The Proverbs of Alfred facts for kids

The Proverbs of Alfred is a collection of old sayings. These sayings are believed to have come from Alfred the Great, a famous English king. People even called him "England's darling"! The proverbs were supposedly spoken at a meeting in Seaford, East Sussex.

This collection of wise sayings was probably put together in Sussex around the mid-1100s. The old handwritten copies suggest the text came from a monastery. It might have been Lewes Priory, about 10 miles (16 km) north of Seaford. Or it could have been Battle Abbey, about 25 miles (40 km) to the north-east. Both were important religious centers at the time.

How We Know About Them

The Proverbs of Alfred exist today because they were copied into four old manuscripts. These copies were made in the 1200s.

The four main copies are:

• Cotton Galba A. xix (called MS C)
• Maidstone Museum A.13 (called MS M)
• Cambridge, Trinity College, B.14.39 (called MS T)
• Oxford, Jesus College, 29 (called MS J)

The original text was likely written in the late 1100s. It's important to know that these proverbs probably don't actually come from King Alfred himself. King Alfred was known for translating many books into English. However, there is no record of him writing or translating proverbs.

Still, King Alfred was a legendary figure. People believed he was very wise. So, it became popular to connect wise sayings to his name. An old English poem called The Owl and the Nightingale also suggests this idea. Some of the proverbs in this collection even appear elsewhere. They are sometimes found under a different name, like Hendyng.

What They're Like

The proverbs are written in a special style called alliterative verse. This means many words in a line start with the same sound. For example, "Wise words will win." Each line also has a pause in the middle, called a caesura.

The collection shows how poetry was changing. It moved from the older Anglo-Saxon style, which used a lot of alliteration, to a newer style. This new style was influenced by the Norman way of writing. Because of this, you can sometimes find rhyme in the poems. Later in the collection, the poems even start to sound more like Norman poetry. They sometimes use a rhyming couplet form (two lines that rhyme).

At the same time, these proverbs are similar to older Anglo-Saxon wise sayings. They are like short, clever puzzles or riddles. The proverbs use strong, short comparisons, called metaphors. These are like the poetry found in old Anglo-Saxon riddles. Collections of sayings were common in Latin too. But the unique, short style of Alfred's proverbs shows their Anglo-Saxon roots.

The person who put these proverbs together probably collected them over time. This means the book has many different kinds of advice. The proverbs include common wisdom and religious lessons. They also contain some old-fashioned advice about women. This part was likely added later by a copyist.

An Example

Here is an example from the Proverbs. These are lines 423–48. The translation is by Christopher Cannon.