General Notes

From the late 8th century, attacks by Vikings from Scandinavia increased.A
fter a major invasion in 865, the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia we
re rapidly overrun, and in 871 the Danish army attacked Wessex. The Wess
ex forces under the command of Alfred (reigned 871-99), then aged 21, defe
ated the Danes at the Battle of Edington in 878. The Danes withdr
ew to an area north of a frontier running from London to Chester and kno
wn as 'Danelaw'.
This victory did not finish the Danish threat, and Alfred reorganised t
he Wessex defences by organising his army on a rota basis, so he could rai
se a 'rapid reaction force' to deal with raiders whilst still enabling h
is thegns and peasants to tend their farms. Second, Alfred started a build
ing programme of well-defended settlements across southern England as a de
fence in depth against Danish raiders. Alfred also ordered the buildi
ng of a navy of new fast ships to patrol the coasts and meet invaders befo
re they penetrated inland.
Other reforms included establishing a legal code (assembled from the la
ws of his predecessors and of the kingdoms of Mercia and Kent), and reform
ing the coinage. Illiterate in Latin until the age of 38, Alfred promot
ed literacy, religion and education, and directed the translation of wor
ks of religious instruction, philosophy and history into the vernacular; t
his was partly so that people could read his orders and legislation. The e
nergetic royal authority demonstrated in Alfred's policies presaged the We
ssex kings' rule of all England during the next century.
'the Great'
Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of Aethelwul
f, king of the West Saxons. At their father's behest and by mutual agreeme
nt, Alfred's elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn, rather th
an endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a time wh
en the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from Denmark.
Since the 790s, the Vikings had been using fast mobile armies, numbering t
housands of men embarked in shallow-draught longships, to raid the coas
ts and inland waters of England for plunder. Such raids were evolving in
to permanent Danish settlements; in 867, the Vikings seized York and estab
lished their own kingdom in the southern part of Northumbria. The Vikin
gs overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia and Merci
a, and their kings were either tortured to death or fled. Finally, in 8
70 the Danes attacked the only remaining independent Anglo-Saxon kingd
om - Wessex, whose forces were commanded by King Aethelred and his young
er brother Alfred. At the battle of Ashdown in 871, Alfred routed the Viki
ng army in a fiercely fought uphill assault. However, further defeats foll
owed for Wessex and Alfred's brother died.
As king of Wessex at the age of 21, Alfred (reigned 871-99) was a strongmi
nded but highly strung battle veteran at the head of remaining resistan
ce to the Vikings in southern England. In early 878, the Danes led by Ki
ng Guthrum seized Chippenham in Wiltshire in a lightning strike and us
ed it as a secure base from which to devastate Wessex. Local people eith
er surrendered or escaped (Hampshire people fled to the Isle of Wight), a
nd the West Saxons were reduced to hit and run attacks seizing provisio
ns when they could. With only his royal bodyguard, a small army of theg
ns (the king's followers) and Aethelnoth earldorman of Somerset as his all
y, Alfred withdrew to the Somerset tidal marshes in which he had probab
ly hunted as a youth. (It was during this time that Alfred, in his preoccu
pation with the defence of his kingdom, allegedly burned some cakes whi
ch he had been asked to look after; the incident was a legend dating fr
om early twelfth century chroniclers.)
A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and ad
From Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996.
From Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 Janua