Alcuin

ALCUIN (c 737 - 804)

The great Northumbrian scholar was born in York. After meeting the emperor Charlemagne in AD 781, he travelled to Aachen to teach the royal family. The court became a school of culture for the Frankish empire, inspiring the Carolingian Renaissance. Alcuin's works include poems, works on grammar and rhetoric and some 200 letters. One of these was addressed to Ethelred, king of Northumbria, in AD 793, after the beginning of the Viking assault:

'Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain...nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments: a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples...'

He saw the disaster as punishment for the sins and pleasure-loving ways of the Northumbrians: '... from the days of King Aelfwald fornications, adulteries and incest have poured over the land... Consider the dress, the way of trimming of beard and hair, the luxurious habits of the princes and the people... Let your use of clothes and food be moderate.'

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
ALCUIN (c 737 - 804) The great Northumbrian scholar was born in York. After meeting the emperor Charlemagne in AD 781, he travelled to Aachen to teach the royal family. The court became a school of culture for the Frankish empire, inspiring the Carolingian Renaissance. Alcuin's works include poems, works on grammar and rhetoric and some 200 letters. One of these was addressed to Ethelred, king of Northumbria, in AD 793, after the beginning of the Viking assault: 'Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain...nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments: a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples...' He saw the disaster as punishment for the sins and pleasure-loving ways of the Northumbrians: '... from the days of King Aelfwald fornications, adulteries and incest have poured over the land... Consider the dress, the way of trimming of beard and hair, the luxurious habits of the princes and the people... Let your use of clothes and food be moderate.'
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