Letter 3

From: Alcuin of York, scholar and court theologian To: Ethelred, King of Northumbria Date: ~793 AD Context: Alcuin writes to the King of Northumbria in the wake of the Lindisfarne raid, interpreting the attack as a divine warning and calling for moral reform in the kingdom. To the most noble King Ethelred of Northumbria, from Alcuin, humble servant of God, The catastrophe at Lindisfarne has given me cause to write to you on matters that I would have preferred to raise in person, but distance and the urgency of the moment make a letter necessary. A holy community of men dedicated to God, living on an island that everyone in Christendom regarded as sacred, attacked by pagans who came from the sea — this is unprecedented in the long history of our people, and it demands that we ask why such a thing has been permitted. I do not claim to know the mind of God. But the prophetic tradition of scripture consistently interprets national disasters as occasions for national examination of conscience. The question is not "why have we been attacked" in the military-strategic sense, though that question also matters. It is "what has been lacking in the life of this kingdom that has made it vulnerable to God's judgment?" I raise this with you, most noble king, because the answer to that question — the reform it calls for — requires royal leadership. The church's moral authority is real but limited. The king's authority to set a different tone, to insist on a different standard, to use the weight of the crown in support of genuine Christian life — that is irreplaceable. I ask you to take this moment seriously. Alcuin