King Alfred died (26/10/899)

[Ross Clark]

His political importance is well known, his linguistic legacy less so.

Alfred on the decline of learning in England after the Danish invasions:

"...there were very few people on this side of the Humber who could
understand their service-books in English or translate even one written
message from Latin into English..."

He proposed a programme of translations, by means of which a younger
English generation could be made literate in their own language.

As a result, "almost all surviving prose texts during the late ninth
century and into the tenth were written in the dialect used by Alfred
and his scribes." (Crystal)

Alfred's West Saxon became the first approximation to a Standard English.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great

[Aidan Kehoe]

Post by Ross Clark
His political importance is well known, his linguistic legacy less so.
"...there were very few people on this side of the Humber who could understand
their service-books in English or translate even one written message from Latin
into English..."

That must have made administration and trade very difficult. Were they more
literate in Latin than in English, do we know?

Post by Ross Clark
He proposed a programme of translations, by means of which a younger English
generation could be made literate in their own language.
As a result, "almost all surviving prose texts during the late ninth century
and into the tenth were written in the dialect used by Alfred and his scribes."
(Crystal)
Alfred's West Saxon became the first approximation to a Standard English.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great