Note 23 — Introductory material

‘A letter from the pope to Alfred’s father, regarding the ceremony at Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-century collection of papal letters, now in the British Museum.... The letter is as follows: “Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum [marginal direction for rubricator]. <F>ilium vestrum Erfred, quem hoc in tempore ad Sanctorum Apostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasi spiritalem filium consulatus cingulo <cinguli emend. Ewald> honore vestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod in nostris se tradidit manibus”’ (Stevenson). The Chronicle has: ‘... consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.’ See p. 29.