Alfred the Great: Asser's "Life of King Alfred" and Other Contemporary Sources

374 Pages·1983·21.122 MB·English

by  Asser, Alfred the Great, Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge (transl.)

THE PENGUIN CLASSICS
FOUNDER EDITOR (1944-64): E. V. RIEU
Editor: Betty Radice
Simon Keynes, m.a., ph.d., was born in 1952 and educated
at the Leys School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was
elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1976, and is now
University Lecturer in the Department of Anglo-Saxon,
Norse and Celtic. He is the author of The Diplomas of King
Æthelred ‘the Unready\
Michael Lapidge, m.a., ph.d., was born in Canada in 1942,
and since 1969 has been living in Cambridge, where he is
now University Lecturer in the Department of Anglo-Saxon,
Norse and Celtic. He has translated the Latin writings of
Aldhelm, and is the author of numerous articles on Insular
Latin literature.

ALFRED THE GREAT
Asser’s Life of King Alfred
and other contemporary sources
TRANSLATED
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY
Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge
PENGUIN BOOKS
Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
Penguin Books, 40 West 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R IB4
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
First published 1983
This translation, introduction and notes copyright © Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, 1983
All rights reserved
Made and printed in Great Britain by
Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Set in Monophoto Ehrhardt
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this book is sold subject to the condition
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Contents
Preface 7
Introduction 9
1. King Alfred the Great g
The sources of our knowledge 10
The historical background 11
The period of Alfred's youth 13
The reign of King Alfred 18
(*) The fight for survival {871-8), p. 18
(ii) The years of reconstruction and reform
{878-92), p. 23
{Hi) A kingdom defended {892-9), p. 41
The cult of King Alfred 44
2. Asser and his Life of King Alfred 48
Maps
1. The Vikings in England, 865-78 59
2. The Vikings on the Continent, 879-92 60
3. The Vikings in England, 892-6 61
Genealogical Tables
The Kings of Wessex 62
The Carolingian Kings 63
I A S S E R ’S L IF E OF K IN G A L F R E D
Facsimile of the beginning of Asser’s Life of King
Alfred in Cotton Otho A. xii 66
Asser’s Life of King Alfred 67
Map 4: Wales in the late ninth century, p. 95
II TH E A N G L O - S A X O N C H R O N IC L E ,
888-900
Annals 888-92 113
Annals 893-6 114
Annals 897-900 120
III EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS
OF KING ALFRED
The preface to Werferth’s translation of Gregory’s
Dialogues 123
From the translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care 124
From the translation of Boethius’s Consolation
of Philosophy 131
From the translation of Augustine’s Soliloquies 138
From the prose translation of the Psalter 153
IV MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES FOR
THE REIGN OF KING ALFRED
Extracts from the laws of King Alfred 163
The treaty between Alfred and Guthrum 171
The will of King Alfred 173
Map 5: The estates mentioned in the will of
King Alfred, p. 176
King Alfred’s charter for Ealdorman Æthelhelm 179
Map 6: Ealdorman Æthelhelm’s estate at
North Newnton, p. 180
The letter of Fulco, archbishop of Rheims,
to King Alfred 182
Bishop Wulfsige’s preface to the translation of
Gregory’s Dialogues 187
Æthelweard’s account of the closing years of
Alfred’s reign 189
Two acrostic poems on King Alfred 192
The Burghal Hidage 193
APPENDICES
Appendix I: Alfred and the Cakes 197
Appendix II: The Alfred Jewel 203
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION AND TEXT 209
Note on Further Reading 342
References 345
Index 360