The Political Thought of King Alfred the Great: 67 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 67)
Cambridge University Press, 1/14/2010
EAN 9780521126441, ISBN10: 0521126444
Paperback, 436 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
Language: English
This book is a comprehensive study of political thought at the court of King Alfred the Great (871–99). It explains the extraordinary burst of royal learned activity focused on inventive translations from Latin into Old English attributed to Alfred's own authorship. A full exploration of context establishes these texts as part of a single discourse which placed Alfred himself at the heart of all rightful power and authority. A major theme is the relevance of Frankish and other European experiences, as sources of expertise and shared concerns, and for important contrasts with Alfredian thought and behaviour. Part I assesses Alfred's rule against West Saxon structures, showing the centrality of the royal household in the operation of power. Part II offers an intimate analysis of the royal texts, developing far-reaching implications for Alfredian kingship, communication and court culture. Comparative in approach, the book places Alfred's reign at the forefront of wider European trends in aristocratic life.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
Part I. The West Saxon Political Order
2. Resources and extraction
West Saxon resources and royal power
Military service and the common burdens
3. Royal lordship and secular office-holding
The king's thegns
The royal household
Gifts and gift-giving
4. Royal lordship and ecclesiastical office-holding
A new accommodation
royal monasteries and the council of Kingston (838)
The southumbrian episcopate and the state of ecclesiastical discipline
Bishops as the 'best king's thegns'
Royal priests in the royal household
Frankish ecclesiastical conditions and Carolingian kingship
5. The articulation of power under King Alfred's predecessors
Collective office-holding
West Saxon royal devotion
Royal office-holding
the first English coronation order
The uses of literacy?
Sources of textual culture (1) ecclesiastical communities
Sources of textual culture (2) the west Saxon royal household
6. The impact of the Vikings
Logistics of defence
Lordship and manpower
Land and landholding
Royal income and urban development
Collective security (1) 'king of the Anglo-Saxons'
Collective security (2) 'ruler of all the Christians of the island of Britain'
Part II. Alfredian Discourse and its Efficacy
7. The field of Alfredian knowledge
Alfredian innovation
Alfredian wisdom and the shift to vernacular prose
Intended audiences and the shift to vernacular literacy
Textual dissemination and the field of Alfredian knowledge
8. The construction of Alfredian discourse
'Royal' production
Alfredian discourse and its distinctiveness
Languages of office-holding (1) Georgian language
Languages of office-holding (2) Solomon's dream
The implications of Alfredian discourse
9. Alfredian technology
books and aedificia
Books and book production
Candle-lantern, 'aestels' and the Fuller brooch
10. The Hierdeboc as a treatise of power
Language and context
The origin and purpose of power
The active and contemplative lives
The hierdeboc and the southumbrian episcopate
11. The Domboc as a Reorientation of royal law
Written law
authority and status
The construction of Alfredian judgement
The historical projection of secular law
The defence of lordship
The Domboc in practice
12. Tribulation and triumph in the first fifty psalms
Apparatus and voice
God, rihtwisnes and sinful enemies
Royal hardships and divine justice
Alfred's psalms and Alfredian theatre
13. The search for a satisfactory consolation
The consolatio philosophiae in context
Royal translation and Carolingian expertise
Alfredian adaption
mind, wisdom and the 'wordly blessings'
Craeft, tools and resources
Wyrd and divine justice
The Froferboc and Alfredian theatre
14. Seeing God as he is
The Soliloquia in context
Royal translation and Carolingian expertise
Alfredian adaption
wisdom and the sight of God
Lordship and authority
Alfred's soliloquies and Alfredian theatre
15. Conclusion
Appendix
West Frankish deployment of Solomon's dream
Bibliography
Index.