The Heirs of Alcuin: Education and Clerical Advancement in Ninth-Century Carolingian Europe Darren Elliot Barber Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies December 2019 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisors, Julia Barrow and William Flynn, for their sincere encouragement and dedication to this project. Heeding their advice early on made this research even more focused, interesting, and enjoyable than I had hoped it would be. The faculty and staff of the Institute for Medieval Studies and the Brotherton Library have been very supportive, and I am grateful to Melanie Brunner and Jonathan Jarrett for their good advice during my semesters of teaching while writing this thesis. I also wish to thank the Reading Room staff of the British Library at Boston Spa for their friendly and professional service. Finally, I would like to thank Jonathan Jarrett and Charles West for conducting such a gracious viva examination for the thesis, and Professor Stephen Alford for kindly hosting the examination. iv Abstract During the Carolingian renewal, Alcuin of York (c. 740–804) played a major role in promoting education for children who would later join the clergy, and encouraging advanced learning among mature clerics. This study argues that Alcuin was also instrumental in forging a connection between education and clerical advancement as a developmental process, which scholarship has neglected due to its tendency to separate the topics of ninth-century education and the Carolingian Church. Clerical education was framed and shaped by hierarchical concepts. Alcuin recognized a hierarchy of teachers and teaching authority, ranking the biblical and theological expertise of the doctor over the more basic instruction of the magister. At the same time, Alcuin’s life as a magister served to emphasize the importance of this role as the foundation for clerical education. The term schola retained its classical and patristic connotations in the ninth century; it might refer to the entire Church as instructed by the clergy, or to any group of students learning a skill or discipline at a particular level. Alcuin associated the traditional life stages (gradus aetatis) with educational development, and these, along with the ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, were the structures of advancement that Alcuin and his intellectual heirs viewed as a framework for clerical education. Educational curriculum could be based on clerical skills to be learned, life stages, or on various authors who demonstrated superior skill in composition, especially in the writing of histories. The transition from reading to composition was a crucial point in the careers of many young clerics, often involving the writing of prose and verse vitae. Many young clerics wrote these vitae at or near the time of their promotions to the higher orders, which is crucial for understanding the early careers of Alcuin’s pupils and of his ninth-century intellectual heirs. v Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ iii Abstract .............................................................................................................. iv Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... vii Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 I. The Life of Alcuin: Redefining the Role and Status of the magister ......... 15 1. Alcuin’s Early Life at York ................................................................ 16 2. Alcuin’s Hierarchy of Teachers: The magister and the doctor .................................................................................. 24 3. Alcuin the magister at York ................................................................ 30 4. Magister and Advisor at the Royal Court .......................................... 42 5. The Hierarchy of the magister and doctor in Alcuin’s Works and Later Life ..................................................................... 54 II. The Meaning of schola in the Ninth Century ............................................. 67 1. Background .......................................................................................... 67 2. The Admonitio generalis, Alcuin, and the scholae of Readers and Singers ....................................................................... 79 3. A Letter by Leidrad of Lyon .............................................................. 87 4. Amalarius of Metz ............................................................................... 91 5. Capitularies and Episcopal Councils ................................................. 98 6. Conclusion .......................................................................................... 112 III. Structures of Advancement: The Life Stages (gradus aetatis) .............. 115 1. Modern Scholarship and the Early Life Stages .............................. 115 2. Alcuin and the Early Life Stages ...................................................... 120 vi 3. The Early Life Stages in the Ninth Century ................................... 140 IV. Structures of Advancement: The cursus honorum ................................. 155 1. Scholarship on the cursus honorum ................................................. 155 2. Ecclesiastical Promotion: Biblical and Patristic Background ................................................................................... 164 3. Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Promotion in Conciliar and Capitular Decrees ......................................................................... 169 V. Curriculum and Clerical Advancement ................................................... 199 1. Clerical Tasks as School Subjects .................................................... 203 2. Disciplines and Subjects: Integration, Emphasis, and Progression .................................................................................... 212 3. From Reading to Writing: The Study of historia and the Composition of Saints’ Lives ....................................................... 226 VI. Prosopography and Clerical Advancement ............................................ 239 1. General Observations on Educational Careers .............................. 240 2. Hraban Maur ..................................................................................... 246 3. Lupus of Ferrières ............................................................................. 251 4. Ermenric of Ellwangen ..................................................................... 260 5. Heiric of Auxerre ............................................................................... 266 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 271 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 277 vii Abbreviations Alcuin of York: Scholar Alcuin of York: Scholar at the Carolingian Court: at the Carolingian Court Proceedings of the Third Germania Latina Conference Held at the University of Groningen, May 1995, ed. by L. A. J. R. Houwen and A. A. MacDonald, Mediaevalia Groningana, 22 (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1998) Alkuin von York und die Alkuin von York und die Geistige Grundlegung Geistige Grundlegung Europas: Akten der Tagung vom 30. September bis Europas zum 2. Oktober 2004 in der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, ed. by Ernst Tremp and Karl Schmuki, Monasterium Sancti Galli, 5 (St Gallen: Verlag am Klosterhof, 2010) CCCM Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Karl der Grosse und Karl der Grosse und sein Nachwirken: 1200 Jahre sein Nachwirken Kultur und Wissenschaft in Europa, 2 vols (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997–98), I: Wissen und Weltbild, ed. by P. Butzer, M. Kerner, and W. Oberschelp (1997) Mansi Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, ed. by Giovanni Domenico Mansi, completed by Louis Petit and Jean-Baptiste Martin, 54 vols in 59 (Florence and Venice: Zatta, 1759–98; repr. Paris: Welter, 1901–27; Graz: Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1960–61) MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auct. ant. Auctores antiquissimi Capit. 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