Note 437 — LECTURE III LIFE OF ALFRED PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION TO THE THRONE

Near the beginning Alfred speaks of ‘min yrfe þæt me God and mine yldran forgeafon,’ i.e. ‘the inheritance which God and my forefathers granted me.’ The Latin translator gives ‘principes’ for ‘yldran,’ a meaning which it can have. He therefore naturally took the sentence to refer to Alfred’s election as king by the Witan; and the rest may have followed from this.