 101, 649-56; MGH, Epist., IV, no. 131, pp. 193-98), with which A. urges the students of St. Martin of Tours to confess frequently.
According to ms. S. 17 sup. of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, A. also composed a booklet for those aspiring to become monks, published for the first time in 1928
by C. Ottaviano under the title De conversorum acceptione (in Aevum, 2 [1928], pp. 3-16).
For A., the pillars of Christian asceticism are: love of Christ Our Lord: «Ille cibus, potus, carmen, laus, gloria vobis» (Carm. 59, V. 30: MGH, Poetae aevi Carolini, I, 273); devotion to the Virgin, an ark of salvation: he seems to be the first Western writer to honor her with the title of regina (cf. Carm., 203, V. 2: PL 101, 774); prayer: «Demones adversus magna est oratio virtus» (Carm. 62, V. 13: MGH, Poet., I, 275); study, delight of the spirit and weapon against the passions: «Nihil ad beatam vitam sublimius adipiscendam, nihil ad exercitium iucundius, nihil contra vitia fortius» (Ep. 43: PL 100, 209). For him, a library rich in books is like a garden of flowers with the fragrance of paradise (cf. ibid., col. 208). He extols the study of astronomy, arithmetic, and every science, inviting people to give thanks to the Lord for the «iucundissimam naturalium rerum cognitionem» (Ep. 83), but above all he urges the study of Holy Scripture, from which «schortamur ad sapientiam discendam» (Ep. 43). He exhorts to generosity toward the Lord: «Non est claudicandum in Dei servitio, sed via regia gradiandum» (Ep. 184: MGH, Epist., IV, 309).
XI. Correspondence. — A.’s approximately three hundred letters are a first-rate historical source for knowledge of that period. But most of the correspondence has been lost; of what remains, the greater part belongs to the final period (796-804).
XII. Doubtful or Apocryphal Works. — To those already mentioned must be added the Confesio fidei (PL 101, 1003-1098), which Wilmart (Auteurs spirituels, p. 128) has shown to be the work of John of Fécamp; the unpublished Commentary on St. Matthew, which Wilmart (loc. cit., p. 52, n. 6 and p. 601) considers to be by an uncertain author; the commentary of Ps.-Rufinus on the first 75 Psalms (PL 21, 641-960), which Wilmart has shown to be the work of Letbert, abbot of Saint-Ruf near Avignon, at the beginning of the twelfth century (Revue Bénéd., 31 [1914], pp. 258-76); the De divinis officiis, important but certainly apocryphal (PL 101, 1169-1286); the De officio Missae, recently published by Lowe (cf. Wilmart, Ephém. Liturg., 20 [1936], pp. 133-39); the Notitia Ecclesiarum urbis Romae, published in an appendix to A.’s works (PL 101, 1359-65), for which V. G. B. De Rossi, Roma sotter., I, Rome 1864, pp. 136-144; and the letter De ortu Beneventanorum to Charlemagne, published by G. Waitz in Nenes Archiv., 1 (1876), pp. 169-72.
PERSONALITY AND INFLUENCE. — His doctrine, as an expression of ancient thought, does not display much originality. Nevertheless, as an organizer and disseminator of ideas, A. retains a character entirely his own. A man of science and action, he was the soul of the religious, cultural, and artistic movement known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
His passion for study led him to multiply manuscripts, splendid codices with golden letters and miniatures. With A., Delisle observes, the art of calligraphy took up residence in France. And he formed masters who in turn founded or further developed other important schools: Leidgrad at Lyon, Theodulf at Orléans, Haimo at Halberstadt, Rabanus Maurus at Fulda and Mainz. Thus, through his influence, centers of learning made possible the scientific speculation of later centuries. The very term scholasticus is already used by A. to characterize the science taught in the schools (Ep. 121: MGH, Ep., IV, 177, and the index p. 634).
A. willingly undertook many sacrifices in the service of the Frankish king, because he recognized in him the Ecclesiae defensor et amator (cf. Carm. 228, V. 6: PL 101, 780); and he used his influence over the great emperor solely for the cause of good: to disseminate knowledge, reform the morals of the clergy, and strengthen the Church internally and externally. — Vedi Tav. LVIII.
Editions. — Even today the best is that of Frobenius Forster, Regensburg 1777 (reproduced with additions in PL 100–101). Filippo Jaffé devoted volume VI of his Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum to A.: Monumenta Alcuiniana, Berlin 1873. It contains the Vita Alcuini auctore anonimo sac, IX (for which cf. above), the Vita
V. Willibrordi, in prose and verse; the De Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis carmen, and the Epistolae
The Monumenta Germaniae Historicae published the critical edition of the Carmine (Poetae Latini Medii Aevi, I) and of the Epistolae (Epistolorum, IV); of the Vita Vodiatis (Scriptores rerum Microsingitarum, III, pp. 414–27), and of the Vita Richneri (ibid., IV, pp. 381–401); of the Vita V. Willibrordi, in prose (ibid., VII, 81–141). — For the Sacramentario romano, V. H. A. Wilson, The Gregorian Sacramentary and Charles the Great, London 1915; and for the Lezionario (Comes), A. Wilmart, in Ephemer, Liturg., 51 (1937), pp. 151–98.General studies. — F. Monnier, Alcuin et Charlemagne, avec des fragments d'un commentaire inédit d'Alcuin sur s. Matthieu et d'autres pièces publiées pour la press. 2e ed., Paris 1864; K. Werner, Alcuin und sein Jahrhundert, 2e ed., Vienna 1881; J. B. Laforêt, Histoire d'Alcuin, Namur 1898; G. N. Browne, Alcuin of York, London 1908; E. M. Wilmot-Buxton, Alcuin, London–New York 1922. Cf. also M. Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, I, Munich 1911, pp. 273–288; P. Moncelle, s. V. in DHC, II, cols. 30–40; A. Kleinclauss, Alcuin (Annales de l'Université de Lyon, 3e serie, XV), Paris 1948.
Special bibliography. — J. B. Laforêt, Alcuin restaurateur des sciences en Occident sous Charlemagne, Louvain 1851; B. Hauréau, Charlemagne et sa cour, Paris 1868; A. Dupuy, Alcuin et la souveraineté pontificale au VIIIe siècle, Tours 1872; G. Morin, L'Homélise d'Alcuin retrouvé, in Revue Bénédictine, 9 (1892), pp. 491–97; id., Une rédaction inédite de la Préface au Supplément de Comes d'Alcuin, ibid., 29 (1912), pp. 341–48; S. Berger, Histoire de la Vulgate pendant les premières siècles du Moyen-Âge, Nancy 1893, pp. 185–242 and passim; M. Roger, L'enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone à Alcuin, Paris 1905; H. Liezmann, Das Sacramentarium Gregoriorum nach dem Aachener Ursensplar (nella coll. Liturgiegeschichtliche Quellen), Münster in V, 1921, pp. XVII–XVIII; id., Handschriftliches zu Alcuins Ausgabe und Sacramentarium, in Jahrbuch für Liturgiewissenschaft, 5 (1925), pp. 68–79; H. Quentin, Mémoire sur l'établissement du texte de la Vulgate, Rome–Paris 1922, pp. 267–97 and passim; A. Wilmart, Le Lectionnaire d'Alcuin, in Ephemer, Liturg., 51 (1937), pp. 136–97; J. F. Rivera, A proposito de una carta de Alcuino recientemente encontrada, in Revista Española de Teología, 1 (1940–41), pp. 418–33.