Page:Schools of Charles the Great.djvu/12

viii by the reforms and policy of Charles the Great as of no greater permanence than the fabric of the Empire itself, is now generally conceded, and in no respect have those influences had a more enduring effect than in connexion with the history of mental culture in Europe. It is indeed not a little remarkable, that in this somewhat unduly neglected ninth century we may discern, as in miniature, all those contending principles — the conservative, the progressive, and the speculative — which, save in the darkest times, have rarely since ceased to be apparent in the great centres of our higher education.

While the author has freely availed himself of whatever aids or suggestions might be afforded by modern contributions to the literature of the subject, it has throughout been his endeavour, as far as practicable, to rely mainly on original research, and the references to his authorities have been systematically given. The valuable corrections of the chronology and text of Alcuin's letters contained in Dümmler's Alcuiniana have been carefully noted, but it has been thought better, as a rule, to refer in the notes to the text of Migne's Patrologia (vols. c and ci), as more generally available.

Two volumes treating on the same subject — Dr. Karl Werner's Alcuin und sein Jahrkundert (1876) and M.