Note 11 — Chapter 5: Martin Leaves Kenilworth.
Reading edition
Ethelflaed, Lady or Queen of the Mercians (under her brother Edward, son of Alfred), threw up certain huge mounds and certain stone castles, to defend her realm and serve as refuges in troublous times. One site was Oxford, and it is the first authentic event recorded in the history of the city--the foundation of the university by Alfred being abandoned by scholars, as an interpolation in Asser, the king’s biographer.