SECTION I.
EDUCATION AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF ALCUIN UNTIL HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE. A.D 735-782.
SECTION II
ALCUIN’S RESIDENCE DURING EIGHT YEARS AT THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE. A.D. 782-790.
SECTION III.
ALCUIN’S RETURN TO THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE, AND HIS PARTICIPATION IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS UNTIL HIS PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN FRANCE. A.D. 790-796
SECTION IV.
ALCUIN AS ABBOT OF TOURS UNTIL HIS DEATH. A.D. 796-804.
We may venture to assert that the time of Charlemagne is more celebrated than known, and that the founder of the new Roman German empire has found more panegyrists than historians. A character like that of Charles is too dazzling to admit of our beholding, at the first glance, the surrounding objects so as to distinguish them clearly. But after accustoming ourselves to gaze longer upon it, the inquiring eye will discover other forms beaming, not undeservedly, with a ray of glory reflected from the principal figure. The more accurately we can judge of men by those who surround them, the more necessary and instructive becomes the contemplation of their characters. A prince who is a mere warrior delights only in those hardy pursuits inseparable from a soldier’s life, and seeks his friends and confidants in the army. A ruler who is a mere politician prefers the statesman to the soldier. When, however, a prince like Charlemagne, and others who have shared, or at least deserved to share, the same epithet, combines the ardor for conquest with the love of literature, the sword and the pen will be held in equal estimation; he will attach himself most intimately to those who have won his confidence by a similar direction of mind, and have manifested the desire and the ability to promote the welfare of his subjects. One single man, even on a throne, can accomplish but little without the cooperation of kindred spirits. When, therefore, a sovereign possesses an intellect sufficiently capacious to embrace noble designs, and an eye to discern, amid the multitude, those whose energy and talents best fit them for the execution of his plans, he is justly celebrated; his memory is held in grateful honor, and his example commended to posterity. To him belongs the rare talent of availing himself of the various powers of others, and of uniting them for the attainment of one object. Not equity alone, therefore, requires, but it is indispensable to the right understanding of facts, that justice should be rendered to the individual who labored successfully for this object. The man whose life forms the subject of this work, devoted his energies to the execution of Charles’ noble project of advancing his subjects towards that civilization, the light of which still lingered on the ruins of antiquity. This man was Alcuin; and who can be a more proper representative of this honorable and distinguishing characteristic of Charles’ reign, than he to whom the king was indebted for the chief of his learning, his children for the whole of their mental attainments, and such of the young Franks as evinced either inclination or ability for study, for all their knowledge? He formed, to a certain extent, the center of the awakened energies of this period; not because he was the only man remarkable for literary acquirements, but because he had pursued all the paths of knowledge which at that time lay open to the human mind. Neither splendid actions nor marvelous adventures, nor any of those striking incidents that are calculated to arouse and gratify curiosity, distinguish the life of Alcuin from that of ordinary men; for his combats with the devil, and his miracles, belong to legends rather than to history.
EDUCATION AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF ALCUIN UNTIL HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE. A.D 735-782.
SECTION II
ALCUIN’S RESIDENCE DURING EIGHT YEARS AT THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE. A.D. 782-790.
SECTION III.
ALCUIN’S RETURN TO THE COURT OF CHARLEMAGNE, AND HIS PARTICIPATION IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS UNTIL HIS PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN FRANCE. A.D. 790-796
SECTION IV.
ALCUIN AS ABBOT OF TOURS UNTIL HIS DEATH. A.D. 796-804.
We may venture to assert that the time of Charlemagne is more celebrated than known, and that the founder of the new Roman German empire has found more panegyrists than historians. A character like that of Charles is too dazzling to admit of our beholding, at the first glance, the surrounding objects so as to distinguish them clearly. But after accustoming ourselves to gaze longer upon it, the inquiring eye will discover other forms beaming, not undeservedly, with a ray of glory reflected from the principal figure. The more accurately we can judge of men by those who surround them, the more necessary and instructive becomes the contemplation of their characters. A prince who is a mere warrior delights only in those hardy pursuits inseparable from a soldier’s life, and seeks his friends and confidants in the army. A ruler who is a mere politician prefers the statesman to the soldier. When, however, a prince like Charlemagne, and others who have shared, or at least deserved to share, the same epithet, combines the ardor for conquest with the love of literature, the sword and the pen will be held in equal estimation; he will attach himself most intimately to those who have won his confidence by a similar direction of mind, and have manifested the desire and the ability to promote the welfare of his subjects. One single man, even on a throne, can accomplish but little without the cooperation of kindred spirits. When, therefore, a sovereign possesses an intellect sufficiently capacious to embrace noble designs, and an eye to discern, amid the multitude, those whose energy and talents best fit them for the execution of his plans, he is justly celebrated; his memory is held in grateful honor, and his example commended to posterity. To him belongs the rare talent of availing himself of the various powers of others, and of uniting them for the attainment of one object. Not equity alone, therefore, requires, but it is indispensable to the right understanding of facts, that justice should be rendered to the individual who labored successfully for this object. The man whose life forms the subject of this work, devoted his energies to the execution of Charles’ noble project of advancing his subjects towards that civilization, the light of which still lingered on the ruins of antiquity. This man was Alcuin; and who can be a more proper representative of this honorable and distinguishing characteristic of Charles’ reign, than he to whom the king was indebted for the chief of his learning, his children for the whole of their mental attainments, and such of the young Franks as evinced either inclination or ability for study, for all their knowledge? He formed, to a certain extent, the center of the awakened energies of this period; not because he was the only man remarkable for literary acquirements, but because he had pursued all the paths of knowledge which at that time lay open to the human mind. Neither splendid actions nor marvelous adventures, nor any of those striking incidents that are calculated to arouse and gratify curiosity, distinguish the life of Alcuin from that of ordinary men; for his combats with the devil, and his miracles, belong to legends rather than to history.
