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The Death of Alfred

The Death of Alfred is an Old English poem that is part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, concerning the killing of Alfred Aetheling in 1036. It is noted for its departure from traditional Old English poetic metre, abandoning the alliterative verse form in favour of fairly consistently rhyming hemistichs.[1]

Context

The poem occurs as part of the entry for 1036 in manuscripts C and D of the Chronicle,[2]: 31  which begins in prose:

Her com Ælfred, se unsceððiga æþeling, Æþelrædes sunu cinges, hider inn and wolde to his meder, þe on Wincestre sæt, ac hit him ne geþafode Godwine eorl, ne ec oþre men þe mycel mihton wealdan, forðan hit hleoðrode þa swiðe toward Haraldes, þeh hit unriht wære.[3]: 24  In this year, Ælfred, the innocent prince, son of King Æthelræd, came here, and desired to travel to his mother, who was in residence in Winchester. But neither Earl Godwin nor other people wielding great power allowed him, because things spoke much more towards Harald, although it was unjust.

Text, translation, and scansion

Old English original[3]: 24–25  Translation[1]: 93 fn 42  Scansion[1]: 92–93 
Ac Godwine hine þa gelette     and hine on hæft sette,

and his geferan he todraf,     and sume mislice ofsloh;

sume hi man wið feo sealde,     sume hreowlice acwealde,

sume hi man bende,     sume hi man blende,

sume hamelode,     sume hættode.

Ne wearð dreorlicre dæd     gedon on þison earde,

syþþan Dene comon     and her frið namon.

Nu is to gelyfenne     to ðan leofan gode,

þæt hi blission     bliðe mid Criste

þe wæron butan scylde     swa earmlice acwealde.

Se æþeling lyfode þa gyt;     ælc yfel man him gehet,

oðþæt man gerædde     þæt man hine lædde

to Eligbyrig     swa gebundenne.

Sona swa he lende,     on scype man hine blende,

and hine swa blindne     brohte to ðam munecon,

and he þar wunode     ða hwile þe he lyfode.

Syððan hine man byrigde,     swa him wel gebyrede,

ful wurðlice,     swa he wyrðe wæs,

æt þam westende,     þam styple ful gehende,

on þam suðportice;     seo saul is mid Criste.

But Godwine then hindered him and set him in captivity,

and drove off his companions. Variously he slew some,

some were given to people for money, some killed roughly,

some bound, and some blinded,

some hamstrung and some scalped.

There was no more miserable deed done in this land

since the Danes came and made peace here.

It is now that we should believe in the dear God

that they rejoice happily with Christ,

who were, innocent, so horribly killed.

The prince yet lived, each kind of wickedness promised to him,

until they counselled that he be led

to Ely, bound as he was.

As soon as he arrived, they blinded him upon the ship,

and brought him thus blind to the monks,

and he dwelt there the time that he lived.

Afterwards they buried him as was fitting,

full honourably, as he was worthy,

at the west end, right near the steeple,

in the south porch; his soul is with Christ.

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Recordings

  • Michael D. C. Drout, 'Death of Alfred', performed from the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records edition (12 December 2007).

Digital Facsimile Editions

References

  1. ^ a b c Thomas A. Bredehoft, ‘Ælfric and Late Old English Verse’, Anglo-Saxon England, 33 (2004), 77–107.
  2. ^ Susanne Kries, 'Danish Rivalry and the Mutilation of Alfred in the Eleventh-Century "Chronicle" Poem "The Death of Alfred"', Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 104 (2005), 31-53.
  3. ^ a b The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems, ed. by Elliott van Kirk Dobbie, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 6 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942).
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