Now and again definite facts are met with hinting at a spreading
enlightenment. Acca, abbot and bishop of Hexham,
for example "gave all diligence, as he does to this day,"
wrote Bede, "to procure relics of the blessed Apostles and
martyrs of Christ.... Besides which, he industriously gathered
the histories of their martyrdom, together with other
ecclesiastical
writings, and erected there a large and noble library."
Of this library, unfortunately, there is not a wrack left
behind. A tiny school was carried on at a monastery near
Exeter, where Boniface was first instructed. At the
monastery of Nursling he was taught grammar, history,
poetry, rhetoric, and the Scriptures; there also manuscripts
were copied. Books were produced under Abbess Eadburh
of Minster, a learned woman who corresponded with
Boniface and taught the metric art. Boniface's letters
throw interesting light on our subject. Eadburh sent him
books, money, and other gifts. He also wrote home asking
his old friend Bishop Daniel of Winchester for a fine
manuscript of the six major prophets, which had been written
in a large and clear hand by Winbert: no such book, he
explains, can be had abroad, and his eyes are no longer
strong enough to read with ease the small character of
ordinary manuscripts.
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