Alcuin and Italy

My interest in Alcuin's revision of the Gospels led me to try to discover the models he chose and the way he approached his task. Among the Italian manuscripts he used, Alcuin favoured the Harley 1775 (mid-6(th) century). A hand similar to that of the oldest Alcuinian Bibles made corrections in the Harley Gospel, and most of those appear in Alcuin's revised version. The Harley manuscript stands as a witness to the process by which Alcuin constructed his revision, even down to the adoption of certain details of presentation. Alcuin could have found these sources during his travels in Italy or through friends active in the Carolingian cultural renewal who had ties to the court of Pavia and Rome. It is likely that other texts attributed to the 'court library' also had a similar Italian origin.