[68] His interest in foreign countries is shown by the insertions which he made in his translation of Orosius. Alfred was a son of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. [172][173][j] The Anglican Communion venerates him as a Christian hero, with a feast day or commemoration on 26 October, and he may often be found depicted in stained glass in Church of England parish churches. Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge suggest this also for Bald's Leechbook and the anonymous Old English Martyrology. [156] How he died is unknown, but he suffered throughout his life with a painful and unpleasant illness. King Alfred the Great is the most famous and celebrated of all Anglo-Saxon kings. [5] However, West Saxon genealogical lists state that Alfred was 23 when he became king in April 871, implying that he was born between April 847 and April 848. Later medieval historians such as Geoffrey of Monmouth also reinforced Alfred's favourable image. [119], This revival entailed the recruitment of clerical scholars from Mercia, Wales and abroad to enhance the tenor of the court and of the episcopacy; the establishment of a court school to educate his own children, the sons of his nobles, and intellectually promising boys of lesser birth; an attempt to require literacy in those who held offices of authority; a series of translations into the vernacular of Latin works the king deemed "most necessary for all men to know";[120] the compilation of a chronicle detailing the rise of Alfred's kingdom and house, with a genealogy that stretched back to Adam, thus giving the West Saxon kings a biblical ancestry. [41], A legend tells how when Alfred first fled to the Somerset Levels, he was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some wheaten cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Mercia dominated southern England, but its supremacy came to an end in 825 when it was decisively defeated by Ecgberht at the Battle of Ellendun. [66], While he was in talks with Hastein, the Danes at Appledore broke out and struck north-westwards. [77][79], At the centre of Alfred's reformed military defence system was a network of burhs, distributed at strategic points throughout the kingdom. The retreating Danish force supposedly left Britain the following summer. The author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle related that Alfred's ships were larger, swifter, steadier and rode higher in the water than either Danish or Frisian ships. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. [40] From his fort at Athelney, an island in the marshes near North Petherton, Alfred was able to mount a resistance campaign, rallying the local militias from Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. [109], The only crime that could not be compensated with a payment of money was treachery to a lord "since Almighty God adjudged none for those who despised Him, nor did Christ, the Son of God, adjudge any for the one who betrayed Him to death; and He commanded everyone to love his lord as Himself". On this occasion a great number of stone coffins were dug up, with a variety of other curious articles, such as chalices, patens, rings, buckles, the leather of shoes and boots, velvet and gold lace belonging to chasubles and other vestments; as also the crook, rims, and joints of a beautiful crosier double gilt. [34] 878 was the nadir of the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. "[151] An excellent hunter in every branch of the sport, Alfred is remembered as an enthusiastic huntsman against whom nobody's skills could compare. They were defeated again on 22 March at the Battle of Merton (perhaps Marden in Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset). [33] Alfred's public life began in 865 at age 16 with the accession of his third brother, 18-year-old Æthelred. historical Wessex), and Æthelwulf ruled in the east. [3] According to his biographer, Asser, writing in 893, "In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons", was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire[a] (which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box tree grows very abundantly)." Æthelbald only survived his father by two years and Æthelberht then for the first time united Wessex and Kent into a single kingdom. Wessex had possessed a royal fleet before this. [34] The defeat at Wilton smashed any remaining hope that Alfred could drive the invaders from his kingdom. [92] Alfred's burh system posed such a formidable challenge against Viking attack that when the Vikings returned in 892 and stormed a half-made, poorly garrisoned fortress up the Lympne estuary in Kent, the Anglo-Saxons were able to limit their penetration to the outer frontiers of Wessex and Mercia. Before his death he ordered the construction of the New Minster hoping that it would become a mausoleum for him and his family. So when the Viking raids resumed in 892 Alfred was better prepared to confront them with a standing, mobile field army, a network of garrisons, and a small fleet of ships navigating the rivers and estuaries. [182], A marble statue of Alfred the Great stands on the North side of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Part 1 of 3. These came into the possession of the vicar of nearby St Bartholomew's Church who reburied them in an unmarked grave in the church graveyard. [51], With the signing of the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, an event most commonly held to have taken place around 880 when Guthrum's people began settling East Anglia, Guthrum was neutralised as a threat. [145], The Alfred jewel, discovered in Somerset in 1693, has long been associated with King Alfred because of its Old English inscription AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN ('Alfred ordered me to be made'). After excitedly asking, "Will you really give this book to the one of us who can understand it the soonest and recite it to you?" Ms Thom’s knowledge of this turbulent time in history shines through and her characters, as always, come across as rounded, real people. In January 2014, a fragment of pelvis that had been unearthed in the 1999 excavation of the Hyde site, and had subsequently lain in a Winchester museum store room, was radiocarbon-dated to the correct period. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. The invaders brought their wives and children with them indicating a meaningful attempt at conquest and colonisation. [175] The epithet was retained by succeeding generations who admired Alfred's patriotism, success against barbarism, promotion of education, and establishment of the rule of law.[175]. Although he described his method as translating "sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense", the translation keeps very close to the original although, through his choice of language, he blurred throughout the distinction between spiritual and secular authority. [130], Following the example of Charlemagne, Alfred established a court school for the education of his own children, those of the nobility, and "a good many of lesser birth". The result was effectively a land battle involving hand-to-hand fighting on board the two lashed vessels. [157][158] His grandson King Eadred seems to have suffered from a similar illness. A: Alfred was the fifth son of King Æthelwulf (839-58), ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex – the area south of the river Thames. Filmed on location from Reading to Rome, using original texts read in Old English, and interviews with … Those who escaped retreated to Shoebury. The brothers had agreed that whichever of them outlived the other would inherit the personal property that King Æthelwulf had left jointly to his sons in his will. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him. [30] Victorian writers later interpreted this as an anticipatory coronation in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne of Wessex. Of the twenty two burhs that became boroughs three did not attain full town status. The Anglo-Saxons led by Alfred are a custom civilization by JFD and Janboruta, with contributions from Viregel. At Wedmore, Alfred and Guthrum negotiated what some historians have called the Treaty of Wedmore, but it was to be some years after the cessation of hostilities that a formal treaty was signed. [87], A document now known as the Burghal Hidage provides an insight into how the system worked. The mercy that Christ infused into Mosaic law underlies the injury tariffs that figure so prominently in barbarian law codes since Christian synods "established, through that mercy which Christ taught, that for almost every misdeed at the first offence secular lords might with their permission receive without sin the monetary compensation which they then fixed". ANGLO-SAXON ARMIES . [112], Alfred devoted considerable attention and thought to judicial matters. [10], He was the youngest of six children. [183], "Alfred I" and "King Alfred" redirect here. [121], Very little is known of the church under Alfred. [139], Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy was the most popular philosophical handbook of the Middle Ages. Asser writes that Alfred "could not satisfy his craving for what he desired the most, namely the liberal arts; for, as he used to say, there were no good scholars in the entire kingdom of the West Saxons at that time". Finding their position in mainland Europe precarious, they crossed to England in 330 ships in two divisions. [179], A bronze statue of Alfred the Great stands at the eastern end of The Broadway, close to the site of Winchester's medieval East Gate. [111] In practical terms the most important law in the code may well have been the first: "We enjoin, what is most necessary, that each man keep carefully his oath and his pledge" which expresses a fundamental tenet of Anglo-Saxon law. [174], Alfred commissioned Bishop Asser to write his biography, which inevitably emphasised Alfred's positive aspects. ANGLES. Alfred lamented in the preface to his translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care that "learning had declined so thoroughly in England that there were very few men on this side of the Humber who could understand their divine services in English or even translate a single letter from Latin into English: and I suppose that there were not many beyond the Humber either". King Alfred, the King of Wessex, was emerging as a common leader and the first references are made to a ‘King of the Anglo Saxons’ When William the Conqueror rose to the English throne after the Norman conquest in 1066, many Anglo-Saxon abbeys were demolished and replaced with Norman cathedrals. In his introduction Alfred explains that he gathered together the laws he found in many "synod-books" and "ordered to be written many of the ones that our forefathers observed—those that pleased me; and many of the ones that did not please me, I rejected with the advice of my councillors, and commanded them to be observed in a different way". [162], The prison was demolished between 1846 and 1850. Once inside the fortification, Alfred realised, the Danes enjoyed the advantage, better situated to outlast their opponents or crush them with a counter-attack because the provisions and stamina of the besieging forces waned. The story that, in his childhood, he was sent to Ireland to be healed by Saint Modwenna may show Alfred's interest in that island. Later in his reign, the North Welsh followed their example and the latter cooperated with the English in the campaign of 893 (or 894). 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