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IMC 2025: Sessions

Session 635: Alfredian Voices: Worlds of Learning in Alfredian Literature

Tuesday 8 July 2025, 11:15-12:45

Organisers:Amy Faulkner, Department of English Language & Literature, University College London
Francis Leneghan, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:Francis Leneghan, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
Paper 635-aClassical Ethics in Early Medieval Translation
(Language: English)
Megan Renz Perry, Medieval Studies Program, Yale University
Index terms: Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Philosophy
Paper 635-bAlfredian Iconography: The Consumption of Knowledge
(Language: English)
Raven McGovern, Independent Scholar
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 635-cPseudo-Dionysius and Evagrius in Alfred’s Wagon-Wheel of Fate
(Language: English)
Eleni Ponirakis, School of English, University of Nottingham
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Language and Literature - Old English, Philosophy
Abstract

With scholars of Alfredian literature increasingly moving away from the question of King Alfred’s personal involvement in the translations associated with his reign and his court, the field of Alfredian scholarship has seen greater diversity in the approaches to this group of texts and a widening of the traditional limits of this corpus well beyond the “royal canon”. The translations of this group are deeply invested in a whole array of different worlds of learning, from the inherited scholarship of the ancient world to the contemporary continental learning brought with the scholars invited by Alfred to his West Saxon court. Papers in this session will explore the significance of learning in Alfredian literature, assessing the influence of classical ethics, the representation of knowledge in Alfredian literature and associated material culture, and the impact of the Alfredian language of time upon Old English literature. As these papers will demonstrate, Alfredian literature can be seen to both draw upon various worlds of learning, and moreover contribute to a rich culture of learning in late-ninth and early-tenth-century England.