Bishop Asser's The Life Of King Alfred

Henry II was educated in England and by the year 1150, he became a duke of Normandy and the counts of Maine, Touraine, and Anjou after his father Geoffrey Plantagenet, who was a wealthy London merchant, died in 1151. Due to his mother’s entitlement to the royal family tree, he claimed the throne and by the High Middle Age, there was a struggle for power between the State and the Church. Moreover, an influx of royal power and crusade expeditions portrayed the seesaw power balance between the two foundations that resulted in the conflict of King Henry II as the King of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, as the head of the Church. The given study brings to light the reforms King Henry II brought during his reign and the impact they had on his rule and the conflict that arose between Thomas Becket because of the reforms the King made.

History is but a series of stories, opinions, and biases that give the world today a glimpse through the window of the past. As it is such, that window is often smudged and smeared because of the many contradicting, differing facets that one moment in history can possess; henceforth figures and details become obscured and lost, thereby creating the many great and fascinating gaps in history that haunt the minds of today’s historians. This paper is an attempt to provide evidence to fill such a gap—the lost story of Edgar Atheling, great half-nephew of King Edward the Confessor of England; also to provide an answer to the puzzling question of why Edgar was never killed by King William I (William the Conqueror, also Duke of Normandy).

While the author of Beowulf did not initially intend for the epic to become one of the most researched and foundational works in the English language, and therefore, did not go into much detail about its setting and surrounding political structures, the unnamed writer left behind important clues regarding Scandinavian and English political, economic, geographical, and societal bodies. Although not much is known about the author, it is evident through their writing, especially in the societal structure mentioned in the epic, that they were of English descent, specifically, born in the middle of seventh and end of tenth century England, according to Seamus Heaney in the introduction to his translation of Beowulf. Societal clues are the most prominent in proving this claim, as they merge Scandinavian and Old English structures, and at its most form, Beowulf is a Scandinavian tale told through an Englishman’s persepctive.

King Alfred the Great was born at Wantage, in 849, on a royal manor of his father's holding, a family estate which long afterward he himself would leave in legacy to his wife. Alfred was the youngest of five children, four sons and a daughter, born to Ethelwulf by his wife Osburh. When Alfred was four years old, his father, the king, who by now had long despaired of getting to Rome in the present state of things, decided to send Alfred there, to at least receive the blessing of the Holy Father. The pope at the time, Leo the IV, gave Alfred the blessing to become king. Alfred's time came in the year mid-April 871, when King Æthelred died. Only a king of full age could defend the land, and although Æthelred

Alfred the Great was born in the royal village of Want age. He was born in the year 846 A.D... He was born into a family that supposedly could trace their roots all the way back to Adam. His father was king Ethelwulf and his mother was Oostburg noble both by birth and nature. He grew up being loved by everybody around him, his family, friends and even all the people. He was more loved by the people than his older brothers. He was well educated by the court. But even though he was well educated he never got to learn what he wanted to learn the most: liberal arts. He couldn't learn this because there were no good teachers in the kingdom of the West-Saxons.

The Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, era of England lasted from about 450-1066 A.D. The tribes from Germany that conquered Britain in the fifth century carried with them both the Old English language and a detailed poetic tradition. The tradition included alliteration, stressed and unstressed syllables, but more importantly, the poetry was usually mournful, reflecting on suffering and loss.1These sorrowful poems from the Anglo Saxon time period are mimetic to the Anglo-Saxons themselves; they reflect the often burdened and miserable lives and times of the people who created them. The Anglo-Saxon poems, “The Wanderer,” “The Seafarer,” and “The Wife’s Lament,”

Every culture has its own set of values, beliefs, and customs. These values, beliefs and customs create each unique culture, and these cultural constructions are directly and indirectly acquired throughout the lifetime of the culture. A major part of culture is literature; the literature of the time reflects upon daily life and society during the time that the story was composed. Beowulf, an epic poem, is one of the most important and only works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Much like a fable, the epic poem of Beowulf had lessons that taught the people within this society how to behave. This essay will outline how the importance of Christianity and the Germanic Heroic Code in Beowulf are revealed throughout the epic poem as important aspects of the Anglo-Saxon culture as a whole.

During the Anglo-Saxon time period, individuals wrote poems about achievements, deaths, emotions, and adventures taken by certain individuals. There were many popular poems during this era including, “Beowulf” translated by Burton Raffer and “The Wanderer” translated by Charles W. Kennedy. Although both these poems were written during this era, “Beowulf” was an epic poem and “The Wanderer” was an elegiac poem. However, both of these pieces shared certain characteristics related to the culture and values of the Anglo-Saxon culture. Many attributes that make up this culture are related to both Pagan and Christian beliefs. This includes many ideals relating to fate and God. The culture and values of Anglo-Saxons through “Beowulf” and “The Wanderer”, suggest that along one’s quest emerges an individuals outlook on ways of life.

The Tale of Beowulf, teach us many things about this time such as; how the development of Christianity brought hope to the people, it shows the origin of the ideal hero stories, and last but not least ,being that this piece of writing is the first example of english writing, it show the conception & the concurrent growth of the english language. Another example of the growth of the English language is The Venerable Bede’s work ; he was the initial person to translate the Latin Bible to an English Bible-which was important this time due to the fact that the common language was old english influenced by the Germanic and Latin speaking, he was also the one to established B.C -A.C ( therefore establishing the Calendars) and his writing The Life of Cademan from which the hidden message “ With all good things, comes reward” (Which

    There is considerable debate as to whether the poem Beowulf is an epic narrative poem or an heroic elegy. Which is it. This essay intends to present both sides of the story.

When one approaches a movie or television show about historical events it is important to remember that the primary purpose of this media is to entertain. This does not mean however that there aren 't kernels of truth which reflect aspects of what actually took place. For example in the television show The Last Kingdom, there are some liberties taken with the historical period. Some characters are complete works of fiction or events have been changed. Something that remains the same however is the attitude of Alfred the Great towards writing, specifically recording events as they occur. This aspect of Alfred 's personality is on display in Asser 's Life of King Alfred and thus when one compares the representations it is obvious that this portion of Alfred 's character was transposed successfully to the television screen. While The Last Kingdom might take liberties with certain aspects of this time period, its emphasis on Alfred placing an importance on the written word, is undoubtedly a fair representation of the man 's character.

The Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf” takes the reader back into a time long past; one of family, fate, and fealty. Beowulf offers a glimpse of a society struggling between two different paths, one path being the assimilation into the new Christian traditions and the other is the fast fading past of glorified warriors and family ties. In the poem, the reader can see the attempts of the poet to convey the values and stories of Judeo-Christianity in a society of Anglo-Saxon paganism. The poet illustrates the infiltration of the Christian teachings and how they might have appeared within the lives of the people through the literary devices of symbolism, allegory, and allusion.

English went on a long and vigorous adventure to have become the vast language that we know, speak and read today. In this essay, the differences and similarities between Old English and Modern English will be discussed by referring to an extract of Matthew 2: 4-10 from The Gospel of Saint Matthew in West Saxon: edited from the manuscripts by James Wilson Bright (1910:5-6). In the discussion there will be referred to the differences and similarities in orthography, spelling, vocabulary and syntax. Conclusions will also be made about the nature of these chances as they occurred in the adventure from Old English to Modern English.

Beowulf is an epic dense with imagery derived from Anglo-Saxon Pagan culture and Christianity because it is was written in England during the 8th century, a period of Christian migration, growth, and conversion. From the sea where he loses a fight but fends off evil sea-monsters, the forests, and specific animals such as the raven, Beowulf blends nature, mysticism, and reality seamlessly. The descriptions of nature are general and vague which makes it hard to tell exact locations and lets the reader form their own, personalized visualization of the area; likewise, the role of nature in the lives of the Anglo-Saxon culture and Pagan religion remain unclear at best. Provided with many images of nature in Beowulf, this analysis will extract a deeper understanding of how the Anglo-Saxons used their Paganistic view of nature to help shape Beowulf.

There is not a single work along English History that could have been more determinant and indispensable than Bede's Ecclesiastical History. By describing the story of the English people through their experience of Christianity he became our intermediary with the world of Anglo-Saxon England and their believes. Therefore, in what follows an attempt will be made to describe the main contributions of Bede's Ecclesiastical History as a source for early English history.