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Who was Alcuin?

Who was Alcuin?

Alcuin of York (Latin: Alcuinus) or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus (730s or 740s – May 19, 804) was a scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne in 781, he became a leading scholar and teacher also of the children of Charlemagne and at the Carolingian court, where he remained a figure at court in the 780s and 790s. He was responsible for inventing lower case letters. He wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. He was made abbot of Saint Martin's at Tours in 796, where he remained until his death. He is considered among the most important architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.

ALCUIN inspired not only the liturgical and scholastic reforms during the Carolingian period.

Charles started a wide-spread revival of education by establishing many schools associated with cathedrals and in the capital cities of his empire with the support of ALCUIN. In these schools, the boys of the nobility were educated to have an important role in the church. So ALCUIN can be seen as “the first Minister of Education in Europe”. But ALCUIN also supported Charles in the Carolingian reform of the calendar.

In 796 he became Abbot in Tours (France), where he died in 804. What are ALCUIN’S most remarkable legacies?

Revival of education and establishment of many schools associated with cathedrals and the capital cities of the empire.
Teaching of the seven liberal arts. This is the transfer of the Latin education to the Frankonian Empire and comprises the “Trivium”: grammar, rhetoric and logic and the “Quadrivium”:

arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. ALCUIN insisted that students gain proficiency
in reading and writing before advancing to any other discipline. Becoming literate is the key
to learning every subject! (Note the high percentage of children with low reading competence
in Europe nowadays!)

Making Latin the “lingua franca” of the West.
The perfection of the reproduction of texts and the preservation of the Latin classics.
A major revision of the Vulgata Bible.
The development of the “Caroline minuscules”, a kind of lowercase alphabet.
Standardization of liturgy.
ALCUIN was a great networker!

By travelling a lot, taking written texts with him, exchanging those texts and pictures and thus contributing to the spread of European culture.
By putting together texts from different authors, he developed compilations with their own meaning!

We owe to him, too, some manuals used in his educational work; a grammar and works on rhetoric and dialectics. They are written in the form of dialogues, and in the two last the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He also wrote several theological treatises: a De fide Trinitatis, commentaries on the Bible, etc. Alcuin transmitted to the Franks the knowledge of Latin culture which had existed in England. We still have a number of his works. His letters have already been mentioned; his poetry is equally interesting. Besides some graceful epistles in the style of Venantius Fortunatus, he wrote some long poems, and notably a whole history in verse of the church at York: Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae.

Alcuin was a mathematician. The "Propositions of Alcuin, A Teacher of Emperor Charlemagne, for Sharpening Youths" is usually attributed to Alcuin. It contains about 53 mathematical word problems with solutions, in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are four that involve river crossings, including the problem of three jealous husbands, each of whom can't let another man be alone with his wife, (Problem 17), the problem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage (Problem 18), and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19).

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What is the Alcuin Award?



EPA ALCUIN AWARD PRESS & PUBLICATIONS MEMBERS FAVOURITE SITES Downloads CONTACT US NEWSLETTERS	Who was Alcuin? Who was Alcuin? Alcuin of York (Latin: Alcuinus) or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus (730s or 740s – May 19, 804) was a scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne in 781, he became a leading scholar and teacher also of the children of Charlemagne and at the Carolingian court, where he remained a figure at court in the 780s and 790s. He was responsible for inventing lower case letters. He wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. He was made abbot of Saint Martin's at Tours in 796, where he remained until his death. He is considered among the most important architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era. ALCUIN inspired not only the liturgical and scholastic reforms during the Carolingian period. Charles started a wide-spread revival of education by establishing many schools associated with cathedrals and in the capital cities of his empire with the support of ALCUIN. In these schools, the boys of the nobility were educated to have an important role in the church. So ALCUIN can be seen as “the first Minister of Education in Europe”. But ALCUIN also supported Charles in the Carolingian reform of the calendar. In 796 he became Abbot in Tours (France), where he died in 804. What are ALCUIN’S most remarkable legacies? Revival of education and establishment of many schools associated with cathedrals and the capital cities of the empire. Teaching of the seven liberal arts. This is the transfer of the Latin education to the Frankonian Empire and comprises the “Trivium”: grammar, rhetoric and logic and the “Quadrivium”: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. ALCUIN insisted that students gain proficiency in reading and writing before advancing to any other discipline. Becoming literate is the key to learning every subject! (Note the high percentage of children with low reading competence in Europe nowadays!) Making Latin the “lingua franca” of the West. The perfection of the reproduction of texts and the preservation of the Latin classics. A major revision of the Vulgata Bible. The development of the “Caroline minuscules”, a kind of lowercase alphabet. Standardization of liturgy. ALCUIN was a great networker! By travelling a lot, taking written texts with him, exchanging those texts and pictures and thus contributing to the spread of European culture. By putting together texts from different authors, he developed compilations with their own meaning! We owe to him, too, some manuals used in his educational work; a grammar and works on rhetoric and dialectics. They are written in the form of dialogues, and in the two last the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He also wrote several theological treatises: a De fide Trinitatis, commentaries on the Bible, etc. Alcuin transmitted to the Franks the knowledge of Latin culture which had existed in England. We still have a number of his works. His letters have already been mentioned; his poetry is equally interesting. Besides some graceful epistles in the style of Venantius Fortunatus, he wrote some long poems, and notably a whole history in verse of the church at York: Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae. Alcuin was a mathematician. The "Propositions of Alcuin, A Teacher of Emperor Charlemagne, for Sharpening Youths" is usually attributed to Alcuin. It contains about 53 mathematical word problems with solutions, in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are four that involve river crossings, including the problem of three jealous husbands, each of whom can't let another man be alone with his wife, (Problem 17), the problem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage (Problem 18), and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19). References: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkuin http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Alkuin.htm http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Stadler/Alkuin.html&print=true http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id=615 http://www.renewamerica.us/analyses/060601hutchison.htm http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/107637982/ABSTRACT What is the Alcuin Award?
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