The Medieval Life of King Alfred the Great: A Translation and Commentary on the Text Attributed to Asser

300 Pages·2002·1.24 MB·English

by  Alfred P. Smyth (auth.)

The Medieval Life of King Alfred the Great
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The Medieval Life of King
Alfred the Great
A Translation and Commentary on the Text
Attributed to Asser
Alfred P. Smyth
© Alfred P.Smyth 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-69917-1
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Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002 by
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A catalogue record for this book is available
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Asser,John,d.909.
[De Rebus gestis Aelfredi.English]
The medieval life of King Alfred the Great :a translation and
commentary on the text attributed to Asser / translated with
a commentary by Alfred P.Smyth.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1.Alfred,King of England,849–899.2.Great Britain—Kings
and rulers—Biography.3.Anglo–Saxons—Kings and rulers—
Biography.4.Great Britain—History—Alfred,871–899.I.Smyth,
Alfred P.II.Title.
DA153 .A8213 2001
942.01’64’092—dc21
[B]
2001048206
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
In Memory
of
My Mother,
Mary Josephine O’Brien
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Contents
Abbreviation ix
Acknowledgement xi
Preface xii
Introduction xiii
Translation of the Life of King Alfred 1
Commentary 55
1 A Tour around the Manuscripts 57
The importance of the Lifeof King Alfred 57
Manuscripts of the Life 64
The Cottonian manuscript 64
Byrhtferth’s Northumbrian Chronicle 67
The Worcester Latin Chronicle attributed to John (aliasFlorence)
of Worcester 69
The East Anglian Chronicle (or Annals of St. Neots) 72
The Encomium Emmae Reginae 76
The Ramsey Annals 79
The Lifeof St. Neot 79
Summing up the manuscript evidence 81
The 1574 Parker edition of the Lifeof King Alfred 84
The task of the historian 89
2 The Author of the Life 92
Unique information on King Alfred which is provided by the
author 92
Problems presented by the Lifein relation to what we know
independently of King Alfred’s career 95
The author’s claims to being a contemporary witness 104
Who was the historical Asser? 108
What the author tells us of himself 110
The Welsh dimension in the Lifeof King Alfred 117
3 The Author’s Latin Style 132
vii
viii Contents
4 The Author’s Use of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 162
A framework for the Life 162
The author’s miscalculation of King Alfred’s age 176
Errors in the author’s treatment of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 181
Other errors and inconsistencies in the author’s text 193
5 Why Was the Life of King Alfred Written at Ramsey in c.AD 1000? 202
Notes 211
Index 269
Abbreviations
Annals of St. Neots Also known as The East Anglian Chronicle
Æthelweard, ed. Campbell A. Campbell, ed., Chronicon Æthelweardi: The
Chronicle of Æthelweard (Nelson Medieval Texts:
London, 1962)
A.S.C. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
A.S.C., MS.A., ed. Bately J.M. Bately, ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A
Collaborative Edition, iii. Manuscript A (gen. eds.,
D. Dumville and S. Keynes; Cambridge, 1986)
A.S.E. Anglo-Saxon England, ed. P. Clemoes et al.
(Cambridge, 1972–)
Birch no. 561 Charter no. 561 in W de G. Birch, ed.,
Cartularium Saxonicum: A Collection of Charters
Relating to Anglo-Saxon History (4 vols. London,
1964; reprint of 1885–99 edn)
East Anglian Chronicle Also known as The Annals of St. Neots
E.H.D. English Historical Documents, D.C. Douglas, gen.
ed., Vol. 1 edited by D. Whitelock (London, 1968,
reprint of 1955 edn)
Eng. Hist. Rev. English Historical Review
Historia Regum in T. Arnold, ed., Symeonis monachi opera omnia
(Rolls Series, vol. 1: 1882)
HR 1and HR 2 Two different recensions of extracts and
summaries from the Life of King Alfred incorpo-
rated into the Historia Regum attributed to
Symeon of Durham
ix