THE life of Alcuin, the brainy medieval scholar from York who has had everything from Avenues to University Colleges named after him, is to be brought to life in a series of talks.

Alcuin was born in 740AD and was educated from an early age at the Cathedral School in York and went on to be head of the school.

His fame grew when he was head-hunted by Charlemagne, King of the Franks and later Holy Roman Emperor, and he lived the rest of his life on the continent.

He became a close adviser to the Emperor, but kept in touch with his friends back in York and wrote a poem in praise of his native city.

A public lecture series is to be held at the University of York about Alcuin, which is based in the Alcuin and Charlemagne Exhibition now running at the Yorkshire Museum.

Exhibits include coins, gold and silver jewellery, metalwork and sculpture, manuscripts and letters.

The lecture series will see leading medieval experts reveal some of the objects' secrets and to bring to life the figure of Alcuin and his associates.

There will be four lectures, under the title York in the Age of Alcuin, which take place at the Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum, starting at 8pm.

The first is called Alcuin, given Mary Garrison, on June 6; the second The Church in the Age of Alcuin, by Catherine Cubbitt on June 13; the third Alcuin and Charlemagne, on June 20, by Jinty Nelson; and the last, on June 27, The visual arts in the age of Charlemagne, by Dominic Tweddle.

Updated: 10:19 Saturday, June 02, 2001