KING ALFRED THE GREAT by Alfred P. Smyth ( 9780198229896 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

KING ALFRED THE GREAT

By:

Alfred P. Smyth

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£177.50

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£155.31

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£22.19

ISBN 10:

0198229895

ISBN 13:

9780198229896

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

16 November, 1995

Pages:

770

Description:

BL The first major study of King Alfred since Plummer's in 1902BL Presents a radical new interpretation of Alfred, based on previously unavailable evidenceWarrior, law-giver, and scholar, Alfred the Great is celebrated as one of Britain's most successful and heroic kings. In this, the first biography for almost one hundred years, Professor Smyth explores the life of this remarkable man. His conclusion is controversial; he argues that Asser's Life of Alfred, hitherto the most important source of our knowledge about the king, is a late medieval forgery. This revelation has profound implications for our understanding of the whole ofAnglo-Saxon history.

Synopsis:

Warrior, law-giver, and scholar, Alfred the Great was an extraordinarily gifted and highly successful king, pushing back the Vikings to preserve what is now thought of as the heart of England. In this, the first major study of King Alfred since Plummer's biography of 1902, the career of King Alfred is followed chronologically and examined in depth. The author provides a detailed examination of the much-disputed medieval biography of King Alfred, attributed to the king's tutor, Asser. Professor Smyth argues that Asser's Life is a medieval forgery; a revelation with profound implications for our understanding of the whole of Anglo-Saxon history. The book also contains major studies on the writings of this gifted king, on the controversial charters of his reign, and on the origins of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. Professor Smyth shows the Chronicle to have been much more closely connected with the court of King Alfred than has hitherto been allowed, and suggests a new date for the completion of the earliest Alfredian section of the Chronicle.The author also provides a fundamental reassessment of Alfred's military and political achievement in his wars against the Vikings, and compares the experiences of the English king with those of his Frankish contemporaries in their struggle with the same enemy on the other side of the English Channel. Professor Smyth's portrait of Alfred rejects the image of a neurotic and invalid king who supposedly remained a pious illiterate till he was almost 40. Instead, we are shown a man of remarkable energy and intelligence who took necessary steps to defend his people from the Norsemen. We are shown too, a king who had been a scholar all his life and who used his great knowledge to bolster the powers of his own kingship, and to overcome his enemies. Jacket illustration: Initial depicting King Alfred taken from the British Library Manuscript Cotton Claudius D.ii, f.8. This sumptuous compilation contains a collection of Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and Angevin law- codes (Liber legum antiquorum regum) which can be precisely dated to 1321. The inclusion of a Latin translation of the Laws of King Alfred indicates the esteem in which Alfred was held as a law-giver in the high Middle Ages.

Illustrations:

32 pp plates, line figures, maps

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF DARK AGE BRITAIN (HB)

ANGLO-SAXONS (HB)

CELTIC LEINSTER (HB)

MEDIEVAL EUROPEANS (HB)