ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the influence of Augustine of Hippo on Alcuin of York’s writing. Alcuin draws on the most negative of all Church Fathers in terms of assessing worldly rule and rulership in order to make a positive statement about Charlemagne and the Carolingian ‘state’. Augustine is only one of several patristic sources consulted by Alcuin, but he is arguably presented in a different way from the others. Alcuin’s citations from Augustine appear alongside – and are at times intertwined with – other phrases from saints and scholars, as well as with quotations from the Scriptures. The mobilisation of sapientia with reference to Charlemagne, for example, is a recurring theme in Alcuin’s letters. Alcuin praises Charlemagne for being inclined to seek sapientia from the people surrounding him, including Alcuin himself as a teacher, in order that perfection of intellect and character may be spread to all people.
