Alcuin
8th-century Northumbrian scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher
- Lived
- 740–804
- Country
- Kingdom of Northumbria
Updated September 2026
About Alcuin
Alcuin of York, also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was an Anglo-Saxon scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria, who was active in the Carolingian Empire in the 8th century. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian 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 to Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.