GENERAL ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY
The Anglo-Saxons, James Campbell, Penguin: New York, 1991.
A very good place to start with any studies in the Anglo-Saxon era is the helpful, and beautifully depicted, introduction written by James Campbell.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. Michael Swanton, Routledge: New York, 1998.
The premier primary source for this era is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a year by year accounting of the events considered most significant to the recorders of early English history.
GENERAL BIOGRAPHY OF ALFRED
Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England, Richard Abels, Longman: Harlow, 1998.
The best scholarly biography available is by Richard Abels, Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy.
King Alfred the Great, Alfred Smyth, New York: Oxford Press, 1995.
Another very informative biography is offered by Oxford Press, authored by Alfred Smyth.
However, Smyth is convinced that the primary source for our knowledge of the life of Alfred, namely the biography produced by Asser, is a late forgery. Convinced that most of what we know about Alfred is a hagiographical manipulation of the facts, Smyth dedicates himself to exposing the real Alfred to his readers. Nevertheless, Smyth’s work is still a treasure trove for the historical background to Alfred’s reign. His previous publications on the Vikings of this era (works like Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles 850-880 and Scandinavian York and Dublin: The History and Archaeology of Two Related Viking Kingdoms) are also invaluable for understanding the context of Alfred’s reign.
Alfred the Good Soldier, John Peddie, Bath: Millstream Books, 1992.
John Peddie’s biography focuses primarily on Alfred’s campaigns, and carefully retraces likely routes of travel and the chronologies of Alfred’s many battles.
ALFRED’S LITERARY WORKS
Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources, Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, trans., Penguin: New York, 1983.
Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge have translated a selection of excerpts from Alfred’s works, along with the full text of Asser’s biography of the King and a number of other contemporary sources.
Bately, Janet. “The Books That Are Most Necessary for All Men to Know: The Classics and Late Ninth-Century England, A Reappraisal” in The Classics in the Middle Ages: Papers of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, eds. Aldo Bernardo and Saul Levin. Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1990.
————. “The Alfredian Canon Revisited,” in Alfred the Great: Papers from the Eleventh Centenary Conference, ed. Timothy Reuter. Ashgate: Burlington, 2003.
————. “The Literary Prose of King Alfred’s Reign: Translation or Transformation?” Old English Newsletter Subsidia vol.10, 1984.
Whitelock, Dorothy. “The Prose of Alfred’s Reign,” Continuations and Beginnings, Thomas Nelson and Sons: London, 1966.
For understanding the import of Alfred’s writings, the work of Dorothy Whitelock and Janet Bately are invaluable.
REFORMS OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE
Fortifications in Wessex c. 800-1066, Ryan Lavelle, Osprey: Oxford, 2003.
Alfred’s Kingdom: Wessex and the South, 800-1500, David Hinton, Dent and sons: London, 1977.
Alfred’s contribution to the infrastructure of England is nicely illustrated in these two volumes.
MUSEUMS
Sutton Hoo exhibit at the British Museum in London
Anglo-Saxon treasures of the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford (especially the Alfred Jewel)
Winchester museum in Alfred’s capital city
No real study of Alfred the Great or Anglo-Saxon England is complete without a firsthand encounter with the beautiful artefacts of early medieval England. I highly recommend these museums.