"[1]
[1] Tr. in King's Letters, ed. Steele (1903), I. Cf. Bodl. MS
Hatton, 20;
Cott. MS. Otho B 2; Corpus C. C., Camb. MS. 12.
This letter, written in 890, marks the revival of interest
in letters under Alfred. In adding to his own knowledge,
and in promoting education among his people, he was
assiduous and determined. During the leisure of one
period of eight months, Asser seems to have read to him
all the congenial books at hand, Alfred's custom being to
read aloud or to listen to others reading. Asser was a
Welsh bishop, brought to Wessex to help the king in his
work. For the same purpose Archbishop Plegmund[1] and
Bishop Werfrith were brought from Mercia. Other scholars
came from abroad. One named Grimbald, a monk from
St. Bertin, came to take charge of the abbey of Hyde,
Winchester, which Alfred had planned. John, of Old-Saxony,
a learned monk of the flourishing Westphalian Abbey of
Corvey--where a library existed in this century,[2]--was made
by Alfred abbot of Athelney monastery and school. Perhaps
John, called the Scot or Erigena, also came, but we do
not know certainly. Alfred also introduced teachers, both
English and foreign, into his monasteries, his aim being to
provide the means of educating every freeborn and well-to-
do youth.
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