222 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE Alfred's successors did not attempt to force West Saxor customs on all England, but left much local freedom anc autonomy. If local institutions were the strong point of the Anglo- Saxon state, its weakness lay in the lack of close connection Central between the central government and the locali- government t j es The kings made laws and issued admin- istrative regulations similar to the Frankish capitularies. To advise them they had their Witan of prominent nobles and clergy similar to the Frankish assembly of magnates. Their system of succession was more favorable to a united monarchy than the Frankish, for while the Witan had the right to elect and even to depose the king, their choice was! limited to one royal family, and the land was never divided among several children. The Witan was not likely to de-; pose the king, since he filled it with men whom he had< raised to the nobility because of their services and fidelity to him. But the English kings had no missi to carry their power to the localities and no method like the sworn in- quest for getting information from and concerning the localities. After Alfred had made peace with the Danes, he tried to restore religion and learning in his realm. He had to send Anglo-Saxon to the Continent for monks and to Celtic Wales for teachers, as Charlemagne earlier had been forced to seek his scholars from England and Italy. Al- fred, however, went a step farther than Charlemagne. He encouraged the development of literature in the language of the people. He "wondered extremely that the good and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had learned perfectly all the books, did not wish to translate them into their own language." So he himself translated into Anglo-Saxon Orosius' History, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and Pope Gregory's Pastoral Charge. The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle is the oldest historical work written in a modern language, if we may regard Anglo-Saxon as the first stage of the English language. Probably first compiled from earlier Latin annals, it was reedited and expanded in the
