Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Makers of History - King Alfred of England
    Makers of History - King Alfred of England
    Makers of History - King Alfred of England
    Ebook185 pages2 hours

    Makers of History - King Alfred of England

    By Jacob Abbott

    2.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Originally published in 1849, this work is a non-fiction children's history book focussing on the life and times of Alfred the Great. Jacob Abbot produced many books, most notably his 'Rollo' series, which aimed to instruct young people in moral virtues as well as to keep them entertained. This publication, however, is a part of his 'Makers of History' series that details the lives of important historical figures. We are also republishing this work with a brand new introductory biography of the author. Here is the author's preface to the series explaining its aims:

    'It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear, distinct, and connected narrative of the lives of those great personages who have in various ages of the world made themselves celebrated as leaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in the public affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence on the history of the human race. The end which the author has had in view is twofold: first, to communicate such information in respect to the subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader to possess; and, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the events described and the characters delineated as they may legitimately teach to the people of the present age. Though written in a direct and simple style, they are intended for, and addressed to, minds possessed of some considerable degree of maturity, for such minds only can fully appreciate the character and action which exhibits itself, as nearly all that is described in these volumes does, in close combination with the conduct and policy of governments, and the great events of international history.'
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWhite Press
    Release dateFeb 10, 2015
    ISBN9781473398924
    Makers of History - King Alfred of England
    Author

    Jacob Abbott

    Jacob Abbott (1803-1879) was an American author, pastor, and professor. Born Jacob Abbot Ⅲ, he later added a “t” to the end of his name in order to break away from being “the third”. Abbott began his career as a professor of mathematics and philosophy at Amherst college in Massachusetts. He became a licensed preacher in 1826, and later went on to become the founder and pastor of the Eliot Congregational Church. Jacob Abbott wrote many works, including biographies, religious books, and juvenile fiction. By the end of his career, he co-wrote thirty-one titles, and authored one-hundred and eighty books on his own.

    Read more from Jacob Abbott

    Related to Makers of History - King Alfred of England

    Related ebooks

    European History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The King Of Westminster

      May 24, 2023

      The King Of Westminster
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Past Is A Foreign Country

      Jan 26, 2022

      Penelope Corfield (Yale University Press £25) PENELOPE CORFIELD has set herself an ambitious task: how to distil the complex, overarching narratives of the British-Irish 18th century—from shifting dynasties, multiple national identities and parliam

      5 min read

    • Article

      Britain’s Black Trailblazers

      Oct 1, 2020

      Britain’s Black Trailblazers
      14 min read

    • Article

      Books & co

      Nov 10, 2023

      by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe This historical biography chronicles the story of America’s Astor family across several centuries, showing how they rose from beginnings in the fur business, purchasing property and dazzling American society, bef

      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 16, 2023

      Sam Willis's entertaining article about Charles Johnson's scandalous works popularising robbers, pirates and highwaymen (Murder and Mayhem in Georgian Britain, March) reignites a long controversy about the true identity of the author. Although the so

      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Defence

      Jul 6, 2023

      Best Defence
      4 min read

    • Article

      Michael Wood On…

      Feb 16, 2023

      Michael Wood On…
      3 min read

    • Article

      Tom’s Curious Heirs

      Jan 27, 2022

      AMONG THE MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS in my study, gathering dust but re-read from time to time, are my bound volumes of The Captain magazine. They are a good selection, amounting to about a quarter of the total, of the output of the magazine during i

      8 min read

    • Article

      Culture Chronicle

      Jul 4, 2021

      Culture Chronicle
      7 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Nov 14, 2023

      Reviews
      3 min read

    • Article

      Bombastic Lecture On The Evil Empire

      May 26, 2022

      IN 2008, CAROLINE ELKINS did a great service for students of empire. Together with several other eminent historians, she served as an “expert witness” in the four-year high court trial, brought against the British government by five elderly Kenyans o

      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      May 12, 2022

      I feel that the article concerning Napoleon (April) was unfair to its subject. While his later career frequently saw his original ideals undermined by the reality of power, he was from the first a believer in the revolution, as his letters and genera

      3 min read

    • Article

      An Enlightenment King Vindicated

      Nov 25, 2021

      THIS OUTSTANDING NEW BIOGRAPHY of George III is timely. The first of the Hanoverians to identify as British was mocked, slandered and vilified during his lifetime and is still regularly cited in the American media as the epitome of tyranny. Over the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Post-colonial Bad Jokes

      Mar 25, 2021

      Post-colonial Bad Jokes
      5 min read

    • Article

      Books & co

      Jan 12, 2024

      Books & co
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Queen Of The World

      Sep 8, 2022

      The Queen Of The World
      14 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

      May 12, 2022

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Supreme Act Of Trust

      Aug 10, 2022

      The Supreme Act Of Trust
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ellie Cawthorne On Books Coming Up In 2020

      Jul 9, 2020

      It’s certainly been a strange summer for the world of publishing. But if there’s one small silver lining on our current situation, it’s that some of us have more time for reading than ever before. And as we move towards autumn, there’s plenty for boo

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Landscape Was His Mistress

      Feb 9, 2022

      IN 1802, John Constable wrote seven observations and resolutions about art. In them, among other things, he pledged to follow Nature, to make ‘unaffected’ pictures, and to avoid ‘common place people’. He also declared that ‘there is no easy way of be

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Lord Of The Books

      Mar 8, 2023

      The Lord Of The Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      “There’s Still This Hangover That Everything Has To Be Seen Through The Prism Of Enslavement”

      Sep 1, 2022

      African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History by Hakim Adi (Allen Lane, 688 pages, £30) Rhiannon Davies: Your new book covers African and Caribbean people in Britain from Roman times right up to the 21st century. Why did you decide to focus on s

      9 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Feb 24, 2022

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Richard Burton 1821-90

      Jan 19, 2023

      Richard Burton 1821-90
      2 min read

    • Article

      2022 Books Of The Year

      Nov 24, 2022

      2022 Books Of The Year
      14 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Makers of History - King Alfred of England

    2.5/5

    2 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This book is part of a series of historical treatments produced in the mid nineteenth century by Jacob Abbott, apparently an American author of, largely, children's literature. As a work of literature, it is beautifully written. As a work of history, it reflects the views and attitudes towards historical evidence of its time, and is now of very limited value. Chroniclers' stories of dubious veracity are recounted at length. There are very few dates, and very little serious examination of motive. Pages are given over to the innate superiority of the Anglo Saxon race among all other Caucasians, and of that race over all others; and the innate superiority of Christianity over the Danes' pagan beliefs; Alfred was the crowning apotheosis of the Anglo Saxon Christian race in this telling. His undoubted real greatness as the founder of the English nation in something approaching its modern form is thereby transformed into an almost Christ-like godliness, an approach that would invite automatic scepticism if applied by a modern biographer. The last and longest chapter leaps forward a century to tell the story of Godwin (whom he makes the son of a Warwickshire peasant), Emma and the sons of Canute, on the premise that nothing of interest to the non-specialist reader happened during this time (so much for Athelstan, who consolidated and extended Alfred's nation-building achievements). Despite all this, I enjoyed reading this for its literary merits, and as an example of the historiography of the time, but it is to be taken with a huge pinch of salt as a historical account. 2.5/5
    • 2/5
      This is the most under-researched and off-topic history book I’ve read to date. Would’ve rated it one star but opted for two when considering the author was a nineteenth-century American writing about English history when he doubtless lacked much info that's available on Alfred nowadays.But why attempt writing a biography of someone if research is so restricted? Even the book’s title is erroneous, as Alfred was not King of England, he was King of Wessex. Alfred laid the foundations of a united England, but it was his grandson Æthelstan who became my country’s first monarch.Other errors include a reference to the four kingdoms of England during the 800s. The author gets three right but names the fourth as Essex when it was in fact East Anglia.At one point Alfred is said to have died in 900. At another he’s said to have died in 900 or 901. In truth, Alfred died in 899. Clearly the author was unsure of the date, so why state it as fact one minute, only to say it was either this year or that in the next minute? Anyway, he's got it wrong.My biggest criticism is the huge amount of time spent detailing times and events that are off-topic. Apart from the first two paragraphs, Chapters 1-3 have nothing to do with Alfred, while Chapters 4 & 5 barely touch on the subject matter either, as this quote from the end of Chapter 5 illustrates:>But we must end these digressions, which we have indulged thus far in order to give thereader some distinct conception of the ideas and habits of the times, and proceed, in the next chapter, to relate the events immediately connected with Alfred's accession to the throne.

    Book preview

    Makers of History - King Alfred of England - Jacob Abbott

    Makers of History

    -

    King Alfred of England

    by

    Jacob Abbott

    Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

    This book is copyright and may not be

    reproduced or copied in any way without

    the express permission of the publisher in writing

    British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

    A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

    Contents

    Makers of History - King Alfred of England

    Jacob Abbott

    PREFACE.

    Chapter I. The Britons.

    Chapter II. The Anglo-Saxons.

    Chapter III. The Danes.

    Chapter IV. Alfred’s Early Years.

    Chapter V. State of England.

    Chapter VI. Alfred’s Accession to the Throne.

    Chapter VII. Reverses.

    Chapter VIII. The Seclusion.

    Chapter IX. Reassembling of the Army.

    Chapter X. The Victory over the Danes.

    Chapter XI. Character of Alfred’s Reign.

    Chapter XII. The Close of Life.

    Chapter XIII. The Sequel.

    Jacob Abbott

    Jacob Abbott was born on 14th November 1803 at Hallowell, Maine, United States. He was an American writer of children’s books, much loved for his historical and straightforward approach. Abbott spent his early education at the local Hallowell Academy, later studying at Bowdoin College and graduating in 1820. He then moved to Andover Theological Seminary, and on completing his course became a tutor there from 1824-1825. Abbott was clearly academically gifted and soon after (in 1829) was appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College, having also been licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826. He also founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829 and was principal of it until 1833.

    After these academic and theological successes, Abbott became a full-time pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded) at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835. With his brothers, he was also a founder, and in 1843–1851 a principal of Abbott’s Institute, and in 1845–1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City. Abbott is best known for his writing however. He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He wrote 180 books and was a co-author or editor of thirty-one more. His Rollo Books, such as Rollo at Work, Rollo at Play, Rollo in Europe, etc., are the best known of his writings, having as their chief characters a representative boy and his associates. Works of historical fiction, they recount Rollo and his every day adventures, growing up in nineteenth century rural America. Rollo enjoys playing in the woods, whether he’s building a wigwam, setting a trap for a squirrel, or rescuing a baby bird. Yet events don’t always turn out the way he wants — the squirrel escapes, the blueberry expedition is delayed by rain and, when it finally does happen, he encounters trouble on the mountain. Yet his friends and parents help Rollo through his difficulties, sometimes by aiding him directly but mostly by prompting him to think about his behaviour and come to a resolution himself.

    Abbott had actually preceded these works with his Lucy Series, a similar endeavour, but directed at girls. He later penned Uncle George, using this character to teach young readers about ethics, geography, history and science. Abbott also wrote twenty-two volumes of biographical histories and a ten volume set titled the Franconia Stories. His biographical histories were especially well received, encompassing figures as diverse as Genghis Kahn, Margaret of Anjou, Richard I, II and III, Nero, Alexander the Great and Queen Elizabeth. They were specifically aimed at young people; from about fifteen to twenty-five years old, and within a few years of their publication (1848) they became standard reference works for juvenile history. Abraham Lincoln was even a fan! He wrote to the Abbots: ‘I want to thank you and your brother for Abbott’s series of Histories. I have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of voluminous historians, and if I had, I have no time to read them. But your series of Histories gives me, in brief compass, just that knowledge of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge I have.’

    Although the name of his wife is unrecorded, we do know that she died in 1843, after which Abbott moved to New York with his brother. Abbott had four sons, all of whom led happy and successful lives; Benjamin Vaughan Abbott and Austin Abbott were both eminent lawyers, whilst Lyman Abbott and Edward Abbott followed in their father’s footsteps and became well known authors. Abbott died on 31st October 1879, in Farmington, Maine, America. He had spent time here in 1839, and it was also the town where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott chose to found the Abbott School.

    ALFRED THE GREAT

    PREFACE.

    It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear, distinct, and connected narrative of the lives of those great personages who have in various ages of the world made themselves celebrated as leaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in the public affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence on the history of the human race. The end which the author has had in view is twofold: first, to communicate such information in respect to the subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader to possess; and, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the events described and the characters delineated as they may legitimately teach to the people of the present age. Though written in a direct and simple style, they are intended for, and addressed to, minds possessed of some considerable degree of maturity, for such minds only can fully appreciate the character and action which exhibits itself, as nearly all that is described in these volumes does, in close combination with the conduct and policy of governments, and the great events of international history.

    Chapter I.

    The Britons.

    Alfred the Great figures in history as the founder, in some sense, of the British monarchy. Of that long succession of sovereigns who have held the scepter of that monarchy, and whose government has exerted so vast an influence on the condition and welfare of mankind, he was not, indeed, actually the first. There were several lines of insignificant princes before him, who governed such portions of the kingdom as they individually possessed, more like semi-savage chieftains than English kings. Alfred followed these by the principle of hereditary right, and spent his life in laying broad and deep the foundations on which the enormous superstructure of the British empire has since been reared. If the tales respecting his character and deeds which have come down to us are at all worthy of belief, he was an honest, conscientious, disinterested, and far-seeing statesman. If the system of hereditary succession would always furnish such sovereigns for mankind, the principle of loyalty would have held its place much longer in the world than it is now likely to do, and great nations, now republican, would have been saved a vast deal of trouble and toil expended in the election of their rulers.

    Although the period of King Alfred’s reign seems a very remote one as we look back toward it from the present day, it was still eight hundred years after the Christian era that he ascended his throne. Tolerable authentic history of the British realm mounts up through these eight hundred years to the time of Julius Cæsar. Beyond this the ground is covered by a series of romantic and fabulous tales, pretending to be history, which extend back eight hundred years further to the days of Solomon; so that a much longer portion of the story of that extraordinary island comes before than since the days of Alfred. In respect, however to all that pertains to the interest and importance of the narrative, the exploits and the arrangements of Alfred are the beginning.

    The histories, in fact, of all nations, ancient and modern, run back always into misty regions of romance and fable. Before arts and letters arrived at such a state of progress as that public events could be recorded in writing, tradition was the only means of handing down the memory of events from generation to generation; and tradition, among semi-savages, changes every thing it touches into romantic and marvelous fiction.

    The stories connected with the earliest discovery and settlement of Great Britain afford very good illustrations of the nature of these fabulous tales. The following may serve as a specimen:

    At the close of the Trojan war,1 Æneas retired with a company of Trojans, who escaped from the city with him, and, after a great variety of adventures, which Virgil has related, he landed and settled in Italy. Here, in process of time, he had a grandson named Silvius, who had a son named Brutus, Brutus being thus Æneas’s great-grandson.

    One day, while Brutus was hunting in the forests, he accidentally killed his father with an arrow. His father was at that time King of Alba—a region of Italy near the spot on which Rome was subsequently built—and the accident brought Brutus under such suspicions, and exposed him to such dangers, that he fled from the country. After various wanderings he at last reached Greece, where he collected a number of Trojan followers, whom he found roaming about the country, and formed them into an army. With this half-savage force he attacked a king of the country named Pandrasus. Brutus was successful in the war, and Pandrasus was taken prisoner. This compelled Pandrasus to sue for peace, and peace was concluded on the following very extraordinary terms:

    Pandrasus was to give Brutus his daughter Imogena for a wife, and a fleet of ships as her dowry. Brutus, on the other hand, was to take his wife and all his followers on board of his fleet, and sail away and seek a home in some other quarter of the globe. This plan of a monarch’s purchasing his own ransom and peace for his realm from a band of roaming robbers, by offering the leader of them his daughter for a wife, however strange to our ideas, was very characteristic of the times. Imogena must have found it a hard alternative to choose between such a husband and such a father.

    Brutus, with his fleet and his bride, betook themselves to sea, and within a short time landed on a deserted island, where they found the ruins of a city. Here there was an ancient temple of Diana, and an image of the goddess, which image was endued with the power of uttering oracular responses to those who consulted it with proper ceremonies and forms. Brutus consulted this oracle on the question in what land he should find a place of final settlement. His address to it was in ancient verse, which some chronicler has turned into English rhyme as follows:

    "Goddess of shades and huntress, who at will

    Walk’st on the rolling sphere, and through the deep,

    On thy third reign, the earth, look now and tell

    What land, what seat of rest thou bidd’st me seek?"

    To which the oracle returned the following answer:

    "Far to the west, in the ocean wide,

    Beyond the realm of Gaul a land there lies—

    Sea-girt it lies—where giants dwelt of old.

    Now void, it fits thy people; thither bend

    Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting home."

    It is scarcely necessary to say that this meant Britain. Brutus, following the directions which the oracle had given him, set sail from the island, and proceeded to the westward through the Mediterranean Sea. He arrived at the Pillars of Hercules. This was the name by which the Rock of Gibraltar and the corresponding promontory on the opposite coast, across the straits, were called in those days; these cliffs having been built, according to ancient tales, by Hercules, as monuments set up to mark the extreme limits of his western wanderings. Brutus passed through the strait, and then, turning northward, coasted along the shores of Spain.

    At length, after enduring great privations and suffering, and encountering the extreme dangers to which their frail barks were necessarily exposed from the surges which roll in perpetually from the broad Atlantic Ocean upon the coast of Spain and into the Bay of Biscay, they arrived safely on the shores of Britain. They landed and explored the interior. They found the island robed in the richest drapery of fruitfulness and verdure, but it was unoccupied by any thing human. There were wild beasts roaming in the forests, and the remains of a race of giants in dens and caves—monsters as diverse from humanity as the wolves. Brutus and his followers attacked all these occupants of the land. They drove the wild beasts into the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and killed the giants. The chief of them, whose name was Gogmagog, was hurled by one of Brutus’s followers from the summit of one of the chalky cliffs which bound the island into the sea.

    The island of Great Britain is in the latitude of Labrador, which on our side of the continent is the synonym for almost perpetual ice and snow; still these wandering Trojans found it a region of inexhaustible verdure, fruitfulness, and beauty; and as to its extent, though often, in modern times, called a little island, they found its green fields and luxuriant forests extending very far and wide over the sea. A length of nearly six hundred miles would seem almost to merit the name of continent, and the dimensions of this detached outpost of the habitable surface of the earth would never have been deemed inconsiderable, had it not been that the people, by the greatness of their exploits, of which the whole world has been the theater, have made the physical dimensions of their territory appear so small and insignificant in comparison. To Brutus and his companions the land appeared a world. It was nearly four hundred miles in breadth at the place where they landed, and, wandering northward, they found it extending, in almost undiminished beauty and fruitfulness, further than they had the disposition to explore it. They might have gone northward until the twilight scarcely disappeared in the summer nights, and have found the same verdure and beauty continuing to the end. There were broad and

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1