The Problem of King Alfred's Royal Anointing

Abstract

Alfred's royal anointing by Leo IV has long been one of the puzzles of Alfredian scholarship. Despite the ingenuity of the greatest Anglo-Saxon specialists, no really satisfactory explanation has yet been given of the strange story retailed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 853, and repeated in Latin translation by Asser in his Vita Alfredi. Such near-contemporary evidence demands careful attention, especially since it has important implications for the authorship of the Chronicle itself.