Illustrations

Regional versions of this prayer in Old English are known from Northumbria and Mercia, as well as this one, in the West Saxon dialect. It is the best known, as that dialect became widely used as a standard during the later Anglo-Saxon period.

One of the collection of riddles in the anthology of Old English poetry known as the Exeter Book. It was compiled towards the end of the 10th century, and so called because it was left to Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, on his death in 1072. It is now housed in the cathedral library. This one is number 47 in the collection, and known variously as the 'moth' or 'bookworm' riddle.

The opening few lines of King Alfred’s Preface to the translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, written in Latin by Pope Gregory I in about 590 AD to instruct the clergy how to perform their pastoral duties. The Preface begins with a greeting to the translator, Bishop Wærferth of Worcester, and a summary of the need to revive learning in England, after the devastation caused by the Danish invaders. The translation into English was made in the closing years of the ninth century, during the last decade of Alfred's reign. I retain the scribal abbreviation of 7 for and (similar in function to today's &).