Alfred the Great.
Stained glass window in Winchester A monument to King Alfred in Winchester
Task 2. Watch the subpart and explain why King Alfred was nicknamed the Great.
Task 3. What was the role of Doom Book?
Task 4. Fill in the gaps while viewing.
The story about freedom starts a long way back. In the Dark Ages ( 5th century) Germanic tribes Angles, Saxons and Jutes) arrived and settled in England (Angloland). In 800 The Vikings began to attack the English shores using their longboats. Men would be killed, towns pillaged, women raped. It was not a great time to be a Brit. And into all this violence stepped the young brilliant English king who burned the cakes*. The English were united by King Alfred who was crowned in Winchester* in 1) …. He ushered in the time of political 2)………., artistic accomplishment and 3)…….. . He was the king who wrote books. He encouraged teaching for all including 4)….. . He wanted to give his people a clear set of laws. He is the father of Common Law (англо-саксонское право), which is based on precedent and interpreted by 5) …… . There should be one judgment for the wealthy and one judgment for the poor. Everybody was to pay for the crimes committed. The code of laws worked out by Alfred the Great was known as Doom Book.* It told people exactly what their 6)…… were and started British legal 7)……… . It also introduced ground breaking new ideas in legal thinking.8) ….. was paid as compensation for a crime instead ‘of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth’. It was a ground breaking concept which finally stopped feuds. Alfred’s Doom book introduced a sense of justice. For this he is rightly remembered as Alfred the Great. The Saxons gave Britain some of the swear words.
Cultural Commentary
* Winchester – the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom Wessex
* The Doom Book, Code of Alfred or Legal Code of Aelfred the Great was the code of laws("dooms", laws or judgments) compiled by Alfred the Great (c. 893 AD) from three prior (предыдущих) Saxon codes, to which he prefixed the Ten Commandments of Moses (десять заповедей Моисее) and incorporated rules of life from the Mosaic Code and the Christian code of ethics.
The title "Doom book" (originally "dom-boc" or "dom-boke") comes from dōm which is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "judgment" or "law". The book contains the injury tariffs , since Christian synods "established, through that mercy which Christ taught, that for almost every misdeed at the first offence secular lords might with their permission receive without sin the monetary compensation, which they then fixed."The only crime that could not be compensated with a payment of money is treachery to a lord. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/)
* Alfred and burnt cakes. A popular legend, originating from 12th century chronicles, tells how when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes burn.
