Alcuin of York

A.D. 730-804
After the fall of Rome, Western Europe lapsed into illiteracy. Kings could not read; bishops could not spell. Learning retreated to the monasteries, where monks spent endless hours copying books by hand.

Writing became chaotic. One monk could not read what another had written, but copied it anyway. The text of even the Latin Bible was becoming distorted.

Charlemagne was deeply concerned. In A.D. 781, he invited Alcuin of York, an English scholar and churchman, to come and help.

At Charlemagne's orders, Alcuin set up a school that all monks attended. He also set up the following writing standards that are still our conventions today:

1. Uniform spelling
2. The Carolingian style of well-formed lowercase letters
3. Capitals to begin a sentence and lowercase to continue
4. Space between words
5. Standard punctuation
6. Division into sentences and paragraphs