24. Alfred’s Handbook 14
25. Alfred’s Love of Learning 15
26. The Danes occupy York 16
27. Defeat of the Northumbrians 16
28. Death of Ealhstan 17
29. Alfred marries 17
30. The Danes at Nottingham 17
31. The Danes at York 18
32. The Danes at Thetford 18
33. The Danes triumph 18
34. Ceolnoth dies 18
35. The Danes defeated at Englefield 19
36. Battle of Reading 19
37. Battle of Ashdown 20
38. Alfred begins the Attack 20
39. The Heathen Rout and Loss 21
40. Battle of Basing 22
41. Æthelred’s Death 22
42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton 22
43. Peace made 24
44. The Heathen winter in London 24
45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey 24
46. The Danes in Mercia 24
47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge 25
48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea 25
49. Movements of the Danes 25
50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria 26
51. Division of Mercia 26
52. The Danes at Chippenham 26
53. Alfred in Somersetshire 27
54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit 27
55. Alfred at Athelney 28
56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum 28
57. The Danes go to Cirencester 30
58. Danes at Fulham 31
59. An Eclipse 31
60. The Danes in East Anglia 31
61. The Smaller Army leaves England 31
62. The Danes fight with the Franks 31
63. The Danes on the Meuse 31
64. Alfred’s Naval Battle with the Danes 31
65. The Danes at Condé 32
66. Deliverance of Rochester 32
67. Alfred’s Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour 32
68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III 33
69. The Danes in Old Saxony 33
70. Charles, King of the Alemanni 34
71. Death of Pope Marinus 34
72. The Danes break their Treaty 34
73. Asser makes a New Beginning 34
74. Alfred’s Maladies 35
75. Alfred’s Children and their Education 37
76. Alfred’s Varied Pursuits 38
77. Alfred’s Scholarly Associates: Werfrith, Plegmund, Æthelstan, and Werwulf 41
78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon 42
79. Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred 42
80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred 44
81. How Alfred rewards Submission 45
82. The Siege of Paris 46
83. Alfred rebuilds London 47
84. The Danes leave Paris 47
85. Division of the Empire 47
86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome 48
87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin 48
88. Alfred’s Manual 48
89. Alfred’s Handbook 50
90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief 51
91. Alfred’s Troubles 51
92. Alfred builds Two Monasteries 54
93. Monasticism was decayed 55
94. Monks brought from beyond Sea 55
95. A Crime committed at Athelney 55
96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon 56
97. The Execution of the Plot 57
98. The Convent at Shaftesbury 58
99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues 58
100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court 59
101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes 59
102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes 60
103. Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service 61
104. Alfred’s Measure of Time 61
105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity 63
106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges 63
APPENDIXES 67
Appendix I: Alfred’s Preface to his Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care 69
Appendix II: Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, to Alfred 72
INDEX 79
ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED
_To my lord Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, the worshipful and pious ruler of all Christians in the island of Britain, Asser, least of all the servants of God, wisheth thousandfold prosperity for both lives, according to the desires of his heart._
=1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.=[1]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which receives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced in the following order: King Alfred was the son of King Æthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa; he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went to Rome, and there ending the present life honorably, entered into the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he of Cutha[2]; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; he of Creoda; he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; <he of Esla;> he of Gewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Gegwis[3]; <he of Wig; he of Freawine; he of Freothegar;> he of Brond; he of Beldeag; he of Woden; he of Frithowald; he of Frealaf; he of Frithuwulf; he of Finn<; he of> Godwulf; he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshiped as a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical Paschal Poem, as follows:
If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe, While in a turgid stream their numbers flow-- Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage, Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage; If by the art of song they still revive The taint of ill, and bid old vices live; If monumental guilt they sing, and lies Commit to books in magisterial wise; Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre, And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir, Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone, And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own?
This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he of Sceldwea; he of Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra; he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of Sceaf[4]; he of Noah; he of Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; <he of Jared>; he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan[5]; he of Enosh; he of Seth; he of Adam.
=2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.=[6]--The mother of Alfred was named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf. This Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes--of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and ealdormen. They, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric their cousin,[7] slew the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island, at a place called Wihtgaraburg[8]; for the other inhabitants of the island had either been slain or had escaped into exile.