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of conversion were Gregory, abbot of Utrecht; Liudger, a Frisian, who had studied under Alcuin at York, and became bishop of Mimigardeneford (Munster); Willehad, a Northumbrian, bishop of Bremen ; Sturmi, of Fulda, and Arno, archbishop of Salzburg. Ingo, who laboured in Carinthia, may be mentioned on account of the singular means which he took to convince the heathens of their inferior condition-admitting some Christian slaves to his own table, while for their unconverted masters food was set outside the door, as for dogs. The inquiries to which this distinction gave rise are said to have resulted in a great accession of converts.m

But although the policy of Charlemagne did much to spread the profession of Christianity, the means which he employed were open to serious objection. The enforcement of tithes naturally raised a prejudice against the faith of which this payment was made a condition, and in 793 it even produced a revolt of the Saxons." Alcuin often remonstrated against the unwise exaction. He acknowledged the lawfulness of tithes; but how, he asked, would an impost which was ill borne even by persons who had been brought up in the catholic Church, be endured by a rude and barbarous race of neophytes? Would the Apostles have enforced it in such circumstances? When confirmed in the faith, the converts might properly be subjected to burdens of this kind; but until then, it would be a grievous error to risk the faith itself for the sake of tithes. In like manner he argued against the indiscriminate administration of baptism. Instruction, he said, should first be given in the great heads of Christian doctrine and practice, and then the sacrament should follow. Baptism may be forced on men, but belief cannot. Baptism received without understanding or faith by a person capable of reason, is but an unprofitable washing of the body. He urges that new converts should be treated with great tenderness, and that able preachers, of such character as may not bring discredit on their teaching, should be sent to instruct them.9

During the latter part of the Merovingian period, learning had

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continually declined, A new era of intellectual activity now began.' Charlemagne himself made earnest efforts to repair the defects of his early training. He began in mature age to learn the art of writing; but, although he practised diligently, he never attained facility in it, or, at least, he was unable to master the difficulties of the ornamental calligraphy on which the professional writers of the time prided themselves. We are told that he became as familiar with Latin as with his mother-tongue, and that, although he could not express himself with readiness in Greek, he was well acquainted with the language. The object of his endeavours was necessarily rather to revive the ancient Roman culture than to originate a new literature ; " yet, while he encouraged the study of the classic languages among his subjects, he did not neglect his native German; he laboured to raise it to the rank of a cultivated tongue by reducing it to a grammatical system, he collected its old heroic ballads, and gave Teutonic names to the winds and months. Nor, although his care for the German was little seconded in his own time, and although the Latin had become the authorised language of the Church, were the emperor's exertions in this respect without effect; for a vernacular literature now arose which had much influence on the education of the people. Among its remains are poems and hymns, metrical harmonies of the Gospels, and glosses on the Bible, for the use of the clergy."

The instruments of the intellectual reform which Charlemagne contemplated were not to be found in his own dominions. He therefore sought for them from Italy and from the British islands, the only countries of the West in which the study of general learning was then pursued." The chief of these were Paul Warne

Guizot, iii. 207, 330; Ampère, iii. 2; Ellendorf, i. 309.

8

"Tentabat et scribere, tabulasque et codicillos ad hoc in lecto sub cervicalibus circumferre solebat, ut, cum vacuum tempus esset, manum literis effingendis assuesceret; sed parum successit labor præposterus et sero inchoatus." (Einhard, 25.) From this it has been inferred that he could not write. (Gibbon, iv. 501-who, by omitting the words here printed in italics, deprives his readers of a somewhat important part of the evidence; Sismondi, ii. 319; Hallam, ii. 351, and Suppl. Notes, 388.) The meaning, however, seems rather to be that he could write, although not well or easily. Pagi (xiii. 154), the authors of the Histoire Littéraire de la France (iv. 370), Schröckh (xx. 48), Ampère (iii. 36-8), Bähr (Karolingische Litteratur, 15), and Ozanam

(530), understand the words to relate not to ordinary but to ornamental writing. That the emperor used a mark by way of signature, does not, as has been sometimes supposed, prove that he was unable to write his name. See Maitland, “Dark Ages," 13-5.

u

Einhard, 25.

Bahr, Karol, Litt. 18.
* Einhard, 29.

y See Luden, iv. 209-210, 570.
z Giesel. II. i. 91-2.

a The monk of St. Gall, who wrote a gossiping and not very authentic life of Charlemagne - deriving his materials chiefly from the current popular stories of his time (Hist. Litt. v. 616; Bähr, 238)-tells us that the emperor, finding the means of intellectual cultivation far short of his wishes, exclaimed, "Would that I had twelve clerks as

frid, a Lombard, Peter of Pisa, and-the most important for talents, for influence, and for the length of his labours among the Franks Alcuin, a native of Northumbria.

Alcuin (or Albinus) was born about the year 735. After having studied in the cathedral school of York, under archbishop Egbert, brother of the Northumbrian king Eadbert, he was ordained a deacon, and became master of the school, which he raised to such reputation that many foreigners resorted to it for instruction. He had already visited the Continent, when Eanbald, his old fellowpupil, on being promoted to the see of York in 780, sent him to Rome for the purpose of bringing back the pall, the symbol of the archiepiscopal dignity which had been recovered for York by Egbert after having been suspended since the time of Paulinus. At Parma, Alcuin fell in with Charlemagne, who invited him to settle in France. With the permission of his own king and of Eanbald, he accepted the proposal, and was appointed to A.D. 782the mastership of the Palatine school, an institution 796. which had existed under the Merovingians, and was now revived. This school accompanied the movements of the court. The pupils were the members of the royal family, with noble youths who belonged to the household, or had been permitted by the sovereign to partake of the education thus provided. Charlemagne himself, with his sons, his daughters, and some of his courtiers, became the scholars of Alcuin. It has been supposed that they formed an academy, in which each bore the name of some ancient worthy; thus Charles himself is styled David, Alcuin is Flaccus, Angilbert is Homer. But the only evidence in favour of the supposition is the fact that such names are used in correspondence. Alcuin's instructions were given rather in the form of conversation than of lectures. He taught the seven sciences which were distinguished

learned as Jerome and Augustine!" To which Alcuin replied, "The Creator of heaven and earth has had no more like those two; and you would have twelve!" Pertz, ii. 734.

b Vita Alcuini, in Froben's edition of his works, or Patrol. c.; Lorenz, Life of Alcuiu, transl. by Jane M. Slee, London, 1837; Alcuin, par F. Mounier, Paris, 1853.

< Mounier (17) and others say that Mabillon (Elog. Hist. in Alc. c. 3; Patrol. c.) is mistaken in supposing him a monk.

d Vita, 2-5; Lorenz, 8-11.

e Lorenz (12-4), Pagi (xiii. 154), and Luden (iv. 384, 552), think that, al

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as liberal, and were afterwards classified under the titles of Trivium and Quadrivium-the Trivium ethical, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics; the Quadrivium physical,arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; while above these two classes was a third-Theology.m His writings on these subjects contain little of an original kind, and may be regarded as mere notebooks of his teaching" His other works are very various commentaries on scripture, liturgical treatises, tracts on the controversies of the age and on practical religion, poems, lives of saints, and a large collection of letters. They appear to be justly described by Fleury as displaying more of labour than of genius, more of memory than of invention or taste; but in estimating the merit of the man we are bound to compare him with his contemporaries. His work was that of a reviver.P

A.D. 796.

Alcuin was not only the instructor of Charlemagne in religion and letters, but his most confidential adviser in affairs of state. After having taught the Palatine school for fourteen years (with the interval of a visit to his native country), he became weary of a court life, and expressed a wish to retire to Fulda for the remainder of his days; but Charlemagne provided another retreat for him, by bestowing on him the abbacy of St. Martin, at Tours, a monastery of great wealth, but notorious for the disorderly character of its inmates; and with this he retained some other preferments which he had before received. Alcuin in some measure reformed the monks of St. Martin's, although an affray in which they were concerned towards the end of his life proves that the reformation was by no means perfect.' He enriched the library of the abbey by importing books from England, and under his government its school attained great fame. We are told by his old biographer that he would not allow the pupils to read the "falsehoods" of Virgil, in which he had formerly delighted, and that when one of them secretly transgressed the rule, Alcuin by supernatural knowledge detected him." Among his scholars during this period were Raban Maur, afterwards abbot of Fulda and archbishop of Mentz, Haymo, bishop of

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Halberstadt, and other eminent men of the next generation. He kept up a frequent correspondence with Charlemagne on politics, literature, science, and theology; and (as we shall see hereafter) he continued to take part in the controversies of the time. From some expressions in his letters it appears that he was dissatisfied on account of the novelties introduced into the teaching of the Palatine school by his successor, an Irishman named Clement." At length he obtained the emperor's leave to devolve the care of discipline in each of his monasteries on younger men, and he died in 804.

Charlemagne was bent on promoting education among every class of his subjects. He urged his nobles to study, and loudly reproved those who considered their position as an excuse for negligence. The laity were required to learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer,-in Latin, if possible, with a view to bringing them within the Roman influence. Fasting and blows were sometimes denounced against any who should disobey. But it was found that the hardness of the task was regarded by many persons as even more formidable than such penalties; and it also appeared that many of the clergy were themselves unable to teach the forms in Latin. The re-enactments and the mitigations of such rules sufficiently prove how difficult it was to carry them into execution." The clergy were charged to explain the Creed and the Lord's Prayer to their people, and sponsors at baptism were required to prove their acquaintance with both forms.d

With a view to improve the education of the clergy, Charlemagne ordered in 769 that any clergyman who should disregard his bishop's admonitions to learn should be suspended or deprived. In 787 he issued a circular to all metropolitans, bishops, and abbots, complaining of the incorrect style which appeared in many letters addressed to him from monasteries. This want of skill in writing, he says, leads him to apprehend that there may be also an inability to understand the language of Scripture rightly; he therefore orders that competent masters should be established, and that study should be diligently urged on. Two years later

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