Besides writing himself, Alfred encouraged his people to write.  He also caused a national Chronicle to be written.

A chronicle is the simplest form of history.  The old chronicles did not weave their history into stories, they simply put down a date and something that happened on that date.  They gave no reasons for things, they expressed no feelings, no thoughts.  So the chronicles can hardly be called literature.  They were not meant to be looked upon as literature.  The writers of them used them rather as keys to memory.  They kept all the stories in their memories, and the sight of the name of a king or of a battle was enough to unlock their store of words.  And as they told their tales, if they forgot a part they made something up, just as the minstrels did.

Alfred caused the Chronicle to be written up from such books and records as he had from the coming of the Romans until the time in which he himself reigned.  And from then onwards to the time of the death of King Stephen the Saxon Chronicle was kept.  It is now one of the most useful books from which we can learn the history of those times.

Sometimes, especially at the beginning, the record is very scant.  As a rule, there is not more than one short sentence for a year, sometimes not even that, but merely a date.  It is like this:—­

“Year 189.  In this year Severus succeeded to the empire and reigned seventeen winters.  He begirt Britain with a dike from sea to sea.

“Year 190.

“Year 199.

“Year 200.  In this year was found the Holy Rood.”

And so on it goes, and every now and again, among entries which seem to us of little or no importance, we learn something that throws great light on our past history.  And when we come to the time of Alfred’s reign the entries are much more full.  From the Chronicle we learn a great deal about his wars with the Danes, and of how he fought them both by land and by sea.

The Saxon Chronicle, as it extended over many hundred years, was of course written by many different people, and so parts of it are written much better than other parts.  Sometimes we find a writer who does more than merely set down facts, who seems to have a feeling for how he tells his story, and who tries to make the thing he writes about living.  Sometimes a writer even breaks into song.

Besides causing the Chronicle to be written, Alfred translated Bede’s History into English.  And so that all might learn the history of their land, he rebuilt the ruined monasteries and opened schools in them once more.  There he ordered that “Every free-born youth in the Kingdom, who has the means, shall attend to his book, so long as he have no other business, till he can read English perfectly."*

Preface to Boethius’ Pastoral Care, translated into English by Alfred.