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How did King Alfred the Great support Old English learning and writing?
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King Alfred the Great promoted Old English learning and writing by positioning the vernacular as a foundational tool for wisdom and justice. Believing that a decline in learning had invited divine punishment, he sought to reform education during the relative peace of his reign.12
His efforts included:
- Court Scholarship: Alfred assembled a circle of scholars from Mercia, Wales, and the Continent to help him master Latin and translate essential texts into English for his subjects, who had largely lost their Latin proficiency.12
- Literary Translation: He personally translated or commissioned translations of works he deemed "most necessary for all men to know," including Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care, Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, and St. Augustine’s Soliloquies. These translations often included his own meditations on kingship and social order.12
- Educational Reform: He established a school at court where freemen of adequate means could learn to read English, effectively elevating the status of the vernacular and fostering a tradition of English prose literature.12
- Historical Documentation: His intellectual revival is credited with inspiring the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which began around 890.2