Rabanus Maurus, Supported by Alcuin, Presents His Work to Archbishop Otgar
Rabanus Maurus, guided by his teacher Alcuin of York, dedicates his work to Otgar, archbishop of Mainz. Painted at Fulda in the second quarter of the ninth century, within living memory of both men, it shows the Carolingian school movement as a chain of masters and pupils.
This is the closest thing to a contemporary portrait of Alcuin that survives. It was made at Fulda a generation after his death in 804, and it does not show him teaching a classroom: it shows him standing behind his pupil Rabanus Maurus, physically supporting him as he offers his book to the archbishop of Mainz. That is the argument of the Carolingian reform in one picture — knowledge passed from master to pupil, and from pupil to the church that would use it. The manuscript is Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 652, fol. 2v. See how Alcuin of York shaped medieval education.
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