"burning their cakes"

[Barbara Need]

Alfred (the Great) was supposed to have burned some cakes while hiding
out in a marsh. (This I know from _1066 and All That_.)

Barbara

Barbara Need
Chicago

On 4 Sep 2009, at 3:39 PM, Amy West wrote:

> I'm scratching my head about a phrase I've come across: I think it's
> a Britishism. . .
>
> It was AElfred, Victorian school children were taught, who unified
> the nation, saved the English from the invaders, and founded the
> British Navy, while mixing with the common people with east, despite
> burning their cakes.
>  --- Julian Richards, _Vikings: A very short introduction_, p. 123
>
> It's the "despite burning their cakes" that has me scratching my head.
>
> ---Amy West

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