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

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  Speaker 1: Introduction to the Life of King Alfred. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: The Life of King Alfred by Asser, Bishop of Sherborne,
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  Speaker 1: translated by J. A. Giles introduction. This work is ascribed
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  Speaker 1: on its own internal authority to Asser, who is said
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  Speaker 1: to have been Bishop of Saint David's, of Sherborne or
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  Speaker 1: of Exeter in the time of King Alfred. Though most
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  Speaker 1: of the public events recorded in this book are to
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  Speaker 1: be found in the Saxon Chronicle. Yet for many interesting
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  Speaker 1: circumstances in the life of our great Saxon King, we
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  Speaker 1: are indebted to this biography alone. But as if no
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  Speaker 1: part of history is ever to be free from suspicion
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  Speaker 1: from difficulty, a doubt has been raised concerning the authenticity
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  Speaker 1: of this work. Note see Writes Biographia Literaria Anglo Saxonica,
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  Speaker 1: page four hundred five. Doctor Lingard, however, in his recent
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  Speaker 1: work on the History and Antiquities of the Anglo Saxon Church,
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  Speaker 1: Volume two, pages four hundred twenty four through four hundred
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight, has replied to mister Wright's objections and vindicated
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  Speaker 1: the authenticity of Asser's life. End of note. There is
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  Speaker 1: also another short treatise called the Annals of Asser or
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  Speaker 1: the Chronicle of Saint Neot, different from the present. It
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  Speaker 1: is published in volume three of Gale and Fell's Collection
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  Speaker 1: of Historians. And it has been suspected by a living
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  Speaker 1: writer that both of these works are to be looked
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  Speaker 1: upon as compilations of a later date. The arguments upon
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  Speaker 1: which this opinion is founded are drawn principally from the
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  Speaker 1: abrupt and incoherent character of the work before us. But
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  Speaker 1: we have neither time nor space to enter further into
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  Speaker 1: this question. As the work has been edited by Petrie,
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  Speaker 1: so has it been here translated, and the reader, taking
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  Speaker 1: it upon its own merits, will find therein much of
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  Speaker 1: interest about our glorious King, concerning whom he will lament
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  Speaker 1: with me. That all we know is so little, so unsatisfying. J. A.
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  Speaker 1: Giles end of introduction.