side of the Humber, who could understand the Latin of their Mass-books,
and he thinks not many beyond the Humber. This state of things was very
different from that of old times when the clergy were "so keen about
both teaching and learning and all the services they owed to God": very
different from St Bede's time, and the days when Northumbria was a
centre of learning and culture. Alfred was to create a new centre, not
in the North but in Wessex. Later on, the centre of learning and
cultivation was shifted to the East Midlands, whose dialect became the
language of England, and whose great poet, Chaucer, was the greatest
English poet before Spenser and Shakespere.

In his studies Alfred was helped by various friends, the chief of whom
was a Welsh Bishop, named Asser. So greatly did Alfred value Asser that
he wanted him to live altogether at Court; but Asser felt, it is to be
supposed, that this would not be right, and arranged to spend half his
time in Wales and half with the King. From him we learn a great deal
about Alfred.

One of the Latin books translated by Alfred--perhaps the first--was
called the "Pastoral Care" ("Cura Pastoralis"). It was written by St
Gregory the Great, and was intended for the clergy as a guide to their
duties. The king had a copy sent to every bishopric. He called it the
Herdsman's Book, or Shepherd's Book. Sending all these copies made of
course a great deal of work for scribes or "bookers," as we may render
the old "bóceras," the copyists who had to write out all their books by
hand.

As various books had been turned into the "own tongue" of various
nations, so would Alfred give to his people in their "own tongue" books
of help, of knowledge, of wisdom. This is how Alfred tells us he worked.