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03 - Life of Alfred the Great by Bishop of Sherbourne Asser · Life of Alfred the Great

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  Speaker 1: Part one, Section two of the Life of King Alfred.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The Life of King Alfred by Asser,
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  Speaker 1: Bishop of Sherbourne, translated by J. A. Giles, Part one,
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  Speaker 1: Section two. In the year of Our Lord's Incarnation eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred fifty six, which was the eighth after Alfred's birth,
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  Speaker 1: the second year of King Charles the third and the
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  Speaker 1: eighteenth year of the reign of ethel Wulf, King of
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  Speaker 1: the West Saxons, Humbert, Bishop of the East, angles anointed
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  Speaker 1: with oil and consecrated as King the Glorious Edmund, with
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  Speaker 1: much rejoicing and great honor in the royal town called Boorva,
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  Speaker 1: in which at that time was the royal seat. In
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  Speaker 1: the fifteenth year of his age, on a Friday, the
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  Speaker 1: twenty fourth moon being Christmas Day, in the year of
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  Speaker 1: Our Lord's Incarnation eight hundred sixty, which was the twelfth
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  Speaker 1: of King Alfred's age, died Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons,
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  Speaker 1: and was buried at Sherbourne. His brother Ethelbert, as was
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  Speaker 1: fitting joined Kent, Surrey, and Sussex also to his dominion.
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  Speaker 1: In his days, a large army of Pagans came up
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  Speaker 1: from the sea and attacked and destroyed the city of Winchester.
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  Speaker 1: As they were returning, laden with booty to their ships, Osric,
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  Speaker 1: Earl of Hampshire, with his men, and Earl Ethelwulf, with
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  Speaker 1: the men of Berkshire, confronted them bravely. A severe battle
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  Speaker 1: took place, and the Pagans were slain on every side, and,
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  Speaker 1: finding themselves unable to resist, took to flight like women,
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  Speaker 1: and the Christians obtained a triumph. Ethelbert governed his kingdom
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  Speaker 1: five years in peace, with the love and respect of
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  Speaker 1: his subjects, who felt deep sorrow when he went the
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  Speaker 1: way of all flesh. His body was honorably interred at
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  Speaker 1: Sherborne by the side of his brothers. In the year
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  Speaker 1: of our Lord's Incarnation eight hundred sixty four, the Pagans
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  Speaker 1: wintered in the Isle of Thanet and made a firm
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  Speaker 1: treaty with the men of Kent, who promised them money
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  Speaker 1: for adhering to their covenant. But the Pagans, like cunning foxes,
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  Speaker 1: burst from their camp by night and setting at nought
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  Speaker 1: their engagements, and spurning at the promised money, which they
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  Speaker 1: knew was less than they could get by plunder, they
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  Speaker 1: ravaged all the eastern coast of Kent. In the year
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  Speaker 1: of our Lord's incarnation eight hundred sixty six, which was
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  Speaker 1: the eighteen of King Alfred Ethelred, brother of Ethelbert, King
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  Speaker 1: of the West Saxons, undertook the government of the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: for five years. And the same year a large fleet
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  Speaker 1: of pagans came to Britain from the Danube and wintered
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  Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of the Eastern Saxons, which is called
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  Speaker 1: in Saxon, East Anglia, and there they became principally an
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  Speaker 1: army of cavalry. But to speak in nautical phrase, I
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  Speaker 1: will no longer commit my vessel to the power of
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  Speaker 1: the waves and of its sales, or keeping off from land,
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  Speaker 1: steer my roundabout course through so many calamities of wars
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  Speaker 1: and series of years, but will return to that which
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  Speaker 1: first prompted me to this task, That is to say,
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  Speaker 1: I think it right in this place briefly to relate
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  Speaker 1: as much as has come to my knowledge about the
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  Speaker 1: character of my revered Lord Alfred, King of the Anglo Saxons.
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  Speaker 1: During the years that he was an infant and a boy,
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  Speaker 1: he was loved by his father and mother, and even
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  Speaker 1: by all the people, above all his brothers, and was
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  Speaker 1: educated altogether at the court of the king. As he
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  Speaker 1: advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his form
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  Speaker 1: appeared more comely than that of his brothers. In look,
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  Speaker 1: in speech, and in manners. He was more graceful than they.
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  Speaker 1: His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a
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  Speaker 1: love of wisdom above all things. But with shame be
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  Speaker 1: it spoken by the unworthy neglect of his parents and nurses.
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  Speaker 1: He remained illiterate even till he was twelve years old
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  Speaker 1: or more. But he listened with serious attention to the
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  Speaker 1: Saxon poems which he often heard recited, and easily retained
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  Speaker 1: them in his docile memory. He was a zealous practicer
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  Speaker 1: of hunting in all its branches, and hunted with great
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  Speaker 1: eight assiduity and success. For skill and good fortune in
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  Speaker 1: this art, as in all others, are among the gifts
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  Speaker 1: of God, as we also have often witnessed. On a
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  Speaker 1: certain day, therefore, his mother was showing him and his
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  Speaker 1: brother a Saxon book of poetry, which she held in
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  Speaker 1: her hand, and said, whichever of you shall soonest learn
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  Speaker 1: this volume, shall have it for his own note his mother.
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  Speaker 1: We must understand this epithet as denoting his mother in law, Judith,
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  Speaker 1: rather than his own mother, who was dead in a. D.
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  Speaker 1: Eight hundred fifty six when Alfred was not yet seven
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  Speaker 1: years old. When his father brought Judith from France, Alfred
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  Speaker 1: was thirteen years old. End of note. Stimulated by these words,
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  Speaker 1: or rather by the divine inspiration, and allured by the
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  Speaker 1: beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, he
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  Speaker 1: spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age,
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  Speaker 1: were not so in grace, and answered, will you really
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  Speaker 1: give that book to one of us? That is to say,
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  Speaker 1: to him who can first understand and repeat it to you.
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  Speaker 1: At this his mother smiled with satisfaction and confirmed what
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  Speaker 1: she had before said, upon which the boy took the
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  Speaker 1: book out of her hand and went to his master
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  Speaker 1: to read it, and in due time brought it to
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  Speaker 1: his mother and recited it. After this he learned the
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  Speaker 1: daily course, that is the celebration of the hours, and
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  Speaker 1: afterwards certain psalms and several prayers contained in a certain book,
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  Speaker 1: which he kept day and night in his bosom, as
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  Speaker 1: we ourselves have seen, and carried about with him to
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  Speaker 1: assist his prayers amid all the bustle and busyness of
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  Speaker 1: this present But sad to say, he could not gratify
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  Speaker 1: his most ardent wish to learn the liberal arts, because,
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  Speaker 1: as he said, there were no good readers at that
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  Speaker 1: time in all the kingdom of the West Saxons. This
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  Speaker 1: he confessed, with many lamentations and size to have been
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  Speaker 1: one of his greatest difficulties and impediments in this life,
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  Speaker 1: namely that when he was young and had the capacity
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  Speaker 1: for learning, he could not find teachers. But when he
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  Speaker 1: was more advanced in life, he was harassed by so
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  Speaker 1: many diseases unknown to all the physicians of this island,
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  Speaker 1: as well as by internal and external anxieties of sovereignty,
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  Speaker 1: and by continual invasions of the Pagans, and had his
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  Speaker 1: teachers and writers also so much disturbed that there was
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  Speaker 1: no time for reading. But yet, among the impediments of
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  Speaker 1: this present life, from infancy up to the present time,
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  Speaker 1: and as I believe, even until his death, he continued
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  Speaker 1: to feel the same insatiable desire of knowledge and still
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  Speaker 1: aspires after it. In the year of our Lord's incarnation
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  Speaker 1: eight hundred sixty seven, which was the nineteenth of the
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  Speaker 1: life of the aforesaid King Alfred, the army of Pagans
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  Speaker 1: before mentioned removed from the East Angles to the city
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  Speaker 1: of York, which is situated on the north bank of
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  Speaker 1: the River Humber. At that time a violent discord arose
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  Speaker 1: by the instigation of the devil among the inhabitants of Northumberland,
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  Speaker 1: as always as used to happen among a people who
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  Speaker 1: have incurred the wrath of God. For the Northumbrians of
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  Speaker 1: that time, as we have said, had expelled their lawful
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  Speaker 1: King Osbert, and appointed a certain tyrant named Aella, not
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  Speaker 1: of royal birth, over the affair of the kingdom. But
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  Speaker 1: when the Pagans approached by divine providence and the union
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  Speaker 1: of the nobles for the common good, that discord was
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  Speaker 1: a little appeased, and Osbert and Aella, uniting their resources
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  Speaker 1: and assembling an army, marched to York. The Pagans fled
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  Speaker 1: at their approach and attempted to defend themselves within the
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  Speaker 1: walls of the city. The Christians, perceiving their flight and
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  Speaker 1: the terror they were in determined to destroy the walls
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  Speaker 1: of the town, which they succeeded in doing, for that
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  Speaker 1: city was not surrounded at that time with firm or
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  Speaker 1: strong walls. And when the Christians had made a breach
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  Speaker 1: as they had purposed, and many of them had entered
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  Speaker 1: into the town, the Pagans, urged by despair and necessity,
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  Speaker 1: made a fierce sally upon them, slew them, routed them,
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  Speaker 1: and cut them down on all sides, both within and
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  Speaker 1: without the walls. In that battle fell almost all the
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  Speaker 1: Northumbrian warriors, with both the kings and a multitude of nobles.
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  Speaker 1: The remainder who escaped made peace with the Pagans. In
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  Speaker 1: the same year, Alstan, Bishop of the Church of Sherborne,
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  Speaker 1: went the way of all flesh, after he had honorably
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  Speaker 1: ruled his see four years, and he was buried at Sherborne.
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  Speaker 1: In the year of Our Lord's Incarnation eight hundred sixty eight,
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  Speaker 1: which was the twentieth of King Alfred's life, there was
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  Speaker 1: a severe famine. Then the aforesaid revered King Alfred, but
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  Speaker 1: at that time occupying a subordinate station, asked and obtained
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  Speaker 1: in marriage a noble Mercian lady, daughter of Athelred surnamed Musil,
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  Speaker 1: Earl of the Guaini. Note Musil, this nobleman occurs as
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  Speaker 1: a witness. Musil dooks to many Mercian charters dated from a. D.
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  Speaker 1: Eight hundred fourteen to eight hundred sixty six, the Guiini
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  Speaker 1: inhabitants of Gainsborough. End of note. The mother of this
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  Speaker 1: lady was named Edburger of the royal line of Mercia,
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  Speaker 1: whom we have often seen with our own eyes a
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  Speaker 1: few years before her death. She was a venerable lady,
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  Speaker 1: and after the decease of her husband, she remained many
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  Speaker 1: years a widow, even till her own death. In the
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  Speaker 1: same year, the above named army of Pagans, leaving Northumberland,
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  Speaker 1: invaded Mercia and advanced to Nottingham, which is called in
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  Speaker 1: the British tongue Tingocoboc, but in Latin the House of Caves,
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  Speaker 1: and they wintered there that same year. Immediately on their approach,
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  Speaker 1: bore Red, King of Mercia, and all the nobles of
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  Speaker 1: that nation sent messengers to Ethelred, King of the West
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  Speaker 1: Side Saxons and his brother Alfred, suppliantly, entreating them to
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  Speaker 1: come and aid them in fighting against the aforesaid army.
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  Speaker 1: Their request was easily obtained, for the brothers, as soon
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  Speaker 1: as promised, assembled an immense army from all parts of
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  Speaker 1: their dominions, and entering Mercia, came to Nottingham, all eager
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  Speaker 1: for battle. And when the Pagans defended by the castle
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  Speaker 1: refused to fight and the Christians were unable to destroy
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  Speaker 1: the wall, peace was made between the Mercians and Pagans,
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  Speaker 1: and the two brothers Ethelred and Alfred, returned home with
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  Speaker 1: their troops. In the year of Our Lord's Incarnation eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred sixty nine, which was the twenty first of King
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  Speaker 1: Alfred's life, there was a great famine and mortality of men,
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  Speaker 1: and a pestilence among the cattle, and the aforesaid army
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  Speaker 1: of the Pagans, galloping back to Northumberland, went to York
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  Speaker 1: and there passed the winter. In the year of Our
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  Speaker 1: Lord's Incarnation eight hundred seventy, which was the twenty second
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  Speaker 1: of King Alfred's life, the above named army of Pagans
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  Speaker 1: passed through Marcia into East Anglia and wintered at Thetford.
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  Speaker 1: In the same year, Edmond, king of the East Angles,
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  Speaker 1: fought most fiercely against them, but lamentable to say, the
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  Speaker 1: Pagans triumphed. Edmond was slain in the battle, and the
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  Speaker 1: enemy reduced all that country to subjection. In the same year, Kelnoth,
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  Speaker 1: Archbishop of Canterbury, went the way of all flesh and
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  Speaker 1: was buried peaceably in his own city. In the year
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  Speaker 1: of Our Lord's Incarnation eight hundred seventy one, which was
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  Speaker 1: the twenty third of King Alfred's life, the Pagan army
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  Speaker 1: of Hateful Memory left the East Angles, and entering the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of the West, Saxons came to the royal city
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  Speaker 1: called Reading, situated on the south bank of the Thames,
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  Speaker 1: in the district called Berkshire, and there on the third
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  Speaker 1: day after their arrival, their earls with great part of
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  Speaker 1: the army scoured the country for plunder, while the others
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  Speaker 1: made a ramp part between the rivers Thames and Kennett
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  Speaker 1: on the right side of the same royal city. They
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  Speaker 1: were encountered by Ethelwulf, Earl of Berkshire, with his men
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  Speaker 1: at a place called Englefield. Both sides fought bravely and
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  Speaker 1: made long resistance. Note Inglefield Green is about four miles
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  Speaker 1: from Windsor. End of note at length, one of the
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  Speaker 1: Pagan earls was slain and the greater part of the
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  Speaker 1: army destroyed, upon which the rest saved themselves by flight,
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  Speaker 1: and the Christians gained the victory. Four days afterwards, Ethelred,
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  Speaker 1: King of the West Saxons, and his brother Alfred united
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  Speaker 1: their forces and marched to Reading, where on their arrival
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  Speaker 1: they cut to pieces the Pagans, whom they found outside
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  Speaker 1: the fortifications. But the Pagans nevertheless sallied out from the gates,
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  Speaker 1: and a long and fierce engagement ensued. At last, grief
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  Speaker 1: to say, the Christians fled. The Pagans obtained the victory,
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  Speaker 1: and the aforesaid Earl Ethelwulf was among the slain. Roused
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  Speaker 1: by this calamity, the Christians, in shame and indignation, within
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  Speaker 1: four days assembled all their forces and again encountered the
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  Speaker 1: Pagan army at a place called ash Doon, which means
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  Speaker 1: hill of the ash note Aston in Berkshire. End of note.
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  Speaker 1: The Pagans had divided themselves into two bodies and began
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  Speaker 1: to prepare defenses, for they had two kings and many earls.
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  Speaker 1: So they gave the middle part of the army to
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  Speaker 1: the two kings, and the other part to all their earls,
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  Speaker 1: which the Christians, perceiving, divided their army also into two troops,
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  Speaker 1: and also began to construct defenses. But Alfred, as we
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  Speaker 1: have been told by those who were present and would
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  Speaker 1: not tell an untruth, marched up promptly with his men
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  Speaker 1: to give them battle. For King Ethelred remained a long
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  Speaker 1: time in his tent in prayer, hearing the mass, and
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  Speaker 1: said that he would not leave it till the priest
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  Speaker 1: had done or abandon the divine protection for that of men.
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  Speaker 1: And he did so too, which afterwards availed him much
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  Speaker 1: with the Almighty, as we shall declare more fully in
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  Speaker 1: the sequel. Now, the Christians had determined that King Ethelred
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  Speaker 1: with his men should attack the two Pagan kings, but
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  Speaker 1: that his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the
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  Speaker 1: chance of war against the two earls. Things being so arranged,
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  Speaker 1: the king remained a long time in prayer, and the
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  Speaker 1: Pagans came up rapidly to fight. Then Alfred, though possessing
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  Speaker 1: a subordinate authority, could no longer support the troops of
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  Speaker 1: the enemy, unless he retreated or charged upon them without
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  Speaker 1: waiting for his brother. At length he bravely led his
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  Speaker 1: troops against the hostile army, as they had before arranged,
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  Speaker 1: but without awaiting his brother's arrival, for he relied in
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  Speaker 1: the divine councils, and forming his men into a dense PHELANX,
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  Speaker 1: marched on at once to meet the foe. But here
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  Speaker 1: I must inform those who are ignorant of the fact
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  Speaker 1: that the field of battle was not equally advantageous to
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  Speaker 1: both parties. The Pagans occupied the higher ground, and the
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  Speaker 1: Christians came up from below. There was also a single
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  Speaker 1: thorn tree of strutted growth, but we have ourselves never
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  Speaker 1: seen it. Around this tree, the opposing armies came together,
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  Speaker 1: with loud shouts from all sides, the one party to
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  Speaker 1: pursue their wicked course, the other to fight for their lives,
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  Speaker 1: their dearest ties in their country. And when both armies
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  Speaker 1: had fought long and bravely, at last the Pagans, by
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  Speaker 1: the divine judgment, were no longer able to bear the
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  Speaker 1: attacks of the Christians, and, having lost a great part
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  Speaker 1: of their army, took to a disgraceful flight. One of
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  Speaker 1: their two kings and five earls were there slain, together
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  Speaker 1: with many thousand Pagans, who fell on all sides, covering
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  Speaker 1: with their bodies the whole plain of Ashdoon. There fell
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  Speaker 1: in that battle King Bagsack, Earl Sidrac the Elder, and
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  Speaker 1: Earl Sidrac the Younger, Earl Osborne, Earl Frayne, and Earl Harold,
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  Speaker 1: and the whole Pagan army pursued its flight not only
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  Speaker 1: until night, but until the next day, even until they
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  Speaker 1: reached the stronghold from which they had sallied. The Christians followed,
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  Speaker 1: slaying all they could reach until it became dark. After
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  Speaker 1: fourteen days had elapsed, King Ethelred with his brother Alfred,
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  Speaker 1: again joined their forces and marched to Bassing to fight
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  Speaker 1: with the Pagans. The enemy came together from all quarters,
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  Speaker 1: and after a long contest, gained the victory. After this battle,
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  Speaker 1: another army came from beyond the sea and joined them.
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  Speaker 1: The same year, after Easter. The aforesaid King Ethelred, having bravely,
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  Speaker 1: honorably and with good repute, governed his kingdom five years
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  Speaker 1: through much tribulation, went the way of all flesh, and
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  Speaker 1: was buried in Wimborne Minster, where he awaits the coming
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord and the First Resurrection with the just
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  Speaker 1: the same year, the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up
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  Speaker 1: to that time only of secondary rank, whilst his brothers
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  Speaker 1: were alive, now, by God's permission, undertook the government of
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  Speaker 1: the whole kingdom amid the acclamations of all the people.
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  Speaker 1: And if he had chosen, he might have done so
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  Speaker 1: before whilst his brother above named was still alive. For
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  Speaker 1: in wisdom and other qualities he surpassed all his brothers,
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  Speaker 1: and moreover, was warlike and victorious in all his wars.
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  Speaker 1: And when he had reigned one month, almost against his will,
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  Speaker 1: for he did not think he could alone sustain the
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  Speaker 1: multitude and ferocity of the Pagans, though even during his
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  Speaker 1: brother's lives he had borne the woes of many. He
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  Speaker 1: fought a battle with a few men, and on very
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  Speaker 1: unequal terms, against all the army of the Pagans, at
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  Speaker 1: a hill called Wilton, on the south bank of the
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  Speaker 1: River Willie, from which river the whole of that district
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  Speaker 1: is named. And after a long and fierce engagement, the Pagans,
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  Speaker 1: seeing the danger they were in and no longer able
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  Speaker 1: to bear the attack of their enemies, turned their backs
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  Speaker 1: and fled. But oh shame to say, they deceived their
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  Speaker 1: two audacious pursuers, and again rallying, gained the victory. Let
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  Speaker 1: no one be surprised that the Christians had but a
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  Speaker 1: small number of men, for the Saxons had been worn
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  Speaker 1: out by eight battles in one year against the Pagans,
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  Speaker 1: of whom they had slain one king, nine dukes, and
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  Speaker 1: innumerable troops of soldiers, besides endless skirmishes, both by night
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  Speaker 1: and by day, in which the oft named Alfred and
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  Speaker 1: all his chieftains, with their men, and several of his ministers,
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  Speaker 1: were engaged without rest or cessation against the Pagans. How
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  Speaker 1: many thousand Pagans fell in these numberless skirmishes, God alone knows,
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  Speaker 1: over and above those who were slain in the eight
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  Speaker 1: battles above mentioned. In the same year, the Saxons made
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  Speaker 1: peace with the Pagans on condition that they should take
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  Speaker 1: their departure, and they did so. In the year of
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  Speaker 1: Our Lord's Incarnation eight hundred seventy two, the twenty fourth
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  Speaker 1: of King Alfred's life, the above named army of Pagans
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: went to London and there wintered. The Mercians made peace
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: with them in the year of Our Lord's Incarnation eight
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: hundred seventy three, the twenty fifth of King Alfred. The
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: above named army, leaving London, went into the country of
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: the Northumbrians, and there wintered in the district of Lindsey,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: and the Mercians again made treaty with them. End of
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Part one, Section two