6 Alfred the Great York, where his talent for teaching soon attracted students from other lands Three years later, while in Parma (Italy), Alcuin met Charlemagne, who invited him to join his court Excepting two journeys to his native England (in 786 and 790–793 c.e.), Alcuin lived and worked in the Frankish court from 782 c.e until he retired in 796 c.e to the abbey of St Martin at Tours, where he was abbot until his death in 804 c.e Although Alcuin never advanced beyond the clerical office of deacon, by the late 780s c.e his aptitude as a teacher and his influence on royal administrative texts distinguished him among the clerics and scholars of the Carolingian court One of Alcuin’s most significant (and original) contributions to medieval education lies in his mastery of the seven liberal arts and his composition of textbooks on grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (the traditional arts of the trivium) Alcuin’s literary output also includes commentaries on biblical books, a major work on the Trinity, and three treatises against the Adoptionism of his contemporaries Felix of Urgel and Elipandus of Toledo Adoptionism was the heretical belief that Christ was not the eternal Son of God by nature but rather merely by adoption Alcuin also composed a number of poems and “lives” of saints Alcuin contributed to the Carolingian Renaissance most directly as a liturgical reformer and editor of sacred texts The various reforms that Alcuin introduced into liturgical books (books used in formal worship services) in the Frankish Empire culminated in his edition of a lectionary (a book containing the extracts from Scripture appointed to be read throughout the year), and particularly in his revision of what is known as the Gregorian Sacramentary (the book, traditionally ascribed to Pope Gregory I, used by the celebrant at Mass in the Western Church until the 13th century c.e that contained the standard prayers for use throughout the year) In addition to revising liturgical texts Alcuin edited Jerome’s Vulgate in response to Charlemagne’s request for a standardized Latin text of the Bible His edition of the Vulgate was presented to Charlemagne on Christmas Day, 800 c.e., the very day on which the Frankish king became emperor As abbot of St Martin’s, Alcuin supervised the production of several pandects or complete editions of the Bible Alcuin’s preference for the Vulgate likely contributed to its final acceptance as the authoritative text of Scripture in the medieval West Alcuin died at Tours on May 19, 804 c.e., and his feast day continues to be celebrated on May 19 See also Frankish tribe Further reading: Gaskoin, C J B Alcuin: His Life and Work New York: Russell & Russell, 1966; Wallach, Luitpold Alcuin and Charlemagne Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1959 Franklin T Harkins Alfred the Great (849–899) king of England Alfred the Great was the fifth son of King Ethelwulf (839– 55) of the West Saxons (Wessex) and Osburga, daughter of the powerful Saxon earl Oslac When Alfred became king of Wessex in 871, his small realm was the last independent Saxon kingdom in England A massive Viking force from Denmark, known as the “Great Army,” had landed in East Anglia in 865 and had quickly overrun the Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and, eventually, Mercia During his older brother Ethelred’s reign (866–871), Alfred had helped fight off an initial invasion of the Great Army into Wessex, but when his older brother died and Alfred inherited the throne, he was forced to gain peace by buying the Vikings off In 878 the Great Army returned, led by the Danish chieftain Guthrum Alfred’s fortunes were considerably augmented at this point by the fact that nearly half of the Vikings in the Great Army had settled down in Northumbria to farm and hence took no part in this new attack Even so Alfred and his men were hard pressed to survive Driven from his royal stronghold at Chippenham in Wiltshire in early 878, he retreated to the marshes around Somerset, where he managed to regroup his forces In May of that year he inflicted a solid defeat on the Vikings at the Battle of Edington and quickly followed this up with another victory by forcing Guthrum and his men to surrender their stronghold at Chippenham By the Treaty of Wedmore (878), which brought hostilities to an end, the Danes withdrew north of the Thames River to East Mercia and East Anglia; together with Northumbria, these lands would constitute the independent Viking territories in England known as the Danelaw Significantly, through this settlement Alfred gained control over West Mercia and Kent, Saxon lands that he had not previously controlled In addition to acknowledging a stable demarcation between Alfred’s kingdom and Viking lands, Guthrum also agreed to convert to Christianity and, shortly thereafter, was baptized The significance of this cannot be overstated, because it made the eventual assimilation of the Danes into Saxon, Christian society possible