Compendium Diez. B. Sant. 66

"Full of vigilant zeal, we are engaged in restoring the workshop of the sciences, which was almost deserted by the negligence of our forefathers, and by our own example we invite people to learn the liberal arts." This is how Charlemagne (742–814) formulated the core concern of the Carolingian educational reform in the Epistola Generalis (No. 30), with which he wanted to resume the great intellectual heritage of the Romans. One of its institutions under the leadership of Alcuin was the so-called Court School in Aachen, where wonderful works of Carolingian illumination were produced, such as the Lorsch Gospels. The present collected volume now provides a fascinating insight into the intellectual development of this multifaceted school and allows the diligence and ambition of its students to become clear: what occupied them, what writings they read, and how assiduously they strived for education even in early Carolingian times.