Does this film show Alfred the Great burning the cakes?
Does this film depict the famous legend of Alfred burning the cakes?
If anyone knows please tell me.
From The Joker.
No. But that was the least of its problems.
I want something's flesh!
Even though it is believed by most historians that the story of Alfred the Great burning the cakes never happened, i would of preferred it if they included it.
From The Joker.
It is perfectly possible that Alfred did burn these cakes. It was certainly symbolic of the depths to which he had fallen in the winter of 878. This era in the movie provides Ian McKellen with his screen debut as a peasant, at which point the movie-Alfred starts opining about "freedom" and "law" and I shall do this and I shall do that. I don't know what the screenwriter had been smoking, but whatever it was, I want some. Alfred had nothing on his mind at that time but defeating the Danes (Guthrum) who had chased him out of his kingdom - well, as far as Somerset, at least.
I'll tell you in another life when we are both cats.
What type of cakes would they have been if Alfred the Great did burn them MidniteRambler?
I heard from the program Time Team that they would of been very similar to girdle scones.
Would they have been?
If you know please tell me.
From The Joker.
Sorry to say food isn't my thing but I am sure that Time Team were correct on this point. I saw the same programme with Tony Robinson cooking them over an open fire at Athelney, which was where Alfred ran to after Twelfth Night 878 when the Danes attacked.
I have visited Athelney. It was interesting for me as a student of the era, but I suspect to anyone else it would just be a few windswept fields.
I'll tell you in another life when we are both cats.
You seem to be very interested in Alfred the Great MidniteRambler, i have become interested in him to and would like to visit places associated with him.
Do you have any recommendations?
If you do, could you please tell me what and where they are and what exactly their connection with Alfred the Great is?
If you could i would be very pleased.
Take care MidniteRambler.
I hope you are well.
From The Joker.
We are limited in the number of places associated with Alfred because his time was so long ago and because the Anglo-Saxons, certainly of his era, built almost exclusively in wood and nothing remains. You can go to Athelney, if you want to, in Somerset, but there is little there, as you will have seen in the Time Team programme. There are statues of him in Wantage, where he was born, and Winchester, which the Victorians determined as his capital. In the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford there is the "aestel" found near Athelney bearing the inscription in Old English "Alfred had me made". Whether this was Alfred the Great is debateable but there were few Alfreds about in the day and the item, known as the Alfred Jewel, is of high quality.
Your best sources on Alfred are books. The first of these is Alfred the Great by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, two Cambridge profs. It is an academic work, so be warned, but it includes a verbatim translation of the contemporary biography of Alfred - "The Life of King Alfred" - written by his bishop, Asser, a Welsh monk who arrived at Alfred's court in 886. Obviously, the original was in Latin. The other primary source for Alfred's time is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which may even be available on-line. Alfred is mentioned from about 868 - when he rides to Nottingham with his king-brother Ethelraed - until his death in 899. There may be an entry about Alfred's trip to Rome as a child in 853.
I'll tell you in another life when we are both cats.
Thanks for answering my question MidniteRambler, you are being very useful.
Do you know of any computer games which feature Alfred the Great?
If you do please tell me.
From The Joker.
No, don't know of any. Age of Empires is a good game.
I'll tell you in another life when we are both cats.
Rise of Nations had part of Alfred's campaigns in the tutorial, but it had no Alfred in at all.
From The Joker.
I'm not sure of the historicity of the film, but it is a beautifully photographed by the late, great Alex Thomson (I saw a 2.35:1 widescreen version) and Hemmings gives a superb performance, regardless of the script's accuracy. Underrated film, I feel. English Cinema all but abandoned the "historical epic" the following year and pretty much went to into meltdown. The TV scene may have been good, but as far as Cinema went, things were bad, bad, bad. But the 60s saw a good run of films from the kitchen sink to the deserts of Arabia. Alfred the Great is at the tail-end, but is worth one viewing. I'm a big fan of Waterloo (1970), btw.
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