[Note: All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]
ALCUIN IN GERMANY
*
(Contact)
EVANGELIZING GERMANY
Alcuin came to Charlemagne's Court to
bring the very best of English learning to a country where most knowledge was
retained in oral form. As in York, there was no regular Benedictine monastery
in Aachen and therefore the large scriptorium was attached to the Palatine School of Charlemagne. The Benedictine monks
who lived there were all linguists who worked with the grammarians to develop
the German language. Already during the reign of Charles Martel and Pepin the Short a
simple version of the Palace school had existed, but training had been
restricted to court manners, procedures and protocol. Irish monks had come to the continent in the 6th century
to bring their brand of Gnostic Christianity and had brought along their own
Gnostic Gospels. St.
Columban had
established monasteries in Luxeuil, Sanct Gallen and Bobbio and assisted in
monastery construction at Faremontiers, Jouarre and Rabais. St. Gall
had taken over at Sanct Gallen which was named after him. Virgil the
Geometer, the nemesis of Bonifacius, had been bishop in
Salzburg for many years. The scholar Donatus
had been elected bishop of Fiesole and ruled there for nearly 50
years. St. Pirmin built Reichenau, Murbach and Amorbach. Many other religious
houses had been started by the Irish such as Lumièges, Auxerre, Laon, Liège,
Trier, Würzburg, Regensburg, Rheinau, Vienna, Lucca and many others, but none
had taught secular or worldly learning. The Gnostic
monks had brought the simple message of Jesus, of peace and love, decency and
caring, without applying coercion. Gnostic Christianity had evolved directly
from the Ashera
or Goddess religion, from ash-era, asho-era: axola (care) -era (ing): "Caring"
and had retained the loving, caring deity of that religion, as opposed to
pre-Hebraic Judaism in which a jealous and tribal god-king had married the
chief priestess and placed her in an inferior position (see Raphael Patai, "The Hebrew Goddess"). The
Gnostic type of Christianity was egalitarian and unstructured and therefore
had no hierarchy of deacons, priests, bishops and pope. They prayed directly
to their Deity, a right which was denied the people by the Roman Catholic
missionaries. The Irish Gnostic Christian monks had made great strides in
introducing a peaceful renaissance in the Ashera religion, aimed at
modernizing the age-old habits and eliminating the human sacrifice of a young
man, of which Jesus may have been the last one (see Tammuz in: Ezekiel 8:14).
As such, the Irish monks, who were primarily converted clergy of the Goddess
religion, had fitted in well, and were welcomed wherever they went. They had been given all help needed to
establish their monasteries. The Gnostic Gospels they brought along did not
include the Old Testament accounts of the brutal assault on the "Land of Milk and
Honey" as documented in such graphic and gruesome detail
in Numbers, Kings, Joshua and Judges. This all changed with the coming of the priests of Orthodox Christianity, whose avowed duty
it was to destroy the old order with all means at their disposal and to
introduce Judeo-Christianity. Theirs was a belief that talked about love but
did not accept a refusal of it. Charlemagne had even issued an Edict, some
time between 782 and 785, which laid down his law among newly conquered
people. The death penalty was prescribed for anyone refusing Christian
baptism, for burning a Catholic church, stealing any of its contents,
conspiring against Christian men and for disloyalty towards the King. No
wonder the independent Germans and Friesians were disgusted and fought back,
in the process creating a fair number of martyrs, Bonifacius among them. The Benedictines had learned from the Irish experience and
as soon as it was humanly possible to do so, under abbot Pirmin, the
Reichenau monastery was taken over from the Gnostic monks who had built it on
an island in Lake Constance, again on an ancient holy Ashera site. As did the
name Monte before, the name Reichenau reflected
the traditional Benedictine hospitality: .re - ike - ena - au
St. Willebrord
built at Echternach, in Luxemburg: ek. - .te - er. - .na - ak.
St Chrodegang
built at Lorsch near Mainz, a name which may come from: .lo-ortz
St. Bonifacius established
his monastery in Fritzlar in Hesse: .f. - .ri - itz. - .la - ar.
Bonifacius'
other favourite was Fulda in Hesse-Nassau: fu - ul. - .da
Bishop
Butchard's monastery was at Würtzburg: urtz ' bu - urg
It was the same
place where the Irish monk Kilian had built: .ki - ili - an.
ALCUIN'S
CO-WORKERS IN GERMANY
When Alcuin arrived at the
Court in Aachen he met there the deacon Peter of Pisa, a specialist in
grammar and correct usage of words, as shown in Greek and Latin texts. Peter
also was one of the main grammarians of the German language. Alcuin had been
hired to train the monks who would bring the newly made-up language to the
people and soon wrote a textbook "for the use of his pupils and for the
love of his lord" meaning Charles. Where the serious Alcuin became
Charles' advisor in matters of education, civilization and government, Peter
advised the king for a variety of gayer purposes and wrote a number of poems
under Charles' name. When Alcuin met Peter, he was already aging and
declining fast in health and influence but his funny streak stayed with him
until the end. Another teacher of grammar in the palace school was Paul the Deacon,
who was also learned in Latin and Greek. To please Princess
Adelga, the daughter of Desiderius (king of Lombard
Italy), he translated and censored into suitable Christian language the
"Roman History" written by Eutropius. ade - el. - .ga
Desiderius
Paul also wrote the first commentary on the "Little Rule"
of St. Benedict. In spite of being very productive and appreciated, Paul was
quite unhappy at the Court and he eventually left to live at Monte Cassino.
His unhappiness pours out of a letter he wrote to Abbot Theodemar: "They are Catholics here, it is true, and they practice
Christian ways; they welcome me, all of them and are kind to me, for the love
of our Father Benedict and your own high fame. But in comparison with your
monastery this Palace is a prison and when I think of the peace there, life
here is one hurricane! Only in body I am here. Please dear brothers, please keep
on asking our blessed common Father and Teacher St. Benedict that by his
merits he may prevail with Christ and send me back without delay" (Duckett, p. 100). Under Charles' constant urging, life in Aachen must have
been like living in a pressure cooker, there was so much to do, so little
time and so few of them to do it. Burnout was taking its toll. However, before Paul left for Monte
Cassino he abridged for king Charles the Roman "On the meaning of
words" by Pompeius Festus. He also wrote many little riddles, fables,
reflections and happy guessing games all designed to familiarize the students
with the newly created German language. He and Peter of Pisa exchanged poems
and problems of the imagination, many of them written under the name of Charles.
Of interest are Paul's fables on the sick lion, the vengeful fox, the hungry
calf, and the thin-legged stork. He even wrote on gout and fleas and how to
stop these plagues. One of Alcuin's closest friends was Paulinus, a teacher of literature
who had been in Aachen for several years before Alcuin came. When Paulinus
had gone to live in Aquileia, Alcuin wrote: "I have always loved you
dear friend, ever since I came to know you. I have inscribed the name of my
Paulinus, not on waxed tablets where it could be rubbed out, but in my heart
for always. Do not forget the name of your Alcuin in your prayers".
Peter, Paul and Paulinus had been full-time teachers, leaders of discussions
in the humanities, but there were others such as Angilbert, a young lad who became a
Court poet and close associate of Charles. Angilbert
St. Riquier
Angilbert loved learning, the arts, the beauty of the
world, but above all he loved king Charles' daughter. Charles did not approve
and sent him to the abbey of St. Riquier near Amiens as abbot, where he
contributed greatly to the glory of its architecture and the books with which
he endowed the abbey at Centula. CHARLEMAGNE, FEARED AND RESPECTED
Charlemagne proved to be a master of strong-handed
tactics. He massacred tens of thousands of honest free people who had severe
reservations about his aggressive form of Christianity. Had Christ been with
King Charles on those forays, He certainly would not have recognized His own
religion and would have been horrified of what had happened to the cause for
which he voluntarily gave His life. However, Alcuin said nothing and took
these brutalities in stride as an unavoidable evil necessary to force the
people to accept Christianity. A look at the meaning of Charlemagne's name is
worth while. The name Charlemagne comes from: Caroli magni rex;
or written with the VCV formula: .ka-aro-oli
.ma-ag.-.ni .re-ek.-.s.: .ka - aro - oliaka - aro - oliakatsbako - arro - oliotuperfect - proud – holy "Perfect, proud and holy ... .ma - ag. - .niema - agu - unieman - aguregin - unibertsalto be devoted - to worship – general .... devoted to general worship, .... .re - ek. - .s.are - eko - osaarretatu - ekoizpen – osatze .... foresaw the creation of unity".
King Charles tried to be everywhere and be all things, a
super-human effort in which he succeeded because of determination, a
brilliant mind and an iron constitution. Barely back from his military
campaigns, he would attend to his school, asking questions, encouraging,
criticizing, always full of new ideas. If he had been near an established
monastery, he would bring rare books and ancient poetry of his people that he
ordered copied. At the king's request, the Benedictine grammarians were
busily preparing a book of instruction in grammar for the new language. As
illiterate as he was, he even took a personal interest in the word-invention
process when he designed new names for the 12 months of the year and the
directions of the winds. Charlemagne's
names for the months:
Charlemagne's
names for the winds:
INTRODUCING THE
NEW LANGUAGE
On March 23, 789 Charlemagne
sent out a "General
Admonition", a series of Edicts. They dealt with the
duties and behaviour of the bishops, priests, deacons and monks. There is no
doubt that Edict #72 was written by Alcuin who had long advocated the
establishment of schools for the common people throughout the land. The new
German language, having advanced enough so simple sentences could be spoken,
King Charles decided that it was time to rule that: "There be schools to teach boys to
read. Correct, we command you, with due care the copies of the psalms, the
written signs, the chants, the calendar, the grammar in each monastery and
diocese, and the Catholic books, because often people wish to pray to the
Lord, but do so badly, because the books are at fault. And do not allow your
boys to corrupt the books by their own reading or writing" (Ducket p122). Alcuin's residential schools
proved to be very effective in spreading the new language and religion. The
boys were like prisoners and often brutally and degradingly treated,
especially if they tried to speak their mothers' tongue, the universal
language, or reverted to "pagan" practices. This system of
education was so successful that it continued in use. Centuries later the
colonial powers applied it throughout the world by giving the churches the
right to "educate" native children. The mere speaking of their
native language often resulted in corporal and other punishment. Until the
late 20th Century, Canada used this abominable system to force a
European education onto its large native population. It was only abandoned
after the boys' complaints of sexual harassment and gross indecency by many
of the clergy were finally taken seriously. As literacy spread among the
people living near monks who had been trained by Alcuin, Charles' enthusiasm for the new language became
infectious and popular. Many persons who still had knowledge of the Universal
Language, started to use it to invent new words and names, but like
Charlemagne, only rarely following the strict rules by which the Benedictine
linguists worked. For many years to come, this word and name invention game
would be a popular pastime until the new language was saturated with
acrostically mutilated words and names, and the population in the main
centers was comfortable with the new language. The time had thus come for the
final solution of the "Ashera Problem". Away from population centers,
in many small isolated farming, herding and fishing communities, the
universal language was still spoken, especially in southern Germany, the Alps
and northern Italy, the very population from which the Benedictines for over
1,000 years had obtained the needed linguist/grammarians. These last pockets
of Ligurian/Basque speakers were then removed around 1,600 A.D. by condemning
all those women as witches who still taught the Ligurian language to their
children. In the records of the Inquisition the women’s' speech is invariably
recorded as "utterings" or "incantations", certain proof
of witchcraft, which meant that Exodus 22:18 had to be invoked: "Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live." In fact, the church knew very well
that witchcraft was impossible, that it didn't exit. Their witch hunt was
just a cover for their incredibly brutal holocaust, designed to wipe out the
last remnants of the universal language and with it the legends passed on by
the women. The operations manual of the
Inquisition, The Malleus Maleficarum (Kramer),
written by the Dominicans, provided all necessary justification for this
terrible and incomprehensible injustice. It was estimated by archaeologist
Marija Gimbutas at Stanford University, that up to nine million people,
overwhelmingly women, were condemned to an excruciatingly painful and cruel
burning death. To the eternal credit of the Benedictines, their Order
appeared to have wanted no role in this holocaust. Those monks and priests
who dared to speak out against this most horrible crime of all times were
reminded of the Pope' warning: "People who hold that witches do not
exist are to be regarded as notorious heretics" (Kramer & Spencer 1991, p.8 & 275) which meant burning at
the stake. All Basque women on the French side of the Spanish border were
also declared to be witches and many courageous Basque- speaking priests
protested; they were subsequently tortured into confessing that they had
conducted black masses and were also burned (de Lancre). Today many university linguists are still instructed to
teach that the universal language never existed. They all meekly comply! KING CHARLES' WIVES
Sadness fell over the entire
school when it was announced that the young Queen Hildegard had died. She was
king Charles' third wife and had been only 12 years old when she married him
and in the 12 years of married life had given birth to 9 children of which 3
had died in infancy. Alcuin had much appreciated the beautiful young woman.
Her charming personality had enlivened the Court: Hildegard: il. - .de - ega - ard.
Charles did not remain single
for long. A year later he married an eastern Frank known now as Fastrada. As
beloved as Hildegard had been, Queen Fastrada became greatly disliked.
Einhard, Charles' biographer, relates stories about her cruelty that even
made her own people, the eastern Franks, rise in revolt. Fastrada was obviously
not the name by which she called herself: fa - aztra - ada
Although the uprising of her
people was quickly squashed, a second, potentially more serious one started
soon after. It was prompted by Charles' own son Pippin the Hunchback, because he
and the Frankish nobles could not bear the cruelty of the Queen. Charles was warned just in time about the revolt and the
leaders died by the sword and the gallows. Charles could not kill his own son
but banished him to the monastery of Prüm in Lorraine. Fastrada died after 11
years of marriage. She had given birth to two daughters, Hiltrud and
Theodrada, both of whom became abbesses in France. The fifth queen of Charles
was Liutgard, of German origin, according to Theodulf a gracious, courteous
and generous person, delighting in books and the arts. Liutgard's
name confirms this: .li - ut. - .ga - ard
Where Queen Hildegard had been a
much-appreciated student of Alcuin, Queen Liutgard became his friend and
confidante. They helped each other whenever in need and he admired her
greatly during the few years of her life at the Court. ALCUIN'S TEACHING METHOD
Alcuin was an extremely devoted teacher, administrator and
disciplinarian and a stimulator of young and old but he was neither an
original thinker, a poet, nor a philosopher. He was content to compile his
lessons by borrowing from established authorities, which often made his
treatises dull and dry. However, he was rich in experience and knowledge of
human nature, had an encyclopedic knowledge of available information, and
knew exactly in which books this was to be found. Through prolific
correspondence with his many friends, all over western Europe, he was
knowledgeable about all that was going on in monasteries and schools and even
in Rome. To teach the new German
language, Alcuin had adopted the method of dialogue, question and answer. He
insisted on proper pronunciation in reading and gave careful instruction in
the mysteries of metre and rhythm. In his book On Orthography he lists many words in alphabetical
order and teaches proper form, declension and usage so that his students
would write and speak correctly. He pointed out pitfalls in Latin such as the
initial "a" in ara (altar) and hara (pigsty); the
confusion of "b" and "v" in bile and vile, acerbus (harsh) and acervus (heap). His sources
were Bede, Priscian and Cassiodorus with a little Alcuin added. He also
compiled a long list of simple questions and not so logical answers,
especially designed to increase the student's vocabulary and usage of the new
language. The answers he devised were not so much intended as a good response
to the questions as to familiarize the students with the usage of the newly
invented words. 1. What is writing? the guardian of history. 2. What is speech? the revealer of the spirit 3. What gives birth to speech? the tongue. 4. What is the tongue? the lash of the air. 5. What is air? the guardian of life. 6. What is life? the joy of the blessed, the sorrow of the sad, the looking for death. 7. What is death? an inevitable happening, an uncertain pilgrimage, the tears of the living, the basis of last wills and testaments, the thief of man 8. What is man? the bondsman of death, a passing wayfarer, a guest sojourning on earth. 9. To what is man like? to an apple on a tree.10. How is he placed? like a lantern in the wind.30. What are the lips? the doors of the mouth.31. What is the throat? the devourer of food.39. What is the stomach? the cook of food.49. What is day? the simulant of toil. 51. What is the moon? The eye of the night, the giver of dew, the foreteller of storms. 65. What is spring? the painter of the earth.67. What is autumn? the barn of the year. Alcuin used a great many riddles for the same purpose, knowing that they had to be memorized by heart to be remembered, such as his #42: A ladder has 100 steps. On the first sits one pigeon, on the second two, on the third three, and so on up to the 100th. How many pigeons in all? Alcuin's answer was: Step 1 plus step 99 = 100, step 2 plus step 98 = 100 and so on to come up with: 49 x 100 + 50 + 100 = 5050. Working out their own solutions to the problem, this forced the students to use many words and numbers, some not in common use, others were suggested as yet to be invented. It was just like the grammarian wrote in the Auraicept: Berlan-etarscartha: .be-er.-.la-an. eta-ar.-.s.-.ka-ar.-.ta (lines 1317, 2526, 4635): .be - er. - ,la - an.obe - ere - ela - anobetoezin - ereduztatu - ela - andanaperfectly - adapted - word - in groups eta - ar. - .s. - .ka - ar. - .taeta - ara - asi - ika - are - eta-eta - arazoi - asi - ikaskintza - arretazko - etaabundant - reason - to begin - instruction - careful – afterwards "Perfectly adapted words in groups (are) abundant reason to begin careful instruction afterwards".
It was the questions and riddles
which provided the grammarians with goals to work towards, designing groups
of words which could accommodate the discussions associated with the
key-words in the riddles. This must have lead to endless testing among the
grammarians to ensure that the riddle solving could be done with all the
necessary words in place before the group of words was released. Charlemagne
also needed Alcuin to eliminate the troublesome oral traditions of the people
by replacing them with literacy. Written records could be easily manipulated,
censored, copied and hidden or destroyed. They were far easier to influence
than the age-old tradition of memorizing by professionals that memorized.
Where memorizing had been a highly respected art, it now became a hazardous
vocation, because after the priestesses and clergy had been disposed of by
the church, the professionals came next. The oral tradition had created the
great stability of the ancient language. Its demise would leave a vacancy
that could only be filled only inadequately by the introduction of writing.
Alcuin was brought in to bring this change about and in the process, he was
to get rid of the persistent ancient native language. Alcuin had started this
task by vowing that he himself would never again speak the universal language
of his ancestors and urged others to do the same. Being a man of high
principles and great determination, he succeeded where everyone else had
failed, but only after Charlemagne had extracted an incredible price in
blood. Finally his efforts resulted in the Germans, Danes, Friesians and
Hollanders accepting new and highly immature languages against their will,
while the speaking of their own beautiful and mature language was forbidden. When Benedictine abbeys had been
established at places such as Pannonhalma in
Hungary, Nidaros in Norway and Tyniec in Poland, the basic
acrostic word-invention processes, proven so effective in England and
Germany, were repeated there, only with drastic changes in basic syntax,
characters and pronunciation. The methods Alcuin had developed were put to
good use, when the Benedictines became established in these places. But what
did the grammarian who made up the word "acrostic", tell us what he
meant? The English word "acrostic", when analyzed, only makes
partial sense because it is incomplete. The word must therefore have
originated outside of England. In German and Greek the word is: "akrostichon",
which is much more promising. When each consonant of this word is arranged
with the VCV formula, it reads as follows: ak.-.ro-os.-.ti-ik.-.ho-on.: ak. aka akabu perfect .ro aro aroztegi forged os. osa osagai component .ti ati atxiki to agglutinate ik. ika ikaskizun lesson to be learned .ho aho ahohizkuntza spoken language on. one oneratu to improve Perfectly forged agglutinated components are the lesson to be learned to improve the spoken language.
This is not exactly a definition
of acrostic as is taught today, but it tells us something; it does admit that
acrostics was used to create a spoken language. In any case, it is usually
possible, like the examples above, to identify the words which were used to
assemble the new word. It was the awesome task given to
the Benedictines to re-make the culture, religion and language of this
ancient and happy society which had a highly disciplined civilization, no
weapons or fortifications, had a marvelous work-ethic and led a life of
caring communal solidarity. It was a fore drawn conclusion that the
indoctrinated Benedictines would not be welcome. Literally every aspect of
the old order was overturned by them with enormous and tragic consequences
for the population. It may be said that the Benedictines tore down,
re-organized, re-built and re-inspired the west, just like the
Ligurian/Basque word erald expressed: from
eraldatu (to transform)
the first part erald then became
the Dutch word "wereld" and, slightly manipulated, the English word
"world." 5200+ YEARS OF LINGUISTIC RESEARCH
The profession of the language
inventor was already ancient by the time Benedict of Nursia built his monastery on the rocky hill half
way between Rome and Naples. Language invention had always been the
manipulating of the versatile Saharan language which the Basque of today is a
close relative. This is mentioned in
Genesis 11:1: "...now the whole earth had one language...” Such manipulating
may have started at the time of Pharaoh Djoser, around 3,200 bce.
in an effort to create a form of magical writing which would be reserved for
scholars, not to be read by the common masses. The genius that invented the
VCV agglutinating system created something that is used (even to this day by
a few scholars in the know) to make up names, which could not be deciphered,
until Edo Nyland cracked the ancient code (see Saharan). The system
was taken over by those who wanted to destroy the Ashera religion and used to
create a plethora of unstable languages. Where the ideology used to be
"make love, not war", this was turned around to "make war, not
love" by removing the feminine aspects from the new polytheistic
proto-Judaic religion. In those early days before 3,000
bce., Judaism
was a missionary religion. Groups of missionary linguists and
clergy followed the trade routes to far-away places and created new languages
with associated scripts. Some of
these were Akadian (Iraq), Sanskrit (India), Tocharian (China), Iberian
(Spain), Ge'ez
(Ethiopia), Hebrew (Palestine) and possibly even Japanese and Quechua, the Inca Language
(ainkoa is Basque for
the god), This enormous linguistic effort had already created many languages
by the time Benedict set up his linguistics-training center at Monte Cassino
abbey. The patriarchal insistence on confusing the one and only universal
language had been repeated later in Genesis 11:7: "Come, let us go down
and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's
speech" and was closely tied in with the patriarchs' determination to
destroy the ancient pre-Christian religion, so clearly expressed in the
Bible. The decision to invent new languages may therefore have been made
about 3.200 years before Christ was born. When the Benedictine monks invented
English, they had created a winner; it still is England's most successful
export. One of the invented languages was
Latin, which had been pioneered by a highly educated missionary group of
Luwian clergy who appeared to have settled in Italy and had started what
later became known as the Etruscan culture. They brought pre-Hebraic Judaism
of the jealous sky God to their new homeland of Tuscani and along with this
created a form of writing that still defies complete deciphering. They laid
down firm rules of syntax and grammar for the new liturgical language called
“Latin This development work was going on when the
Romans took over Tuscani and adopted the new and still immature Latin as
their own language of state and general use. They also introduced a different
type of script, possibly borrowed from the Phoenicians, which we still use
today. The meaning of
the word "Latin" tells a story: .la-ati-in
Their linguists
exploited the unique characteristics of the Ligurian/Basque
Language, still spoken in Northern Italy, by applying
the VCV formula, as described in previously. The result was a beautiful
sounding and elegant language that was considerably easier to learn than the
complicated but very logical Ligurian Language. The highly structured Latin
language, which appeared and sounded quite different from the
"pagan" language it originated from, appealed to the newly
established Christian community in Rome. The Roman Catholic church leadership
then ordered it and its script to be adapted for use as their own liturgical
language. Eventually Benedict was
given the task to use the same agglutinating formula as the basis for
developing the Romance group of languages including Spanish and Catalan,
French and Provençal, Italian and Rumanian, which therefore became second
level invented languages (see Classifying the Worlds'
Languages). Thus Latin became
the communication language of the Benedictines. This was a very necessary
decision because the efforts to create new regional languages, which only the
local Benedictines could understand, were not suited for international
communication between the many monasteries and Rome.
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For further detail, please
refer to:
Nyland, Edo. 2001. Linguistic Archaeology: AnIntroduction. Trafford Publ., Victoria, B.C., Canada.
ISBN 1-55212-668-4. 541 p. [ see
abstract & summary]
Nyland, Edo. 2002.
Odysseus and the Sea Peoples: A
Bronze Age History of Scotland Trafford Publ., Victoria,
B.C., Canada. 307
p. [see
abstract & summary].
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