Texts
Vita Ælfredi regis (Angul Saxonum)‘The Life of King Alfred (or The Life of Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons)’
- Latin
- prose
- Anglo-Saxon texts, Cambro-Latin texts
A Latin biography of King Alfred written in 893 by Asser, a Welsh scholar at the king’s court who had previously been a monk of St David’s and later became bishop of Sherborne. Asser wrote at a time when Alfred had established an overlordship in Wales. The intended audience of the work has been subject to debate, some suggesting that Asser wrote for a Welsh audience.
Author
AsserAsser (d. c.908/909) – monk of St David’s and later, bishop of Sherborne; author of a contemporary Life of King Alfred.
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Manuscripts
One vellum manuscript known, now lost:
- Cotton library, MS Otho A xii/ff. 1-55 [c.1000]This copy was destroyed in the Ashburnham House fire of 23 October, 1731. It was originally found on ff. 1-55r and contained interpolations by Matthew Parker.
- Transcripts and printed editions prior to loss include:
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 100 [c. 1550 x 1574]pp. 324c–364c. 1550 x 1574. Transcript made for Matthew Parker, still free of his interpolations.
- editio princeps by Matthew Parker, Ælfredi Regis Res Gestae (London, 1574), with interpolations
- Reprinted by William Camden in Anglica, Normannica, Hibernica, Cambrica, a veteribus Scripta (Frankfurt, 1602), with his own interpolation concerning the foundation of Oxford University by King Alfred.
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- Scholarly edition by Francis Wise, Annales Rerum Gestarum Ælfredi Magni, auctore Asserio Menevensi (Oxford, 1722), with a facsimile reproduction of the first page made by James Hill. Wise did not consult the manuscript first-hand.(1)n. 1 Simon Keynes • Michael Lapidge, Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources (1983): 223–226.
Language
- Latin
- Latin.
Date
c.893
Form
prose (primary)
Associated items
Sources
Notes
Simon Keynes • Michael Lapidge, Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources (1983): 223–226.
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] [tr.] Stevenson, W. H. [ed. and tr.], Asser’s Life of King Alfred: together with the Annals of Saint Neots erroneously ascribed to Asser, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904.
Internet Archive: <link>
[tr.] Keynes, Simon, and Michael Lapidge (trs.), Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1983.
[ed.] Wise, Francis, Annales rerum gestarum Ælfredi Magni, auctore Asserio Menevensi, Oxford, 1722.
HathiTrust: <link>
Incl, on p. 136, a facsimile specimen of the original manuscript.
Secondary sources (select)
Charles-Edwards, T. M., “The Britons and the English, 550–1064: 14. Two ninth-century writers”, in: Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons, 350–1064, History of Wales, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 816 pp. 437–466.
Howlett, David, Cambro-Latin compositions: their competence and craftsmanship, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1998.
page name: Vita Ælfredi regis
page url: https://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Vita_%C3%86lfredi_regis
redirect: https://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Special:Redirect/page/586
numerical alternatve: https://www.vanhamel.nl/vhcodecs/index.php?curid=586
page ID: 586
page ID tracker: https://www.vanhamel.nl/vhcodecs/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=586
Contributors
C. A.,Dennis Groenewegen
