Best biography of alfred the great

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    Battle of the Books on Alfred the Great

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for This Book Battle:

    He did more than just whoop the Vikings.

    Quick synopsis:

    Biography of Alfred the Great, England’s first king (well, kinda. It is a super long story about who the first “king” is and well, let’s just assume he is.)

    Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:

    Alfred the Great was the first English ruler who showed the Vikings who’s boss.

    Fun Fact for History Nerds:

    The book is filled with them. I’ll pick Alfred’s ingenious use of country planning to ensure he could always have a military force in the field by taking into account distance and the harvest.

    My Take on Alfred the Great by Justin Pollard and The White Horse King by Benjamin Merkle:

    Pollard and Merkle have no business making these books so good on so many fronts. The biggest challenge with this time period is a severe lack of documentation and scholarship to pull from. Luckily, Alfred was pretty learned and at least pr

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    Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources

    January 18,
    Having read little over half of Bernard Cornwell's recommended series 'The Saxon Stories' aka 'The Last Kingdom' because of the TV-series, the books encouraged me to dive into the history (incl. mythology, politics, and more) of the Vikings. I've read a good handful of such books, still have a good handful on my TBR-pile, as you can see on one of my shelves.

    Asser's 'Life of King Alfred' is not only recommended by Bernard Cornwell himself, but also a very valuable and important historical work. Penguin's edition contains not only 'Life of King Alfred', but also other, historical and primary sources connected to Alfred the Great, king of Wessex and later England. The last related work I read and which pushed me to pick up 'Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources' sooner rather than later, was 'Aelfred's Britain: War And Peace In The Viking Age' by the
  • best biography of alfred the great

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    Alfred the Great: King of the Anglo-Saxons

    9th May, in Biography & Memoir, History

    By Barbara Yorke

    King Alfred the Great fryst vatten the most famous and celebrated of all Anglo-Saxon kings. His statue stands at the heart of a number of southern English towns – Wantage, where he was born over a thousand years ago; Winchester, where he was buried; Pewsey and Shaftesbury, where he also had strong personal connections. Other monuments to his memory can be enjoyed on a day out at Stowe Landscape Gardens, on the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire or at Athelney on the Somerset Levels. Alfred was headline news when the results of an examination of what might have been part of his skeleton were announced in Winchester. This was in January , 1, years after his death. How has Alfred’s reputation survived with such dramatic force when other powerful and high-achieving Anglo-Saxon kings have been all but forgotten? Why is he the only King of England to be known as ‘the Great’?

    There are three main