Category: Biographies
CONTAINING Chapters on his Life and Times BY MR. FREDERIC HARRISON, THE LORD BISHOP OF BRISTOL PROFESSOR CHARLES OMAN, SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM THE REV. PROFESSOR EARLE, SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK AND THE REV. W. J. LOFTIE; ALSO CONTAINING AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR WALTER BESANT AND A POE...
CONTAINING Chapters on his Life and Times BY MR. FREDERIC HARRISON, THE LORD BISHOP OF BRISTOL PROFESSOR CHARLES OMAN, SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM THE REV. PROFESSOR EARLE, SIR FREDERI...
2. Part 2This yearly invasion of the Danes lasted for twenty years. They always made straight for the nearest monasteries, which they sacked: there were not many towns in Saxon England;...
3. Part 3I have already quoted Green’s remark that in everything that Alfred designed or accomplished he put aside every personal aim or ambition in order to devote himself wholly to the...
4. Part 4In the Easter of that year, 878, the _Chronicle_ relates, “Alfred, with a little band, wrought a fortress at Athelney, and from that work warred on the army, with that portion o...
5. Part 5Earliest years—Visits to Rome—Purpose of such visits—His father’s will—His education—Saxon poetry—His mother’s book—His religious interest—His desire for learning—Musical skill—...
6. Part 6Determined to advance learning in his kingdom of Wessex, he invited out of Mercia four very learned men of that nation. They were Werefrith, Bishop of Worcester, who translated...
7. Part 7Besides the hint which his translation of Boethius gives, it is on another account probable that Alfred took a broad view of religious questions. If the evidence is to be accept...
8. Part 8When Alfred was a child the problem seemed growing more hopeless day by day. Even the greatest cities of Western Christendom were falling a prey to the heathen. London had been...
9. Part 9In return for their promotion in the social scale, ceorl and merchant alike were of course bound to follow the king to the field in full mail when he raised his banner, and no l...
10. Part 10When we consider the ignorance which prevailed in England before Alfred’s time, we can form an idea of the immense importance of his geographical labours and of the brightness o...
11. Part 11Ðu gestaðoladest Thou didst establish þurh þa strongan meaht, through strong might, weroda wuldor cyning, glorious king of hosts, wunderlice wonderfully eorðan swa fæste the ear...
12. Part 12We must now mention some titles of books imputed to the king. By the third generation after Alfred the tradition of his literary activity had already assumed mythical proportion...
13. Part 13We pass on to the substance of Anglo-Saxon law, so far as capable of being dealt with in a summary view. There were sharp distinctions between different conditions of persons, n...
14. Part 14The best authorities agree that to Alfred rather than to the Romans must be ascribed the foundation of London as it was during the Middle Ages, and as, in a sense, it is still....
15. Part 15[32] My excuse for using an obsolete word is that it is Alfred’s own, and I could not do without it. Moreover, I was fortified by the hope that some poet might adopt it and revi...
16. Part 16Messrs. A. & C. BLACK have for some time been making arrangements, which are now completed, for the execution of a new “Survey of London.” The last edition of Stowe and Strype’s...