1535944

[SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]

Reigned 871-899. Prevented the Danish conquest of England,
defeating them at Eddington (878) after a campaign of guerilla
warfare. After the victory he allowed the Danes to keep their
conquests in East Anglia & Mercia provided that Guthrum, their
king, was converted to Christianity. Alfred built a navy of
warships to defend the south coast aginst further Danish
invasions (885-886, 892-896) & protected Wessex with a chain of
fortifications. He took London (886) thus gaining control of
all England except the Danish areas. Quote from Winston
Churchill: ("Alfred the Great", chapter 7 of volume 1 of his
"History of the English-Speaking Peoples". An appreciation of
"the greatest Englishman that ever lived"). Quote from Maurice
Ashley in "Great Britain to 1688" about Alfred: "He was the
greatest Englishman in early history" (p. 41). Banner was a
golden dragon (the golden dragon was the banner of the kingdom
of Wessex, Alfred's personal banner was the White Horse). Since
Alfred was the fifth son, it was never thought he would be
King, and thus unlike his older brothers who have the royal
mark of the ruling house of Wessex "AEthel" (or "Ethel") as a
part of their names, Alfred was instead named after his
mother's folk).

REF: The Newsletter of Anglo-Saxon Studies at The University of
Georgia Vol I, Number 3 (Spring, 1994): "ALFRED'S MILITARY
ACHIEVEMENTS", Alex Bruce

Alfred the Great is remembered for his two great victories--his
success in re-establishing learning in his kingdom of Wessex
(see Matheliende 1.2), and his success in defeating the
seemingly unstoppable forces of the invading Danes. No matter
how much we venerate the revival of education under Alfred, the
latter of these successes is, however, the greater; there would
have been no possibility of restoring the centers of learning
had Alfred not brought peace to his land. When Alfred became
king of the West Saxons in 871, he was already an experienced
military leader, as he had participated in several campaigns
against the invading Danes. The Danes had been present in the
British Isles since at least 789, but until the time of Alfred
they had concentrated their efforts on subjugating the eastern
lands of Britain. However, in 865 a great army of Danes hungry
for land and wealth moved quickly through the kingdoms of East
Anglia and Northumbria. After these two kingdoms capitulated
and paid tribute to the invaders, the Danes turned to Mercia.
There, in 868, they met both Mercians and West Saxons; the two
nations had formed an alliance that had been strengthened that
very year by the marriage of Alfred and Ealhswith, daughter of
a Mercian ealdorman (see Asser ch. 29). Alfred and his elder
brother King Aethelred personally led the Wessex contingent,
yet not even the combined forces of the Mercians and
the West Saxons could keep the Danes at bay. The Mercians, like
the East Anglians and Northumbrians, had to "make peace"--that
is, pay tribute. In 871 Alfred's brother Aethelred died, making
Alfred, last son of King Aethelwulf, the new king of the West
Saxons. In that year as well the Danes turned their attention
to Alfred's kingdom, and for the next four years, until 875,
Alfred bought peace for his people by paying tribute to the
Danes. At first the invaders seemed satisfied, but in 875 they
began altering the terms of the peace. That year, after
collecting their tribute, the Danes did not leave Wessex as
they had before, but lived there, peacefully but at the expense
of the West Saxons, until 878. Then, in their desire to
subjugate completely the people of Wessex, the Danes went on
the offensive. Alfred fought back, yet
in March of that year he and his followers were forced into
hiding, and the hope of the West Saxons was fading. But that
May Alfred met the Danish force at Edington; "there he fought
against the entire host, and put it to flight, and pursued it
up to the fortification [probably Chippenham] and laid siege
there a fortnight; and then the host gave him preliminary
hostages and solemn oaths that they would leave his kingdom,
and promised him in addition that their king would receive
baptism; and they fulfilled this promise" (Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, year 878). Alfred had defeated the invading Danes,
forcing them to submit to his terms. They subsequently left
Alfred and Wessex, turning to the continent for new lands to
plunder. Yet though this particular force left, Danes still
inhabited Britain; Northumbria, East Anglia, and parts of
Mercia were all still under the Danelaw. Alfred felt constantly
threatened, and had to fight skirmishes with the Danes for many
years. To help preserve his hard-earned peace Alfred developed
stronger defenses for his land of Wessex. In the southern part
of Britain he established several new fortified cities, better
than the smaller forts, where great groups of people could
gather for protection. He reorganized his army so that at any
one time half of it was prepared for war. Finally, in 886,
Alfred took the initiative himself and attacked the Danish-held
city of London in an attempt to diminish the lands ruled under
the Danelaw. He succeeded, and for his efforts all the "Angles
and Saxons--those who had formerly been scattered everywhere
and were not in captivity with the Danes--turned willingly to
King Alfred and submitted themselves to his lordship" (Asser
ch. 83). At this point Alfred seems to have come closest to
rightly earning the title "King of England," though in reality
he governed perhaps a quarter of the land now known as England.
Once he had brought peace to his land Alfred began to implement
his reforms. He encouraged learning and the keeping of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; he also established a code of law, based
on the Bible, which "shows how the king sought to maintain
social order" (Introduction to "Extracts from the laws of King
Alfred," Alfred the Great 163). Law codes were certainly not
new to the people of Wessex; what was different about Alfred's
code was that by basing his laws so clearly on Biblical law,
"Alfred places his own activity as a law-giver in what he
regards as its proper context, effectively implying that the
legislation which follows stands in the same tradition and
represents that of the new chosen people" (Introduction to
Alfred the Great 39). In 892-3 Alfred's peace was disturbed by
the violent return of the Danes. These invaders, driven off the
continent, seemed intent upon "the final conquest and
settlement of England" (McElwee 32). During these campaigns
Alfred won praise from the writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
(perhaps not very surprising, considering who the sponsor was!)
for his forethought and stratagems. His standing army was able
to fight off the invaders while the people remained safe in his
fortified cities. Alfred also employed new tactics; he scouted
out the enemy and destroyed them at sea using larger war-ships
of his own design. The Danes were thwarted at every turn, and
were forced to retreat, unfulfilled, from the island of
Britain. The last years of Alfred's life were more peaceful and
devoted to scholarly pursuits. When Alfred died on October 26,
899, he left a culture which had perhaps already seen its best
days, but, thanks to Alfred's care and
courage, would be remembered for centuries to come.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other
Contemporary
Sources. Trans. with an introduction and notes by Simon Keynes
and Michael
Lapidge. New York: Penguin Books, 1983.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Trans., ed., and introduced by G. N.
Garmonsway. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1972.

Asser. Life of King Alfred. In Alfred the Great: Asser's Life
of King
Alfred and other Contemporary Sources. Trans. with an
introduction and
notes by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge. New York: Penguin
Books, 1983.

McElwee, William. A Short History of England, from the Time of
King Alfred
to the Present Day. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1968.

The Oxford History of Britain. Revised edition. Ed. Kenneth O.
Morgan.
Oxford: The Oxford University Press, 1988.

Plummer, Charles. The Life and Times of Alfred the Great. New
York: Haskel
House Productions Ltd., 1902.

REF: The Newsletter of Anglo-Saxon Studies at The University of
Georgia Vol I, Number 2 (Winter, 1994) "ALFRED THE EDUCATOR"
Kirk Appletoft: Alfred the Great, considered the first king of
England, is known for saving his land from decimation by the
invading Danes and thereby giving his countrymen a sense of
nationalism. Yet Alfred achieved more than military and
political successes during his reign from 871-901; his
dedication to the teaching of the liberal arts helped preserve
the literary tradition of the Anglo-Saxons. Alfred's
appreciation for education began very early in his life. In
853, at the age of four, Alfred was sent by his father, King
Aethelwulf, to Pope Leo IV in Rome for instruction. This
instruction, no doubt, focused on religion rather than on the
liberal arts. But this trip to Rome, as well as the one Alfred
made two years later, certainly helped Alfred recognize the
role of the Church in education. Alfred would fully acknowledge
this role when he became king. Alfred's interest in the liberal
arts was encouraged by his stepmother Judith, who was the first
to pique his interest in reading. Alfred's contemporary
biographer, Asser, a bishop from Wales, records that Judith
offered a book of Saxon poems to the first of Aethelwulf's four
sons who could recite the book to her. To win the book, Alfred,
who could not read, had an instructor read the book to him
until he had memorized every word. According to Asser, this
"desire for wisdom, more than anything else, together with the
nobility of his birth, . . . characterized the nature of his
noble mind" (Asser 75). Not until after he became king in 871
did Alfred learn to read and write. Asser, whom Alfred had
called to serve in his court, seems to have been responsible
for this feat. Asser would copy passages from the Bible for
Alfred to study; Alfred would then eagerly translate them into
English. The duties of being the king, however, constantly
interrupted Alfred's education. His entire reign was spent in a
religious war with the Danes. He believed that the invaders
represented punishment from God for the decay of education, and
the corresponding lack of understanding of Latin manuscripts
and psalms. So, for Alfred, his war became not a matter of the
English fighting the Danes; it was the Christians fighting the
heathens. This belief was one of the primary reasons for the
large number of religious translations and the increasing
interest in education during Alfred's reign. As well, Alfred
supported education because he recognized that "a king's raw
material and instruments of rule are a well peopled land, and
he must have men of prayer, men of war, and men of work . . .
[for] without these tools he cannot perform any of the tasks
entrusted to him" (Plummer 153). In order to have these tools
at his disposal he brought many Latin scholars from the
continent to teach at his institutions. He also, even when his
war with the Danes was at its height, took time to translate
several Latin works on his own, including Pope Gregory the
Great's Pastoral Care, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy and
St. Augustine's Soliloquies. So important to Alfred was the
ability to read that he began to demand that other nobles of
the land be able to read. Asser recounts Alfred's admonishments
to a group of judges who were poorly educated; they were told
"either to relinquish immediately [their] offices of worldly
power . . . or else to apply [them]selves much more attentively
to the pursuit of wisdom." (Asser 110) Needless to say they
chose the latter option.
The effect of all of Alfred's educational reforms was that we,
more than 1000 years later, have a wealth of Anglo- Saxon prose
and poetry to read and study. Without his dedication to
learning we would all have been poorer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asser. Life of King Alfred. In Alfred the Great: Asser's Life
of King
Alfred and other Contemporary Sources. Trans. with an
introduction and
notes by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge. New York: Penguin
Books, 1983.

Bosworth, George F. Alfred the Great: His Life and Times.
London: Macmillan
and Co., Ltd., 1914.

Loyn, H. R. Alfred the Great. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1967.

Plummer, Charles. The Life and Times of Alfred the Great. New
York: Haskel
House Productions Ltd., 1902.

REF: *The Chronicle of Fabius Ethelwerd, From the Beginning of
the World
to the Year of Our Lord 975*, translated by J A Giles in *Six
Old English
Chronicles*, London (Bohn), 1848, p 28, 37.: "Lastly, in the
same year, king Alfred departed out of this world, that
immoveable pillar of the Western Saxons, that man full of
justice, bold in arms, learned in speech, and, above all other
things, imbued with the divine instructions. For he had
translated into his own language, out of Latin, unnumbered
volumes, of so varied a nature, and so excellently, that the
sorrowful book of Boethius seemed, not only to the learned, but
even to those who heard it read, as it were, brought to life
again. The monarch died on the seventh day before the
solemnity of All Saints, and his body rests in peace in the
city of Winston. Pray, O reader, to Christ our Redeemer, that
he will save his soul!"

REF: Weis & Sheppard, *Ancestral Roots ... *, 7th Edition,
1992, p 2 : Alfred the Great, King of England, 871-899, b.
Wantage, Berkshire, 849; d. 26 Oct. 899; m. 868, Ealhsith
(Alswitha), d. ca. 905, dau. of Earl Aethelred of Mercia and
Eadburgh. Alfred was one of the greatest men in history. He
was crowned king at Winchester, 871; founded the British Navy,
organized the militia, compiled a code of laws, built schools
and monasteries, and invited scholars to live at his court. He
was a good scholar and translated many books."

SRCE: Asser of Saint David, *Annals of the Reign of Alfred
the Great, from
A.D. 849 to A.D. 887* (or *Life of Alfred*), translated by J A
Giles, 1848, p 43-44. Giles says in the preface, p vi: In the
year of our Lord's incarnation 849, was born Alfred, king of
the Anglo-Saxons, at the royal village of Wanating [Wantage],
in Berkshire, which country has its name from the wood of
Berrod, where the box-tree grows most abundantly. His genealogy
is traced in the following order. King Alfred was the son of
King Ethelwild, who was the son of Egbert, who was the son, of
Elmund, who was son of Eafa, who was the son of Eoppa, who was
the son of Ingild. Ingild, and Ina, the famous king of the
West-Saxons, were two brothers. Ina went to Rome, and there
ending this life honourably, entered the heavenly kingdom, to
reign there for ever with Christ. Ingild and Ina were the sons
of Coenred, who was the son of Ceolwald, who was the son of
Cudam, who was the son of Cuthwin, who was the son of Ceawlin,
who was the son of Cynric, who was the son of Creoda, who was
the son of Cerdic, who was the son of Elesa, who was the son of
Gewis, from whom the Britons name all that nation Gewis
[FOOTNOTE: The Gewissae, generally understood to be the
West-Saxons.], who was the son of Brond, who was the son of
Beldeg, who was the son of Woden, who was the son of
Frithowald, who was the son of Frealaf, who was the son of
Frithuwulf, who was the son of Finn of Godwulf, who was the son
of Geat, which Geat the pagans long worshipped as a god.
Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical Paschal poem, as
follows:--
When gentile poets with their fictions vain,
In tragic language and bombastic strain,
To their god Geat, comic deity,
Loud praises sing, &c.
"Geat was the son of Taetwa, who was the son of Beaw, who was
the son of Sceldi [= SCELDWA in trans. by Keynes & Lapidge],
who was the son of Heremod, who was the son of Itermon, who was
the son of Hathra, who was the son of Gula [= HWALA in trans.
by K & L], who was the son of Bedwig, who was the son of Shem
[= SETH in trans. by K & L, but this is probably an error], who
was the son of Noah, who was the son of Lamech, who was the son
of Methusalem [=METHUSALAH], who was the son of Enoch, who was
the son of Malaleel [= MAHALALEEL], who was the son of Cainian
[= CAINAN in trans. by K & L], who was the son of Enos, who was
the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam."

REF: William of Malmesbury, *Chronicle of the Kings of
England*, c 1135, tr John Allen Giles, London (Henry G Bohn)
1847, p 113-122 passim: He was married to Ealhswith of the
Gani in 868."Received the royal unction and crown from pope Leo
the fourth at Rome, acceded to the sovereignty and retained it
with the greatest difficulty, but with equal valour,
twenty-eight years and a half. ..... For nine successive
years battling with his enemies, sometimes deceived by false
treaties, and sometimes wreaking his vengeance on the
deceivers, he was at last reduced to such extreme distress,
that scarcely three counties, that is to say, Hampshire,
Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, stood fast by their allegiance,
as he was compelled to retreat to a certain island called
Athelney, which from its marshy situation was hardly
accessible. ..... [However, later] Alfred had reduced the
whole island to his power, with the exception of what the Danes
possessed. ..... After England had rejoiced for 13 years in
the tranquility of peace and in the fertility of her soil, the
northern pest of barbarians again returned. With them returned
war and slaughter ..... The king himself was, with his usual
activity, present in every action, ever daunting the invaders,
and at the same time inspiriting his subjects, with the signal
display of his courage. He would oppose himself singly to the
enemy; and by his own personal exertions rally his declining
forces. The very places are yet pointed out by the inhabitants
where he felt the vicissitudes of good and evil fortune. .....
His children by Elswitha, the daughter of earl Athelred, were
Ethelswitha, Edward who reigned after him; Ethel fled who was
married to Ethered earl of the Mercians; Ethelwerd, whom they
celebrate as being extremely learned; Elfred and Ethelgiva,
virgins. His [Alfred's] health was so bad that he was
constantly disquited either by the piles or some disorder of
the intestines. It is said, however, that he entreated this
from God, in his supplications, in order that, by the
admonition of pain, he might be less anxious after earthly
delights. "Yet amid these circumstances the private life of the
king is to be admired and celebrated with the highest praise.
For although, as some one has said, "Laws must give way amid
the strife of arms," yet he, amid the sound of trumpets and the
din of war, enacted statures by which his people might equally
familiarise themselves to religious worship and to military
discipline. And since, from the example of the barbarians, the
natives themselves began to lust after rapine, insomuch that
there was no safe intercourse without a military guard, he
appointed centuries, which they call "hundreds," and
decennaries, that is to say, "tythings," so that every
Englishman, living according to law, must be a member of both.
If any one was accused of a crime, he was obliged immediately
to produce persons from the hundred and tything to become his
surety; and whosoever was unable to find such surety, must
dread the severity of the laws. If any who was impleaded made
his escape either before or after he had found surety, all
persons of the hundred and tything paid a fine to the king. By
this regulation he diffused such peace throughout the country
that he ordered golden bracelets, which might mock the eager
desires of the passengers while no one durst take them away, to
be hung up on the public causeways, where the roads crossed
each other. ..... He erected monasteries wherever he deemed
it fitting ..... [Alfred sent for Grimmald] that by his
activity he might awaken the study of literature in England,
which was now slumbering and almost expiring. ..... Confiding
in these auxiliaries [Grimmald, Asser, Werefrith, Johannes
Scotus], the king gave his whole soul to the cultivation of the
liberal arts, insomuch that no Englishman was quicker in
comprehending, or more elegant in translating. ..... He
translated into English the greater part of the Roman authors
..... Moreover he infused a great regard for literature into
his countrymen, stimulating them both with rewards and
punishments, allowing no ignorant person to aspire to any
dignity in the court. He died just as he had begun a
translation of the Psalms. ..... He had one unusual and
unheard of custom, which was, that he always carried in his
bosom a book in which the daily order of the Psalms was
contained, for the purpose of carefully perusing it, if at any
time he had leisure. In this way he passed his life, much
respected by neighboring princes, and gave his daughter
Ethelswitha in marriage to Baldwin earl of Flanders, by whom he
had Arnulf and Ethelwulf; the former received from his father
the county of Boulogne, from the other at this day are
descended the earls of Flanders. [Footnote by Giles:
"Matilda, queen of William the First, was daughter of Baldwin
earl of Flanders, the fifth in descent from Ethelswitha."]
"Alfred, paying the debt of nature, was buried at Winchester,
in the monastery which he had founded ..... They report that
Alfred was first was first buried in the cathedral, because the
monaster was unfinished, but that afterwards, on account of the
folly of the canons, who asserted that the royal spirit,
resuming its carcass, wandered nightly through the buildings,
Edward, his son and successor, removed the remains of his
father, and gave them a quiet resting-place in the new minster.
[Footnote by Giles: "On its removal called Hyde Abbey."]
These and similar superstitions, such as that the dead body of
a wicked man runs about, after death, by the agency of the
devil, the English hold with almost inbred credulity, borrowing
them from
the heathens, according to the expression of Virgil, "Forms
such as flit, they say, when life is gone." [Virg. Aeneid, x.
641.]

REF: British Monarchy Official Website: From the late 8th
century, there were attacks by Vikings from Scandinavia. The
kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia were rapidly over-run and in
871 the Danish army attacked Wessex. After initial setbacks,
Alfred, King of Wessex (reigned 871-99) defeated the Danes at
the Battle of Edington in 878. The Danes withdrew to an area
north of a frontier running from London to Chester, which
became known as the 'Danelaw'. Alfred then began a programme of
reforms, including establishing a legal code, improving
education and learning, and reforming the coinage. He also
started a building programme of well-defended towns ('borough'
comes from the Old English burgh, a fortress) and a new navy.

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