Today we commemorate Alfred the Great - our only ruler to have been given that epithet. His was no quick-fix campaign. He survived refuge in the dank Somerset levels to defeat his enemies, secure his territory, found burghs, encourage learning and support church reform.

Here is the collect for his day: look out for the phrase “inwardly love” which speaks of the inner faith and strength that kept him going:

God, our maker and redeemer,
we pray you of your great mercy
and by the power of your holy cross
to guide us by your will and to shield us from our foes:
that, after the example of your servant Alfred,
we may inwardly love you above all things;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

I also caught up with the latest British Library Blog which bewails the paucity of surviving West Country manuscripts and records the presence of many “fragments”, some legitimate recovered pieces used in later bindings, some I fear clipped out leaving the donor MS to die. Herefordshire presumably counts as West, and among the fragments is part of an MS containing texts by “Alfred the Englishman”. Not The Great though, but Shareshill, an important 13th century West Midland scientist, who helped develop the tradition of learning within which Grosseteste stood. The image from Harley MS 5414, f. 72 shows part of a treatise on plants which uses Aristotelian material.