7 - Win the Crown

Summary

Let us first consider how close we can come to an understanding of what made King Alfred tick.

— Simon Keynes

How could we possibly have any real evidence for the personality of a Dark Age king, for his psychology, for his self?

— Janet Nelson

I have often had the fancy that there is some one myth for every man, which, if we but knew it, would make us understand all he did and thought.

— W. B. Yeats

For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes — not that you won or lost — but how you played the Game.

— Grantland Rice

Let us consider the sorts of remarks which are found in descriptions of games.

— Stanley Cavell

Abstract

Can we find in the Old English translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy an authentic relic of the contours of Alfred’s thoughts about predestination and free will? This chapter offers a close reading of a paragraph comparing life to a race for a golden crown. The first one to reach it wins it. This bears a startling similarity to the game young Alfred played to win his mother’s book. If Alfred is the author of all three fables — this philosophical fable, the fable of the youngest son who wins the book fair and square, and the fable of Alfred’s papal anointing, then we can get much closer to understanding what made Alfred tick than we thought. If not, what then?

Keywords: Malcolm Godden, V. H. Galbraith, psychohistory, The Old English Consolation of Philosophy

Winning and losing

Young children perceive a game as fair only as long as they perceive themselves able to get whatever prize it is that the game or anybody else offers. Young children don’t really understand the idea of winning and losing. To a young child, a game is a source of fascination. If there is such a thing as winning, and winning is to be considered such a wonderful experience, then, whoever is playing should win. Later on, making a game fair will mean making sure that everyone has the same chance to win.