The Forgotten King? Remembering Alfred, c. 900–1125

This thesis explores the posthumous treatment of King Alfred of Wessex (r. 871–899) in the tenth, eleventh, and early twelfth centuries. While this subject has been considered before, existing scholarship has invariably taken a narrow focus, examining the portrayals of Alfred in perhaps only one or two sources, or in an otherwise limited fashion. This thesis takes a broader approach, discussing the reception and use of Alfred’s legacy not only across the breadth of the late Anglo-Saxon period, but also across a variety of source-materials as well.

In particular, this study analyzes the various interpretations of Alfred found in five sources from the period 900–1125: the early-tenth-century Metrical Calendar of Hampson; the mid-tenth-century Historia de Sancto Cuthberto; the late-tenth-century Chronicon Æthelweardi; the early-eleventh-century anonymous Old English homily, Of Seinte Neote; and the early-twelfth-century Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury. In every case, the figure of Alfred was adapted in response to the demands of each source’s immediate historical context, suggesting that his legacy was malleable to a degree. At the same time, however, all five sources demonstrate that Alfred increasingly came to be associated with notions of royal legitimacy and ethnic identity throughout the late Anglo-Saxon period, eventually developing into a symbolic representative of both concepts. As such, this thesis pushes back against the current scholarly opinion that Alfred was dismissed as relatively unimportant in the two centuries after his death, arguing instead that his memory consciously shaped late Anglo-Saxon identity.