This is a translation of the beginning of Alcuin’s letter to King Aethelred, written in 793 AD in Latin after the pillaging and s*******r by the Vikings at the abbey on Lindisfarne – at the time considered the most sacred place in the British Isles. In italics is the section lifted and reproduced by Dawn Burgoyne in the frontispiece, thus setting it in context.
To the most beloved lord King Ethelred and all his chief men, Alcuin the humble deacon, sends greeting.
Mindful of your most sweet love, O men my brothers and fathers, also esteemed in Christ the Lord; desiring the divine mercy to conserve for us in long-lasting prosperity our land, which it once with its grace conferred on us with free generosity ; I do not cease to warn you very often, my dearest fellow-soldiers, either with wor
