A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle AgeThatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
History
A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age
Thatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
Europe -- History -- 476-1492 -- Sources; Middle Ages -- Sources
4. Second, that no one shall ever wrongfully claim, take, or conceal
anything that belongs to the emperor, such as lands or slaves, by
perjury or fraud, or through partiality or bribery; and that no one
shall take or conceal fugitive serfs from the royal lands, by perjury or
fraud....
5. That no one shall do any violence or harm to the holy churches of
God, to widows and orphans, or to strangers; for the emperor, after God
and his saints, is constituted their special protector....
10. Selections from the Monk of St. Gall.
Monachus Sangallensis, M. G. SS. folio, II, pp. 731 ff.
The following documents, nos. 10-12, are intended to illustrate the
interest and activity of Karl in the revival of learning in his realm.
See also no. 7, Einhard's Life of Karl, ch. 25. The disappearance of
classical culture in the west through the disorders incident upon the
decline of the Roman empire, the migrations, and the civil wars of the
Merovingian period, was shown not only in the general ignorance among
the common people, but also in the decline of learning and culture in
the church. The selection from the Monk of St. Gall throws light upon
the palace school of Karl and his court, the other numbers illustrate
the interest of Karl in the education of the clergy and the reformation
of the church services. The Monk of St. Gall is the unknown author of a
chronicle account of the life and times of Karl, written in the latter
part of the ninth century. It contains many tales and stories which are
popular and in part legendary, showing how the figure of Karl was being
magnified in the imagination of posterity.
I, 2. When Albinus (Alcuin), who was an Englishman, learned of the great
favor with which Karl received wise men, he took ship and came over to
him. This man was the most learned of all men of recent times in the
holy writ, being the pupil of the learned priest Beda, who was the
greatest commentator on the scriptures since St. Gregory [I]. Karl kept
him at his side continually until his death, save for occasions when the
emperor was at war. The emperor was always desirous of being known as
the pupil of Alcuin. He also gave him the monastery of Tours to serve as
a source of revenue during his own absence and as a place where Alcuin
might live and instruct the scholars who sought him. His teaching bore
such fruit among the Gauls and Franks that they approached the ancient
Romans and Athenians in learning.
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