The earliest Anglo-Saxon literature must have been in poetry, and prose literature is found to be later evolution, although in the very development prose had hardly any break or any stumbling block in its way. The earliest record of prose is the Laws of Ina, a King of the West Saxons, the laws which were promulgated at the end of the 7th century. The landmark, however, in Anglo-Saxon prose literature is the writing of Alfred. The other two important phases in evolution are the writings of Aelfric and Wulfstan.

      The inspiration behind writing in prose came from a serious purpose of instruction and inculcation of his subjects.  The King himself took the initiative and that is why he became the leading prose writer of this period.

Father of English Prose     
         Alfred can be termed the "father of English prose". As King of Wessex he was inspired by a utilitarian motive to educate his people and instruct them in their mother tongue. About 800 A.D. the King noted a kind of gained supremacy in the south west of England over all the Germanic groups settled in the Island. Now it is the King’s duty to look after the unity and integrity of the people.
Types of writings
       Alfred started two types of writings:
 

Original Writings

    His original writings in prose. His outstanding original work is of course the early part of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Here Alfred is more like a modern chronicler even with the style of narration of his age.
Translation of native language
      He translated of other writers into the native language.
 Alfred himself is credited with the translation of the Universal History of Orosius. The translation work was difficult; Orosius a Spanish historian of the 5th century wrote an obscure Latin. Alfred’s other translations, not all by his own pen, sometimes done by others at his instruction, are the Ecclesiastical History of the Angles of Bede, Pastoral Rules by Pope Gregory the great and Consolation of Boethius.
Alfred’s translation of Bede’s Ecclesiastical history was a great help to his people for the achieved unity of races.
Aelfric
     Aelfric is not great author like Alfred; his prose is neither very utilitarian in its manner of communication nor accommodative in style, rather it is a bit too ornate to serve properly any such purpose. Aelfric was a pupil of the monastic school which Aethelwold founded at Abingdom. He wrote in the early part of the 11th century. We owe to him a Colloquium for teaching Latin by conversation. This can be called the first Latin-English dictionary.

Aelfric of course made his name by his Homilies which are partly compilation and partly translation from the Father off the Church.
Aelfric's style
     Unlike the prose style of Alfred Aelfric’s is almost rhythmic-like verse. His writings are most stylistic than the writings of either Alfred or Wulfstan.

Wulfstan
     Wulfstan was the Archbishop of York from 1002 to 1023. He was a preacher, his Homilies dates from 1012, when the English were suffering the ills of the Danish invasion. It is Wulfstan who proclaims the advent of the great Chastiser the Antichrist.
Wulfstan's style
Unlike Aelfric Wulfstan gives his language a popularly lively touch.

     The three outstanding figures in Anglo-Saxon prose writings present varied colours in the development of the prose style. The central monument of the early prose literature was of course King Alfred, himself a great admirer of academic excellence. They together made English prose quite viable.