Alcuin of York (/ˈælkwɪn/;^[1]Latin:Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus;c. 735 – 19 May 804) – also calledEalhwine,Alhwin, orAlchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher fromYork,Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student ofArchbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation ofCharlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at theCarolingian court, where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. Before that, he was also a court chancellor in Aachen. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according toEinhard'sLife of Charlemagne^[2] (c. 817–833), he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of theCarolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.

Alcuin of York
A Carolingian manuscript,c. 831.Rabanus Maurus (left), with Alcuin (middle), dedicating his work to ArchbishopOtgar of Mainz (right)
Born	c. 735 York,Northumbria
Died	19 May 804 (aged around 69) Tours,Francia
Occupation	Deacon of theCatholic Church
Academic background
Influences	Ecgbert of York
Academic work
Era	Medieval philosophy Carolingian Renaissance
Main interests	Mathematics Philosophy Christian theology Poetry
Notable works	Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes Quaestiones in Genesim

Alcuin wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. In 796, he was made abbot ofMarmoutier Abbey, inTours, where he worked on perfecting theCarolingian minuscule script. He remained there until his death.

Alcuin was born inNorthumbria, presumably sometime in the 730s. Virtually nothing is known of his parents, family background, or origin.^[3] In common hagiographical fashion, theVita Alcuini asserts that Alcuin was of "noble English stock", and this statement has usually been accepted by scholars. Alcuin's own work only mentions such collateral kinsmen asWilgils of Ripon, father of the missionary saintWillibrord; andBeornrad (also spelled Beornred), abbot ofEchternach and bishop ofSens.^[4] Willibrord, Alcuin and Beornrad were all related by blood.^[5][6]

In hisLife of St Willibrord, Alcuin writes that Wilgils called aPater familias, had founded an oratory and church at the mouth of theHumber, which had fallen into Alcuin's possession by inheritance. Because in early Anglo-Latin writingpaterfamilias ("head of a family, householder") usually referred to aceorl ("churl"),Donald A. Bullough suggests that Alcuin's family was ofcierlisc ("churlish") status: i.e., free but subordinate to a noble lord, and that Alcuin and other members of his family rose to prominence through beneficial connections with the aristocracy.^[4] If so, Alcuin's origins may lie in the southern part of what was formerly known asDeira.^[7]

The young Alcuin came to thecathedral church of York during the golden age of ArchbishopEcgbert and his brother, the Northumbrian KingEadberht. Ecgbert had been a disciple of theVenerable Bede, who urged him to raise York to anarchbishopric. King Eadberht and Archbishop Ecgbert oversaw the re-energising and reorganisation of theEnglish church, with an emphasis on reforming the clergy and on the tradition of learning that Bede had begun. Ecgbert was devoted to Alcuin, who thrived under his tutelage.^[8]

The York school was renowned as a centre of learning in the liberal arts, literature, and science, as well as in religious matters.^[9] From here, Alcuin drew inspiration for the school he would lead at theFrankish court. He revived the school with thetrivium andquadrivium disciplines,^[10] writing acodex on the trivium, while his studentHrabanus wrote one on the quadrivium.

Alcuin graduated to become a teacher during the 750s. His ascendancy to the headship of the York school, the ancestor ofSt Peter's School, began afterÆthelbert of York becameArchbishop of York in 767. Around the same time, Alcuin became adeacon in the church. He was never ordained a priest. Though no real evidence shows that he took monastic vows, he lived as if he had.

In 781, KingÆlfwald I of Northumbria sent Alcuin to Rome to petition the Pope for official confirmation of York's status as an archbishopric and to confirm the election of the new archbishop,Eanbald I. On his way home, he metCharlemagne (whom he had met once before), this time in the Italian city ofParma.^[a]

Alcuin's intellectual curiosity allowed him to be reluctantly persuaded to join Charlemagne's court. He joined an illustrious group of scholars whom Charlemagne had gathered around him, the mainsprings of theCarolingian Renaissance:Peter of Pisa,Paulinus II of Aquileia, Rado, and AbbotSaint Fulrad. Alcuin would later write, "the Lord was calling me to the service of King Charles".

Alcuin became master of thePalace School of Charlemagne inAachen (Urbs Regale) in 782.^[10] It had been founded by the king's ancestors as a place for the education of the royal children (mostly in manners and the ways of the court). However, Charlemagne wanted to include theliberal arts, and most importantly, the study of religion. From 782 to 790, Alcuin taught Charlemagne himself, his sonsPepin andLouis, as well as young men sent to be educated at court, and the young clerics attached to thepalace chapel. Bringing with him from York his assistants Pyttel, Sigewulf, and Joseph, Alcuin revolutionised the educational standards of the Palace School, introducing Charlemagne to the liberal arts and creating a personalised atmosphere of scholarship and learning, to the extent that the institution came to be known as the "school of Master Albinus".

In this role as adviser, he took issue with the emperor's policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe". His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.^[11]

Charlemagne gathered the best men of every land in his court and became far more than just the king at the centre. It seems that he made many of these men his closest friends and counsellors. They referred to him as "David", a reference to the Biblical kingDavid. Alcuin soon found himself on intimate terms with Charlemagne and the other men at court, where pupils and masters were known by affectionate and jesting nicknames.^[12] Alcuin himself was known as 'Albinus' or 'Flaccus'. While atAachen, Alcuin bestowed pet names upon his pupils – derived mainly fromVirgil'sEclogues.^[13] According to theEncyclopædia Britannica, "He loved Charlemagne and enjoyed the king's esteem, but his letters reveal that his fear of him was as great as his love."^[14]

After the death ofPope Adrian I, Alcuin was commissioned by Charlemagne to compose an epitaph for Adrian. The epitaph was inscribed on black stone quarried at Aachen and carried to Rome where it was set over Adrian's tomb in the south transept ofSt. Peter's Basilica just before Charlemagne's coronation in the basilica on Christmas Day 800.^[15]

In 790, Alcuin returned from the court of Charlemagne to England, to which he had remained attached. He dwelt there for some time, but Charlemagne then invited him back to help in the fight against theAdoptionist heresy, which was at that time making great progress inToledo, the old capital of theVisigoths and still a major city for the Christians underIslamic rule in Spain. He is believed to have had contacts withBeatus of Liébana, from theKingdom of Asturias, who fought against Adoptionism. At theCouncil of Frankfurt in 794, Alcuin upheld the orthodox doctrine against the views expressed byFelix of Urgel, anheresiarch according to theCatholic Encyclopedia.^[10] Having failed during his stay in Northumbria to influence KingÆthelred I in the conduct of his reign, Alcuin never returned home.

He was back at Charlemagne's court by at least mid-792, writing a series of letters to Æthelred, to Hygbald, Bishop ofLindisfarne, and toÆthelhard,Archbishop of Canterbury in the succeeding months, dealing with theViking attack on Lindisfarne in July 793. These letters and Alcuin's poem on the subject,"De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii", provide the only significant contemporary account of these events. In his description of the Viking attack, he wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain. Behold thechurch of St Cuthbert, splattered with the blood of God's priests, robbed of its ornaments."^[16]

In 796, Alcuin was in his 60s. He hoped to be free from court duties and upon the death of Abbot Itherius of Saint Martin atTours, Charlemagne putMarmoutier Abbey into Alcuin's care, with the understanding that he should be available if the king ever needed his counsel. There, he encouraged the work of the monks on the beautifulCarolingian minuscule script, ancestor of modern Roman typefaces using a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters.^[14][17] Latinpaleography in the 8th century leaves little room for a single origin of the script, and sources contradict his importance as no proof has been found of his direct involvement in the creation of the script.^[18] Carolingian minuscule was already in use before Alcuin arrived inFrancia.^[19] Most likely he was responsible for copying and preserving the script^[20] while at the same time restoring the purity of the form.^[21]

Alcuin died on 19 May 804, some 10 years before the emperor, and was buried at St. Martin's Church under an epitaph that partly read:^[22]

Dust, worms, and ashes now ...
Alcuin my name, wisdom I always loved,
Pray, reader, for my soul.

The majority of details on Alcuin's life come from his letters and poems. Also, autobiographical sections are in Alcuin's poem on York and in theVita Alcuini, ahagiography written for him atFerrières in the 820s, possibly based in part on the memories of Sigwulf, one of Alcuin's pupils.

The collection of mathematical and logical word problems entitledPropositiones ad acuendos juvenes ("Problems to Sharpen Youths")^[23] is sometimes attributed to Alcuin.^[24][25] In a 799 letter to Charlemagne, the scholar claimed to have sent "certain figures of arithmetic for the joy of cleverness",^[26] which some scholars have identified with thePropositiones.^[27][b]

The text contains about 53 mathematical word problems (with solutions), in no particular pedagogical order. Among the most famous of these problems are: four that involveriver crossings, including theproblem of three anxious brothers, each of whom has an unmarried sister whom he cannot leave alone with either of the other men lest she be defiled^[28] (Problem 17); theproblem of the wolf, goat, and cabbage (Problem 18); and the problem of "the two adults and two children where the children weigh half as much as the adults" (Problem 19).Alcuin's sequence is the solution to one of the problems of that book.

Alcuin made the abbey school into a model of excellence and many students flocked to it. He had many manuscripts copied using outstandingly beautifulcalligraphy, the Carolingian minuscule based on round and legibleuncial letters. He wrote many letters to his English friends, toArno, bishop of Salzburg and above all to Charlemagne. These letters (of which 311 are extant) are filled mainly with pious meditations, but they form an important source of information as to the literary and social conditions of the time and are the most reliable authority for the history ofhumanism during theCarolingian age. Alcuin trained the numerous monks of the abbey in piety, and in the midst of these pursuits, he died.

Alcuin is the most prominent figure of theCarolingian Renaissance, in which three main periods have been distinguished: in the first of these, up to the arrival of Alcuin at the court, the Italians occupy a central place; in the second, Alcuin and the English are dominant; in the third (from 804), the influence ofTheodulf of Orléans is preponderant.

Alcuin also developed manuals used in his educational work – agrammar and works onrhetoric anddialectics. These are written in the form of adialogue, and in two of them the interlocutors are Charlemagne and Alcuin. He wrote severaltheological treatises: aDe fide Trinitatis, and commentaries on the Bible.^[29] Alcuin is credited with inventing the first knownquestion mark, though it did not resemble the modern symbol.^[30]

Alcuin transmitted to theFranks the knowledge of Latin culture, which had existed inAnglo-Saxon England. A number of his works still exist. Besides some graceful epistles in the style ofVenantius Fortunatus, he wrote some long poems, and notably he is the author of a history (in verse) of the church at York,Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae. At the same time, he is noted for making one of the only explicit comments onOld English poetry surviving from the earlyMiddle Ages, in a letter to one Speratus, the bishop of an unnamed Englishsee (possiblyUnwona of Leicester):"verba Dei legantur in sacerdotali convivio: ibi decet lectorem audiri, non citharistam; sermones patrum, non carmina gentilium. QuidHinieldus cum Christo?" ("Let God's words be read at the episcopal dinner-table. It is right that a reader should be heard, not a harpist, patristic discourse, not pagan song. What hasIngeld to do with Christ?").^[31]

Alcuin is honoured in theChurch of England and in theEpiscopal Church on 20 May the first available day after the day of his death (asDunstan is celebrated on 19 May).^[32][33]

Alcuin is also venerated as a Saint byEastern Orthodox Christians in theBritish Isles andIreland. The Orthodox Fellowship ofJohn the Baptist publishes a liturgical calendar that is widely used in that region, and this calendar includes a feast for St Alcuin.

Alcuin College, one of thecolleges of the University of York, is named after him.^[34] In January 2020, Alcuin was the subject of theBBC Radio 4 programmeIn Our Time.^[35] In December 2024, Alcuin was prominently featured in a Part 2 of a 3-part podcast series on Charlemagne inThe Rest Is History (podcast).^[36]

For a complete census of Alcuin's works, see Marie-Hélène Jullien and Françoise Perelman, eds.,Clavis scriptorum latinorum medii aevi: Auctores Galliae 735–987, Tomus II – Alcuinus, Turnhout, Brepols, 1999.

• Carmina, ed.Ernst Dümmler, MGHPoetae Latini aevi Carolini I, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881, 160–351.
  • Godman, Peter, trad.,Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1985, 118–149.
  • Stella, Francesco, trad., comm.,La poesia carolingia, Firenze: Le Lettere, 1995, pp. 94–96, 152–161, 266–267, 302–307, 364–371, 399–404, 455–457, 474–477, 503–507.
  • Isbell, Harold, trad.;The Last Poets of Imperial Rome, Baltimore, Penguin, 1971.
• Poem on York,Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Euboricensis ecclesiae, ed. and trad. Peter Godman,The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1982.
• De clade Lindisfarnensis monasterii, "On the destruction of the monastery of Lindisfarne" (Carmen 9, ed. Dümmler, pp. 229–235).

Of Alcuin's letters, over 310 have survived:

• Epistolae, ed.Ernst Dümmler, MGH,Epistolae, IV.2, Berlin, Weidmann, 1895, 1–493;
• Jaffé, Philipp, Ernst Dümmler, and W. Wattenbach, eds.Monumenta Alcuiniana, Berlin, Weidmann, 1873, 132–897;
• Chase, Colin, ed.Two Alcuin Letter-books, Toronto,Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975;
• Allott, Stephen, trad.Alcuin of York, c. AD 732 to 804 – His life and letters, York, William Sessions, 1974;
• Sturgeon, Thomas G., trad.The Letters of Alcuin – Part One, the Aachen Period (762–796). Harvard University PhD thesis, 1953.

• Ars grammatica. PL 101, 854–902;
• De orthographia, ed. H. Keil,Grammatici Latini VII, 1880, 295–312; ed. Sandra Bruni,Alcuino de orthographia, Florence, SISMEL, 1997;
• De dialectica, PL 101, 950–976;
• Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastico, "Dialogue of Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, with the Teacher Albinus", ed. L. W. Daly and W. Suchier,Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Epicteti Philosophi, Urbana, IL,University of Illinois Press, 1939, 134–146; ed. Wilhelm Wilmanns, "Disputatio regalis et nobilissimi juvenis Pippini cum Albino scholastic",Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum, 14 (1869), 530–555, 562.
• Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus sapientissimi regis Carli et Albini magistri, ed. and trad. Wilbur Samuel Howell,The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne, New York, Russell and Russell, 1965 (1941); ed. C. Halm,Rhetorici Latini Minores, Leipzig, Teubner, 1863, 523–550;
• De virtutibus et vitiis (moral treatise dedicated to Count Wido of Brittany, 799–800), PL 101, 613–638 (transcript available online). A new critical edition is being prepared for theCorpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis;
• De animae ratione (ad Eulaliam virginem) (written for Gundrada, Charlemagne's cousin), PL 101, 639–650;
• De Cursu et Saltu Lunae ac Bissexto, astronomical treatise, PL 101, 979–1002;
• (?)Propositiones ad acuendos iuvenes, ed. Menso Folkerts, "Die alteste mathematische Aufgabensammlung in lateinischer Sprache, Die Alkuin zugeschriebenenPropositiones ad acuendos iuvenes; Überlieferung, Inhalt, Kritische Edition", inidem,Essays on Early Medieval Mathematics: The Latin Tradition, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003.

• Compendium in Canticum Canticorum: Alcuino,Commento al Cantico dei cantici – con i commenti anonimi Vox ecclesie e Vox antique ecclesie, ed. Rossana Guglielmetti, Firenze, SISMEL 2004;
• Quaestiones in Genesim, PL 100, 515–566;
• De Fide Sanctae Trinitatis et de Incarnatione Christi; Quaestiones de Sancta Trinitate, ed. E. Knibbs and E. Ann Matter (Corpus Christianorum – Continuatio Mediaevalis 249, Brepols, 2012).

• Vita II Vedastis episcopi Atrebatensis, Revision of the earlierVita Vedastis byJonas of Bobbio,Patrologia Latina, 101, 663–682;
• Vita Richarii confessoris Centulensis, Revision of an earlier anonymous life, MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, 4, 381–401;
• Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis, ed. W. Levison,Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici, MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, 7, 81–141.

• Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes
• Carolingian art
• Carolingian Empire
• Category: Carolingian period
• Correctory
• Codex Vindobonensis 795

• Alcuin (n.d.).Propositiones Alcuini Doctoris Caroli Magni Imperatoris ad Acuendes Juvenes [Propositions of Alcuin, A Teacher of Emperor Charlemagne, for Sharpening Youths] (in Latin).
• Allott, Stephen;Alcuin of York, his life and lettersISBN 0-900657-21-9
• Atkinson, Leigh (2005). "When the Pope was a Mathematician".The College Mathematics Journal.36 (5):354–362.doi:10.1080/07468342.2005.11922149.ISSN 0746-8342.S2CID 121602358.
• Boswell, John (2015).Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality - Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century. University of Chicago Press.ISBN 978-0-226-34536-9.
• Bromell, David (2002)."Alcuin".Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History - From Antiquity to World War II. Psychology Press.ISBN 978-0-415-15983-8.
• Browne, G.F. (1908).Alcuin of York. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
• Bullough, Donald A. (2004).Alcuin – Achievement and Reputation. Being Part of the Ford Lectures Delivered in Oxford in Hilary Term 1980. Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-12865-1.
• Bullough, Donald (2010) [2004]. "Alcuin (c. 740–804)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/298.(Subscription orUK public library membership required.)
• Burns, James Aloysius (1907)."Alcuin" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Clark, David (2009).Between Medieval Men - Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval English Literature. Oxford: OUP.ISBN 978-0-19-156788-9.
• Colish, Marcia L. (1999).Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400. The Yale Intellectual History of the West.Yale University Press. p. 67.ISBN 9780300078527.
• Coon, Lynda L. (2011).Dark Age Bodies - Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN 978-0-8122-0491-9.
• Dales, Douglas J.; "Accessing Alcuin – A Master Bibliography", The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 2013ISBN 978-0227901977
• Dales, Douglas (2012).Alcuin - His Life and Legacy.The Lutterworth Press.ISBN 978-0-227-17346-6.
• Dales, Douglas; Williams, Rowan (2013)."24".Alcuin - Theology and Thought.The Lutterworth Press.ISBN 978-0-227-17394-7.
• Diem, Albrecht; "The Emergence of Monastic Schools – The Role of Alcuin", in: Luuk A. J. R. Houwen and Alasdair A. McDonald (eds.),Alcuin of York – Scholar at the Carolingian Court, Groningen 1998 (Germania Latina, vol. 3), pp. 27–44.
• Duckett, Eleanor Shipley (1951).Alcuin, Friend of Charlemagne - His World and His Work. Macmillan.ISBN 978-0-208-00070-5.
• Duckett, Eleanor Shipley;Carolingian Portraits, (1962)
• Einhard (1960).The Life of Charlemagne. Ann Arbor paperbacks. University of Michigan Press.ISBN 978-0-472-06035-1. Retrieved18 November 2021.
• Ellsberg, Robert (2016).Blessed Among Us - Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses. Liturgical Press.ISBN 978-0-8146-4745-5.
• Frantzen, Allen J. (1998).Before the Closet - Same-Sex Love from "Beowulf" to "Angels in America". University of Chicago Press. p. 198.ISBN 978-0-226-26092-1.
• Ganshof, F.L.;The Carolingians and the Frankish MonarchyISBN 0-582-48227-5
• Gaskoin, Charles Jacinth Bellairs (1966).Alcuin - His Life and His Work. Cambridge University Press. GGKEY:9CL47HJX2L5.
• Godman, Peter;Poetry of the Carolingian RenaissanceISBN 0-7156-1768-0
• Gorman, Michael (2002). "Alcuin before Migne".Revue Bénédictine.112 (1–2):101–130.doi:10.1484/J.RB.5.100616.ISSN 0035-0893.
• Hadley, John; Singmaster, David (1992). "Problems to Sharpen the Young".The Mathematical Gazette.76 (475):102–126.doi:10.2307/3620384.JSTOR 3620384.S2CID 125835186.
• Hutchison, Fred (1 June 2006)."A cure for the educational crisis - Learn from the extraordinary educational heritage of the West".Renew America Movement. Archived fromthe original on 2 June 2006. Retrieved2 June 2006.
• Jaeger, C. Stephen (1991). "L'Amour des rois - Structure sociale d'une forme de sensibilité aristocratique".Annales - Histoire, Sciences sociales.46 (3):547–571.doi:10.3406/ahess.1991.278964.ISSN 0395-2649.S2CID 161706219.
• Jaeger, C. Stephen (1999).Ennobling Love: In Search of a Lost Sensibility. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN 0-8122-1691-1.
• Jullien, Marie-Hélène (1994). Perelman, Françoise (ed.).Clavis scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi - auctores Galliae, 735–987 (in Latin). Vol. Tomus II - Alcuinus. Turnhout: Brepols.OCLC 610811296.
• Liersch, Karl (1880).Die Gedichte Theodulfs, Bischofs von Orleans (in German). Halle.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Lorenz, Frederick;The life of Alcuin, (Thomas Hurst, 1837).
• Mayr-Harting, Henry (2016). "Alcuin, Charlemagne and the problem of sanctions". In Baxter, Stephen; Karkov, Catherine; Nelson, Janet L.; Pelteret, David (eds.).Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald. Routledge.ISBN 978-0754663317.
• McGuire, Brian P.;Friendship and Community – The Monastic ExperienceISBN 0-87907-895-2
• Murphy, Richard E.;Alcuin of York – De Virtutibus et Vitiis, Virtues and VicesISBN 978-0-9966967-0-8
• Needham, N. R. (2000).2000 Years of Christ's Power. Vol. Part Two - The Middle Ages. Grace Publications Trust.ISBN 978-0-946462-56-8.
• Page, Rolph Barlow (1909).The Letters of Alcuin. New York: Forest Press.
• Stehling, Thomas;Medieval Latin Love Poems of Male Love and Friendship.
• Stella, Francesco; "Alkuins Dichtung" inAlkuin von York und die geistige Grundlegung Europas, Sankt Gallen, Verlag am Klosterhof, 2010, pp. 107–128.
• Stenton, Frank M. (2001).Anglo-Saxon England (3 ed.). Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0192801395.
• Story, Joanna (2005).Charlemagne - Empire and Society. Manchester University Press. p. 137.ISBN 978-0719070891.
• Throop, Priscilla; trans.Alcuin – His Life; On Virtues and Vices; Dialogue with Pepin (Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2011)
• Truss, Lynne (2003).Eats, Shoots and Leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Profile Books.ISBN 978-1-86197-612-3.
• Andrew Fleming WestAlcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools (C. Scribner's Sons, 1912)ISBN 0-8371-1635-X
• Wilmot-Buxton, E. M. (1922).Alcuin. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons.

•   Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Alcuin".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). 1911.
  • "Alcuin".Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. 1907.
  • "Alcuin".The New Student's Reference Work. Vol. 1. 1914.
  • "Alcuin or Ealhwine",A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910 – viaWikisource
  • "Alcuin".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1. 1885.

• Alcuin 1 atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England
• Alcuin's book,Problems for the Quickening of the Minds of the Young
• Introduction to Alcuin's writings by Robert Levine and Whitney Bolton
• The Alcuin Society
• Anglo-Saxon York on History of York site
• Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis – new critical editions in preparation
• Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum – complete texts and full bibliography
• The Life of Alcuin by Frederick Lorenz

• Works by or about Alcuin at theInternet Archive
• Works by Alcuin atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks) 
• Literature by and about Alcuin in theGerman National Library catalogue
• Works by and about Alcuin in theDeutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library)
• "Alcuin".Repertorium "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages" (Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters).
• "Alcuin" in theEcumenical Lexicon of Saints