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Father Alcuin, first half of the 17th century. Alcuin of York (c735-804) was an Anglo-Saxon scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria, who was active in the Carolingian Empire in the 8th century. At the invitation of Charlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, and is credited with forming the fundamental groundwork that eventually led to the rise of major French medieval centres of learning, including the historic University of Paris.