Alcuin’s letters to King Eardulf and the banished intruder
Osbald.—His letters to King Ethelred and Ethelred’s mother.—The
Irish claim that Alcuin studied at Clonmacnoise.—Mayo of the
Saxons.
Alcuin had grievous anxieties about the manner of life of the kings
of his native province, and the continual revolutions and disputed
successions. Things got worse as he grew into older age—old age as it was
then counted.
In the previous chapter we have seen a letter of his to Ethelred, the
King of Northumbria, under date 793. He wrote another letter to him
in that same year, which he addressed in the following affectionate
form:—“To my most excellent son Ethelred the king, to my most sweet
friends Osbald the patrician and Osbert the duke, to all the friends of
my brotherly love, Alchuin the levite desires eternal beatitude.”
In the year 796 Ethelred, as we have seen, was killed in a faction fight,
after putting to death the last two males of the royal line of Eadbert,
the brother of Archbishop Ecgbert, and was succeeded by “my most sweet
friend Osbald the patrician”, who, however, only reigned twenty-seven
days, and had not time to strike any coins with his name and effigy.
Eardulf, a man of considerable position, succeeded. He was in a very full
manner recognized as king, being consecrated, as Simeon of Durham tells
us (A.D. 796), “in the Church of St. Peter, at the altar of the blessed
apostle Paul, where the race of the Angles first received the grace of
baptism.” On this altar, see page 81.
It is an interesting fact that we have two letters of Alcuin, written,
the one to (28) Osbald on his banishment, the other to (29) Eardulf on
his succession to the throne from which Osbald had been banished. It can
very seldom have happened that a man has had to write two letters under
such conditions.
[Sidenote: Ep. 65. A.D. 796.]
“To the illustrious man Eardwulf the King, Alchuine[141] the deacon sends
greeting.
“Mindful of the old friendship to which we are pledged, and rejoicing
greatly in thy venerated salutation, I am at pains to address thy
laudable person with a letter on a few points touching the prosperity of
the kingdom conferred on thee by God, and the salvation of thy soul, and
the manner in which the honour put into thy hands by the gift of God may
remain stable.
“Thou knowest very well from what dangers the divine mercy has freed
thee,[142] and how easily, when it would, it has brought thee to the
kingdom. Be always grateful, and mindful of such very great gifts of
God to thee; that as far as thou canst the will of God thou wilt do with
thy whole heart; and be obedient to the servants of God who keep thee
warned of His Commandments. Know of a surety that none other can preserve
thy life than He who hath freed thee from present death; and none can
protect and keep thee in that honour of thine but He who of His free pity
hath granted that dignity to thee. Keep diligently in thy mind mercy and
justice, for, as Solomon says, and, more than that, God allows, in mercy
and justice shall the throne of a kingdom be established.
“Consider most intently for what sins thy predecessors have lost their
kingdom and their life, and take exceeding care that thou do not the
like, lest the same judgement fall on thee. The perjuries of some God
has condemned; the adulteries of others He has punished; the avarice and
deceits of others He has avenged; the injustice of others has displeased
Him. God is no respecter of persons, and those who do such things shall
not possess the kingdom of God. Instruct first thyself in all goodness
and soberness, and afterwards the people over whom thou art set, in all
modesty of life and of raiment, in all truth of faith and of judgements,
in keeping the Commandments of God and in probity of morals. So wilt thou
both stablish thy kingdom, and save thy people, and rescue them from the
wrath of God, which by sure signs has long been hanging over them.
“Never would so much blood of nobles and of rulers be poured forth in
your nation, never would the pagans lay waste holy places, never would
such injustice and arrogance prevail among the people, if it were not
that the manifest vengeance of God hangs over the inhabiters of the
land. Do thou, preserved as I believe for better times, kept to set thy
country right, do thou, by God’s grace aiding thee, work out with full
intent, in God’s will, the safety of thine own soul and the prosperity of
the country and the people committed to thy charge; so that out of the
setting-right of those subject to thy rule, thy kingdom here on earth may
be stablished, and the glory of the kingdom to come be granted to thee
and thy descendants.
“Let this letter, I pray you, be kept with you, and very often read, for
the sake of thy welfare and of my love, that the omnipotent God may deign
to preserve thee in the increase of His holy church for the welfare of
our race, flourishing long time in thy kingdom and advancing in all that
is good.”
That letter finished, Alcuin proceeded next to write to the expelled
usurper Osbald. He did not mince matters; he dealt, as people say, very
faithfully with him.
[Sidenote: Ep. 66. A.D. 796.]
“To my loved friend Osbald,[143] Alchuine the deacon sends greeting.
“I am displeased with thee, that thou didst not obey me when I urged thee
in my letter of more than two years ago to abandon the lay life and
serve God according to thy vow. And now a worse, a more disastrous fate
has come upon thy life. Turn again, turn again and fulfil thy vow. Seek
an opportunity for entering upon the service of God, lest thou perish
with those infamous men, if indeed thou art innocent of the blood of thy
lord.[144] But if thou art guilty, by consent or design, confess thy sin;
be reconciled with God, and leave the company of the murderers. The love
of God and of the saints is better for thee than that of evil-doers.
“Add not sin to sin by devastating thy country, by shedding blood. Think
how much blood of kings, princes, and people has been shed by thee and
thy kinsmen. Unhappy generation, from which so many evils have happened
to the land. Set thyself free, I beseech thee by God, that thou perish
not eternally. While there is time, run, hasten, hurry, to the mercy of
God, who is ready to receive the penitent and to comfort them that turn
to Him; lest a day come when thou wouldest and canst not. Do not incur
the shame of giving up what thou hast begun. There is more shame in your
soul perishing eternally than in deserting in the present impious men.
Better still if you can convert some of them from the wickedness they
have committed: do your best, that you may have the reward of your own
repentance and of other’s repentance too. This is the love that covereth
a multitude of sins; do this, and live happily and fare well in peace.
“I beg that you will have this letter frequently read in your presence,
that you may be mindful of yourself in God, and may know what care I
have, distant though I am, of your welfare.
“If you can at all influence for good the people[145] among whom you are
in exile, do not neglect the opportunity, that you may by God’s grace the
earlier reach your own recovery.”
The murder of Ethelred gave rise to this letter. Alcuin had been very
faithful in his advice to Ethelred, as the following letter well shows.
It is very carefully composed, and a great anxiety breathes in every
balanced phrase.
[Sidenote: Ep. 42. 790-795.]
“To the most beloved lord Aedelred the king Alchuine the deacon sends
greeting.
“The intimacy of love urges me to write an intimate letter to thee
alone.[146] Because I shall always love thee I shall never cease to
admonish thee, in order that, being subdued to the will of God thou
mayest be made worthy of His protection, and the nobility of the royal
dignity may be made honourable by nobility of conduct.
“No man is free or noble who is the slave of sin. The Lord says,[147]
‘Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin.’ It becometh not thee,
seated on the throne of the kingdom, to live like common men. Anger
should not be lord over thee, but reason. Pity should make thee
loveable, not cruelty hateful. Truth should proceed from thy mouth, not
falsehood. Be to thine own self conscious of chasteness, not of lust; of
self-control, not of riotous living; of sobriety, not of drunkenness.
Be not notable in any sin, but laudable in every good work. Be large in
giving, not greedy in taking. Let justice embellish all thine actions. Be
the type of honour to all that see thee. Do not, do not, take other men’s
goods by force lest thou lose thine own. Fear God who has said ‘with what
judgement ye judge ye shall be judged.’ Love the God Christ and obey His
commands, that His mercy may preserve in blessing to thee, and to thy
sons and followers, the kingdom which He has willed that thou shouldest
hold, and may deign to grant the glory of future beatitude.
“May the omnipotent God cause to flourish in felicity of reign, in
dignity of life, in length of prosperity, thee, my most beloved son.”
We have letters written by Alcuin to Etheldryth the mother of king
Ethelred, queen of Ethelwold Moll, king of Northumbria 759 to 765, who
married her at Catterick in 762. In her widowhood she became an abbess,
ruling over a mixed monastery of men and women, as is shown by the
following letter, written before Ethelred’s violent death:—
[Sidenote: Ep. 50. A.D. 793-796.]
“To the most loved sister in Christ the Mother Aedilthyde the humble
levite Alchuine sends greeting.
“When I gratefully received the gifts of your benignity, and gladly
heard the salutation of your love, I confess that I was made glad by a
great sweetness. For I knew that faithful love remained constant in your
breast, which neither distance by land nor the stormy wave of tidal sea
could stop from flying to me with beneficent munificence, even as it
is said, ‘Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown
it.’[148]
“That thou mayest be worthy to hear in the day of judgement the voice
of God saying, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’ instruct
with instant care those that are under thee, admonish them by word,
perfect them by example, for their safety is thy reward. Be not silent
for fear of man, but for love of God speak, convince, rebuke, beseech.
Them that sin openly chastise before all,[149] that the rest may fear.
Some admonish in the spirit of gentleness, others seize in the pastoral
staff, diligently thinking out the remedy which best suits each. Sweet
potions cure some; bitter, others. Honour the old women and the old men
as mothers and fathers; love the youthful as brothers and sisters; teach
the little ones as sons and daughters; have care for all in Christ, that
in Christ you may have reward for all.
“Let thy vigils and prayers be frequent; let psalms be in thy mouth,
not vain talk on thy tongue; the love of God in thy heart, not worldly
ambition in thy mind; for all that is loved in the world passes away,
all that is esteemed in Christ remains. Whether we will or no, we shall
be eternal. We should study with all intentness faithfully there to live
where we are always to remain.
“Honour frequently with divine praise and alms to the poor the festivals
of saints, that you may be worthy of their intercession and partakers
of their bliss. Let thy discourses be laudable for their truth; thy
conduct loveable for its sobriety and modesty; thy hands honourable for
their free giving. Let the whole round of your life be an example in all
goodness to others, that the dignity of your person be praised by all, be
loved by many, and the name of God through thee be praised; as the Truth
Itself saith, ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’”
The line which Alcuin takes in attempting to console Etheldryth after the
violent death of a son who had lived a violent life, was a remarkable one.
[Sidenote: Ep. 62.]
“I cannot in bodily presence address by word of mouth your most sweet
affection, because we live so far apart. I therefore do by the ministry
of a letter that which is denied to my tongue. With all the power of
my heart, I desire that you go forward in every good thing, most dear
mother, and be made worthy to be counted in the number of them of whom,
in the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ made answer, ‘Whosoever shall do
the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother and my
brother.’[150] How ‘mother,’ unless He is daily generated by holy love
in the bowels of a perfect heart? See what a Son a pious mother can
have—that same God, King, Redeemer, in all tribulations Consoler.
“Many are the tribulations of the just, but more are the consolations
of Christ. By what event of secular misery should one be beaten who
possesses in his breast the source of all consolation, that is, Christ
indwelling. Nay, rather should such an one rejoice in tribulations,
because of the hope of eternal beatitude, as the Apostle says, ‘By much
tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God,’ and, ‘The Lord
chasteneth every son whom He receiveth’; and of the Apostles He saith,
‘They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.’
“Let your love know that your spiritual Son the Lord Jesus is not mortal.
He lives, He lives, on the right hand of God He lives and reigns.
“Be not broken down by the death of your son after the flesh, the
departure of his body, but labour every hour, every moment, that his soul
may live in happiness with Christ. Let the hope of His goodness be your
consolation, for many are the mercies of God. He has left thee thy son’s
survivor that through thy intercessions and alms He may have mercy on him
too. It may be that he died in his sins, but in the divine pity it may be
wrought that he live; for the robber who in his wickedness hanged with
Christ was saved in the mercy of Christ. Mourn not for him whom you can
not recall. If he is with God, mourn him not as lost, but be glad that
he has gone before you into rest. If there are two friends, the death of
the first to die is happier than the death of the other, for he has one
to intercede for him daily with brotherly love, and to wash with tears
the errors of his earlier life. And doubt not that the care of pious
solicitude which you have for his soul is profitable. It profits thee and
him. Thee, that thou dost it in faith and love; him, that either his pain
is lightened or his bliss is increased. Great and inestimable is the
pity of our Lord Jesus Christ, who would have all men be saved and none
perish.”
Our next episode takes us back to York, where one of Alcuin’s own pupils
was elected to the archbishopric. It may be well to mention here, and to
dispose of, a curious question which has been raised in connexion with
Alcuin’s studies in the time of his youth, pursued as we believe only at
York.
[Sidenote: Ep. 14. A.D. 790.]
Alcuin is claimed by the Irish as one of the many English youths who
were brought up in Irish monasteries, and they name Clonmacnoise as the
place of study. Dr. John Healy, the learned Roman Bishop of Clonfert,
writes thus[151]:—“There is fortunately a letter of his still preserved,
which shows quite clearly that he was a student of Clonmacnoise, and a
pupil of Colgu, and which also exhibits the affectionate veneration that
he retained through life for his Alma Mater at Clonmacnoise.” But the
letter does not bear that interpretation, and, indeed, the learned bishop
has to read Hibernia instead of Britannia in the only place where the
island of Colgu’s home is named, or to understand an implied contrast
between Britain and Ireland which would be too obscure in a perfectly
simple matter. “I have sent to your love”, Alcuin says, “some oil, which
now scarcely exists in Britain, that you may supply it where the bishops
need it, for the furtherance of the honour of God.[152] I have sent also
to the brethren, of the alms of King Karl[153]—I beseech you, pray for
him—fifty sicles[154], and of my own alms fifty sicles; to the brethren
of Baldhuninga to the south, thirty sicles of the alms of the king and
thirty of my own alms, and twenty sicles of the alms of the father of the
family of Areida and twenty of my own alms; and to each of the anchorites
three sicles of pure gold, that they may pray for me and for the lord
King Charles.”
There is nothing here that points to Ireland except the name of the
person to whom the letter is addressed, Colcu, whom Alcuin speaks of
as “the blessed master and pious father”. The name Baldhuninga is
very Northumbrian, the home of the family of Baldhun. The mention of
anchorites has been supposed to look like Ireland, but we must remember
that Alcuin himself, in singing the praises of the saints of the Church
of York, tells of the life of only two persons of his own time other than
kings and archbishops, and they were anchorites.[155] The gift of money
from the father-of-the-family of Areida clearly comes from some one in
Gaul who is very closely associated with Alcuin himself. It so happens
that the Abbey of Tours had a small cell dedicated to St. Aredius, and
the suggestion may be hazarded that the little family of monks there
sent through their prior the twenty sicles which Alcuin doubled. It is
evident that Colcu had conferred benefits on those in whom Alcuin was
specially interested, and we may suppose that on some visit to Alcuin he
had delivered a course of lectures by which the monks of St. Aredius had
profited. He was probably a professor (his actual title was _lector_, a
name still kept up for a public lecturer at the University of Cambridge)
at the School of York. There was a famous Reader in Theology of the same
name, or as much the same as any one can expect in early Erse, Colgan
or Colgu, who lived and lectured at Clonmacnoise and died there in 794,
four years after Alcuin wrote this letter at the beginning of the year
790. It is of course tempting to suppose that this famous Irishman, the
first Ferlegind or Lector recorded in the Irish Annals, was the Colcu to
whom Alcuin wrote, the Colcu of whom Alcuin in a letter written at the
end of this same year 790 said that he was with him and was well. That
letter was addressed to one of Alcuin’s pupils, Joseph, whose master the
letter says Colcu had been. On the whole, we must take it that our Colcu
was too closely associated with Alcuin’s teaching and with Northumbria to
be the Colgu of whom Bishop Healy says that though he was a Munster-man
by birth he seems to have lived and died at Clonmacnoise. But it is
another puzzling coincidence that Simeon of Durham records the death of
Colcu, evidently as of one who had worked in the parts of which he was
commissioned to write, in the year of the death of Colgu of Clonmacnoise,
794: “Colcu, presbyter and lector, migrated from this light to the Lord.”
[Sidenote: Ep. 217. A.D. 792-804.]
We have a letter of Alcuin’s addressed to “the most noble sons of holy
church who throughout the breadth of the Hibernian island are seen to
serve Christ the God in the religious life and in the study of wisdom”.
In this letter Alcuin fully recognizes that in the old time most learned
masters used to come from Hibernia to Britain, Gaul, and Italy, and did
excellent work among the churches. But beyond that, the letter, which
is far from a short one, is so completely vague that it is impossible
to imagine that Alcuin had studied in Ireland, or had had the help, in
England or in France, of one of the most famous of Irish teachers from
one of the most famous of their seats of religion and learning.
[Sidenote: Ep. 276.]
The same impression is given by Alcuin’s letter to the monks of Mayo, of
whom he naturally knew more. When the Conference of Whitby went against
the Scotic practices, Bishop Colman retired, first to Iona, then to
Inisbofin, and then to the place in Ireland now called Mayo, where he
settled the thirty Anglo-Saxon monks who had accompanied him, leaving
the Scotic monks, formerly of Lindisfarne, in Inisbofin, “the island of
the white heifer.” Bede tells us that Mayo was kept supplied by English
monks, so that it was called Mayo of the Saxons. Curiously enough they
kept up the practice of having a bishop at their head in succession to
their first head, Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne. There were bishops of
Mayo down to 1559. In Alcuin’s time Mayo was still a Saxon monastery.
The Irish Annals of the Four Masters mention a Bishop Aedan of Mayo, in
768; but his real name was English, Edwin, not Irish, Aedan, as we learn
from Simeon of Durham. Alcuin must certainly have mentioned his own visit
to Ireland in his letter to the monks of Mayo, if such a visit had ever
taken place. The letter was written late in his life. He tells them that
when he lived in Northumbria he used to hear of them from brethren who
visited England. He reminds them that for the love of Christ they had
chosen to leave their own country, and live in a land foreign to them,
and be oppressed by nefarious men. He urged them to keep zealously the
regular life, as established by their holy predecessors; and to devote
themselves to study, for a great light of knowledge had come forth from
them, and had lighted many places in Northumbria. The lord bishop they
must hold as a father in all reverence and love, and he must rule them
and their life with all fear in the sight of God.
The story of the migration from Lindisfarne to Mayo, as told by Bede (_H.
E._ iv. 4), is so quaintly Irish in its main part, that it may fairly be
told here in Bede’s words. After stating that Colman took with him all
the Scotic monks of Lindisfarne, and thirty Saxons, and went first to
Iona, he proceeds thus:—
“Then he went away to a small island some distance off the west coast
of Hibernia, called in the Scotic tongue Inis-bofin, that is, the Isle
of the White Heifer. There he built a monastery, and in it he placed
the monks of both nations whom he had brought with him. They could not
agree among themselves; for the Scots left the monastery when the summer
came and harvest had to be gathered in, and roamed about through places
with which they were acquainted. When winter came they returned to the
monastery, and claimed to live on what the English had stored. Colman
felt that he must find some remedy. Looking about near and far he found
a place on the main land suitable for the construction of a monastery,
called in the Scots tongue Mageo. He bought a small portion of the land
from the earl to whom it belonged, on which to build, on condition
that the monks placed there should offer prayers to God for him who
had allowed it to be purchased. With the help of the earl and all the
neighbours he built the monastery and placed the English monks in it,
leaving the Scots on Inisbofin. The monastery is to this day held by
English monks. It has grown large from small beginnings, and is commonly
called Mageo[156]. All has been brought into good order, and it contains
an excellent body of monks, collected from the province of the Angles.
They live by the labour of their own hands in great continence and
simplicity, after the example of their venerable fathers, under the Rule
and under a canonical abbat.”
Bede appears to have not known anything of a bishop-abbat of Mayo.
It is clear that the bishop-abbat acted as a diocesan bishop in the
neighbourhood of Mayo. In the year 1209 the Irish Annals record the
death of Cele O’Duffy, Bishop of Magh Eo of the Saxons, the name Magh
Eo, or Mageo, meaning the Plain of Yews. In 1236 Mayo of the Saxons was
pillaged by a Burke, who “left neither rick nor basket of corn in the
church-enclosure of Mayo, or in the yard of the church of St. Michael
the Archangel; and he carried away eighty baskets out of the churches
themselves”. It was for protection in such raids that the round towers
were built adjoining the churches. In 1478 the death of Higgins, Bishop
of Mayo of the Saxons, is recorded. The see was about that time annexed
to Tuam so completely that the Canons of Mayo ceased to have the status
of Canons of a Cathedral Church. Alcuin used the form Mugeo, not Mageo,
and Simeon of Durham calls it “Migensis ecclesia”. This last form
explains the signature—or rather the “subscription”—of one of six bishops
present at a Council under King Alfwold of Northumbria in 786, “Ego
Aldulfus Myiensis ecclesiae episcopus devota voluntate subscripsi[157].”