Reversals in Wartime: Alcuin and Charlemagne discuss Retrograde Motion

The apparent retrograde motion of the planets was a puzzle for astronomers from the ancient world to the final establishment of heliocentric cosmology in the early modern period, but enjoyed an especially rich discussion in the Carolingian Renaissance. We explore the first stirrings of an eighth-century response to this epistemological challenge in a remarkable series of letters between Alcuin of York and Charlemagne, sent while the latter was on campaign against the Saxons in 798 CE. Their exchange constitutes the longest discussion of the phenomenon of Mars' retrograde motion in the West up to that date. Our consideration of the relevant letters explores Alcuin's ability to marshal diverse and complex explanatory narratives and observational traditions around the problem of the retrograde motion of the planet Mars, even as he was unable to fully reconcile them. Attention to his ultimately unsuccessful (and at times contradictory) attempts at explanation suggest that he relied on knowledge from sources beyond those previously recognized, which we identify. Charlemagne's curiosity about the matter can be located in the much longer context of an ancient tradition of imperial and royal concern with heavenly phenomena; at the same time, the exchange with Alcuin heralds the ninth-century expansion of astronomy away from the computists' preoccupation with the solar and lunar calendrical data required to calculate the date of Easter and towards a more wide-ranging curiosity about observed planetary motion irrelevant to Easter dating and computistical calculations. Alcuin's functional, if not geometrical, assumption of the centrality of the sun in his explanation merits a further examination of the more general sense in which lost ancient heliocentric ideas sustained early medieval echoes.

THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES OF THE PROBLEM OF THE HIBERNOROMAN TRADITIONS DEVELOPMENT IN THE MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

In the process of scientific research the methodological tools of research of development of Roman-Irish traditions in the European system of education of the Middle Ages in unity of historical-pedagogical, biographical, anthropological, axiological, adaptive, ethnofunctional, microstructural, integral, quantitative, qualitative (qualitative), multiple structural-functional, hermeneutic, culturological approaches.Thanks to the application of a historical-pedagogical approach it was determined how Alcuin of York transmitted the experience of Irish monastic schools in the Charlemagne’s Empire, and later how Pierre Abelard used the Alcuin’s experience in shaping the Parisian educational system.The biographical approach allowed revealing the mental model of a particular figure behavior of the Carolingian Renaissance or a university professor, his contribution to European medieval culture. An anthropological approach was used to elucidate the innovations that Alcuin of York introduced into the school monastic system at times of the Carolingian Renaissance and to comprehend school reform the Charlemagne’s Empire.The axiological approach was used in the study of the Alcuin of York students’ epistolary heritage, the descendants of his scholarly school tradition.The application of the adaptive approach allowed identifying the specifics of evolutionary values in the learning process, the gradual reassessment of values, adaptation to the dynamically changing conditions of knowledge transfer in schools and universities of the early and classical Middle Ages.Applying an ethno-functional approach reveals how students perceived learning in unified Latin and whether they had a desire to communicate with each other in the language of their country and their own ancestors.Through the application of the microstructural approach, the patterns of perception and memorization of information, the performance of complex mathematical and logical operations in solving a mathematical problem, methods of mechanical reproduction and the ability to think logically were established.A holistic approach has confirmed the opinion of previous researchers that the “Carolingian tradition”, based on the Roman-Irish scientific heritage, became the “foundation” for a European university, because what remained in mainland Europe after the destruction of the Ostrogothic kingdom and the Arab conquest was not enough. The quantitative approach use enabled clarifying the accessibility and consistency of tasks in Alcuin York’s teaching system and his followers, as well as the relationship between faith and the value of knowledge.The qualitative approach use allowed identifying those components that have been traced for several centuries after the Carolingian Renaissance, including the system of encouragement and punishment, the method of syllogism, and recognition of the quadrivium complexity before the trivium, etc.Given that the educational system of Alcuin of York and his university successors provided for the consideration of each phenomenon outside of any one discipline, it was advisable to use a multidisciplinary (trans-disciplinary) approach. Due to the use of structural-functional approach in it was analyzed the university-school education system in all its components (purpose, content, means, as well as process, structure, connections, functions) and identified what was common, different, or special in it.The hermeneutic approach use allowed identifying the foundations of the Hiberno-Roman scientific tradition in the university-school system of the Middle Ages, helped to highly appreciate it.The culturological approach presupposed the identification of the conditions for human self-determination, self-creation and self-realization in the culture, education, upbringing and “scientific tradition” of the outlined epoch.

Letters of the Christian intellectual: Alcuin and his epistolary heritage

The article examines the epistolary legacy (numbering more than three hundred letters) of Alcuin of York, perhaps the most prominent figure of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, a famous associate of Charlemagne. Comparison of Alcuin’s letters with samples of late antique epistolography makes it possible to trace the degree of continuity of cultural and social practices of pagan Antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages. In addition, reference to Alcuin’s correspondence makes it possible to look into the inner world of a Christian intellectual, to get acquainted with the issues and problems that occupy the minds of his contemporaries, to build a scheme of Alcuin’s network communication and to understand how far his spiritual influence extended in Europe and with which social layers he communicated. Setting the goal of identifying the characteristic features of the Christian intellectual community at the turn of the VIII—IX centuries on the basis of the analysis of Alcuin’s epistolary heritage, the author of the article defines the social and geographical boundaries of the circulation of Alcuin’s letters, identifies the succession of his letters from the ancient epistolary tradition, identifies and analyzes the main problems raised in Alcuin’s letters. To achieve this goal, the article uses a historical and anthropological approach with elements of semiotic analysis. The succession of Alcuin’s correspondence from the traditions of late antique epistolography is reflected, first of all, in the form of letters, the way they were written, and the use of stable rhetorical techniques. At the same time, attention is drawn to the change in the social portrait of the address and, due to this, the expansion of the circle of addressees, which now includes not only representatives of the highest secular and church elite, but also nsufficiently educated and ignoble people, for whom Alcuin acted as a spiritual father and mentor. The analysis of the letters shows that Alcuin’s awareness of his responsibility for the fate of the addressees determines the subject matter of the letters, many of which are devoted to explaining the responsibilities of certain members of the Christian community, defining the area of responsibility of the laity and clergy, constructing of the image of an ideal clergyman or a righteous layman.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL CHRISTIAN MUSIC IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL TIME

The article deals with the formation of sacred music by Christians in the early Middle Ages. Basing on the historical sources and scientific literature, the authors show a connection between the musical traditions of Rome, the Western Goths of Spain and the empire of Charlemagne. The teaching of professional church singers, the birth of Mass, the complexity of the musical pattern of Christian singing, the educational ideas of Isidore of Seville and Alcuin of York, the metriz school timely opened by Christian mentors – all of it contributed to the formation of the early medieval educational process. Alcuin is the author of many (about 380) Latin instructive, panegyric, hagiographic, and liturgical poems (among the most famous are The Cuckoo (lat. De cuculo) and The Primate and Saints of the York Church (lat. De pontificibus et sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis )). Alcuin also wrote puzzles in poetry and prose. Alkuin conducted the extensive correspondence (with Charles the Great, Anguilbert, Pope Leo III and many others, a total of 232 letters to various people); Alcuin's letters are an important source on the history of the Carolingian society. At the Palace Academy, Alquin taught trivium and quadrivia elements; in his work On True Philosophy, he restored the scheme of the seven liberal arts, following Kassiodor’s parallel between the seven arts and the seven pillars of the temple of Wisdom of Solomon. He compiled textbooks on various subjects (some in a dialogical form). The Art of Grammar (lat. Ars grammatica) and the Slovene of the Most Noble Young Man Pipin with Albin Scholastic (Lat. Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico) became very famous. Alcuin’s textbooks on dialectics, dogmatics, rhetoric, and liturgy are also known.

Early Modern Play: Three Perspectives

Let us Draw on the past as we look toward the future. Specifically, let us begin with the Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes, or “Problems to Sharpen the Young,” by Alcuin of York. Written sometime in the later eighth century, this text offers a number of logical and mathematical problems meant, as the title suggests, to refine one’s intellect. Some of the problems are fairly straightforward, as in the case of a question about how many sheep might fit in a field measuring 200 × 100 feet, with each sheep being allocated a space of 5 × 4 feet. Others, like de porcis, are somewhat trickier. This latter example is an impossible puzzle that asks how one might slaughter 300 pigs in three days by only slaughtering an odd number on each of the days.

Where Was King Aldfrith of Northumbria Educated? An Exploration of Seventh-Century Insular Learning

The superior learning of King Aldfrith of Northumbria (685–704) was acknowledged in both Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic contemporary sources by such renowned scholars as Bede of Wearmouth-Jarrow, Aldhelm of Malmesbury, Adomnán of Iona, Stephen of Ripon, and Alcuin of York. Both Aldhelm and Adomnán knew him personally, and texts composed by these two scholars and presented to Aldfrith help delineate the breadth of his educational background. He was educated among the Gaels, and their records described him assapiens. By examining texts of other seventh-century Gaelicsapientes, and the comments of Aldhelm and Bede about Gaelic intellectual life and educational opportunities, we can expand our purview of the scope of his education. The nature of seventh-century schooling was peripatetic, and Aldfrith's dual heritage requires a broad search for locations. Many scholars accept Iona as the likely source of his learned background, but this essay will argue that, among other likely locations in Britain and Ireland, Bangor in Northern Ireland is best supported by surviving evidence. His benign reign is placed at the end of the first century of the Anglo-Saxon conversion, but his education benefited the kingdom of Northumbria through generations of Gaelic scholarship, as exemplified byperegrinisuch as Columba and Columbanus, andsapienteslike Laidcenn mac Baíth, Cummíne of Clonfert, Ailerán of Clonard, Cenn Fáelad mac Ailello, and Banbán of Kildare. Aldfrith's rule ushered in a period of cultural florescence in Northumbria that saw the first hagiography and earliest illuminated manuscripts produced in Anglo-Saxon England and that culminated in the extensive library authored by Bede (d. 735).