Alcuin was a priest, scholar and advisor to the Emperor of the Franks, Charlemagne. Born in Yorkshire, Alcuin was sent to visit the Pope. Through that visit he became acquainted with Charlemagne and began working for him, as Head of the school in Aachen. Alcuin was greatly disturbed by the Viking raid on Lindisfarne and is known to have aided the Christian faith in Northumbria by sending them the oils required to fulfil ceremonies. Below is an extract from his letter of 793AD.
Source: Alcuin to Higbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne
‘When I was with you, the closeness of your love would give me great joy. In contrast, now that I am away from you, the distress of your suffering fills me daily with deep grief, when heathens desecrated God’s sanctuaries, and poured the blood of saints within the compass of the altar, destroyed the house of our hope, trampled the bodies of saints in God’s temple like animal dung in the street …’
Alcuin also makes his views on the cause of the raid clear:
‘What security is there for the churches of Britain if St Cuthbert with so great a throng of saints will not defend his own? Either this is the beginning of greater grief or the sins of those who live there have brought it upon themselves.’
Teachers’ Notes
- Alcuin and others refer to the Viking Raids in a manner that makes the assailants appear to be unholy, heathens, almost a plague or punishment sent from God. It must be noted that the Christian Kings within England at the time did very similar things but the religious aspect was not levelled at them in contemporary sources.
- Alcuin was born in Yorkshire but later based in Aachen as Charlemagne’s Head of the Palace School.
- Alcuin’s letters were highly valued. They were copied and held in several libraries within the Frankish Empire, at Saltzburg, for example.
[products tag=”KS2 History Training”]
Do you want to find other Primary Sources for use in your lessons, or for research purposes? Visit our Primary Sources page to see which areas we currently have a range of sources for.
Charlemagne’s letter to King Offa
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.