Alfred the Great : war, kingship, and culture in Anglo-Saxon England / Richard Abels.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abels, Richard Philip, 1951-

Series:

Medieval world

The medieval world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alfred, King of England, 849-899.

Alfred.

Anglo-Saxons--England--Wessex--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Anglo-Saxons.

England--Wessex.

Kings and rulers.

Military history, Medieval.

Civilization, Medieval.

Great Britain--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--History--Alfred, 871-899.

History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 373 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Longman, 1998.

Summary:

This biography of Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons (871-899), combines a sensitive reading of the primary sources with a careful evaluation of the most recent scholarly research on the history and archaeology of ninth-century England. Alfred emerges from the pages of this biography as a great warlord, an effective and inventive ruler, and a passionate scholar whose piety and intellectual curiosity led him to sponsor a cultural and spiritual renaissance. Alfred's victories on the battlefield and his sweeping administrative innovations not only preserved his native Wessex from viking conquest, but began the process of political consolidation that would culminate in the creation of the kingdom of England. "Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England" strips away the varnish of later interpretations to recover the historical Alfredpragmatic, generous, brutal, pious, scholarly within the context of his own age.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 328-343) and index.

ISBN:

0582040485

0582040477

OCLC:

38948415