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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 9 (February 25, 1927)

Alfred The Great. — 871–901 A.D

Alfred The Great.
871–901 A.D.

The first to bear the title of Earl in England, Alfred the Great, “the saint, the scholar, the hero, and the law-giver,” is the ancestor in a direct line, of the Duke of York whom, with his Duchess, it will be New Zealand's honour to entertain within a few days.

Historians have combined to glorify the name of Alfred, the first real English King. “No other man” said one, “ever combined in his own person so much excellence in war, legislation and learning.”

The story of the manner in which the young Alfred won a richly bound and illuminated volume of Saxon poems for being the first of his family able to recite them, and his later scholastic achievements are well known. He translated books, including Aesop's fables, into the Anglo-Saxon language and under his direction the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the earliest history which any European country possesses in its own language, was compiled. Furthermore, he encouraged education within his Kingdom, brought learned men from the Continent to teach in England and founded the University of Oxford—to which our own Rhodes Scholars now proceed.

King Alfred

King Alfred

The success with which Alfred repelled the attacks of the Danes, those fierce marauders who were over-running the land, convinces us of his military ability. For the more efficient defence of his Kingdom against the Danes he built a fleet and organised the fyrd, or militia, in such a manner that one half was always available for fighting and the remaining half for the maintenance of the agricultural crops which provided food for the nation.

At a time when the staple diet was “salt pork, fish, and floods of strong beer” and the general desire was merely to eat, drink and be merry, Alfred brought a passion for order, education, and right living to his task of kingship—assumed at the early age of twenty-one—which deserved the gratitude and admiration of all subsequent generations. His day was divided into three parts: (a) State business; (b) prayer and study; (c) sleep, meals and recreation; and these divisions, measured by candles, were strictly adhered to.

Alfred's political institutions, his code of laws, and his strict administration of justice give him a strong claim to the title of “Great.” On account of the stern impartiality with which his enactments were carried out, crime became rare. Judges were under the supervision of the King and any found guilty of corrupt practices were harshly punished. The terror of his name was so great that it was said “golden ornaments might be hung by the roadside and no robber would dare to touch them.”

The fact that Alfred suffered from an internal disease which spared him scarcely a painless hour for over twenty years makes his achievements even more remarkable.