Alfredo el Grande, también llamado Ælfred, del anglosajón: Ælfrēd o san Alfredo el Grande, fue rey de Wessex desde 871 hasta su muerte. Se hizo célebre por defender su reino contra los vikingos, convirtiéndose como resultado de esto en el único rey de su dinastía en ser llamado «El Grande» o Magno por su pueblo. Fue también el primer rey de Wessex que se autoproclamó rey de los anglosajones. Su vida se conoce gracias a Asser, cronista galés. Hombre culto y letrado, ayudó mucho a la educación y a mejorar el sistema de leyes de su reino. Venerado como santo en las Iglesias católica, ortodoxa y anglicana, su fiesta litúrgica se celebra el 26 de octubre.
“He that is shut out
Is soon forgot within.”
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 242. <br class="br">Misattributed
Last words in Blostman [Blooms] (c. 895 AD) an anthology, based largely on the Soliloquies of Augustine of Hippo.
Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves did not cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.
Fuente: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 125.
When I recalled how knowledge of Latin had previously decayed throughout England, and yet many could still read things written in English, I then began, amidst the various and multifarious afflictions of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which in Latin is called Pastoralis, in English "Shepherd-book", sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense.
Fuente: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 126
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 942; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 214.
Misattributed
On this, hear Alfred's weighty word<br/>Which man should treasure once it's heard:<br/>"Foresee your trouble in its course:<br/>You thereby take away its force."
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 1223; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 224.
Misattributed
I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works.
In his translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, ch. 17, p. 133.
“Never believe the speech of all men, nor all the things that you hear sung.”
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 237. <br class="br">Misattributed
Choose never for thy mate<br>a little man, or long, or red...<br><br>The little man is so conceited,<br>no one can dwell near him...<br><br>The long man is ill to be with,<br>seldom is his heart brave...<br><br>The red man is a rogue,<br>for he will advise thee ill;<br>he is quarrelsome, a thief and whoreling,<br>a scold, of mischief he is king. <br class="br">The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 247 <br class="br">Misattributed
Very often it has come to my mind what men of learning there were formerly throughout England, both in religious and secular orders; and how there were happy times then throughout England; and how the kings, who had authority over this people, obeyed God and his messengers; and how they not only maintained their peace, morality and authority at home but also extended their territory outside; and how they succeeded both in warfare and in wisdom; and also how eager were the religious orders both in teaching and in learning as well as in all the holy services which it was their duty to perform for God; and how people from abroad sought wisdom and instruction in this country; and how nowadays, if we wished to acquire these things, we would have to seek them outside.
Fuente: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 124.
