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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 501: Alfredian Voices, I: Alfredian Kingship

Tuesday 2 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Francis Leneghan, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:Amy Faulkner, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford
Paper 501-aAlfred's Regal Anointing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser
(Language: English)
Daniel Anlezark, Medieval & Early Modern Centre, University of Sydney
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Lay Piety, Political Thought, Theology
Paper 501-bAlfred and the Three Estates: A Prototype of Sovereignty?
(Language: English)
Haruko Momma, Department of English, New York University
Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a major re-assessment of the writings associated with King Alfred. With the centuries-old consensus that Alfred was himself the 'father' of English prose now in doubt, the time is ripe for scholars to rethink - and rewrite - the literary history of late 9th and early 10th-century Anglo-Saxon England. Papers in this session (the first of two) explore the presentation of Alfred himself as ruler-to-be, images of biblical kingship, and the relationship between Alfredian and Arthurian ideals of kingship.