The Medieval Life of King Alfred the Great This page intentionally left blank 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 All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVEis the new global academic imprint of St.Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-40228-1 ISBN 978-0-230-28722-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230287228 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 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 This page intentionally left blank 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