The Life and Times of Alfred the Great / Being the Ford lectures for 1901

The lectures offer a concise, source-critical biography of King Alfred, surveying contemporary chronicles, hagiography, and later narratives to reconstruct his youth, accession, and military campaigns against Viking forces. They analyse his reforms in civil administration, legal and educational initiatives, and patronage of learning, and evaluate his translations and literary output. The author weighs conflicting evidence, discusses methodological issues and textual authorities, and concludes with a synthesis of Alfred's policies and character. The volume includes an appendix containing a funeral sermon for Queen Victoria and notes documenting the documentary bases for the arguments.