_King Alfred an "amator librorum" and an author._
The latter part of the tenth century was a most memorable period in the
annals of monkish bibliomania, and gave birth to one of the brightest
scholars that ever shone in the dark days of our Saxon forefathers. King
Alfred, in honor of whose talents posterity have gratefully designated
the Great, spread a fostering care over the feeble remnant of native
literature which the Danes in their cruel depredations had left
unmolested. The noble aspirations of this royal student and patron of
learning had been instilled into his mind by the tender care of a fond
parent. It was from the pages of a richly illuminated little volume of
Saxon poetry, given to him by the queen as a reward for the facility with
which he had mastered its contents, that he first derived that intense
love of books which never forsook him, though the sterner duties of his
after position frequently required his thoughts and energies in another
channel. Having made himself acquainted with this little volume, Alfred
found a thirst for knowledge grow upon him, and applied his youthful mind
to study with the most zealous ardor; but his progress was considerably
retarded, because he could not, at that time, find a Grammaticus capable
of instructing him,[238] although he searched the kingdom of the West
Saxons. Yet he soon acquired the full knowledge of his own language, and
the Latin it is said he knew as well, and was able to use with a fluency
equal to his native tongue; he could comprehend the meaning of the Greek,
although perhaps he was incapable of using it to advantage. He was so
passionately fond of books, and so devoted to reading, that he constantly
carried about him some favorite volume which, as a spare moment occurred,
he perused with the avidity of an _helluo librorum_. This pleasing
anecdote related by Asser[239] is characteristic of his natural
perseverance.
When he ascended the throne, he lavished abundant favors upon all who
were eminent for their literary acquirements; and displayed in their
distribution the utmost liberality and discrimination. Asser, who
afterwards became his biographer, was during his life the companion and
associate of his studies, and it is from his pen we learn that, when an
interval occurred inoccupied by his princely duties, Alfred stole into
the quietude of his study to seek comfort and instruction from the pages
of those choice volumes, which comprised his library. But Alfred was not
a mere bookworm, a devourer of knowledge without purpose or without
meditation of his own, he thought with a student's soul well and deeply
upon what he read, and drew from his books those principles of
philanthropy, and those high resolves, which did such honor to the Saxon
monarch. He viewed with sorrow the degradation of his country, and the
intellectual barrenness of his time; the warmest aspiration of his soul
was to diffuse among his people a love for literature and science, to
raise them above their Saxon sloth, and lead them to think of loftier
matters than war and carnage. To effect this noble aim, the highest to
which the talents of a monarch can be applied, he for a length of time
devoted his mind to the translation of Latin authors into the vernacular
tongue. In his preface to the Pastoral of Gregory which he translated, he
laments the destruction of the old monastic libraries by the Danes. "I
saw," he writes, "before alle were spoiled and burnt, how the churches
throughout Britain were filled with treasures and books,"[240] which must
have presented a striking contrast to the illiterate darkness which he
tells us afterwards spread over his dominions, for there were then very
few _paucissimi_ who could translate a Latin epistle into the Saxon
language.
When Alfred had completed the translation of Gregory's Pastoral, he sent
a copy to each of his bishops accompanied with a golden stylus or
pen,[241] thus conveying to them the hint that it was their duty to use
it in the service of piety and learning. Encouraged by the favorable
impression which this work immediately caused, he spared no pains to
follow up the good design, but patiently applied himself to the
translation of other valuable books which he rendered into as pleasing
and expressive a version as the language of those rude times permitted.
Besides these literary labors he also wrote many original volumes, and
became a powerful orator, a learned grammarian, an acute philosopher, a
profound mathematician, and the prince of Saxon poesy; with these exalted
talents he united those of an historian, an architect, and an
accomplished musician. A copious list of his productions, the length of
which proves the fertility of his pen, will be found in the Biographica
Britannica,[242] but names of others not there enumerated may be found
in monkish chronicles; of his Manual, which was in existence in the time
of William of Malmsbury, not a fragment has been found. The last of his
labors was probably an attempt to render the psalms into the common
language, and so unfold that portion of the Holy Scriptures to our Saxon
ancestors.
Alfred, with the assistance of the many learned men whom he had called to
his court, restored the monasteries and schools of learning which the
Danes had desecrated, and it is said founded the university of Oxford,
where he built three halls, in the name of the Holy Trinity; for the
doctors of divinity, philosophy, and grammar. The controversy which this
subject has given rise to among the learned is too long to enter into
here, although the matter is one of great interest to the scholar and to
the antiquary.
In the year 901, this royal bibliophile, "the victorious prince, the
studious provider for widows, orphanes, and poore people, most perfect in
Saxon poetrie, most liberall endowed with wisdome, fortitude, justice,
and temperance, departed this life;"[243] and right well did he deserve
this eulogy, for as an old chronicle says, he was "a goode clerke and
rote many bokes, and a boke he made in Englysshe, of adventures of kynges
and bataylles that had bene wne in the lande; and other bokes of gestes
he them wryte, that were of greate wisdome, and of good learnynge, thrugh
whych bokes many a man may him amende, that well them rede, and upon
them loke. And thys kynge Allured lyeth at Wynchestre."[244]
FOOTNOTES:
[238] Flor. Vigorn. sub. anno. 871. Brompton's Chron. in Alferi, p.
814.
[239] Asser de Alfredi Gestis., Edit. Camden i. p. 5. William
Malmsbury, b. ii. c. iv.
[240] Preface to Pastoral.
[241] Much controversy has arisen as to the precise meaning of this
word. _Hearne_ renders this passage "with certain macussus or marks
of gold the purest of his coin," which has led some to suppose gold
coinage was known among the Saxons. _William of Malmsbury_ calls it
a golden style in which was a maucus of gold. "In Alfred's Preface
it is called an Æstel of fifty macuses."--_V. Asser a Wise_, 86 to
175; but the meaning of that word is uncertain. The stylus properly
speaking was a small instrument formerly used for writing on waxen
tablets, and made of iron or bone, see _Archæologia_, vol. ii. p.
75. But waxen tablets were out of use in Alfred's time. The Æstel or
style was most probably an instrument used by the scribes of the
monasteries, if it was not actually a pen. I am more strongly
disposed to consider it so by the evidence of an ancient MS.
illumination of Eadwine, a monk of Canterbury, in Trinity Coll.
Camb.; at the end of this MS. the scribe is represented with a
_metal pen in his hand_.
[242] Vol. i. pp. 54, 55.
[243] Stowe's Annals, 4to. 1615, p. 105.
[244] Cronycle of Englonde with the Fruyte of Tymes, 4to. 1515.