The Pastoral Care is perhaps the most famous of the translations associated with Alfred the Great, if only because of its prose preface. The prose preface to the Pastoral Care is included in most anthologies of Old English literature, and regularly appears on undergraduate syllabuses.The preface is employed as a teaching text partly because it is relatively short and easy to translate; but also, I would suggest, because of the powerful effect of the first-person voice of the king. Enthusiastic educators seeking to bring the early medieval world alive for their students can do worse than introduce them to Alfred's sorrowful lament on the lack of learning in his kingdom, his persuasive words and his pragmatic, hands-on solution to the problem. Of course, as has already been noted, Alfred's actual involvement in any of the translations or accompanying prefaces remains a contentious issue.

The prose preface takes a very different form to the ‘speaking-book’ verse preface and the verse epilogue. However, like those paratexts, it is preoccupied with the role that material things can play in bridging the gap between ignorance and wisdom, and between earth and heaven. The prose preface touches on the place of both books and treasures within a church, leading the reader to question whether the presence of these material things is an index of a community's wisdom, or indeed its faith. As in the paratexts considered in the previous chapter, material, earthly imagery is employed to describe a journey towards wisdom. And in a striking alliterative pairing, wealth becomes linked with the wisdom which is Alfred's ultimate goal, although the precise nature of that connection remains uncertain. This chapter will take the materially oriented prose preface as a starting point for a reading of material wealth in the Old English Pastoral Care, a text which is often classed as the most faithful of the Alfredian translations but which, as we shall see, transforms Gregory's text in subtle yet deliberate ways.

Alfred the Great and the prose preface to the Pastoral Care

The Pastoral Care has been associated with Alfred since the time of its composition. The prose preface is written in Alfred's own voice and claims his authorship of the Old English text, while, as we have seen, the verse preface foregrounds Alfred's role in the dissemination of the translation.