Constructing Early Anglo-Saxon Identity in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles

Abstract

The chronicle compiled at King Alfred’s court after 891 was part of his educational reform and was also part of an attempt to create a common national identity for the English. This can be seen in the contemporary annals (i.e. from 871 to 891), but the large body of annals drawn together from diverse sources for the preceding nine centuries shows this same focus. The earlier annals, while not necessarily compiled at the same time, were selected and manipulated with the same goals, and are organised thematically into annals which explore Britannia’s roots as a Roman colony, its development as a Christian nation, and the adventus of the Germanic tribes. Barbara Yorke has shown some of these accounts to be semi-historical or mythological, but they are juxtaposed with historically accurate descriptions. While the early annals have a different compilation context than those which document Alfred’s reign, they were nonetheless selected, organised and inflated in order to legitimise the line of Cerdic and bestow authority on Alfred as well as his descendants. In this, they follow the same model as later annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.1 In light of recent research, it seems well established that the compilation of the “Common Stock” or “Alfredian Chronicle” (i.e. the annals to 891 common to most Anglo-Saxon Chronicles) was a courtly endeavour and that the exemplar for the earliest A-manuscript was a product of King Alfred’s scholarly circle.2 While Alfred’s personal involvement in this may not have been particularly large,3 the political thought of his circle of scholars can be detected throughout the annals. Annals for Alfred’s reign and for the reigns of his father and