In780 the emperor Charlemagne meets Alcuin, a distinguished scholar from York, and invites him to direct hispalace school at Aachen. Twelve months or more later, in October 781, Charlemagne commissions from a scribe, by the name of Godesalc, a manuscript of the gospels. Godesalc completes his magnificent book for the emperor in April 783. The Godesalc Evangelistary, as it is now called, is the first book in which the script known as Carolingian minuscule appears. The text uses conventional capitals, but the dedication is in these lower-case letters.
It is probably not too fanciful to see the influence of Alcuin, recently arrived at court, in Godesalc's experiment with this new script.
Over the next two decades Alcuin rigorously researches and refines a new calligraphy for Charlemagne's new empire. Just as Charlemagne sees himself as a Roman emperor, so Alcuin goes back to Rome for his inspiration. With a passion and a thoroughness which prefigures the scholars of theRenaissance, he copies the letters carved on Roman monuments or written in surviving manuscripts and selects from them to establish a pure classical style - with the addition of the minuscule letters of monastic tradition.
The results are superb. Carolingian manuscripts (produced in large numbers in a monastery at Tours, of which Alcuin becomes abbot in 796) are among the most clear and legible documents in the history of writing.
