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ii Foreword When I arrived in Utrecht in 2001, I had just traded Psychology at the University of Tilburg in for English Language and Culture, here, in Utrecht. Writing this thesis means that my time at the English department has come to an end. Over the last four years, the UU offered a wide variety of courses and I have studied subjects from syntax to creative writing and from contemporary American literature to the history of the English language. I developed an interest in history, especially the medieval period. In my third year I went to University College Dublin on a Harting scholarship. This was great, because next to the obvious benefits of studying abroad, this scholarship enabled me to choose exactly the courses I liked, without the usual restrictions for foreign students. One of the courses was a year-long course on King Alfred at the history department of UCD. During weekly two-hour sessions, Professor Howard Clarke discussed Alfred with us in detail, the fact and the fiction, by analysing contemporary sources. Back in Utrecht, but ‘homesick’ for Dublin, I decided I wanted to use this course as a basis for my thesis, but I was not sure about the details. Luckily, my mentor, Dr Erik Kooper, was able to fill in the blanks. The rest, they say, is history. I would like to thank Erik Kooper, but also Thea Summerfield of the UU for taking on this project and pointing me in the right direction, when necessary. From UCD, I would like to express my appreciation to Howard Clarke, for having provided the necessary knowledge on Alfred. I am also very grateful to my parents for their continuing interest and willingness to take care of me during this, sometimes stressful, period. Last but not least, I would like to thank all my friends, but especially Eline, who always knew exactly what I meant, Karin, for forcing me to express my feelings, and Marina, for the postcards she sent me. You have all contributed to a successful completion of my work. ii Contents Foreword i Contents ii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: King Alfred 3 Map: The Vikings in England 10 Genealogy of the Kings of Wessex 11 Chapter 2: The Middle English Sources In Their Time 12 Chapter 3: The Old English Texts 25 Chapter 4 : The Middle English Texts 32 Conclusion 49 Bibliography 52 Appendix: All the Texts In a Grid 55 ii Introduction This thesis will try to provide the reader with an insight into Middle English sources that concern themselves with Alfred, king of Wessex from 871 to 899. King Alfred is known for his exceptional efforts in the war against the Vikings and in cultural reform. He is also the only English king to be awarded the name “the Great”. By both analysing the late Medieval sources and contrasting them to sources of Alfred’s own time, I will research how King Alfred the Great’s life was portrayed and how his image developed in the period from 1100 to 1500. I will first introduce King Alfred himself in Chapter 1 by giving a short outline of what is known about his life. I will then proceed by discussing the Middle English period from 1100 to 1500 and introduce the Middle English sources relevant to this topic in chapter two. These are, in chronological order: - William of Malmesbury, Historia Regum Britanniae - Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum - Robert of Gloucester, Metrical Chronicle - Robert Mannyng of Brunne, The Chronicle - Thomas Castelford, Chronicle, or The Boke of Brut - John Trevisa, Translation of the Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden - An Anonymous Short English Metrical Chronicle - The Anonymous Brut, or The Chronicles of England. The editions used are listed in the bibliography. In chapter three an analysis of the contents of the Old English sources will be made and in chapter four the same will be done with the Middle English sources, and each of these 1 will also be compared to the Old English sources about King Alfred. In short, this chapter will explore who said what about Alfred’s person and life and when. A schematic representation of the contents of all the texts will follow. Finally, a short conclusion, or rather several minor conclusions, will be presented to round off my research about the reception of stories and legends about King Alfred by historiographers of the late medieval period. In order to carry out the study described above, a fairly complete impression of the writers between 1100 and 1500 and a basic knowledge of historical events of that period is necessary. This will enable me to read between the lines and shed a light on why these chroniclers did, or did not, record certain aspects of King Alfred’s life, or even inserted new elements, and what this says about King Alfred’s image throughout the centuries. The above-mentioned Middle English sources cover the period from 1100 to 1500. The chroniclers are well known and the information they supply will provide a solid point of departure for this research. The passages that are useful for this research are also relatively extensive and provide an adequate amount of information. To gather these sources I used the Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500, volume 8. This work provided me with a list of sources that included passages about king Alfred. 2 1. King Alfred Most of what is now known about Alfred, King of Wessex from 871 to 899, has been obtained from Asser’s Life of King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the contemporary sources. This first chapter will give an account of the life of King Alfred the Great, using these sources, providing explanations where necessary.1 First, a hypothesis that has been supported by Alfred P. Smyth, the author of a book about Alfred, concerning Asser and his Life needs to be mentioned. According to Smyth and others the Life was actually not compiled by Asser, but by a later forger. Nevertheless, as this hypothesis has not yet been backed up by any solid proof, it will not be taken into consideration in this chapter. Asser was a monk of St David’s in Wales. If we are to believe Asser himself, he was summoned by King Alfred to join his household in the year 885. He became a personal assistant to the king and later Bishop of Sherborne. Asser was fully involved in the intellectual activities at Alfred’s court. He travelled throughout the kingdom both independently and in Alfred’s company. In the year 893, the twenty-second year of Alfred’s reign, he wrote a biography of Alfred. It is a biography dedicated to Alfred both as a king and as a person. Asser died in 909. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a series of annals covering Anglo-Saxon history from the start of the Christian era to the mid-twelfth century. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s passages about Alfred focussed mostly on his achievements in a period of war. It was released to different centres in England in 892, but, of course, its compilation must have started earlier. It is generally assumed that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written at Alfred’s court. Over the centuries, up till the twelfth century for the Peterborough Chronicle, various scribes have 1 All quotations are from Keynes and Lapidge. 3 added to this work. Asser used it as a source for his Life, even though his work and the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle had fundamentally different ideas. For both sources there are complications concerning the reliability of their contents. The fact that they were written during the reign of King Alfred could mean that they were influenced by the king. For instance, Asser explicitly states that he writes for Alfred. He starts his biography as follows: To my esteemed and most holy lord, Alfred, ruler of all the Christians of the Island of Britain, King of all the Angles and Saxons, Asser, lowest of all the servants of God, wishes thousandfold prosperity in this life and in the next, according to the desires of his prayers. (p. 67) Of course, statements like these cast doubt on the reliability of the source. Nevertheless, even though Asser’s Life abounds in praise and admiration for King Alfred, his use of translations of place-names into Welsh suggest that the work was not, in the first place, meant for Alfred himself, but for a Welsh audience (p. 56). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was also written at King Alfred’s court. It was compiled in a period of national crisis caused by Viking attacks and can thus be seen as a means to stimulate national morale. But there is no evidence that Alfred was personally involved in the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (p. 40). As contemporary sources, these two works have proven to be very important sources for the Middle English works discussed in the next chapters. Most of what is known about King Alfred as a young man, a soldier, a king, a scholar and a religious man can be found in Asser’s Life of King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, texts that will be analysed in chapter three. As a starting point for the research 4 reported in chapters three, four and, of course, the conclusion, the reader will now be provided with a narrative account of King Alfred’s life and family and reign. Alfred was born in Berkshire in 849. He was the son of King Æthelwulf of the English kingdom Wessex and the youngest in a family of four brothers and a sister.2 According to Asser, Alfred was his parents’ favourite child.