Alfred the Great: One worthy of honor

The Norman Transcript

March 25, 2006 12:15 am

— For The Transcript

T his history of authority is an uneven story. The moral character of those who command it, their intellectual
values and how they acquired that authority as well as how they exercise it is often a dismal chronicle.
Selecting those who have used authority wisely is subjective, perhaps even an expression of prejudice. To
some of us viewing the world from outside the shadow of American politics, four men in particular stand out -
- Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Benito Juarez and Alfred of England. The first two -- father and adopted
son -- ruled with extraordinary restraint and benevolence, striving to hold the Roman Empire together in its
days of decline. Juarez -- able, foresighted and honest -- tried to lay the foundations for rational government
which Mexican predators and non-Mexican vested interests have been botching up ever since. But few if any
in history deserve honor for their integrity and prudent judgment more than Alfred, King of Wessex.
Social-political conditions in England during the centuries before Alfred, subsequently given the epithet "The
Great," were disordered and brutal, dominated by the sword. The Romans ruled England for several centuries
of the early Christian era, but when that shield was withdrawn disruptive intrusion by the Picts, Jutes, Angles
and Saxons promoted disarray. It was the Danes in the eighth century who nearly finished off the English.
Struggling to survive, several of the "kingdoms" of southern England were united as the Kingdom of Wessex.
It was here Alfred ruled during the last three decades of the ninth century.
Alfred's successes were varied and numerous. Although more interested in peace than in war, on the
battlefield he was a courageous leader and a skilled strategist. With imagination he reorganized the army,
improved morale, built fortifications at critical places to protect Wessex, and he was the first English monarch
to give serious attention to building a navy.
As a youth Alfred was well educated and that experience led him to a lifetime appreciation of knowledge. He
understood peace was a precondition to civil order, so when the intrusion of the Danes was checked, he
perceptively sought to ensure continued peace through just and equitable civil administration. With awareness
of the importance of impartial government, he reformed the laws relying heavily on the Mosaic tradition and
extracted what he deemed prudent from the laws of his predecessors.
Justice was one of his unwavering principles.
War always impairs education, and Alfred's guerilla-like struggle with the Danes was particularly destructive
in Wessex. The monasteries, long the principal centers of learning, were especially vulnerable to Danish
assault. Many were lost and with them their libraries, scholars and teachers. To revive the intellectual life of
his kingdom was a primary concern of Alfred. Since Latin was the language of the Church as well as of
Continental literature, and since it had all but been lost in the wars, Alfred made its revival a major objective.
His solution was not original, for he followed the lead of Charlemagne, who nearly a century earlier had
established a "court school" to promote learning in his kingdom. Alfred drew into his court the few masters of
Latin and scholarship he could find among the Anglo-Saxons, and then brought others in from abroad. From
this cluster of talent he was able to strengthen and expand the clergy, to promote education and keep alive the
skills and spirit necessary for the promotion of learning.
Alfred was the inheritor of rich although sometimes contradictory tradictions.
The literature pervading the intellectual life of his reign was compelling. It has roots in the Germanic tribes
invading the country as well as the imprint left by the Romans.
Influences following St. Augustine's mission have been enduring. And the same forces that shaped such
striking poetry as these lines from "The Seafarer": "This life on land is lingering death to me. Give me the
gladness of God's great sea," also helped shape Alfred's interest in the navy. Forward looking and enlightened,
Alfred either translated or encouraged translation of literary treasures from the Old English period.
Notable are: Boethius' Platonic-grounded "Consolation of Philosophy"; Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the
English Nation"; Pope Gregory the Great's "Pastoral Care," a classical study of how clerical office should be
conducted; and Paulus Orosius' "Compendius History of the World." The subject is debatable but perhaps
Alfred's major contribution to literature was advancing and preserving the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle." This
latter is the principal source of English history during the Old English Period.
The characteristics of a great leader are no doubt subject to debate, but Alfred certainly possessed many of
them. His respect for learning and religion were firm and constant. He knew knowledge promotes wisdom and
religion is a universal concern. He ruled with fairness, handled finances with prudence and protected the weak
and poor. Alfred not only promoted learning, but he also seems to have encouraged art and building --
remarkable interests considering the conditions of the times. Perhaps his one failure was the effort to promote
monasticism. Why is difficult to assess, but monasticism did not take hold among his people until a century
later.
Alfred's endeavors represent progress in our world that has been plagued with selfish and brutal rulers. In the
gloomy story of the abuse of authority we are blessed to have exceptions of honor and rationality. Alfred the
Great was like the "light that shineth in darkness."
Lloyd Williams is a retired educator. His column runs every other Saturday in The Transcript.

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