Alfred the Great: Asser's "Life of King Alfred" and Other Contemporary Sources (Classics) by Asser |
by James Campbell
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During his reign (871-899), King Alfred revolutionized the governance of Wessex, greatly advancing the process that would culminate two generations later, in the creation of the kingdom of England. His succes in fighting the Vikings not only saved Wessex from conquest but kept Britain from becoming one more outlier of Scandinavia. His administrative and military innovations provided his son and grandsons with the tools to conquer the Danelaw, and established a precocious royal administration that shaped the governance of medieval England. The spiritual and literary renaissance he spearheaded helped create a tradition of vernacular learning that would blossom in later generations. This book offers an analysis of Alfred's achievement and thought. In doing so it illuminates the character and meaning of Anglo-Saxon kingship in general, as well as the particular career of this king.
From the Back Cover
FRONT OF COVER- Final- 2.4.98
ALFRED THE GREAT
War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England
RICHARD ABELS
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
SPINE-
ALFRED THE GREAT
ABELS
[colophon]
OUTSIDE TRIM-
Probable price-
Probable publication-
BACK OF COVER-
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
General Editor- David Bates
Professor of Medieval History, University of Glasgow
The influence of Alfred - king of Wessex from 871 to 899 - pervades English history. His victories on the battlefield and his administrative innovations not only preserved his native Wessex from viking conquest, but also began the process of political consolidation and unification that would culminate, within a couple of generations, in the creation of the kingdom of England.
Alfred was a great warrior king, and an effective and inventive ruler. But, even more remarkably, he was also a lover of wisdom, who sought to preserve and disseminate Latin learning by translating into English the books most necessary for all men to know . The spiritual and literary renaissance he spearheaded gave rise to a lasting tradition of English vernacular prose and learning.
He himself claimed that what he most desired was to live a worthy life, and to leave to posterity his memory in good works. This is precisely what he accomplished. Few bearers of the sobriquet the Great have so firm a hold on the title- eleven hundred years after his death, his name still resonates, and modern scholarship has not undermined his reputation. Yet that status carries its own dangers- he seems such a modern figure that each generation is tempted to recreate him in its own image. One of the great virtues of Richard Abels s splendid new study of the king, however, is to strip away the varnish of such later interpretations, in order to recover the historical figure - pragmatic, generous, brutal, pious, scholarly - within the context of Alfred s own age.
The book is timely, fresh and authoritative. It is based throughout on the primary sources, but it also presents a judicious assessment of recent scholarship in interpreting the man and his times. It has been written with a student and non-specialist readership in mind, but fellow specialists will find much in it to stimulate and challenge (and many will especially welcome the re-assertion of Asser s life of Alfred as a key contemporary source for the reign, against recent scholarly attack).
Richard Abels s Alfred convinces as a man who combined within himself the complexities and contradictions of his time. But, fascinating though that portrait is, this is more than just a study of an individual, however Great - the book investigates, and illuminates, the whole nature of warfare, culture and kingship in Anglo-Saxon England.
RICHARD ABELS is Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
--This text refers to the
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