Cultural Commentary. * Winchester –the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom Wessex

* Winchester – the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom Wessex

* The Doom Book, Code of Alfred or Legal Code of Aelfred the Great was the code of laws("dooms", laws or judgments) compiled by Alfred the Great (c. 893 AD) from three prior (предыдущих) Saxon codes, to which he prefixed the Ten Commandments of Moses (десять заповедей Моисее) and incorporated rules of life from the Mosaic Code and the Christian code of ethics.

The title "Doom book" (originally "dom-boc" or "dom-boke") comes from dōm which is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "judgment" or "law". The book contains the injury tariffs, since Christian synods "established, through that mercy which Christ taught, that for almost every misdeed at the first offence secular lords might with their permission receive without sin the monetary compensation, which they then fixed."The only crime that could not be compensated with a payment of money is treachery to a lord. (http://en.wikipedia.org/)

* Alfred and burnt cakes. A popular legend, originating from 12th century chronicles, tells how when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes burn.