874: The frontier moves west Class 10 - Vikings, Alfred the Great Since this is not a class in secular history, we do not go into great detail on secular subjects, but in the Medieval worldview, all things were colored by religious belief, and religious belief determined to a large extent the actions of kings, clergy, and laity. Are you an author? We'll never know for sure what illness Alfred the Great, or his fictional counterpart on Vikings, suffered from. Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and later successful negotiations with them. Another famous tale tells of a housewife who yells at the King when he lets the bread burn, unaware of who was sheltering in her house. Alfred rallied his forces and blockaded the Viking fleet at Devon, forcing them to withdraw to Mercia but, by 877 CE, the Vikings were back at the borders and, in early 878 CE, they took Chippenham. Alfred's terms were lenient: Guthrum and 30 of his chieftains would submit to Christian baptism and renounce their pagan faith, hostages would be provided to ensure compliance, and the Vikings would leave Wessex; all of these conditions were met. It was during this period that Asser, formerly of Wales, came to Alfred's court as his personal tutor. Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and … It was wealthy and fertile, with the best trading routes to the continent, so of course, the Vikings could never consider their conquest complete until they had dominion over this territory. King Alfred hides in the forest, until he finds a base deep in the fastness of a marsh. We have also been recommended for educational use by the following publications: Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Alfred also united the Saxons of Britain into a common cause, and ultimately, they would meld into a single people. From all corners, the Saxons gathered to him. It was late in the year 871 when the 23-year-old Alfred, newly-appointed king of the last free Saxon kingdom in Britain, sat down for peace talks with two sons of Ragnar Lothbrok and other leaders of the Great Heathen Army. Asser (Alfred's contemporary biographer) tells us that King Alfred’s constantly-active mind and the near-perpetual crisis of his times came at a high personal cost to him. Mark, Joshua J.. "Alfred the Great." Alfred’s name in our culture would basically mean “supernaturally intelligent,” and he was to live up to it. New Vikings were always coming in, and new Viking leaders were always trying to exceed the glory of their predecessors. Alfred earned his vaunted cognomen by repelling a … If so, they were mistaken as Alfred proved himself a capable leader in battle, between c. 865-871 CE, alongside his brother and on his own after Aethelred died. He had already been gathering strength, even leaving the wilds to build a wooden fort at Athelney, near Somerset. This boundary line was the old Roman road that ran diagonally from Dover in the southeast all the way to Wales. Alfred did not drive the Vikings out, and neither did Aethelstan. Alfred continued his educational programs, enlarged and reformed the navy, and drew up his own law code based on the Christian Bible and founded on the Ten Commandments. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. So, Alfred the Great was a nemesis to our Viking heroes and played an essential role in preventing the Danish Vikings from taking England. In 865 CE the Great Army of Vikings led by Halfdane and Ivar the Boneless invaded East Anglia and... Alfred & the Burnt Cakes. He deals with the traitors within, and sends … He learned poetry by hearing it recited and then repeating it but could not read it himself until sometime in his teenage years and even then could not read Latin in which the most important works of his time were written. Public schools were created in which students learned to read English; those who were to go on to pursue holy orders would also be taught Latin. In 868 CE they made constant raids throughout Mercia and by 869 CE had completely overrun East Anglia. Early in the 880's CE, Alfred implemented innovations which included a restructuring of the network of towns and cities. In 866 CE they took the city of York, and in 867 CE they killed the Northumbrian kings Osbert and Aelle and consolidated their control of the region. His daughter Aethelflaed of Mercia would continue his war with the Vikings as well as his educational reforms and Burghal System along with her brother Edward of Wessex, who had succeeded Alfred. It was the first colossal embarrassment of Alfred’s young career. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. Keynes and Lapidge note that Alfred's victory at London marked “the emergence among the English of a sense of common identity, under a common leader, in a common cause” (38). The wife was cleaning house when she smelled the bread burning and hurried to the oven to draw the loaves out. In 876 CE Alfred made a treaty with Guthrum in which he gave the Viking leader hostages, and the Vikings swore an oath to leave Wessex alone. He was an inventor and made developments ranging from improvements to the hand-held lantern, to coming up with candles that could precisely mark time, to designing a fleet of ships for coastal defense. There may have been an official oath of loyalty to the king that the populace, or at least landowners, had to take, but even if there was not, it is clear that Alfred had united the people of Britain under his rule. Although The Last Kingdom starts later in time relative to Vikings, the two series overlap at the reign of King Alfred the Great. Alfred the Great spent a significant amount of his reign fighting the Vikings, one of the main foreign groups trying to invade England. Definition Youth & Rise to Power. 18 Apr 2021. Although Asser never criticizes Aethelred directly, he makes the point that a strategy had been laid whereby Alfred and Aethelred would command joint forces which would strike at different points of the Viking forces but that Aethelred never appeared to take command of his part of the battle. Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, came to power in the midst of a crisis for the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms of Britain. Alfred the Great. He is also quite knowledgeable in biblical stories, as he is able to answer Pope Leo's questions on Jesus' crucifixion, despite Alfred's young age. Though peace and protection for his people was his first concern, there is every reason to believe that he dreamed of creating an England. The walled town of Exeter fell to the Vikings – who were following their familiar pattern of taking a fortified city by treachery and then using that fortress as a base of operations for deeper incursions. Alfred's impressive military and administrative skills stabilized Britain after almost a century of Viking raids and warfare. He backed these attributes up with tremendous discipline in both his personal actions and his policies. The logistics of war were such that, even with the royal supplies, the Great Army needed to send out foraging parties. Most of these territories still existed in peoples’ minds, but in practicality, the formation of the Danelaw was reducing all of Britain into really just four domains: Alba, the Danelaw, Wessex, and Wales. And Alfred was going to need God’s hand, for in the spring of 877 the peace treaty between the West Saxons and the Vikings was to end, and all of Wessex was about to collapse. It was time to talk. To the south and west of the road would be Wessex’s dominion, which included much of Mercia (Wessex’s old rival). Following the wishes of their father, the sons succeeded to the kingship in turn. Ubba’s army caught an un-named Saxon ealdorman in Devonshire. Even so, in his lifetime, Alfred was respected as a noble king who won the trust of his people for his reforms in education and law, and most notably, his leadership against the Viking threat. The Vikings had begun their raids on Britain c. 793 CE and, by Alfred's time, had established themselves throughout the land from Northumbria through Mercia with increasing incursions into Wessex. Those are both extreme oversimplifications. A freelance writer and former part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, Joshua J. They married local women and the similar languages of Old Norse and Old English blended along with their bloodlines. His motivation suddenly fired, Alfred found people to read him the book until he memorized every word, and then used his knowledge of the poems to decipher the writing. Alfred’s mother told the 12-year-old that he could have her book of Saxon poems if he could learn to read it. They had expected Wessex to fall as everywhere else had. This new force was led by Ubba, one of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, and he carried with him the Raven banner. Books Though Asser goes on at length about the King's affliction, he is vague in his description. Last modified April 24, 2018. Although the money he had paid to Halfdane secured Wessex for the time, it did not mean the Vikings had to leave Britain. He established the practice of translating classical works from Latin into English, set up public schools, reformed the military, and revised and expanded the law code. Aethelflaed was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, and the … Britain had been many kingdoms – Pictland, Dal Riata, and Strathclyde (by then, all Alba) in the far north; the Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Bernicia, Cumbraland, East Anglia, Mercia, Kent (or Cent), and Wessex; and the Britons of Wales and Cornwall. Alfred's Burghal System seems to have been adapted from the Carolingian precepts. Although illiterate in his youth, Alfred himself wrote the law code and translated a number of works, including Gregory's Pastoral Care, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, St. Augustine's Soliloquies, and the first 50 psalms. With David Hemmings, Michael York, Prunella Ransome, Colin Blakely. But the Vikings were back in the field for a rematch almost immediately. Alfred the Great Alfred was in his early 20s when he became king in 871 and the defining challenge of his reign was conflict with the Vikings. In the show, his mother is Judith, Princess of Northumbria (played by English actress Jennie Jacques) who is married to Aethelwulf but becomes pregnant through an affair with the Christian monk-turned-Viking-turned-cleric, Athelstan (played by English actor George Blagden). But Guthrum’s oath-breaking was to be punished by divine hands. 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