Alfred –Christian King of the English
Alfred the Great
Edited, with Preface by
Alfred Bowker
Mayor of Winchester
1897-98
(Published by ADAM & CHARLES BLACK 1899)
To Commemorate the
Thousandth Anniversary (1901) of the death of our greatest sovereign –“King Alfred”
The following are extracts
from the above book of 257 pages, which cover the Life and Times of a
Christian King of the English.
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The purpose of bringing
the following details to the public is because of the part that King Alfred
took in obtaining the command of the seas over [since our time –August 2004]
over 1100 years ago and the forthcoming 200th Anniversary of the
battle of Trafalgar and the death our greatest Naval Commander –Lord Horatio
Nelson on the 21st of October 1805 who died at the moment of Victory.
[It is also an opportunity to further
emphasise the great danger we face today from politicians who are intent of
ignoring our past history and all that is precious to us - our Nation with such
a illustrious past and let the words of the
past speak on our behalf for us all.]
The Introduction is
by Sir Walter Besant, F.S.A. who has contributed
an extensive outline
on the subject to which we will from time to time return. The following are the
concluding remarks.
. . . Here [Winchester]
lies the dust of the kings his ancestors, and of the kings his successors. Thirty-five of his line made Winchester
their capital: twenty were buried in the Cathedral. In this city Alfred received instruction from St.Swithin: the
city was already old and venerable when Alfred was a boy. He was buried first in the Cathedral, and
afterwards in the Abbey, which he himself founded, hard by.
The name of Alfred’s
country, well –nigh forgotten, except by scholars, has been revived of late
years by a Wessex man- Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). But the name of Alfred’s capital continues
in the venerable and historic city of Winchester, which yields to none
in England for the monuments and the memories of the past.
I venture, lastly, to
express my own personal hope that great as were the achievements of Alfred –
the keynote to be struck and to be maintained will be that Alfred is, and will
always remain, the typical man of our race – call him Anglo-Saxon, call him American, call him
Englishman, call him Australian- the typical man of our race at his best and
noblest.
I like to think that
the face of the Anglo-Saxon at his best and noblest is the face of Alfred I am
quite sure and certain that the mind of the Anglo-Saxon at his best and noblest
is the mind of Alfred: that the aspirations, the hopes, the standards of the
Anglo-Saxon at his best and noblest are the aspirations, the hopes, the
standards of Alfred.
He is truly our
Leader, our Founder, and our King. When
our monument takes shape and form let it somehow recognise this great, this cardinal
fact. Let it show somehow by the
example of Alfred the Anglo-Saxon at his best and noblest-here within the
circle of the narrow seas, or across the ocean; wherever King Alfred’s language
is spoken; wherever King Alfred’s laws prevail; into whatever fair lands of the
wide world King Alfred’s descendants have penetrated. [Which must include a
significant part of the population of the British Isles and other English
-speaking peoples worldwide]
In the words of J.R
Green the historian:
“ Alfred is the only instance in the history
of Christendom of a ruler who put aside every personal aim or ambition in order
to devote himself Wholly to the welfare of those he ruled.”
There is next to be observed
is the permanence of Alfred’s institutions. They do not perish, but remain. His Witenagemot-the
Meeting of the Wise-is our Parliament – it has developed into our many
Parliaments. His order of King, Thane,
and Freeman is our order of King, Lords, and Commons.
His theory of Education
was carried out in some towns, and in all the monasteries and cathedrals: there
are schools still existing, which owe their origin to a period before the
Norman Conquest.
His foundation of
all law upon the Laws of God remains his own: his liberties are our
liberties: his navy is the ancestor of our navy: the literature which he
planted has grown into a goodly tree- the Monarch of the Forest: the foreign
trade that he began is the forerunner of our foreign trade: it would seem as if there
was hardly any point in which in which we have reason to be grateful or proud
which was not foreseen by this wise king.
Click
for Part 2
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SCOTLAND -ITS
PARLIAMENT -WALES-ITS
ASSEMBLY-ENGLAND-STILL
AWAITS ITS PARLIAMENT-WHY?
*
Home Rule for Scotland
WHY NOT
HOME RULE for
ENGLAND
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