The Life and Times of Alfred the Great

Kings and Queens of England

by Douglas Woodruff

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Medieval

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Shake n' Vac]

A retro-review of this, as I am reading some Saxon stuff as a bit of a break but this one (in fact the whole K&Q series) currently resides in my loft so wont be included; its current location is not a reflection on the book - simply a spatial issue - and it is, as is the series, a good, basic introduction to the topic at hand. I read this book a few times in my teens and 20s, before progressing to more in-depth accounts that I will review in time. The book, as alluded to by others, is deceptively short as it is crammed with illustrations that, depending on your view of the use and placing of such things, can break the flow of the text; indeed, this is why I prefer the McNair Scott biography, pitched at a similar level - but I stress it is personal taste. All-in-all, a colourful first-outing into Alfred and perfectly fine if that is all you want.

[David Charnick]

This is a useful overview of the subject, with each of the five chapters taking a clearly-defined area. It moves from the establishment of the West Saxon dynasty to Alfred establishing stability after resisting the Danish invaders and planting himself firmly as king. It moves then to Alfred's contribution to learning, and concludes with his legacy. Woodruff keeps his eye on the context all the way through, drawing links backwards and forwards in time.

It's illustrated well but indiscriminately. The illustrations lack focus at times; mainly they give context, but sometimes seem to have been shovelled in. The number of two-page spreads makes for awkwardness when you're mid-sentence. Also at one point the wrong picture is inserted, from the Book of Kells rendering of the Gospel of Matthew. Presumably this is a mistake from the original which went undetected in the nineteen years between print runs.

It's a useful introduction, but as such it leaves you wanting more and wondering whether his conclusions are a little too pat. Also there's a bit too much of the school textbook about this work, especially expressions such as 'Frenchified' for the Normans. It's a 1993 reprint of a 1974 work. There's no reference to it being revised, and this may be its problem. It needs freshening, with more neutral language. However, a useful introduction as I say, and it provides a useful springboard for anyone wanting to go further into a time which laid the political foundations of England.

[Bill38silver]

This is another useful addition to the "Life and Times" series; it is very readable, geared to the general reader not the academic and full ( and I mean full) of illustrations. The text is well written but often veers way beyond the subject of King Alfred: are events one hundred years before or one to two hundred years after directly relevant to this single, great man?

Whilst the many illustrations , in particular the colour reproductions, are fine examples in themselves many are not directly related to the life and times of Alfred. This book appears to indulge in a scatter gun approach to display Anglo Saxon art and objects and it is sloppy to use pictures to break up text for several pages (often in mid sentence and irrelevant to the story) rather than batch them together at the end of each chapter.

This is more of a useful general introduction to the subject. I recommend those wanting to delve deeper into the subject to spend a day visiting Sutton Hoo in East Anglia and in obtaining the substantial and brilliantly illustrated book that accompanied the magnificent 2018 British Library exhibition on the Anglo Saxons.

[untitled lullaby]

I don’t think I learnt much about Alfred. I learnt a bit about his time period but not much about him. The author seems to forget about the candles and other things till the very end. I feel like the last kingdom somehow did it better and I learnt more about Alfred there. It was irrelevant when this is written but now you could just look him up on Wikipedia and probably learn more. Or another book

[Noah Calcagno]

Though well-written and beautifully illustrated, the book nonetheless focused more on Anglo-Saxon England in general than Alfred the Great in particular. Obviously, this is still interesting content, the problem is that it is simply not what I thought the book was about.

[Susan Grimshaw]

Interesting, informative and full of beautiful illustrations.

[Edoardo Albert]

A clear, beautifully illustrated introduction to Alfred's life and times. Since so much space is taken up with illustrations there actually isn't all that much text and the book can be read in a few hours.

[Pete daPixie]

I have the complete set of the Kings and Queens of England series. Quite useful for ref.

[Pj]

Another great book in the kings and queens series. Although a little dated now.

[Russell Hall]

So amazing to read the life of a man who is twenty-three generations back from England's current Queen.