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

This account of the life of Alfred is significant as being the first biography of an English king. Much of it reads like an embellished version of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, with repeated accounts of Viking movements and counter measures against them. But the last section is a more personal account of the King's intellectual and even medical life, and of Bishop Asser's relations towards him. Worth reading for the very rare light it sheds on the life of an Anglo Saxon ruler, justly called the Great, in light of his preventing the total Viking takeover of England at the Battle of Edington. ( )

Excellent book; great addition of notes and inclusion of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's entries for the years 871-899, the period of Alfred's reign. ( )

Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources

For the West Saxons did not allow the queen to sit beside the king, nor indeed did they allow her to be called ‘queen’, but rather ‘king's wife. The elders of the land maintain that this disputed and indeed infamous custom originated on account of a certain grasping and wicked queen of the same people, who did everything she could against her lord and the whole people, so not only did she earn hatred for herself, leading to expulsion from the queen's throne, but she also brought the same foul stigma on all the queens who came after her. For as a result of her very great wickedness, all the inhabitants of the land swore that they would never permit any king to reign over them, who during his lifetime invited the queen to sit beside him on the royal throne.

King Alfred, who ruled the kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899 AD, spent the first and last years of his reign fighting against Viking invaders. In the intervening years, he spent a lot of his time and energy on improving literacy, knowledge of Latin and religious observance in his kingdom. Among other things, this book contains a biography of the king written by his friend Asser (who was one of the bishops he appointed as part of this strategy), plus introductions to some of the religious and philosophical works that were translated into Anglo-Saxon by Alfred himself. The long introduction to this book covers the run up to Alfred's reign and its aftermath, as well as his 28 years on the throne. It also includes what is known of Alfred's interactions with the Vikings and the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and puts the other documents included in the book into context.

One thing I found interesting is that although the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had queens during this period, Wessex did not. After a bad experience with the wicked Queen Eadburh, a daughter of King Offa of Mercia who married King Beorhtric in 789, they dispensed with queens altogether. Kings still got married of course, but their wives were known as king's wives and were not anointed queen. They were kept very much in the background and most of their names are not known, unlike earlier queens of Wessex and contemporary queens of Mercia who were often mentioned in charters.

It is a very interesting book, but took me forever to read due to being a Penguin Classics with a large notes section at the back, as I have to check every single note so I don't miss anything interesting. ( )

Only for the hardcore Anglo-Saxonist. Not because the life is not interesting, it is, but because it and the other documents included (excerpts from the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, some of Alfred's own writings, other sources) are drowned in far too detailed introduction and notes (140 pages of normal font text v 200 pages of small font pages of intro and notes). Anyone who wants that intensity of historiographical discussion would surely be able to read the originals. ( )

Old, but still excellent notes.