Article entitled The Jewel of the Crown (1532 words) |
 | This jewel, though round rather than pear shaped and neither as elaborate nor as large as the one from Somerset, is of somewhat similar construction. |
| The design on the Alfred Jewel of a man (it has been suggested that he is actually meant to be Christ) holding or rather collecting sticks of wood, has been interpreted as a metaphor for accumulating wisdom. |
| As it seems likely that the Alfred Jewel once had a small rod protruding from the jaws of the animal head, it is possible that it was used as a portable sundial, a sort of Dark-Age pocket-watch. |
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Alfred the Great - definition of Alfred the Great in Encyclopedia (3536 words) |
| Alfred is famous for his defence of the kingdom against the Danes (Vikings), and gained the epithet "the Great" as a result (he is the only English monarch who is remembered as such). |
| Alfred was born in 849 AD at Wantage in Berkshire (alterations to county borders in 1974 mean that Wantage is now part of Oxfordshire), the fourth son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex (or Aethelwulf), most likely by his first wife, Osburh. |
| That Alfred sent alms to Irish as well as to European monasteries may be taken on Asser's authority; the visit of the three pilgrim "Scots" (i.e., Irish) to Alfred in 891 is undoubtedly authentic; the story that he himself in his childhood was sent to Ireland to be healed by St. |
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