These materials may have been thrown together into their present form in AElfred's time as a preface to the far fuller annals which begin with the reign of AEthelwulf, and which widen into a great contemporary history when they reach that of AElfred himself.

After AElfred's day the Chronicle varies much in value.

Through the reign of Eadward the Elder it is copious, and a Mercian Chronicle is imbedded in it: it then dies down into a series of scant and jejune entries, broken however with grand battle-songs, till the reign of AEthelred when its fulness returns.
Outside the Chronicle we encounter a great and valuable mass of historical material for the age of AElfred and his successors.

The life of AElfred which bears the name of Asser, puzzling as it is in some ways, is probably really Asser's work, and certainly of contemporary authority.
The Latin rendering of the English Chronicle which bears the name of AEthelweard adds a little to our acquaintance with this time.

The Laws, which form the base of our constitutional knowledge of this period, fall, as has been well pointed out by Mr.Freeman, into two classes.