The first half is based mainly on the Soliloquies of St Augustine of Hippo, the remainder is drawn from various sources, and contains much that is Alfred's own and highly characteristic of him.

It was first mentioned as " Ilfing " in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan which was written in Anglo-Saxon in King Alfred's reign using information from a Viking who had visited the area.

The specific name alfredi was first used in Krefft's description of Prince Alfred's manta ray in 1868.

The first language of most of Alfred's elder brothers and sisters was German or one of the Alsatian dialects.

On the other hand, William of Malmesbury, relying on a poem, related that Edward's eldest son ( by his first wife Ecgwynn ), Athelstan, succeeded directly under the terms of King Alfred's will ( since lost ).

He is first recorded in 883, when he made a grant to Berkeley Abbey with the approval of King Alfred of Wessex, showing that he acknowledged Alfred's lordship.

In the preface to the first volume he regrets that except for Alfred's translations, Englishmen had no means of learning the true doctrine as expounded by the Latin fathers.

They played their first gig as a five-piece at King Alfred's College, Winchester.

Dolf is Alfred's Archenemy and first appears in episode 4.

In the first episode Dolf's parents, a crow and a blackbird, can be seen making disparaging comments on the eggs of Alfred's mother.

* Ollie is Alfred's close school-friend, a stork who grows up to be a lawyer, and later, after the defeat of Dolf, the first democratically elected president of Great Waterland.

He makes his first appearance in episode 2, in which he attends Alfred's first birthday party.

The first codex contains four works of Old English prose: a copy of Alfred's translation of Augustine's Soliloquies, a translation of the Gospel of Nicodemus, the prose Solomon and Saturn, and a fragment of a life of Saint Quentin.

The translation was undertaken at Alfred's command by Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, with the king merely furnishing a preface.

One might add to this list Alfred's translation, in his law code, of excerpts from the Vulgate Book of Exodus.

Although he described his method as translating " sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense ," Alfred's translation actually keeps very close to his original, although through his choice of language he blurred throughout the distinction between spiritual and secular authority.

Unlike his translation of the Pastoral Care, Alfred here deals very freely with his original and though the late Dr. G. Schepss showed that many of the additions to the text are to be traced not to Alfred himself, but to the glosses and commentaries which he used, still there is much in the work which is solely Alfred's and highly characteristic of his style.

King Alfred's ( Alfred the Great ) translation of Orosius ' history of the world uses Angelcynn (- kin ) to describe England and the English people ; Bede used Angelfolc (- folk ); there are also such forms as Engel, Englan ( the people ), Englaland, and Englisc, all showing i-mutation.

About half of the Life is little more than a translation of part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the years 851 – 887, though Asser adds personal opinions and interpolates information about Alfred's life.

In addition to being the primary source for Alfred's life, Asser's work is also a source for other historical periods, where he adds material to his translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

In addition to the Life of King Alfred, Asser is credited by Alfred as one of several scholars who assisted with Alfred's translation of Gregory's Regula Pastoralis ( Pastoral Care ).

In 1773 Barrington published an edition of Orosius, with King Alfred's Saxon version, and an English translation with original notes.

Many scholars believe that the fifty Psalms in Old English that are found in the Paris Psalter represent Alfred's translation.

In 1871, still an undergraduate, he edited King Alfred's translation of the Cura Pastoralis for the Early English Text Society ( King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care: With an English Translation, the Latin Text, Notes, and an Introduction ), his commentary establishing the foundation for Old English dialectology.

The name India was known in Old English, and was used in King Alfred's translation of Orosius.

Parallel editions of King Alfred's full Old English text and a modern translation.

When King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfred's brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelbert and Æthelred.

It is possible that this arrangement was sanctioned by Alfred's father, or by the Witan, to guard against the danger of a disputed succession should Æthelred fall in battle.

One of the terms of the surrender was that Guthrum convert to Christianity ; and three weeks later the Danish king and 29 of his chief men were baptised at Alfred's court at Aller, near Athelney, with Alfred receiving Guthrum as his spiritual son.

The Danish fleet was able to defeat Alfred's fleet which may have been weakened in the previous engagement.

The relative peace of the late 880s was marred by the death of Alfred's sister, Æthelswith, who died en route to Rome in 888.

At the centre of Alfred's reformed military defence system was a network of fortresses, or burhs, distributed at strategic points throughout the kingdom.

Alfred's burghal system was revolutionary in its strategic conception and potentially expensive in its execution.

Alfred's military reorganisation of Wessex consisted of three elements: the building of thirty fortified and garrisoned towns ( burhs ) along the rivers and Roman roads of Wessex ; the creation of a mobile ( horsed ) field force, consisting of his nobles and their warrior retainers, which was divided into two contingents, one of which was always in the field ; and the enhancement of Wessex's seapower through the addition of larger ships to the existing royal fleet.

The story that he himself in his childhood was sent to Ireland to be healed by Saint Modwenna, though mythical, may show Alfred's interest in that island.

Restoring religion and learning in Wessex, Abels contends, was to Alfred's mind as essential to the defence of his realm as the building of the burhs.

This was not a cynical use of religion to manipulate his subjects into obedience, but an intrinsic element in Alfred's worldview.

Alfred's ultimate responsibility was the pastoral care of his people.

By the end of Alfred's reign in 899 he was the only remaining English king, having reduced Mercia to a dependency of Wessex, governed by his son-in-law Ealdorman Aethelred.

Asser in his Life of Alfred claims that Alfred's mother, Osburga, was descended from the Jutes of the Isle of Wight, whom he identifies with the Goths.

As it was Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature.

When Ceolwulf's rule came to an end he was succeeded as ruler of " English Mercia " not by another king but by a mere ealdorman named Aethelred, who acknowledged Alfred's overlordship and married his daughter Ethelfleda.

In 1660 when a replacement crown called St Edward's Crown was cast for the coronation of Charles II the gold from the aforementioned King Alfred's Crown ( the original crown of Edward the Confessor ) was used, so presumably even after the various jewels had been melted down strenuous efforts were made to recover their components.