National unity in the Alfredian program: A holistic textual analysis
Abstract
King Alfred the Great's (r. 871-899) political program may be best studied against its historical and political environment. A comparison of the texts to their originals, to their historical setting, to each other, and to Alfred's declared intentions for the program suggests that there were several underlying principles to the Alfredian program, among which were a need for national unity and Christian kingship, a focus on strengthening English identity, and a desire to make the English philosophically self-sufficient. Furthermore, the texts need to be seen as a holistic program in and of themselves, in which each text operates as part of a genre and a greater organization and can only be fully understood in relation to the others and to the whole. Three genres of texts predominate in the Alfredian program: the historical, the legal, and the philosophical. The Alfredian program needs to be seen not just as a translation program, or as propaganda, but as an effective royal tool that contributed to political and social change. The effectiveness of the program can be judged by reference to the Anglo-Saxon royal milieu before and after Alfred's reign, particularly in ecclesiastical perspective on the status of the king and the expectations for his actions. It gave rise to a holistic renewal of English national unity through textual production and translation that served to strengthen the kingdom, to uphold the Alfredian ideals, and to alter the nature of Anglo-Saxon kingship from the tribal to the Christian model; as well as to fundamentally alter the philosophical understanding of the relationship between authority and virtue in England. This study elaborates the methods used in the seven texts translated from Latin into Old English that supported Alfred's political change and also how those texts operated as specific genres within the program, where each genre pertained to one facet of the Alfredian social reconstruction.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Hughes, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Literature|History|Public administration
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