Search results
One of the most famous Anglo-Saxon kings was Alfred, one of the only kings in British history to be called 'Great'. His father was king of Wessex, but by the end of Alfred's reign his coins ...
- BBC - History - Alfred the Great
Alfred built up the defences of his kingdom to ensure that...
- BBC - History - Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (Old English: Ælfrǣd [ˈæɫvˌræːd]; c. 849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh , who both died when Alfred was young.
- He Probably Didn’T Burn Any Cakes
- Alfred Was A Promiscuous Youth
- He Was Often Sick
- Alfred Was Extremely Religious
- He Was Never Meant to Be King
- He Lived in A Swamp
- He Was A Master of Disguise
- He Brought England Back from The Brink
- He Began The Unification of England
- He Was The only English King to Be called ‘Great’
The story of Alfred burning the cakes of a woman whose house he was sheltering in from the Vikings is a famous historical legend. Unaware of who he was, she was said to have roundly scolded her king for his inattentiveness. The story originates from at least a century after Alfred’s rule, suggesting there is no historical veracity in it.
He was known to chase many women in is younger years, from household servants to ladies of standing. Alfred admits this freely in his own works and Asser, his biographer, reiterates it in his biography of Alfred. They point to these ‘sins’ as something that the religious king had to overcome to become a worthy man and ruler in God’s eyes.
Alfred had intense stomach complaints. Sometimes it was so severe that it made him unable to leave his room for days or weeks at a time. He reportedly had painful cramps and often diarrhoea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Some historians have pointed to what we now know to be Crohn’s disease as the cause of his poor health.
At the age of four he visited the pope in Rome and, he claims, was blessed with the right to rule. Alfred founded monasteries and convinced foreign monks to his new monasteries. Whilst he did not enact any major reforms to religious practice, Alfred did strive to appoint learned and pious bishops and abbots. One of the terms of surrender for the Vi...
Alfred had 3 older brothers, all of whom reached adulthood and reigned before him. When Æthelred,the third brother, died in 871, he had two young sons. However, based on a previous agreement between Æthelred and Alfred, Alfred inherited the throne. Faced with Viking invasions, it’s unlikely that this was opposed. Minorities were notoriously periods...
In the year 878, the Vikings launched a surprise attack on Wessex, claiming the majority of it as their own. Alfred some of his household and a some of his warriors managed to escape and took refuge at Athelney, at that time an island in the marshes of Somerset. It was a highly defensible position, almost impenetrable to the Vikings.
Before the battle of Edington in 878 AD, there is a story that tells of how Alfred, disguised as a simple musician, slipped into the occupied city of Chippenham to gather information about the Viking forces. He was successful and fled back to the forces of Wessex before the end of the night, leaving Guthrum and his men none the wiser.
The little island of Athelney and the wetlands that surrounded it was the full extent of Alfred’s Kingdom for four months in 878 AD. From there he and his surviving warriors turned ‘Viking’and began to harass the invaders as they had once done to them. Word of his survival spread and the armies of those lands still loyal to him gathered in Somerset...
Alfred’s success at fighting Viking invasions and the creation of the Danelaw helped establish him as the dominant ruler in England. Ten years before the end of his death, Alfred’s charters and coinage named him as ‘King of the English’, a new and ambitious idea that his dynasty carried forward to the ultimate realisation of a united England.
He saved English society after being almost destroyed, ruled with a just and honest determination, conceived and implemented the idea of a single united Angle-Land, constructed a new salient code of law and established the first English navy: a man worthy of the epithet ‘the Great’.
- Sarah Roller
Oct 26, 2021 · Alfred the Great is famous for his victories against the Vikings, and is the only English monarch known as 'the Great'. But how much do you know about him? Barbara Yorke, professor emerita of early medieval history at the University of Winchester, brings you the facts about the Anglo-Saxon king
- Rachel Dinning
Apr 1, 2019 · Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, a defender against Viking invasion and a social reformer; just few of the reasons why he is the only English monarch to be known as “the Great”. Alfred was born in 849 and served as King of Wessex, a Saxon kingdom based in the southwest of modern day England, from 871 to his death on 26th October 899 AD.
Alfred built up the defences of his kingdom to ensure that it was not threatened by the Danes again. He reorganised his army and built a series of well-defended settlements across southern...
People also ask
Why was Alfred called Great?
Who was King Alfred & what did he do?
Why did King Alfred recite the book?
What was Alfred the great's ultimate responsibility?
What did Alfred do for the Kingdom of Wessex?
Did King Alfred have a jewel?
At the time, England was divided into several small kingdoms and Wessex was one of those. Alfred was king of Wessex. Although the other kingdoms fell to the Danish, Wessex remained free. One of England’s best-loved kings, he is known as Alfred the Great.
