Most scholars agree that King Alfred (A.D. 849–899) personally translated a number of Latin texts into Old English. One historian contends that Alfred also personally penned his own law code, arguing that the numerous differences between the language of the law code and Alfred's translations of Latin texts are outweighed by the even more numerous similarities. Linguistic similarities, however, are what one expects in texts from the same language, the same time, and the same region. Apart from Alfred's surviving translations and law code,there are only two other extant works from the same dialect and milieu, so it is risky to assume here that linguistic similarities point to common authorship.

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