WHY ALFRED BURNED THE CAKES: A KING AND HIS ELEVEN-HUNDRED-YEAR AFTERLIFE.
Publisher: PROFILE
Published: 2006
Place of publication: LONDON
Language: und; eng
Number of pages: 228
Description: "David Horspool shows how the Alfred of myth and the Alfred of History have become inextricably linked. For a long time, the legend of the burnt cakes was one of dozens of stories that were associated with the King and his time, from disguising himself as a minstrel to introducing the jury system. Alfred's historical achievements - saving his kingdom from invasion, attempting both to expand and educate his realm - and the way his story was told from the beginning, combined to make him the founding mythic figure of England. In stripping away the myths, historians have left an Alfred whose place in the popular imagination has all but vanished. This book attempts to recover a popular Alfred, understanding how he came to be 'Great', and how much myth had to do with that."--Jacket.