Letter 1

From: Alcuin of York, scholar and court theologian To: Charlemagne, King of the Franks and later Emperor Date: ~793 AD Context: Alcuin [c. 735-804, the leading scholar of the Carolingian Renaissance, invited by Charlemagne to head the palace school at Aachen] writes to the king on the relationship between education, faith, and effective governance. To the most devout and most learned King Charles, Alcuin sends greetings. The work we are doing together — the restoration of learning to the Frankish kingdom, the renewal of the schools, the effort to ensure that the clergy who serve your people are actually equipped to serve them — is the most important work I have done in my life. I say this not to flatter you but because I believe it. A kingdom whose clergy cannot read, whose priests celebrate sacraments they do not understand, whose bishops govern churches whose theology they have not mastered — such a kingdom is Christian in name only, and the gap between the name and the reality is one that God notices even if no one else does. What we are trying to do is close that gap. The practical measures we have been discussing — the requirement that cathedral schools be maintained in every diocese, the standards for priestly formation, the program of copying and distributing correct texts of scripture and the liturgy — these are not academic exercises. They are the foundation of a genuinely Christian society. I remain committed to this work and committed to serving you in it. Your faithful servant and teacher, Alcuin