THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF
ALFRED THE GREAT
C. PLUMMER
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF
ALFRED THE GREAT
BEING THE FORD LECTURES FOR 1901
BY
CHARLES PLUMMER, M.A.
FELLOW AND CHAPLAIN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
WITH AN APPENDIX
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1902
[All rights reserved]
OXFORD
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
TO THE
Rev. JOHN EARLE, M.A.
RAWLINSONIAN PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
THESE LECTURES
ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY HIS
FRIEND AND FORMER PUPIL
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
The present work contains the lectures delivered by meon the Ford foundation in Michaelmas Term, 1901. Thelectures are printed substantially as they were delivered,with the exception that certain passages which wereshortened or omitted in delivery owing to want of timeare now given in full.
In the notes will be found the authorities and argumentson which the conclusions of the text are based. The notesoccupy a rather large proportion of the book, becauseI wished to spare my audience, as far as possible, thediscussion of technical details.
I have not thought it necessary to recast the form of thelectures. The personal style of address, naturally employedby a lecturer to his audience, is retained in addressing thelarger audience to which I now appeal.
The objects which I have aimed at in the lectures aresufficiently explained at the beginning and end of thelectures themselves, and need not be further enlarged onhere.
In many ways the lectures would no doubt have beenimproved, if I had been able to make use of Mr. Stevenson’slong-expected edition of Asser. On the other hand theremay be advantages in the fact that Mr. Stevenson andmyself have worked in perfect independence of one another.
I am sorry that I have had to speak unfavourably ofsome of the recent Alfred literature which has come undermy notice. I am a little jealous for the honour of English[viii]historical scholarship; and I am more than a little jealousthat the greatest name in English history should be considereda theme on which any one may try his prenticehand. It suggests the possibility of adding a new chapterto what I have called ‘that ever-lengthening treatise Decasibus illustrium uirorum’ (p. 178).
I have, as usual,