It was now Alfred’s work to reorganize his kingdom, to strengthen the coast defenses, to rebuild London, to arrange for a standing army, and to make wise laws for the preservation of order and peace; and when all this was accomplished, he turned his attention to the establishment of monasteries and colleges.  “In the mean-time,” says old Asser, “the King, during the frequent wars and other trammels of this present life, the invasions of the Pagans, and his own daily infirmities of body, continued to carry on the government, and to exercise hunting in all its branches; to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers, and dog-keepers, to build houses majestic and good, beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical inventions, to recite the Saxon books, and more especially to learn by heart the Saxon poems, and to make others learn them also; for he alone never desisted from studying, most diligently, to the best of his ability; he attended the mass and other daily services of religion:  he was frequent in psalm-singing and prayer, at the proper hours, both of the night and of the day.  He also went to the churches, as we have already said, in the night-time, to pray, secretly and unknown to his courtiers; he bestowed alms and largesses both on his own people and on foreigners of all countries; he was affable and pleasant to all, and curious to investigate things unknown.”

As regards Alfred’s personal contribution to literature, it may be said that over and above all disputed matters and certain lost works, they represent a most valuable and voluminous assortment due directly to his own royal and scholarly pen.  History, secular and churchly, laws and didactic literature, were his field; and though it would seem that his actual period of composition did not much exceed ten years, yet he accomplished a vast deal for any man, especially any busy sovereign and soldier.

An ancient writer, Ethelwerd, says that he translated many books from Latin into Saxon, and William of Malmesbury goes so far as to say that he translated into Anglo-Saxon almost all the literature of Rome.  Undoubtedly the general condition of education was deplorable, and Alfred felt this deeply.  “Formerly,” he writes, “men came hither from foreign lands to seek instruction, and now when we desire it, we can only obtain it from abroad.”  Like Charlemagne he drew to his court famous scholars, and set many of them to work writing chronicles and translating important Latin books into Anglo-Saxon.  Among these was the ‘Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory,’ to which he wrote the Preface; but with his own hand he translated the ‘Consolations of Philosophy,’ by Boethius, two manuscripts of which still exist.  In this he frequently stops to introduce observations and comments of his own.  Of greater value was his translation of the ‘History of the World,’ by Orosius, which he abridged, and to which he added new chapters giving the record of coasting voyages