In search of Hadrian
I enjoyed Michael Wood’s article about Anglo-Saxon studies in your December issue (Comment). Apart from anything else it contained probably the most intriguing and thought-provoking aside I think I have ever read. In parenthesis Mr Wood commented: “(The Libyan Hadrian, a ‘man of African race’, along with the Syrian Theodore, is the most important figure in the history of education in England.)”
Theodore was archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Simon Schama’s History of Britain doesn’t mention either him or Hadrian. Rebecca Fraser’s A People’s History of Britain tells us that Theodore established training schools and ensured that “gifted children whatever their means” could attend school. He also reformed the curriculum to include Greek, Latin and the seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Fraser says nothing of Hadrian, about whom even Google is unhelpful. The best I could find was a mention from 1970 in RW Southern’s Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages. Here I learned that when Pope St Vitalian appointed Theodore of Tarsus to the see of Canterbury, he sent Hadrian with him as a sort of minder: to ensure that Theodore “introduced no Greek customs contrary to the true faith into England”.
As so often, an article in BBC History Magazine has been the starting point for an enjoyable exploration of a subject, so I thank you and Michael Wood for that. But on this occasion, I am little wiser at the end of my researches than I was at the beginning! Please could you ask Mr Wood to expand in a future issue?
John Cosgrove, Cornwall
Editor replies: Thanks for your fascinating letter. Michael wrote about Theodore and Hadrian in his monthly column in Christmas 2017. We’ve made that available to read on our website at: historyextra.com /hadrian-and-theodore