Alfred the Great

the long version

This book recreates the life of the ninth-century English king, scholar, warrior and lawmaker. It has three aims: to do what it may in spreading among us the knowledge of this king who did so much for his England and his world; to place him in his setting -- Saxon, Celtic, and Continental; and to build his story on simple lines, which rest nevertheless upon a foundation suggested by the sources given at its close. - Foreword.