Biography and Memoir

Asser's Life of King Alfred

A Medieval Latin Portrait of Alfred the Great, Viking Wars, Christian Kingship, and Learning as StatecraftBy John Asser

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Length2h 29m

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Asser's *Life of King Alfred* is the principal near-contemporary biography of Alfred the Great and a foundational work of Anglo-Saxon historical writing. Composed in Latin, it combines royal panegyric, political narrative, anecdote, biblical allusion, and moral instruction, presenting Alfred's illnesses, education, military struggles, administrative reforms, and patronage of learning as elements in a providential career. Asser adapts conventions drawn from classical biography, especially Suetonius and Einhard, while also reshaping them through Christian historiography. Though concise and sometimes selective, the work illuminates ninth-century kingship, the intellectual culture of Alfred's court, and the complex relations among West Saxons, Mercians, Welsh, and Scandinavians. Its textual history is itself significant, since questions about interpolations and the authenticity of the surviving manuscript have influenced modern interpretations. Asser was a Welsh cleric from St David's who entered Alfred's service in the 880s, becoming one of the king's learned advisers. His Welsh background and ecclesiastical training gave him a distinctive perspective on Alfred's expansion and cultural program, while his access to the royal household enabled him to record details unavailable to later chroniclers. The biography reflects Alfred's deliberate cultivation of literacy, translation, and Christian learning as instruments of reform and kingship. This book is essential for readers of medieval history, Latin literature, and the formation of English political identity. It should be read both as valuable evidence and as purposeful royal representation: a sophisticated portrait that reveals as much about Alfred's ideals and courtly agenda as about the events it recounts.

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Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.0 (2.6K)

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GenreBiography and Memoir

Length2 hrs 29 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateDec 10, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Annotated)

2PREFACE

3ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED

4APPENDIXES

5THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER286

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6APPENDIX II Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims and Primate of the Franks, and legatus natus of the Apostolic See, to Alfred, the most Christian King of the Angles289