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Alfred the Great: The Man Who Made England

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Ok, that title was just to catch your attention! But I have long thought that the real King Arthur of legend was based on the Anglo Saxon King Alfred. It would be unlikely for Normans to want to draw any such parallels; but instead of knights Alfred drew around him scholars, and instead of a Merlin he had the Welsh Asser by his side. But you will get none of that sort of thing in this book. This book is good history written in a fluid style that is hard to put down. There is none of that heaping up of sub-clauses and name-dropping that you get in so many histories. This man can write!

Pollard gives you all the background you need, and deftly weaves into this work enough detail about Anglo Saxon and Viking life (and even a little Celtic) to give you a good grounding in that age. You aren't always aware that he is doing it because customs are often introduced as anecdotes or to explain a fact bearing on the story line. Nor is this work restricted to the southern counties of England. The declining Carolignian Empire and most other places that the Vikings came into contact with are well documented.

So, is this book crammed with a lot of trivia? No, you never once get that feeling. Always Pollard's words are interesting and relevant. Indeed, at the end of your over 300-page read, you will be surprised that so much was contained in the book.

Nor does Pollard idolise Alfred. He seeks to extract the man from the myth; and yet when all is said and done, you will understand why the Victorians called this man Alfred, Great. Alfred's story is a great story; he stood up to the bully, and he adapted the social order of his people in order to do so (much as we are now doing to defend ourselves against terrorists); and he did it with guts. Don't take my word for it: read for yourself. And if there are any film makers out there who want to continue the successful Lord of the Rings ethos, why not base a film on this book? It would have to be better than the only other film I know of Alfred, which depicted him as a psychological misfit.

This is a great book about a great man.

Justin Pollard's strength is the canny way he brings ancient stories to life by focussing on the human, emotional drivers that set his protagonists into action. The social and political context of Alfred's world is dealt with sensitively and non-judgmentally, leaving the reader to draw his/her own conclusions with the assistance of Pollard's meticulous research.

An excellent work: a readable and informative benchmark for the subject matter. Pollard's thesis, that Alfred was the greatest Englishman, is highly persuasive.

I was looking for a biography of Alfred The Great that would come as close as possible to give some feel for what the real man must have been like. The man behind the legend so to speak. This book is an intriguing interpretation of the few documents which have survived and is probably as near as anyone is likely to come to capturing the essence of who he was as a person.

Between Bernard Cornwell's sour take on Alfred in The Saxon Stories and Joan Wolf's highly romantized one in The Edge of the Light I wanted to find something with a more a scholarly approach. The really funny thing is that both Cornwell and Wolf used the same sources that Pollard did and all three had the documented events spot on. It was when they started interpreting them that they all took off in different directions. A lesson to us all in how history can be spun without telling even a single lie.

The author is very straightforward in pointing out that the only real evidence that has survived consists of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, some charters (which Pollard writes may been forged), some of Alfred's own writings and translations and Asser's biography of Alfred on which he has relied heavily. Nevertheless Pollard has produced a very well written book that is not only credible (at least to me) but one that is so readable it's hard to put down. This is an author I will follow

Author Justin Pollard begins this fascinating and engaging historical work by describing the fate of the original source material and how it was partially preserved over centuries. While admitting early on that he will be relying on a single primary source ,the work of the monk Asser , he nevertheless weaves an exciting and enlightening work of biography and history out of it.
Anglo-Saxon England besieged on all sides by Vikings and governed as small and separate Kingdoms give rise to an individual who unites the Kingdom and ultimately establishes the lineage of the future Kings of England. Alfred's decision to stay in Wessex and engage in an underground resistance rather than flee is shown to have had consequences that have echoed through the centuries.

Alfred's contribution to creating a literate culture is compellingly described in a later chapter and is one of the most interesting aspects of his life. Collecting scholars to his circle and learning Latin to allow for his own interpretations of works he viewed as critical are shown to be the beginning of English culture.

The stories of the social political and military developments in Alfred's time are deftly handled by the author and the book is an enjoyable way to experience the middle ages in England.

This is a refreshing and authoritative take on the life of the enigmatic Alfred (who if remembered at all is not remembered for founding the Royal Navy, or saving England from total Viking domination or for trying to ressurect education -- he's remembered for burning the bread at Athenly), and one that any history buff would enjoy reading.
It's not so much a direct biography of Alfred as you might think. Yes, it covers the major beats of his life, and offers intrieguing interpretations thereon, but as the only real evidence that we have of Alfred consists of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, some charters (which Pollard reminds us more often that not have a good likelihood of having been forged), some of Alfred's own writings and translations and Asser's biography of Alfred, there is not much to hang a biographical hat on.
Instead, Pollard, uses Alfred's life to introduce us to the times that Alfred lived in more generally. Here we meet not only the King himself, but we also see the City of Rome circa 854, a decaying shell of its former self. Then we meet with the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok, who was killed, according to Pollard, either years before Alfred was born, or when he was 13. Then there's the more concrete (and shrewd-to-a-fault) Viking warrior Weyland, whose thirst for gold may have nearly cost him his life. Gossip on the Wessex court and their Frankish counterparts is also in evidence, breathing life into the dry annals in a fascinating manner -- for instance Pollard's interpretation of Queen Judith's rather hasty and forced crowning after her marraige to Aethelwulf (The Saxons, after a nasty experience with a Queen of Mercia, were not enamored of the title) as a Frankish power play.
The book reads very easily, and Pollard's writing is lucid and entrancing. I've read Eleanor Shipley-Duckett's seminal work on Alfred, and while astounding scholarship, her 1950's-era take is dated. Pollard's book is a must for any who want to understand Alfred and his times.

Since the year 2000 I have been keeping track of what I read, just to see what I gravitate towards etc, and it is about 40 books a year, or so. Until this book, my favorite was the UNabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, translator Robin Buss, Penguin Classics. That was until I found this book, which makes you feel as if you are standing around watching these events that are described, in person. Very vivid, very interesting, the writing style is superior, it gets you into the story. I feel like I sat down next to Alfred and overheard all his conversations and stood a little distance away and witnessed his army fight the hated Vikings. I just could not put this book down, and certainly that cannot be said for most books, whatever the subject matter. If you buy one book in the next year or so, make it this one. You will be carried along not so much by the action, but by the entire story as it is told. It is not just told, it is dramatized in such a way that it is very very interesting.

This is not a great book, but it's readable.

Mr Pollard deals skillfully with the two main difficulties of putting together a biography of Alfred the Great: the scarce, fragmentary and biased nature of the surviving records, and the inherent dullness of the subject, i.e., the internecine Anglo-Saxon wars prior and during the Viking period.

In order to add interest, he beats about the bush abundantly, for example, devoting a good portion of the beginning of the book explaining how the XVIII library that housed important documents of the period caught fire. He also gives abundant context on Viking endeavors in the continent, which helps explain where they come from, and why.

Unlike what happens with many biographical books, that tend to be a collection of facts and dates, Mr Pollard often takes that useful step back and gives us the bigger perspective. He also draws interesting, very common-sensical conclusions and extrapolations when the historical record is lacking.

The book sometimes lapses into that defect common to so many other works about English royalty, especially by British authors: they give the lives of their kings a "teleological" sense, of historical purpose, of finality, of incremental steps (despite drawbacks) towards a destiny of greatness. That slightly hampers the rhythm and objectivity of the work, especially when the author switches to describe Arthur intellectual achievements.

Although a useful map is included, the author refers very heavily to British toponyms all across the narration, often taking for granted the familiarity of the reader with such places. That also slightly limits the enjoyment for non-British readers.

In all, a down-to-earth, well rounded, somewhat wandering introductory book on the subject.

Alfred founded what was to become the first modern European state. He not only firmly established the mechanisms used by all future English monarchs (including the Normans) to dispense favor and position but also decisively ended the era of expansion of the pagan Vikings and, through his monastic land-grants and a culture of learning, set the world on a path to Reformation, Renaissance and Enlightenment. The burghal system of defense against the Vikings, based as it was on the nascent English city of which London became the crowning achievement, eventually triumphed over the temporary fortifications of the Vikings and the imposing Norman fortresses that were later discarded in favor of urban and suburban life. England would not have become England without Alfred's thoughtful design.