Alfred the Great
In the year 849, a boy named Alfred was born at Wantage, a royal estate nestled in Berkshire. His father, King Aethelwulf, and his mother, Osburh, were both dead before he reached adulthood. Three of his older brothers would reign as kings of Wessex before him: Aethelbald, Aethelberht, and Aethelred. The House of Wessex had not seen a son succeed his father for two hundred years. Ecgberht, Alfred's grandfather, became king in 802 after centuries of instability where three families fought for the throne. No ancestor of Ecgberht had been king since Ceawlin in the late sixth century. This made Ecgberht an ætheling, a prince eligible for the crown. Yet descent from Cerdic alone no longer guaranteed succession after Ecgberht died in 839. When Aethelwulf took the throne, all subsequent West Saxon kings were descendants of him and Ecgberht. They were also sons of kings.
Alfred was the youngest of six children. His eldest brother, Aethelstan, was old enough to be appointed sub-king of Kent in 839, nearly ten years before Alfred was born. He died in the early 850s. Alfred's next three brothers ruled in turn. Aethelbald reigned from 858 to 860, and Aethelberht from 860 to 865. Aethelred, who ruled from 865 to 871, was only a year or two older than Alfred. His sister, Aethelswith, married Burgred, king of Mercia, in 853. Most historians believe Osburh was the mother of all Aethelwulf's children, though some suggest the older ones were born to an unrecorded first wife. Osburh was descended from the rulers of the Isle of Wight. She was described by Asser as "a most religious woman, noble in character and noble by birth." She had died by 856 when Aethelwulf married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia.
According to his biographer Asser, writing in 893, young Alfred won a beautifully decorated book of English poetry offered as a prize by his mother. The first son able to memorise it would receive the gift. He must have had it read to him because his mother died when he was about six and he did not learn to read until he was twelve. In 853, Alfred was sent to Rome where he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV, who anointed him as king. Victorian writers later interpreted this as an anticipatory coronation, but this is unlikely since his succession could not have been foreseen at the time. A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a consul, and a misinterpretation of this investiture may explain later confusion.
In 871, King Aethelred died and Alfred acceded to the throne of Wessex. He inherited the burden of its defense even though Aethelred left two under-age sons, Aethelhelm and Aethelwold. This followed an agreement made earlier that year at Swinbeorg. The brothers agreed that whichever outlived the other would inherit the personal property their father left jointly. The deceased's sons would receive only what their father settled upon them plus any additional lands their uncle acquired. The unstated premise was that the surviving brother would be king. Given the Danish invasion and the youth of his nephews, Alfred's accession probably went uncontested.
While busy with burial ceremonies for his brother, the Danes defeated the Saxon army in his absence at an unnamed spot and then again in his presence at Wilton in May. The defeat at Wilton smashed any remaining hope that Alfred could drive the invaders from his kingdom. He was forced instead to make peace with them. Although the terms are not recorded, Bishop Asser wrote that the pagans agreed to vacate the realm and made good their promise. The Viking army withdrew from Reading in the autumn of 871 to take up winter quarters in Mercian London. Alfred probably paid the Vikings silver to leave, much as the Mercians were to do in the following year. Hoards dating to the Viking occupation of London in 871/872 have been excavated at Croydon, Gravesend, and Waterloo Bridge. These finds hint at the cost involved in making peace.
For the next five years, the Danes occupied other parts of England. In 876, under Guthrum, Oscetel, and Anwend, the Danes slipped past the Saxon army and attacked Wareham in Dorset. Alfred blockaded them but was unable to take Wareham by assault. He negotiated a peace involving hostages and oaths sworn on a holy ring associated with Thor worship. The Danes broke their word, killed all the hostages, and slipped away to Exeter in Devon. Alfred blockaded the Viking ships in Devon. With a relief fleet scattered by a storm, the Danes were forced to submit and withdrew to Mercia.
In January 878, the Danes made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold where Alfred had been staying over Christmas. They killed most of the people except the King. Alfred escaped with a little band through wood and swamp. After Easter he made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset. From that fort he kept fighting against the foe. Legend says he was given shelter by a peasant woman who asked him to mind some wheaten cakes baking by the fire. Preoccupied with his kingdom's problems, Alfred let the cakes burn and was roundly scolded upon her return. The first written account appears a century after his death.
In the seventh week after Easter, between May 4 and May 10 in 878, Alfred rode to Egbert's Stone east of Selwood. He was met by "all the people of Somerset and of Wiltshire and of that part of Hampshire which is on this side of the sea." They rejoiced to see him. His emergence from the marshland stronghold was part of a carefully planned offensive entailing raising the fyrds of three shires. This meant not only that the king retained loyalty but also that ealdormen, royal reeves, and king's thegns maintained their authority well enough to answer his summons.
Alfred won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Edington near Westbury, Wiltshire. He pursued the Danes to Chippenham and starved them into submission. One term of surrender required Guthrum to convert to Christianity. Three weeks later, the Danish king and 29 of his chief men were baptized at Alfred's court at Aller, near Athelney. At Wedmore, Alfred and Guthrum negotiated what some historians call the Treaty of Wedmore, though it took years for a formal treaty to be signed. The converted Guthrum was required to leave Wessex and return to East Anglia. In 879, the Viking army left Chippenham and made its way to Cirencester.
The formal Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum divided up Mercia. By its terms, the boundary ran up the River Thames to the River Lea, followed the Lea to its source near Luton, extended in a straight line to Bedford, and from Bedford followed the River Ouse to Watling Street. Alfred succeeded to Ceolwulf's kingdom consisting of western Mercia, while Guthrum incorporated eastern Mercia into an enlarged Kingdom of East Anglia known as the Danelaw. Alfred was to have control over London and its mints, at least for the time being.
When Viking raids resumed in 892, Alfred was better prepared with a standing mobile field army, a network of garrisons, and a small fleet of ships navigating rivers and estuaries. He established a system of burhs distributed at tactical points throughout the kingdom. There were thirty-three burhs about twenty miles apart, enabling military forces to confront attacks anywhere within a day. Wallingford had a hidage of 2,400, meaning landowners there supplied and fed 2,400 men sufficient for maintaining one mile of wall. A total of 27,071 soldiers were needed, approximately one in four of all free men in Wessex.
In the late 880s or early 890s, Alfred issued a long domboc law code consisting of his own laws followed by a code from his predecessor King Ine of Wessex. Together these laws are arranged into 120 chapters. In his introduction Alfred explains that he gathered laws found in many synod-books and ordered them written. He kept those that pleased him and rejected others with the advice of his councillors. He commanded they be observed differently.
Alfred singled out laws found in the days of Ine, Offa king of Mercia, or King Aethelberht of Kent who first among English people received baptism. He appended rather than integrated the laws of Ine into his code. Although he included injury tariffs similar to Aethelbert's, the two scales do not align. About a fifth of the law code is taken up by Alfred's introduction which includes translations of the Ten Commandments, chapters from Exodus, and the Apostolic Letter from Acts. The introduction traces continuity between God's gift of law to Moses and Alfred's issuance of law to the West Saxon people. It links holy past to historical present and represents Alfred's law-giving as divine legislation.
Alfred divided his code into 120 chapters because 120 was the age at which Moses died. In number-symbolism of early medieval biblical exegetes, 120 stood for law. The link between Mosaic law and Alfred's code is the Apostolic Letter explaining Christ came not to shatter commandments but to fulfill them. He taught mercy and meekness. The only crime that could not be compensated with money was treachery to a lord since Almighty God adjudged none for those who despised Him.
Asser underscores Alfred's concern for judicial fairness. He insisted upon reviewing contested judgments made by ealdormen and reeves. He carefully looked into nearly all judgments passed in his absence to see whether they were just or unjust. A charter from Edward's reign depicts Alfred hearing an appeal while washing his hands. Asser represents Alfred as a Solomonic judge painstaking in investigations and critical of royal officials rendering unjust judgments. Although Asser never mentions the law code he says Alfred insisted judges be literate so they could apply themselves to pursuit of wisdom. Failure to comply meant loss of office.
In the 880s, at the same time cajoling nobles to build burhs, Alfred undertook an ambitious effort to revive learning. During this period Viking raids were often seen as divine punishment, and Alfred may have wished to revive religious awe to appease God's wrath. This revival entailed recruiting clerical scholars from Mercia, Wales, and abroad to enhance court tenor and episcopacy. It required literacy in those holding offices of authority and involved translating Latin works deemed most necessary into English.
The Danish attacks had devastating effect on learning in England. 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." He undoubtedly exaggerated for dramatic effect since Latin learning was not obliterated. Manuscript production dropped precipitously around the 860s when Viking invasions began in earnest, not to be revived until end of century.
Alfred established a court school for education of his own children, those of nobility, and many of lesser birth. There they studied books in both English and Latin and devoted themselves to writing. They were seen to be devoted and intelligent students of liberal arts. He recruited scholars from Continent and Britain including Grimbald and John the Saxon from Francia; Plegmund appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 890; Bishop Wærferth of Worcester; Aethelstan; royal chaplains Werwulf from Mercia; and Asser from Monastery of Saint David in southwestern Wales.
Believing without Christian wisdom there can be neither prosperity nor success in war, Alfred aimed to set all free-born young men now in England with means to apply themselves to learning. Conscious of decay of Latin literacy he proposed primary education taught in English while those wishing to advance to holy orders continued studies in Latin. Few books of wisdom existed written in English. Alfred sought remedy through ambitious program translating works deemed most necessary into English.
Asser speaks grandiosely of Alfred's relations with foreign powers though little definite information is available. His interest shown by insertions made in translation of Orosius. He corresponded with Elias III, patriarch of Jerusalem, and embassies to Rome conveying alms to pope were fairly frequent. Around 890, Wulfstan of Hedeby undertook journey from Hedeby on Jutland along Baltic Sea to Prussian trading town of Truso. Alfred personally collected details of this trip.
Alfred's relations with Celtic princes clearer. Southern Welsh princes commended themselves to Alfred owing to pressure from North Wales and Mercia. Later North Welsh followed example and cooperated with English in campaign of 893 or 894. That Alfred sent alms to Irish and Continental monasteries may be taken on Asser authority. Visit of three pilgrim Scots to Alfred in 891 undoubtedly authentic. Story that in childhood he was sent to Ireland to be healed by Saint Modwenna may show interest in island.
In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith daughter of Mercian nobleman Aethelred Mucel, ealdorman of Gaini. They had five or six children including Edward the Elder who succeeded father as king; Aethelflaed who became lady of Mercians; and AElfthryth who married Baldwin II Count of Flanders. His mother Osburga daughter of Oslac of Isle of Wight shows lineage from Jutes according to Asser.
Alfred died on the 26th of October 899 at age 50 or 51. How he died unknown but suffered throughout life painful unpleasant illness. Biographer Asser gave detailed description symptoms allowing modern doctors possible diagnosis thought either Crohn's disease or hemorrhoids. Grandson King Eadred seemed to have similar illness. Temporarily buried Old Minster Winchester with wife Ealhswith and later son Edward. Before death ordered construction New Minster hoping become mausoleum for family. Four years after death bodies exhumed moved to new resting place remained there 211 years.
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Common questions
When was Alfred the Great born and where did he grow up?
Alfred the Great was born in the year 849 at Wantage, a royal estate nestled in Berkshire. He grew up as the youngest of six children to King Aethelwulf and Osburh.
What happened during the Battle of Edington in May 10 878?
Alfred won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Edington near Westbury Wiltshire between May 4 and May 10 in 878. He pursued the Danes to Chippenham and starved them into submission which required Guthrum to convert to Christianity.
How many burhs did Alfred establish and what was their purpose?
Alfred established thirty-three burhs distributed about twenty miles apart throughout the kingdom. These garrisons enabled military forces to confront attacks anywhere within a day while Wallingford supplied landowners for maintaining one mile of wall.
Why did Alfred translate Latin works into English during the 880s?
Alfred translated Latin works deemed most necessary into English because learning had declined so thoroughly that very few men could understand divine services or translate letters from Latin. He aimed to set all free-born young men with means to apply themselves to learning through primary education taught in English.
When did Alfred die and what illness might he have suffered?
Alfred died on the 26th of October 899 at age 50 or 51 after suffering throughout life a painful unpleasant illness. Biographer Asser gave detailed description symptoms allowing modern doctors possible diagnosis thought either Crohn's disease or hemorrhoids.