[138] He resigned in 716, and took from the library of Wearmouth the Codex Amiatinus as a present to the Pope. This huge and noble codex is now in the Laurenziana, in Florence. See my Lessons from Early English Church History, pp. 72-75.
[139] See my Theodore and Wilfrith, pp. 106, 124, and for Acca’s Cross, pp. 257-61.
[140] Bishop of Whithern (Candentis-Casae, Ep. 20, usually Candidae Casae), 777-789; of Hexham, 789-797.
[141] Writing to an Englishman, Alcuin gives his Anglian name in its Anglian spelling and without a Latin termination.
[142] See p. 123. The full story is given by Simeon of Durham under the year 790, meaning 791: “In the second year of Ethelred (i. e. of his restored sovereignty) Duke Eardulf was captured and taken to Ripon, and was ordered by the said king to be put to death outside the gate of the monastery. The brethren carried the body to the church with Gregorian chants, and placed it in a shed outside the door. He was found after midnight in the church, alive.”
[143] In April, 796, the Patrician Osbald was made king by certain leading men of the nation. But after twenty-seven days he was deserted by the whole of the royal family and the chief men, and was put to flight and banished from the kingdom. He escaped with a few followers to the Isle of Lindisfarne, and thence went by sea with some of the brethren to the king of the Picts. Sim. Dur. 795.
[144] Slain at Cobre (Corbridge has been suggested), April 18, 796.
[145] The Picts of the east of Scotland.
[146] Matt. xviii. 15, “Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.”
[147] John viii. 34.
[148] Cant. viii. 7.
[149] 1 Tim. v. 20.
[150] Matt. xii. 50. It will be seen that Alcuin does not quote exactly. The Vulgate has frater et soror et mater.
[151] Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum, p. 272.
[152] No doubt oil specially pure, and vegetable; we may safely say olive oil, for purposes of chrism. Theodore of Canterbury informs us (Theodore and Wilfrith, S.P.C.K. p. 180) that “according to the Greeks a presbyter can ... make the oil for exorcism and the chrism for the sick, if necessary; but according to the Romans only a bishop can do so”. Hence the mention of bishops in the letter of Alcuin. See also page 245, note 2.
[153] In this case Alcuin writes Karli regis; in other cases he uses the full form Carolus, which comes from rolling the r in Karlus.
[154] Shekels. On the argument that the didrachma was the shekel in the New Testament the sicle may be put at 1s. 7½d., but that gives no idea of its purchasing power then, which was probably nearer £1. It will be seen that in a later sentence sicles of pure gold are specified.
[156] As in year the Anglo-Saxon g was pronounced as y, hence the name Mayo. In east Yorkshire a gate is still called a yet.
[157] See Appendix B.
[158] The passage is incomplete, but this is the sense of it.
[159] This is not Lull of Malmesbury, who was so great a help to Boniface; he died an archbishop in 787.
[160] A presbyter, who succeeded his namesake in the archbishopric.
[161] We cannot imagine another dignity open to an aged Archbishop of York to be preferred to that which he already held. But it is evident that Alcuin referred to his retirement upon an abbacy, which would set him comparatively free from calls for exertion.
[162] Eph. v. 23.
[163] It has been supposed that Alcuin refers to some purpose of bequeathing the library of York to Eanbald II.
[164] Ecclus. vi. 6.
[165] Ethelred of Northumbria was killed and Offa of Mercia died in this year 796.
[166] James v. 11. Our version would have suited the occasion better than the Vulgate, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.”
[167] In the older MSS. in Deo, which has a subtle unintentional bearing on the controversy with which we are dealing; unintentional if, as seems certain, we possess MSS. of the Athanasian symbol of a date earlier than the beginning of the heresy of Felix.
[168] The punctuation is that of Wattenbach and Dümmler. Migne puts a full stop after the Pope and another after the Patriarch: this would seem to make singuli refer to two persons only, the two bishops. The Roman controversialist makes a different punctuation, putting a full stop after the Pope and running the three others together. The whole passage ought to be read in the Latin without any punctuation. See Appendix C, p. 319.
[169] Ep. 30, A.D. 793.
[171] Bede i. 25, “Imaginem Domini salvatoris in tabula depictam.”
[172] The historian-monk of St. Gallen says that his new eyes were better than his old ones, both for use and to look at.
[173] Ep. 120, to Arno.
[174] The account which follows is taken from the contemporary annals of Eginhart.
[175] Under the year 800.
[176] The actual words are given by Baronius, but with a vague reference to his authority. They are given at length by Milman, Hist. of Lat. Christianity, ii. 205.
[177] The ordinary word for the crypt or other receptacle of the body of a saint.
[178] Stephen I was Pope 252 to 257. Another Stephen was elected on March 14, 752, but died before his consecration. On March 26, 752, the Stephen here spoken of was elected. He is thus more properly called Stephen II than Stephen III; and Stephen IV, who appears in Karl’s time, should be called Stephen III. Many writers, however, call them Stephen III and Stephen IV.
[179] Labbe, Concil. xii. 539.
[180] Labbe, Concil. xii. 543.
[182] The district was rich in wine, fruit, flowers, and honey.
[184] Solomon’s Song, iv. 12—v. 2.
[185] Isaiah, lv. 1.
[187] There are great difficulties in the way of accepting this statement of a mission by Karl in 773. The passage calls Albinus deliciosus ipsius regis, and is quoted by Ducange as an evidence of the use of the word. It appears to imply a more intimate acquaintance than at that early date there can have been.
[188] In modern times, better wine is grown near Tours than near Orleans. The wines of Vouvray, for example, beyond Marmoutier, are much esteemed. A waiter at Tours concedes that wine is still grown at Orleans, mais pas de spécialité comme ici.
[189] The spellings of ordinary names are varied in those times almost at will, and it is interesting to note how often the letter h plays a part in the variation.
[190] 1 Chron. xxvii. 27.
[191] Song of Songs, ii. 4. Alcuin takes on the whole the Vulgate version. It will be seen by reference to the text and margin of the Authorised and the Revised Versions that there is much variety in the rendering of the Hebrew, especially as regards the word here rendered “flowers”. The Septuagint gives a sixth meaning, “perfumes” or “unguents”.
[192] 1 Chron. xxvii. 32. Alcuin makes here an unusually bold use of Scripture, first in taking to himself the description of David’s uncle, Jonathan, and then in putting into his mouth a cento of phrases from Judges xvi. 4, Jer. xlviii. 33, Prov. v. 16.
[193] This song is built up from Song of Solomon vii. 12, v. 1, 2, vii. 9, vi. 3, and Isa lv. 1.
[194] Song of Songs v. 3.
[195] Luke xi. 5, 7.
[196] 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2.
[197] This appears to be going beyond a joke.
[198] Prov. xxv. 24.
[199] This is of course not the usually assigned derivation; but it sounds the more reasonable of the two.
[203] Multitudo paganorum idolatriis dedita. Per cryptas et latibula cum paucis Christianis per eumdem conversis, mysterium solemnitatis diei Dominici clanculo celebrabat.
[206] His last testament is printed by Migne in the Appendix to the works of Gregory of Tours, columns 1148-51. “Simul et omnes libros meos praeter Evangeliorum librum quem scripsit Hilarius quondam Pictavensis sacerdos quem tibi Eufronio fratri et consacerdoti dilectissimo cum prefata theca do lego volo statuo.” This theca was one of silver, containing relics of saints, which he used to carry about with him. Another theca, gilt, was in his chest, with two chalices of gold and a gold cross made by Mabuin; these he left to his church.
[207] Gesta Regum, i. 3.
[213] It may be helpful to remember that the abbey was originally outside the ancient Roman city, and its district was called Martinopolis. The ancient Gallican bishoprics were bishoprics of cities rather than of dioceses in our wide sense of the word. This may conceivably have a bearing on the curious question raised by Hadrian.
[214] See my Constitution of French Chapters, Proceedings of St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, Vol. III, 1895.
[215] Micah v. 5, 6.
[216] James ii. 13.
[217] We know from other sources that this “&c.” meant Most Serene Augustus, crowned by God, great peace-making Emperor, Governor of the Roman Empire, by the mercy of God King of the Franks and of the Lombards.
[218] The emperor irresistibly reminds us of the Eton master and the boy who complained that his name was not that called for punishment:—
[219] That is, Theodulfus, the Bishop of Orleans.
[220] Romans xiv. 4.
[221] 1 Kings xx. 42.
[222] This refers, no doubt, to the immunity of St. Martin’s from the intervention of the Archbishop.
[223] Eulogias. Wattenbach and Dümmler gloss this cibos. From its original meaning of the consecrated wafer it came to mean the pain benit, then any present, and then a salutation. There is no clue to its special meaning here.
[224] The character of the Latin verse may be gathered from the closing words of this hexameter, est non laudabile cui nil.
[225] In another poem Theodulf begs Queen Luitgard to send him some oil of balsam, to enable him to compose and consecrate cream for chrism. We must suppose that Luitgard had some special connexion with ports to which balsams were brought.
[227] That is, a summary, epitome; not as yet a service-book.
[228] Ps. lxx. 14. The Vulgate, which Alcuin quotes, has more point for his present purpose, adiiciam super omnem laudem tuam, “I will add Thy praise above all praise.”
[229] Exod. xxiii. 8. Alcuin reads corda sapientium where the Vulgate has prudentes.
[230] The letter was written in Lent. Easter day in 800 was April 19.
[232] Adapted from chapters i and ii of Solomon’s Song.
A pandect was the whole Bible, Old and New Testament, as its name, “containing everything,” implies. A bibliotheca, like our word “library,” meant both a room or case where books were stored, and also the collection of books in the place; hence it might be used for the pandect, on the ground that it was a collection of all the books of the Bible.
[234] Wattenbach and Dümmler, 223-4.
[236] See my Anglo-Saxon Coronation Forms, and the use of the word Protestant in the Coronation Oath, S. P. C. K.
[237] That is, if the Pope has recovered from the attempt to blind him and cut out his tongue.
[238] Presumably, if new charges are made against the Pope.
[239] A reference to Pliny’s Natural History, where wolves are credited with this power; see also Virgil, Ecl. ix. 53, 54.
[240] A reference to Leo’s denial of the charges against him at Paderborn, and also to St. Peter’s denial. We must credit Alcuin with having seen that he would be taken to mean that one was as true as the other. The denial was renewed at Rome, see p. 189.
[242] St. Martin’s at Tours.
[243] His pupils.
[245] It is a curious coincidence that the ivory comb found in St. Cuthbert’s coffin, provided by Westone after the Norman Conquest, had—as nearly as we can count—sixty teeth, sixteen large and forty-four small. Alcuin’s comb may have had the same double row of teeth, with a knob in the shape of a lion’s head projecting from the ends of the central ivory.
[246] Monumenta Alcuiniana, Wattenbach and Dümmler, p. 63.
[247] Italian Alps, Longmans, 1875, Appendix D, pp. 371-3.
[248] Kemble, Cod. Dipl. ii. 208-62. Coolidge, Swiss Travel, 160. “Perpessus sit gelidis glacierum (and glaciarum) flatibus, et pennino exercitu malignorum spirituum.”
[249] Gesta Pontificum, Rolls series, pp. 25, 26, 265.
[250] See my Lessons from Early English Church History, pp. 45, 46.
[251] Written from Rome; not preserved.
[252] Leo III.
[253] See p. 281 note.
[255] There were two monasteries with this dedication. One of these, Iuvavense, was at Salzburg, and probably it is the one to which reference is made.
[257] It is probable that he was called Cuckoo from the refrain of some favourite song of his. The Teutonic name for the “bird of spring” was not a likely personal name, any more than cuckoo is with us.
[258] See also Epistle 186 in Appendix A.
[259] Here, and in Ep. 108, to Arno, Alcuin combines two phrases from the Song of Solomon, v. 7 and 8: “The watchmen have wounded me,” “I am sick of love.” In the letter to Arno he appears to quote the actual words of a text in his possession: vulnerata karitate ego sum; in the present letter he writes caritatis calamo vulneratus sum. The Vulgate has vulneraverunt me—amore langueo. See p. 275.
[260] Eginhart in his life of Karl (ch. 25) states that the king studied grammar under Peter of Pisa, an aged deacon.
[261] This was Angilbertus.
[262] That is, Eginhart, the man skilled in many arts, as was Bezaleel, the chief architect of the Tabernacle.
[264] The Wends.
[265] Eginhard tells us under this year 789 that Karl crossed the Rhine at Cologne with a great army, pushed through Saxony as far as the Elbe, and brought the Wiltzi to terms. That, he says, is their name in the Frank tongue. In their own tongue they are Welatabi.
[266] The Huns, or Avars, had in the previous year invaded Italy and Bavaria.
[268] “Amice carissime.”
[269] See my Aldhelm, S.P.C.K., p. 129.
[270] Mansi, Concilia, xiii. 937.
[271] Vienna, 1904.
[272] Cummings, History of Architecture in Italy, ii. 71.
[273] Pertz, Monumenta (Scriptores), ii. 665, 6.
[274] de ista die.
[275] savoir et pouvoir me donne.
[276] chacune.
[277] comme homme.
[278] droit.
[279] faciet.
[280] secundum meum velle.
[281] Concilium Liptinense.
[282] A photograph of this inscription is reproduced at p. 209 of my Conversion of the Heptarchy.
[283] This must have come very near to being an umbrella.