The Story of King AlfredAppleton, 1905 - 187 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon Chronicle army arrived Asser Athelney Athelstan battle became Bishop Boethius Bowker's Alfred Britons brother called ceorl Cerdic Charles the Bald Christian Chronicle Church coast conquest court Danes Danish death defeated desire died Divine ealdorman Earl East Anglia Edward enemy England English Ethelbald Ethelgiva Ethelred Ethelwulf faith fighting fleet forests fought fyrd hand heathen holy honour Judith Kent kind King Alfred King of Mercia king's kingdom knew land Latin laws learned lived London ment Mercia mind monastery monks nation night ninth century noble Norsemen Northumbria Orosius Osburh pagans pilgrim Plegmund plunder Pope prayer queen reign religion river Roman Rome royal scholars seems ships slain STORY Thames thanes thee thegn things thou tion town understand walls Welsh Wessex West Saxons whole Winchester winter quarters wisdom words
Popular passages
Page 132 - Keep ye the Law — be swift in all obedience — Clear the land of evil, drive the road and bridge the ford. Make ye sure to each his own That he reap where he hath sown ; By the peace among Our peoples let men know we serve the Lord!
Page 139 - I rejected them, by the counsel of my ' witan,' and in otherwise commanded them to be holden ; for I durst not venture to set down in writing much of my own, for it was unknown to me what of it would please those who should come after us. But those things which I met with...
Page 158 - On a certain day we were both of us sitting in the king's chamber, talking on all kinds of subjects, as usual, and it happened that I read to him a quotation out of a certain book. He heard it attentively with both his ears, and addressed me with a thoughtful mind, showing me at the same moment a book which he carried in his bosom, wherein the daily courses and psalms, and prayers which he had read in his youth, were written, and he commanded me to write the same quotation in that book.
Page 163 - ... during the frequent wars and other trammels of this present life, the invasions of the pagans, and his own daily infirmities of body, continued to carry on the government, and to exercise hunting in all its branches ; to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers and dog-keepers; to build houses, majestic and good, beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical inventions...
Page 50 - He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the people, above all his brothers, and was educated altogether at the court of the king. As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners he was more graceful than they. His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things...
Page 142 - England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the throne.
Page 143 - ... if we have tranquillity enough, that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until that they are well able to read English writing : and let those be afterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to continue learning and be promoted to a higher rank.
Page 32 - War was no sooner over than the warrior settled down into the farmer, and the home of the peasant churl rose beside the heap of goblinhaunted stones that marked the site of the villa he had burned.
Page 78 - West-Saxons, came to the royal city, called Reading, situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berkshire ; and there, on the third day after their arrival, their earls, with great part of the army, scoured the country for plunder...
Page 119 - Saxon poems, and to make others learn them ; and he alone never desisted from studying most diligently to the best of his ability ; he attended the mass and other daily services of religion ; he was frequent in psalm-singing and prayer, at the hours both of the day and of the night.