The Northumbrian Renaissance and its affect on European Culture

 

            The period of the ascendancy of Northumbria is a treasure trove for the historian.  The period covers not only Bede but, through Bede's pupils, the Carolingian Renaissance.  In this paper I will be dealing with Bede and his teaching, as well as his learning, and with the teachings of his pupils and their pupils, most notably Alcuin. 

            The purpose is to show the relatedness of Britain to the Continent at this time and later.  The Art, culture, and thought of Britain, Celt as well as Angle, was an influence on European history and culture, and will be examined. 

            In AD 597 Roman Missionaries, at the request of Pope Gregory, arrived in Kent, to begin conversion of the pagan Anglo-Saxon peoples.  To speed the conversion, the Saxons were taught Latin, and Latin script, and soon the native English were being ordained, by 644 the first native Bishop, and 655 the first native Archbishop of Canterbury were ordained.  At this time the English schools were still behind the continental schools, but they were quickly gaining ground.  In 644, with the death of the ArchBishop of Canterbury, Deusedit, while in Rome, this changed.  The Pope, Vitalian, used the death of the English ArchBishop as an opportunity to appoint Theodore of Tarsus as Archbishop.  Theodore was described as "an aged Greek monk."[1]  He was possibly the most learned man in the Mediterranean World:  he read Greek, Latin and Syriac; he studied at the University of Constantinople, which was famous for it's teaching of Roman Law, medicine, and rhetoric, and "he may conceivably have attended the lectures of the great polymath, Stephen of Byzantium, who was lecturing there at the time."[2]  Later in his life, Theodore traveled to Rome and settled with a community of Cilician monks at St. Anastasius and was probably involved with their writing of the Greek Acta of the Lateran Synod of 649, in which the Pope, Martin, condemned the Monothelite doctrine of the Eastern Church.  Theodore was the most educated, prominent, and influential choice for the position.

            On the trip to England, Theodore traveled with Hadrian of North Africa, and Benedict Biscop, both were very well educated, and would have a strong effect on learning in England.  Hadrian was to become Theodore's assistant, and Benedict was to found the joint monastery of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, the home of St. Bede, the Venerable. 

            The teachings of Theodore and Hadrian were spread throughout England.  The study of Latin, Greek, literature, law, rhetoric, poetry, and theology formed the basis of their school at Canterbury, and those who studied there took the teaching to their own schools.  The formost of these pupils was Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmsbury.  Aldhelm was known even on the continent as a learned man, and was widely recognized as the first man of the Germanic Races to compose Latin verses and to write on Latin metre.  Soon the teachings of the South spread to the North, where it was to meet the teachings of the Celts.

            In 635 an Irish monk named Aidan was invited to establish a church and school in Northumbria.  By the end of the 7th century, his school on the island of Lindisfarne was producing many works of Latin prose, notably The Life of St. Cuthbert, as well as some of the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts of the Early Medieval Period, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels.

            The encounter of the Irish Celts and the Benedictine English sparked a great cultural awakening.

            The two traditions influenced and energized one another to such an extent that the evolving civilization of the Christian West reached a pinnacle in this remote land.[3]

The awakening produced a new script, beautiful manuscripts, a dynamic vernacular poetry, and a grand new architecture. This awakening was centered on the great monasteries of the north, Lindisfarne, and Wearmouth, and Jarrow.  Jarrow was where "the supreme scholar of the age," Bede, lived his whole life.

            Bede was able to draw on the vast teaching of both the Romans and the Celts to create his Ecclesiastical History of England, in which he devises the modern Christian chronology. This work and others established Bede as the foremost Christian intellectual since St. Augustine of Hippo.  Through his teachings Bede was able to keep the learning of the Roman Empire vital.  One of Bede's students was Ecgberht, Archbishop of York, who was the teacher of Alcuin.  Through the efforts of Ecgberht and his successor, the school of York built a library on the scale of Lindisfarne and Jarrow.  Alcuin both studied and taught at the school for many years before becoming Master of Charlemagne's court school.  This shows the esteem the continent felt for the Northumbrian style of teaching, this esteem would last for many years, even through the Viking invasions of the ninth century, which destroyed much of the educational capabilities of northern England. 

            Alcuin was the chief advisor to Charlemagne on matters of the Church, so he was responsible for many of the documents that explained Charlemagne’s ecclesiastical position.  He set out, at Charlemagne’s request, to revise the Vulgate Bible, to eliminate the textual errors, and to some extent this is the standard text of the Latin Bible.[4]

            The 'Northumbrian Renaissance' is chiefly known for the production of manuscripts. 

 

            The schools of Canterbury and of Monkwearmouth/Jarrow

(along with influence from those operating in Irish, British and continental contexts) fostered the production of a new range of library books in Anglo-

            Saxon England.[5]

These new books included translations from the Church Fathers, classical authors, literary figures of Late Antiquity, such as Isidore of Seville, and historians, as well as original treatises on history, theology, law, science, poetry, and biblical commentary and interpretation.

            After the 'Northumbrian Renaissance' this great awakening fell into a deep slumber.  The Viking raids devastated churches, schools and libraries in their search for gold and other movable wealth.  It was not until the time of King Alfred one hundred years later, in the 890s, that Latin was truly understood by more than a few men.

 

 

   

Works Consulted

 

Blair, Peter Hunter.  An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1977.

 

Blair, Peter Hunter.  Northumbria in the days of Bede.  New York:    St. Martin's Press, 1976.

 

Blair, Peter Hunter. The World of Bede. New York:  St. Martin's Press, 1971.

 

Boussard, Jacques.  The Civilization of Charlemagne.  New York:  McGraw-Hill, 1979.

 

Cabaniss, James Allen.  Charlemagne.  New York:  Twayne Publishers, 1972.

 

Collins, Roger.  Early Medieval Europe: 300-1000.  New York:  Macmillan, 1991.

 

Dumville, David N.  Britons and Anglo-Saxons in the Early Middle Ages.  Brookville, VT: 

Variorum: Ashgate Publishing Co. 1993.

 

Higham, N.J.  The Kingdom of Northumbria. 300-800  Dover, New Hampshire:  Alan

Sutton Publishing, 1993.

 

Hodges, Richard.  Anglo-Saxon Achievement.  Ithaca, New York:  Cornell University

Press, 1989.

 

Hollister, C. Warren.  The Making of England-55b.c. tp 1399. Lexington, Mass:  D.C.

Heath & Co.  1976.

 

Hollister, C. Warren.  Medieval Europe:  A Short History. 6th ed.  St. Louis:  McGraw

Hill, 1990.

 

Leach, Arthur Francis.  The Schools of Medieval England.  New York:  Barnes & Noble,

1969.  First Published Methuen & Co. 1915.

 

Loyn, H.R.  The Making of the English Nation: from the Anglo-Saxons to Edward I. 

London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.

 

McGarry, Daniel D.  Medieval History & Civilization.  New York: MacMillan

Publishing Co.  1976.

 

Renaissances Before The Renaissance.  ed. Warren Treadgold.  Stanford, California: 

Stanford University Press, 1984.

 

Saints, Scholars and Heroes:  Studies in Medieval Culture in Honour of Charles W.

Jones v. 1; v. 2;  ed. Margot W. King & Wesley M. Stevens.  Collegeville,

Minnesota:  Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, St. John's Abbey and University, 1979.

 

Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. Early Medieval History. New York:  Barnes & Noble, 1976.

---

    _ Leslie Webster and Janet Backhouse. The Making of England:  Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture, AD 600-900. University of Toronto Press, 1991.  pg 71.

    _ Ibid. 

    _ C. Warren Hollister. Medieval Europe: A Short History. St, Louis:  McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1990.   pg  61.

    _ Webster. pg 73

    _ Webster. pg 73

Reviews

[Chicken Stouffer]

Wow! You should get that published!