He scrutinized the administration of justice and took steps to ensure the protection of the weak from oppression by ignorant or corrupt judges. Her latest book is Anglo-Saxons (Sutton Pocket Histories, 1999). The most active members of the National Committee were leading Liberals and others, like the positivist Frederic Harrison and litterateur Walter Besant, who were associated with them in the promotion of Working Mens’ Colleges or the London County Council, formed in 1888 with Lord Rosebery as its first Chairman. One hopes that it will not be possible for such a wide divorce between an idealised Alfred and the reality of Anglo-Saxon rule to occur again, but it is possible that Alfred’s symbolic career is not over. Alfred, also spelled Aelfred, byname Alfred the Great, (born 849—died 899), king of Wessex (871–899), a Saxon kingdom in southwestern England. Most active of all in the promotion of Alfred was the secretary of the National Committee and mayor of Winchester, Alfred Bowker, who used the millenary as an opportunity to develop the profile and scope of the Corporation of Winchester by, for instance, purchasing the site of Alfred’s final resting-place at Hyde Abbey with adjoining land that could be used for public recreation (as it still is today). King Alfred fled alone, in great haste, through the woods and swamps. Corrections? By Prof. Dr. F.N. This year saw the 1100th anniversary of his death on 26 October 899, at the age of about 50. Author of. There can be no doubt that Alfred’s reign was significant, both for the direction of the country’s development and for the fortunes of his descendants. Ælla (or Ælle or Aelle) (fl. As a pious king with an interest in promoting the use of English, Alfred was an ideal figurehead for the emerging English Protestant church. He desired absolute power, and the legislative innovations in his rule were resisted by the elders. Alfred’s bust was included alongside those of other Whig heroes in ‘The Temple of British Worthies’ completed in 1734-35 by William Kent. 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. can only be an effigy of the imagination, and so the Alfred we reverence may well be an idealised figure ... we have draped round his form ... all the highest attributes of manhood and kingship. He was a particularly wily military commander, successfully keeping the Danes at bay, and he wisely shored up defenses when the enemies of his kingdom were occupied elsewhere. For young Alfred, it would be impossible not to feel intimidated by the situation. The deceased's sons would r… Alfred is described as ‘the mildest, justest, most beneficient of kings’ who ‘crush’d corruption, guarded liberty, and was the founder of the English constitution’, in pointed reference to qualities which George II was felt to lack. A visual representation of this political manifesto was provided in Lord Cobham’s pleasure grounds at Stowe. Later he had larger ships built to his own design for use against the coastal raids that continued even after 896. Alfred’s lack of a saintly epithet, a disadvantage in the high Middle Ages, was the salvation of his reputation in a post-Reformation world. This talent was the foundation of Alfred’s later reputation as a scholar, translator, and patron of learning. Alfred, king of Wessex (the area south of the Thames River in England — and the Thames is the river that runs through London, so go ahead and check the map), is universally referred to as The Great. They retired in 877 having accomplished little, but a surprise attack in January 878 came near to success. Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University of Cambridge, 1957–69. He became convinced that those in authority in church or state could not act justly or effectively without the ‘wisdom’ acquired through study, and set up schools to ensure that future generations of priests and secular administrators would be better trained, as well as encouraging the nobles at his court to emulate his own example in reading and study. On the surface the Alfred millenary appeared to fulfil its aim, as advertised in the National Committee’s prospectus, of being ‘a National Commemoration of the king to whom this Empire owes so much’. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He maintained friendly relations with Mercia and Wales; Welsh rulers sought his support and supplied some troops for his army in 893. In order to appreciate what he did, let us briefly review 2300 years of world history prior to his reign: God's Law was revealed to Moses and given to Israel in its purity around 1500B.C.. Israel apostatized and rejected God's Law and was scattered throughout the world. Comparable claims of the contribution of the Anglo-Saxons to English life were used to support radical political change in the 17th century, when it was argued, for instance, that the right of all freemen to vote for representatives in Parliament was a lost Anglo-Saxon liberty. The Law Code of King Alfred the Great. But, almost immediately, the kingdom came under further attack from a rampaging Viking army (or Great Heathen Army as it was known to the Anglo-Saxons) Given his lack of military strength, Alfred sued for a temporary peace and paid off the Vikings (known as Danegeld) to retreat for the winter. Anglo-Saxonism, and the accompanying Alfredism, could be found on both sides of the Atlantic. According to Asser, because of Pope Marinus's friendship with King Alfred, the pope granted an exemption to any Anglo-Saxons residing … Alfred the Great: The Most Perfect Man in History. Root of a tree that o’ershadows the earth Who loved justice, freedom, truth and knowledge. Alfred and Asser did such a good job that when later generations looked back at his reign through their works they saw only a ruler apparently more perfect than any before or after. Wessex was never again in such danger. Alfred’s reputation still stands high with historians, though few would now want to follow Edward Freeman in claiming him as ‘the most perfect character in history’ (The History of the Norman Conquest of England, 5 volumes, 1867-79). The common Saxon heritage of the Hanoverians and the Anglo-Saxons provided more fertile ground for the promotion of a cult of King Alfred. In 883—though there is some debate over the year—King Alfred, because of his support and his donation of alms to Rome, received a number of gifts from Pope Marinus.Among these gifts was reputed to be a piece of the true cross, a great treasure for the devout Saxon king. Alfred also had the foresight to commission his biography from Bishop Asser of Wales. Thomas Jefferson had ingeniously argued that, as the Anglo-Saxons who had settled in Britain had ruled themselves independently from their Continental homelands, so the English settlers of America should also be allowed their independence. Many of the details were still not fixed on the eve of the event to the indignation of the few local gentry inveigled into attending, but the event still managed to attract crowds estimated at 8,000-10,000 who enjoyed traditional games and an ox-roast, as well as Tupper’s specially composed Jubilee song: Anglo-Saxons! Alfred became king in AD871 when his elder brother died. He was very tired and hungry, and he begged the woodcutter’s wife to give him something to eat and a place to sleep in her hut. Lord Rosebery commented that the statue he was to unveil in Winchester. During the reign of Victoria, who gave birth to the first Prince Alfred since the Anglo-Saxon period (b.1844), King Alfred was accepted as founder of the nation and its essential institutions to such an extent that one commentator was moved to complain ‘it is surely a mistake to make Alfred, as some folks seem to do, into a kind of ninth-century incarnation of a combined School Board and County Council’. It was a row over the statue of Oliver Cromwell, commissioned in 1895 by Rosebery from Thornycroft for the House of Commons, that precipitated the former’s resignation as Prime Minister. Late in 871, the Danes invaded Wessex, and Aethelred and Alfred fought several battles with them. Amongst his greatest achievements are the institution of the Burghal system, his endeavors aimed at planning of cities, and translations of Latin texts into the local language. 1556332. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by the English historian Bede, and the Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans, by Paulus Orosius, a 5th-century theologian—neither of which was translated by Alfred himself, though they have been credited to him—revealed the divine purpose in history. He promulgated an important code of laws, after studying the principles of lawgiving in the Book of Exodus and the codes of Aethelbert of Kent, Ine of Wessex (688–694), and Offa of Mercia (757–796), again with special attention to the protection of the weak and dependent. Alfred was fast being rediscovered as ‘the most perfect character in history’, and alongside his defence of constitutional liberties, his country and true religion, was added renewed admiration for his Christian morality and sense of duty. They surrendered, and their king, Guthrum, was baptized, Alfred standing as sponsor; the following year they settled in East Anglia. It was also writers of the 16th century who promoted the designation of Alfred as ‘the Great’, an epithet that had never been applied to him in the Anglo-Saxon period. Shortly after Alfred's birth in Born Again, he is taken by Ecbert's noblemen and Judith is brought before the court on trial for adultery. Learn more. Alfred’s bust was placed next to that of the Black Prince, a Prince of Wales whose noble qualities were perceived as having been inherited by Frederick, particularly if he followed the example of King Alfred rather than that of his father. Those who could not have a Saxon memorial in their grounds or in the nearby countryside could at least own a print of the new genre of History painting. He prevented England from falling to the Danes and promoted learning and literacy. A series of patriotic Alfred plays, opera and ballets were performed, particularly during the French Wars (1793-1815). Barbara Yorke considers the reputation of King Alfred the Great, and the enduring cult around his life and legend. Alfred was no longer a mirror for princes, but an exemplar for people at all levels of society and, above all, for children. The Stuarts’ preferred cultural reference points were from the classical world rather than the history of their own islands. He first appeared on active service in 868, when he and his brother, King Aethelred (Ethelred) I, went to help Burgred of Mercia (the kingdom between the Thames and the Humber) against a great Danish army that had landed in East Anglia in 865 and taken possession of Northumbria in 867. Archbishop Matthew Parker did an important service to Alfred’s reputation by publishing an edition of Asser’s Life of Alfred in 1574, even if he could not resist adding the story of the burnt cakes which came from a separate, later, Anglo-Saxon source. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Blest in this stem of their strength and their state In 893, the king was praised in Asser's ‘Life of Alfred’ with the following statement, “He was superior to all his brothers .. both in wisdom and in all good habits, and furthermore because he was warlike beyond measure and victorious in almost all battles.” The failure of the Danes to make any more advances against Alfred was largely a result of the defensive measures he undertook during the war. Lee, Australia. Alfred was never forgotten: his memory lived on through the Middle Ages and in legend as that of a king who won victory in apparently hopeless circumstances and as a wise lawgiver. The relative abundance of sources from Alfred’s reign, including his surviving law-code and Asser’s description of his interest in law and administration, naturally meant that attention was drawn to him by those searching for an ancient constitution to serve contemporary needs. This translation deserves to be studied in its own right, as does his rendering of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. With the help of advisers from other areas of England, Wales and Francia, Alfred studied, and even translated from Latin into Old English, certain works that were regarded at the time as providing models of ideal Christian kingship and ‘most necessary for all men to know’. He's the odd sort of … The Danes refused to give battle, and peace was made. Alfred the Wise, and the Good, and the Great! He thus paved the way for the future unity of England, which was brought to fruition under his son and grandsons, who conquered the remaining areas held by the Vikings in the east and north, so that by the mid-tenth century the England we are familiar with was ruled as one country for the first time. The Danes established themselves at Chippenham, and the West Saxons submitted, “except King Alfred.” He harassed the Danes from a fort in the Somerset marshes, and until seven weeks after Easter he secretly assembled an army, which defeated them at the Battle of Edington. The concluding truce saved Kent and Wessex from raids from the Danes for a time, but the rest of England was left defenseless and was conquered by the Vikings. In short Alfred created a kingdom that served the people. Edward the Elder (c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death. Long celebrated as a king who ruled more with his brain than by bloodlust, Alfred’s very name means ‘wise elf’. Alfred succeeded in government as well as at war. Spelman was to die the following year of camp fever, and publication of the biography was delayed until more propitious times. In fact, any attempts to interest Stuart monarchs in their Saxon forebears had only a limited success. Alfred was one of Tupper’s particular heroes, largely because he felt many of the King’s writings anticipated his own, and it was through his impetus that the millenary of Alfred’s birth at Wantage was celebrated in 1849, one of the earliest of all such jubilees. Many were worried at the direction Britain’s imperial policy was taking. The Law Code of King Alfred the Great is the largest and best preserved piece of legal documentation made prior to the Norman conquest of 1066 [1], and the first surviving Anglo-Saxon law code since Ine's, nearly two centuries earlier [2], making it an essential document in the study of late Anglo-Saxon law, culture and society. When he was born, it must have seemed unlikely that Alfred would become king, since he had four older brothers; he said that he never desired royal power. With a bit of selective editing, Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical provision came to bear an uncanny resemblance to Elizabethan Anglicanism. However, Alfred was lauded by Anglo-Norman historians, like William of Malmesbury, Gaimar and Matthew Paris, and their presentations, and occasional embellishments, of his achievements would be picked up by later writers. So much had Alfred become the epitome of the ideal Victorian that Walter Besant, in a lecture on Alfred in 1897, thought it entirely appropriate to apply to him verse that Alfred, Lord Tennyson had written to commemorate Prince Albert. Charles Dickens’s A Child’s History of England (1851-53) can stand for many such works where Alfred was used to demonstrate the best of the English character: The noble king ... in his single person, possessed all the Saxon virtues. Alfred wrote for the benefit of his people, but he was also deeply interested in theological problems for their own sake and commissioned the first of the translations, Gregory’s Dialogues, “that in the midst of earthly troubles he might sometimes think of heavenly things.” He may also have done a translation of the first 50 psalms. Compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began during his reign, circa 890. The main text was provided by two authors already active in Frederick’s cause, James Thomson and David Mallett, but included an ode by Viscount Bolingbroke, one of the leaders of the opposition to Walpole who had defined their political philosophy in his essay ‘The Idea of a Patriot King’ (1738). In considering what is true happiness and the relation of providence to faith and of predestination to free will, Alfred does not fully accept Boethius’ position but depends more on the early Fathers. In 876 the Danes again advanced on Wessex. He might have forced his way to be the king. Old forts were strengthened and new ones built at strategic sites, and arrangements were made for their continual manning. He believed both countries shared an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and proposed a local government for Virginia based on a division into hundreds, an Anglo-Saxon institution widely believed then to have been instituted by Alfred. Following the wishes of their father, the sons succeeded to the kingship in turn. Barbara Yorke is Reader in History at King Alfred’s College, Winchester. Alfred is most exceptional, however, not for his generalship or his administration but for his attitude toward learning. The event was not the success for which Tupper had hoped, largely because he left arrangements rather late in the day and had no influential backers. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Alfred was no longer the totem of one political party. I N 1892, the famous German Church Historian Rev. At the same time Alfred promoted himself as the defender of all Christian Anglo-Saxons against the pagan Viking threat and began the liberation of neighbouring areas from Viking control. A leading authority on Anglo-Saxon England. The exact circumstances and the place of his death are not known. The greatness of King Alfred spread much beyond his political conquests. Alfred the Great is the most famous Anglo-Saxon king, hailed for fighting off the Vikings and kick-starting the unification of England. 866; died 21 March 867) was King of Northumbria, a kingdom in medieval England, during the middle of the 9th century.Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited, and so Ælla's ancestry is not known and the dating of the beginning of his reign is questionable.. In 1738, the antiquarian Francis Wise, hoping to improve his promotion prospects at the University of Oxford, produced a pamphlet ‘concerning some antiquities in Berkshire’ in which he argued that the White Horse of Uffington had been cut to commemorate Alfred’s victory over the Vikings at the battle of Ashdown, and that all other visible antiquities nearby had some connection with the campaign. Robert Powell, in his Life of Alfred, published in 1634, attempted to draw parallels between the reigns of Alfred and Charles I, something which often called for considerable ingenuity, and his hope that Charles would share the same respect for English law as that apparently shown by Alfred proved misplaced. He promulgated an important code of laws after studying the principles of lawgiving from previous Anglo-Saxon law codes and from the Book of Exodus. Whom misfortune could not subdue, whom prosperity could not spoil, whose perseverance, nothing could shake. When his brother died, the next in line … Q: Where, when and how did King Alfred die, and who was he succeeded by? Nor were Alfred’s heroic defeats of the pagan Vikings enough to make him the favoured military hero of the post-Conquest period. His claims were entirely spurious, but helped to publicise the idea that Alfred’s influence permeated the very fabric of the country. The English, it was believed, could trace language and constitutional continuity back to the fifth century when they had defeated the effete Romans, and it became increasingly felt that other, positive, facets of ‘the national character’ could be traced back this far as well. But in 1901 Britain was embroiled in the Boer War, and the priority was the reality of the present rather than an imagined past. Rather more impressive as a work of scholarship was Sir John Spelman’s Life of King Alfred, which drew upon an extensive range of primary material and itself became a source for later biographers. The year 1999 saw the 1100th anniversary of his death on October 26th, 899, at the age of about 50. Danes seized and plundered London in … After Geoffrey of Monmouth’s successful promotion, the British Arthur was preferred – a man whose reputation was not constrained by inconvenient facts, and who proved extremely adaptable to changing literary conventions. During his reign he insisted that freedmen of adequate means learn to read English, and he himself translated Latin texts into the vernacular for the benefit of his people. Melissa Snell. In one of his endeavours, however, Alfred had little success; he tried to revive monasticism, founding a monastery and a nunnery, but there was little enthusiasm in England for the monastic life until after the revivals on the European continent in the next century. While avoiding unnecessary changes in custom, he limited the practice of the blood feud and imposed heavy penalties for breach of oath or pledge. Alfred, alone of Anglo-Saxon kings, inspired a full-length biography, written in 893, by the Welsh scholar Asser. King Alfred and the Cakes by James Baldwin. The broad outline of King Alfred’s wars with the Vikings is well known. Alfred is someone who has had greatness thrust upon him. In both works, additions include parallels from contemporary conditions, sometimes revealing his views on the social order and the duties of kingship. He probably received the education in military arts normal for a young man of rank. Alfred spent much of his reign defending his kingdom of Wessex from Danish invaders. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Apart from being a courageous warrior, King Alfred also proved his worth as a statesman and scholar. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He became the King of Wessex in 871 at the age of 21. Alfred, though no doubt gratified by his posthumous fame, would have trouble recognising himself in some of his later manifestations, and would find it difficult to comprehend, let alone approve, some of the constitutional developments he was supposed to have championed. That reigns and rejoices in every place, He prevented England from falling to the Danes and promoted learning and literacy. His first aristocratic and royal backers came from the circle which gathered around Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-51), the eldest son of George II, and was united by the opposition of its members to the prime minister Robert Walpole. Father, and Founder, and King of a race Alfred was born at Wantage in Oxfordshire in 849, fourth or fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. Problems with the calculation of Anglo-Saxon dates meant it was widely believed then that Alfred had died in 901, rather than 899, which is now recognised as the true date of his death, but at the time it seemed particularly apposite to many that the great Queen and her illustrious forebear had died a thousand years apart. In those days a king did not have a very easy life. Alfred is often thought to have provided his own epitaph in this passage from his translation of the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius: I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works. The works he had commissioned or translated were interpreted as evidence for the pure Anglo-Saxon church, before it had become tainted by the false Romanism introduced by the Normans. Updates? Some of his works were copied as late as the 12th century. Alfred was born in Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, the fifth son of the Wessex king, Aethelwulf. Halfdan Rag He was a wise administrator, organizing his finances and the service due from his thanes (noble followers). In this time he ruled successfully over his Anglo-Saxon kingdom … He learned Latin himself and began to translate Latin books into English in 887. Compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began during his reign, circa 890. Sir Richard Blackmore’s Alfred: an Epick Poem in Twelve Books (1723) enlivened the conventional accounts of Alfred’s reign with an extensive description of his imaginary travels in Europe and Africa, in which were concealed many heavy-handed compliments to Prince Frederick. King Alfred the Great is the most famous and celebrated of all Anglo-Saxon kings. Past began to translate Latin books into English in 887 's the odd sort of … became. Christian name at all levels of society imperial policy was taking king whose name was Al-fred kurtz ( )... 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