§ 95. I would however point out that even if the decision should be against Alfred’s authorship, it is still possible that the prose portion of the Paris Psalter may be the work referred to by William of Malmesbury. The colophon at the end of the MS. gives the name of the scribe in the Latin form Wulfwinus. In the Cottonian Collection there is a MS. of the Saxon Gospels with the colophon: ‘Wulfwi me wrat.’ This was certainly a Malmesbury book, as is shown by the insertion of a Malmesbury Charter between the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John. If this Wulfwi could be identified with the Wulfwinus of the Paris Psalter, or its archetype[671], it would make it likely that that also was a Malmesbury book. William of Malmesbury was librarian of his monastery[672], and there may have been a tradition there that the prose translation was the work of Alfred; a tradition which would be interesting even if it were not strictly true[673].
Statement that Alfred translated the whole Bible, probably due to a misunderstanding.
There is a statement in the twelfth-century Liber Eliensis that ‘Alfred translated the whole Old and New Testaments for the blessing of the English nation[674].’ I know no earlier evidence for this, and I believe the statement to have arisen from a misunderstanding of one of William of Malmesbury’s rhetorical flourishes in which he says that Alfred ‘gave to English ears the greater part of the Roman library[675] (bibliothecae)’, meaning by the last phrase Latin authors. But Bibliotheca is a common name in the Middle Ages for St. Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible, the library of divine books[676]; hence Malmesbury’s statement was misunderstood as meaning that Alfred had translated the greater part of the Latin Bible.
Alleged Domesday Book of Alfred.
The statement of Ingulf[677] that Alfred made a Domesday Book like William the Conqueror rests either on a confusion of Dómbóc (Book of Laws) with Domesday Book[678]; or possibly on a confusion of William’s Rotulus Wintoniae, as Domesday was sometimes called[679], with Alfred’s Winchester Book; i.e. the Chronicle.
Other works.
Other works which popular tradition has ascribed to Alfred are a collection of proverbs, a translation of Æsop’s fables, and a treatise on falconry[680].
Alfred’s translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care. Its relation to the original. Omissions and additions.
§ 96. Very different in value from the Dialogues, according to our notions, is the other work of Gregory, the translation of which is due to Alfred, the Pastoral Care. It is a beautiful book, full of wise and loving spiritual counsel, and of sayings both shrewd and tender. It is greatly to the credit of the mediaeval Church that it set such store by this little manual[681]. Alfred sent a copy of his translation to each of his bishops, to aid them in what Gregory himself[682] so beautifully calls ‘the art of arts, the care of souls.’ I agree with Professor Wülker[683] in thinking this the earliest of Alfred’s translations, and largely for the reason that, as he points out, the Preface, as we have learnt to know it, is so obviously a preface, not merely to this work, but to the whole series of translations which Alfred contemplated, of ‘the books which it is most needful for every man to know.’ If what was said above is correct, the date of it cannot be earlier than 894, and it may be a little later. It has often been noticed that of all Alfred’s works (not reckoning among these the Dialogues), this is the one in which he keeps closest to his original. I attribute this rather to his reverence for that original, than to any inability on his part to deal more freely with it, had he so desired. The omissions are few and unimportant[684]. The additions are much more numerous, but as a rule they are very slight. They are mostly of the kind which a modern editor would place on the margin or in a footnote. A very large class consists merely of the insertion of the names of the various books of the Bible from which Gregory’s scriptural quotations are taken[685]. In the case of the psalms the number of the psalm is often given[686], which is possibly an illustration of Asser’s statements[687] as to the special fondness of Alfred for the Psalter. Other insertions consist of brief explanatory notes; an allusion or metaphor is cleared up[688], a foreign word or custom is explained[689], a quotation or story is completed[690]. Thus after a reference to the institution of the Levirate among the Jews, Alfred adds: ‘this was good law under the old covenant, and to us now it is a parable[691].’ The manna is ‘the sweet food that came down from heaven[692].’ Shittim wood, we are told, never rots[693]. It does not follow that the explanation is always correct. Thus to Christ’s denunciation of the Pharisees for scrupulosity in tithing herbs is added the statement that they left untithed their more valuable possessions[694].
Interpretation by Saxon analogies. The original toned down, expanded and mistranslated. The phraseology bears the stamp of Alfred’s own experience.