King Alfred the Great

Soldier, statesman and scholar, Alfred the Great is celebrated as one of Britain's most successful and heroic kings. In this biography, Professor Smyth explores the life of a remarkable man. His conclusion is controversial: he argues that Asser's Life of Alfred, hitherto the most important source of our knowledge about Alfred, may have been a late medieval forgery. This revelation has profound implications for our understanding of the whole of Anglo-Saxon history.