Alfred the Great
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Ælfrēd or Alfred the Great (848 or 849 – October 26, 899), king of Wessex from 871 to 899, was responsible for turning back the Danish invasion of Wessex and for promoting a revival of education, scholarship, law and administration. His translations into Old English of theological and philosophical works are sometimes said to have laid the foundations of English prose.
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[edit] Sourced
All quotations in Modern English are cited from Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge (trans.) Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983), to which page-numbers also refer.
- Þæt is nu hraðost to secganne, þæt ic wilnode weorðfullice to libbanne þa hwile þe ic lifede, and æfter minum life þæm monnum to læfanne þe æfter me wæren min gemyndig on godum weorcum.
- I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works.
- Translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, ch. 17; p. 133.
[edit] Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care
- Me com swiðe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron giond Angelcynn, ægðer ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra; ond hu gesæliglica tida ða wæron giond Angelcynn; ond hu ða kyningas ðe ðone onwald hæfdon ðæs folces Gode ond his ærendwrecum hiersumedon; ond hie ægðer ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodu ge hiora onweald innanbordes gehioldon, ond eac ut hiora eðel rymdon; ond hu him ða speow ægðer ge mid wige ge mid wisdome; ond eac ða godcundan hadas, hu giorne hie wæron ægðer ge ymb lare ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle ða ðiowotdomas ðe hie Gode don scoldon; ond hu man utanbordes wisdom ond lare hieder on lond sohte; ond hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan, gif we hie habban sceoldon.
- Very often it has come to my mind what men of learning there were formerly throughout England, both in religious and secular orders; and how there were happy times then throughout England; and how the kings, who had authority over this people, obeyed God and his messengers; and how they not only maintained their peace, morality and authority at home but also extended their territory outside; and how they succeeded both in warfare and in wisdom; and also how eager were the religious orders both in teaching and in learning as well as in all the holy services which it was their duty to perform for God; and how people from abroad sought wisdom and instruction in this country; and how nowadays, if we wished to acquire these things, we would have to seek them outside.
- Pages 124-5
- Geðenc hwelc witu us ða becomon for ðisse worulde, ða ða we hit nohwæðer ne selfe ne lufodon ne eac oðrum monnum ne lefdon!
- Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves did not cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.
- Page 125
- Ða ic ða gemunde hu sio Lar Lædengeðiodes ær ðissum afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, ond ðeah monige cuðon Englisc gewrit arædan, ða ongan ic on gemang oðrum mislicum ond manigfealdum bisgum ðisses kynerices ða boc on Englisc ðe is genemned on Læden Pastoralis, ond on Englisc "Hierdeboc", hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite.
- When I recalled how knowledge of Latin had previously decayed throughout England, and yet many could still read things written in English, I then began, amidst the various and multifarious afflictions of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which in Latin is called Pastoralis, in English "Shepherd-book", sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense.
- Page 126
[edit] Misattributed
"The early Middle English poem The Proverbs of Alfred is a collection of precepts for good conduct uttered by the king…and other supposedly Alfredian words of wisdom occur in the poem The Owl and the Nightingale; both poems illustrate the tendency in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to attribute wise sayings to the king, but alas there is no reason to believe that any of the sayings derive from Alfred himself." (Keynes and Lapidge, p. 47).
- For hit seide þe king Alfred:
"Selde erendeð wel þe loþe,
an selde plaideð wel þe wroþe."- As Alfred says, that learned king:
"The hated man can't intercede;
The angry man's not fit to plead." - The Owl and the Nightingale, line 942; Brian Stone (trans.) The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971) p. 214.
- As Alfred says, that learned king:
- For Alfred seide a wis word,
euch mon hit schulde legge on hord:
"3ef thu isihst er he beo icume,
his strencþe is him wel neh binume."- On this, hear Alfred's weighty word
Which man should treasure once it's heard:
"Foresee your trouble in its course:
You thereby take away its force." - The Owl and the Nightingale, line 1223; Brian Stone (trans.) The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971) p. 224.
- On this, hear Alfred's weighty word
- So mon mai welþe
lengest helden,
giu þu neuere leuen
alle monnis spechen,
ne alle the þinke
þat þu herest sinken.- Never believe the speech of all men, nor all the things that you hear sung.
- The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19; John Mitchell Kemble (ed.) The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (London: The Aelfric Society, 1848) p. 237.
- He þat is ute biloken
he is inne sone forgeten.- He that is shut out
Is soon forgot within. - The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 27; John Mitchell Kemble (ed.) The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (London: The Aelfric Society, 1848) p. 242.
- He that is shut out
[edit] About Alfred the Great
- Cui ab incunabulis ante omnia et cum omnibus praesentis vitae studiis, sapientiae desiderium cum nobilitate generis, nobilis mentis ingenium supplevit.
- From the cradle onwards, in spite of all the demands of the present life, it has been the desire for wisdom, more than anything else, together with the nobility of his birth, which have characterized the nature of his noble mind.
- Asser De Rebus Gestis Aelfredi, ch. 22; Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge (trans.) Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983) pp. 74-5.
- Englene derling.
- England's darling.
- The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 1; John Mitchell Kemble (ed.) The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (London: The Aelfric Society, 1848) p. 226.
- No other man on record has ever so thoroughly united all the virtues both of the ruler and of the private man. In no other man on record were so many virtues disfigured by so little alloy. A saint without superstition, a scholar without ostentation, a warrior all whose wars were fought in the defence of his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never stained by cruelty, a prince never cast down by adversity, never lifted up to insolence in the day of triumph – there is no other name in history to compare with his.
- Edward A. Freeman The History of the Norman Conquest of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1867-76) vol. 1, pp. 51-2.
- His unique importance in the history of English letters comes from his conviction that a life without knowledge or reflection was unworthy of respect, and his determination to bring the thought of the past within the range of his subjects' understanding. The translations of ancient books by which he tried to reach this end form the beginning of English prose literature.
- Sir Frank Stenton Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, [1943] 1975) pp. 269-70.
- We discern across the centuries a commanding and versatile intelligence, wielding with equal force the sword of war and of justice; using in defence arms and policy; cherishing religion, learning, and art in the midst of adversity and danger; welding together a nation, and seeking always across the feuds and hatreds of the age a peace which would smile upon the land.
- Winston S. Churchill A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Vol. 1: The Birth of Britain (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1956) p. 122.
