Secondary sourceBookc. 890–950
Metres of Boethius
c. 890–950
Old English alliterative verse translations of the poems in Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, once attributed to Alfred.
Long attributed to Alfred, this work shows how his reputation as translator-king shaped later copies even when authorship is uncertain.
About this source
What it is
This is a set of Old English poems that translate the verse sections of the Latin Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. They survive in a few medieval manuscripts, with one giving the metres as alliterative verse. The surviving manuscripts date from the tenth and eleventh centuries, though the work is thought to originate earlier.
Why it matters
A manuscript once attributed this translation to King Alfred, and this was long believed. Modern scholars now doubt the attribution and prefer to call it simply 'Alfredian' - connected to Alfred's programme of translating important works into English for his people, even if not written by him personally.
Look closer
- Why might later copyists have wanted to credit a famous king with this work?
- What does the shift from prose to verse tell us about how this text was reworked over time?
- How does doubt about authorship change how we should read the text's claims about itself?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alfred the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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