" Judging by his writings he was in
these respects in the forefront of his contemporaries, although
his learning was heavy and pretentious. From them also
it is perfectly evident he could make use not only of the
Bible, but of lives of the saints, of Isidore, of the
Recognitions
of Clement, of the Acts of Sylvester, of writings by Sulpicius
Severus, Athanasius, Gregory, Eusebius, and Jerome, as well
as of Terence, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, and Prosper,
and some other authors.[1]
[1] Sandys, i. 466; Camb. Eng. Lit., i. 75.
Section III
Meanwhile Northumbria had become one of the leading
centres of learning in Europe, almost entirely through the
labours and influence of Irish missionaries. St. Aidan, an
ascetic of Iona who journeyed to Northumbria at King
Oswald's request, founded Lindisfarne, which became the
monastic and episcopal capital of that kingdom. Aidan
required all his pupils, whether religious or laymen, to read
the Scriptures, or to learn the Psalms. The education of
boys was a part of his system. Wherever a monastery was
founded it became a school wherein taught the monks who
had followed him from Scotland.
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