Chapter 2 - Alfred and governance

Question 1

What are chaplains?

Answer 1

members of the clergy

Question 2

What are household warriors?

Answer 2

members of personal troops of Scandinavian kings

Knights for Anglo Saxons

Question 3

What are blood kin ?

Answer 3

People who are unified by blood / ancestry

Question 4

What are the Witan ?

Answer 4

People who advise the king , discuss religious and local issues

Question 5

What is Fluid institution ?

Answer 5

People moving in and out of different areas of the kingdom depending on what was needed at the time

Question 6

What are Vils ?

Answer 6

Royal residence in a town or country side

Question 7

What are Burhs ?

Answer 7

Alfred encouraged the making of fortified towns to defend against the vikings

Pre existing roman towns were reused . communication was vital for these small towns

Religion was taken into account when establishing burhs

Question 8

What were the function of Burhs ?

Answer 8

Mainly defensive purposes - strategically placed all over Wessex

Places of administration / community / methods of control

Centres of commerce - markets and trade

Question 9

What were the consequences of the creation of the burh system ?

Answer 9

Seemed to end the threat of viking attacks / a potential takeover of Wessex

E.g when the Danes returned , they could only reestablish authority in Mercia and east Anglia , attempts to take Wessex were destroyed

Goods and services were bought . Creation of code that regulated merchant activities

Question 10

What was Burgal Hidadge?

Answer 10

A document that recorded the administrative system in England . It lists 33 Burhs along with Hides attached to burhs .

Question 11

What was the problem with the provenance of the Burgal Hidage ?

Answer 11

Historians refer to two sources of the document

The difference between source A and B was that A states that there were many hides attached to burhs , whereas in B , it is very limited . Some were missing or not mentioned .

Question 12

How did burhs in oxford grow ?

Answer 12

Oxford was designed as a military and administrative base .
There was a street plan which allowed trade and manufacturing of goods to supply the military

There were large buildings where grain would go . leather work was popular there including linen

Question 13

How did the burh in Winchester grow ?

Answer 13

Alfred replaced the old roman drainage system to allow flow through the town .

renovated the old roman structure

Was a place of royal admin . Was constructed based on defence , street plans allowed soldiers to move easier .

Question 14

How did the burh in Chichester grow ?

Answer 14

Built on top of old roman walls , used gridlines to accommodate religious buildings

It needed to be reformed as it was built on the coast , which eventually defended against viking ships

Question 15

How did the burh in Wareham grow ?

Answer 15

Became the centre of Christianity , it was defended by a high bank surrounding the town

was considered an important place to protect Wessex . remained religiously significant .

was a place for the minting of currency .

Question 16

What was the importance of Alfred’s law code ?

Answer 16

Wanted to show the public what the kings values were about ideology and politics .

Created based on mosaic law to emphasise christian teachings . Also to emphasise oath taking and truthfulness/obedience

Question 17

What were some features of Alfred’s law code ?

Answer 17

Has stories about the origins from mosaic law . Gives and outline of the history of law , then it talks about Alfred’s law code

Question 18

What were some principles of Alfred’s law code ?

Answer 18

Criminals would be allowed to live or be killed

Trials would occur if guilt was not obvious ( trial by fire )

Establishment of guilt was followed by appropriate punishment .

Question 19

What was the impact of Alfred’s Law code ?

Answer 19

He managed to rule Wessex with very little opposition ( internal ) .

The emphasis on respect and fairness gave him respect and attention placed on oath taking / maintenance of loyalty .

Question 20

Did Alfred deserve the title of being called King of the English ?

Answer 20

NO - He was King of all the English except for the areas owned by the Vikings ( which was a large portion of England )

YES - Athelweard said that he was King of the Saxons , a pillar of western people: a man replete with justice and vigorous in welfare instructed in divine leadership

NO - Accounts focus on his attributes yet did not compare Alfred to other kings at the time

YES - Charles I and II have both based themselves upon Alfred’s lessons . In the 19th century , Alfred was seen as one of the main reasons for the countries success

YES - promoted as the founder of the British navy / an integral establishment in the British empire

Question 21

What are some reasons for why Alfred reformed England’s education system ?

Answer 21

The Vikings had destroyed religious and learning in Anglo Saxon Britain .

Alfred believed that the damage caused by the Vikings was a consequence of decay in English learning , church life and morality.

The Vikings were a punishment from God

Alfred thought an educated England was formidable and strong

Project of educating was part of military defence in England . If they were educated he hoped that the people would unite under the threat of the Vikings

Question 22

Why did Alfred implement a programme for learning ?

Answer 22

1. To get God on his side . Alfred thought that the bible and God acted as a moral code of conduct, you would be rewarded on earth and heaven . ( MORALITY IDEAS )
2. To enable administrators to implement a fair and just legal system based on Christian teachings to therefore make morally correct judgments . ( POLITICAL IDEAS )
3. Alfred had his own personal reasons for wanting a methodical approach to school and learning . E.G his education was neglected by his parents as he was the youngest in the family , so he had to catch up in his older years

Question 23

How significant were court intellectuals in the developing of learning in Alfred’s rule ?

Answer 23

They were very significant as Alfred said that there were no good scholars in the entirety of Wessex . He was craving knowledge and learning .

It was also significant as court intellectuals could help Alfred speed up the time it would have taken to reform the education system . So his utopia was created quicker

Question 24

What were the Worcester Charters ?

Answer 24

Educated individuals who knew Latin very well . They were not ravaged by the Vikings the same way England was

Question 25

What was the importance of west Mercia for learning ?

Answer 25

It was a recruitment centre - Alfred had hired 3 of the best scholars who were excellent translators in Alfred’s court

Question 26

What was the significance of Archbishop Plegmund ?

Answer 26

Was the Archbishop of Canterbury

He was West Mercian - They were considered to be better at reading and writing in Latin compared to scholars in Wessex which was important for Alfred’s reforms

Question 27

How important were court intellectuals ?

Answer 27

When Alfred decided that learning had to be improved - he set out to employ a group of intellectuals to implement his plans . From areas all over Europe :

The west Mercian contingent
Bishop Asser
Grimbald from Rheims
John from Saxony

Question 28

What did Alfred ask the intellectuals in his home to do ?

Answer 28

He demanded that they read books aloud as he roamed his home

He begged for knowledge and education . Suggesting that he was hungry / motivated to be more intelligent

Question 29

Who was St Gregory

Answer 29

Born into a family in Rome

Became the city Prefect - he gave that job up to manage a monastery on his estate dedicated to St Andrew

Sent to Constantinople as papal legate - he returned home as a bishop for pope Pelagius II

Became pope in 590 - known for spreading the word of God

Wrote the document Pastoral care to guide bishops on their duties

Pastoral care became a guide for authoritarian People on how to use power

Question 30

Why was Pastoral Care written by St Gregory ?

Answer 30

Written to guide Bishops on how to do their duties

Used as a guideline for people with authority like Alfred on how to exercise their power

Question 31

How significant was Pastoral care for the Alfredian renaissance

Answer 31

Acted as a code of conduct for the people to follow - stressed personal qualities to be a competent bishop. E.g. strong character building , developing a sense of virtue , showing responsibility and self examination

For Bishops it highlighted two key principles :

1- They had to teach others
2- They had to live a morally correct life / challenging the sin of pride of those in administrative power

Question 32

Who was Boethius ?

Answer 32

Boethius was a member of Roman nobility - was the “ Master of offices “ - a very high rank in government

Answered to the king of Italy

The king and Boethius fell out , He got sent to jail and then executed

Before his death he wrote the consolidation of philosophy

Question 33

What was significance of Boethius’s message ?

Answer 33

Contained a telling message of “ acceptance of fate and divine providence”- Alfred placed his own twist and said that there was need for divine wisdom , only with this wisdom can we tackle our problems

When Alfred Translated it - he applied more Christian principles and changed terminology because he wanted the message to be more accessible for the people as originally it would have been very confusing to the peasant population

Alfred’s translation shows Alfred’s own ideas and values - He gives indications on how to be a good leader

Question 34

How and why did Alfred alter the consolidation of philosophy from Boethius ?

Answer 34

In order to make knowledge more accessible for the wider Anglo Saxon population to understand

In order to illustrate key Christian messages and also promote the need for divine wisdom - only with wisdom can we overcome challenges

Wanted to display his own concerns of the governance of England and also the Viking threat

Question 35

Who was St Augustine ?

Answer 35

An early Christian theologian + philosopher - writings influenced a number of western Christian leaders and thinkers

Considered the most important theologian in development of western Christianity

Created books like the “city of God” and “ Confessions “

Question 36

What were St Augustine’s soliloquys ?

Answer 36

They were a series of dialogue between St Augustine and reason - Reason says that he needs to fix his mind and eyes onto God if he is to acquire the virtues of reason

Reason says that to become virtuous - St Augustine needs to give up the worlds desires . Once he has done this he will acquire the worlds gifts / eternal gifts of virtue

Once someone has committed themselves to God they receive eternal gifts from God

Question 37

Why did Alfred chose to translate the soliloquys instead of other pieces of work from St Augustine

Answer 37

Alfred wanted to translate his work in order to express his own views of God . In particular the immortality of the soul

His views consisted of :

The fact that God creates a home for the soul
The idea that God gave man very diverse gifts although they are not eternal
God created 2 eternal things “ angels and the soul of man “ to which he gifted them gifts such as wisdom and righteousness

Alfred could have potentially have translated this work in order to tell the population that if they do not listen to Alfred + God then they would not live eternally

Question 38

Why was Asser central to the Alfredian renaissance ?

Answer 38

Asser knew Alfred intimately - provided him with 1to1 tuition - had direct influence on his education - was given jurisdiction over monasteries in Somerset

Asser played a big role in Alfred’s learning of Latin which was a turning point for the learning programme

Asser was a propaganda minister - his biography was written to attract respect , loyalty and deference

Whilst writing the life of king Alfred , he had insider info about his personal qualities

Question 39

Why was Latin so important for priests ?

Answer 39

Without learning Latin , they would not have been able to understand key religious texts , their own knowledge would have been limited

If not then they would not have the ability to spread the word of God into the vernacular

They saw that not being able to read religious texts would bring negative demons like the Viking invasion , so learning was emphasised