If you check the index to Lapidge and Keynes, Alfred the Great, you will see that quite a bit has been written about Alfred's infirmities. Were they real or imagined?
Alfred married Ealhswith, the daughter of a Mercian nobleman, in 868. Asser raises the possibility that the illness was a curse from a witch (Chapter 74). Lapidge and Keynes note that some scholars have been reluctant to accept Asser's account, possibly the work of a forger (see 255-56).
Attitudes towards this controversy are very revealing of historical trends. That is, traditional historians might be tempted to dismiss this account of sickness because it makes Alfred seem "unmanly." But note that Lapidge and Keynes don't dismiss it but rather suggest another possibility, also revealing: psychological causes. They give a few references to a concern with health in some of Alfred's writings, but might not these be almost commonplace musings?
What is at stake in the controversy about a king's illnesses? What contemporary controversies can you think of in which one's ability to lead has been challenged on the basis of his or her physical (or mental) health?
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