England in the 8th century was a country in conflict. Composed of several small kingdoms headed by warrior kings, and scattered with hostile earls and thegns (lords), it seemed inconceivable that the country could ever come together to form one English realm. The coming of the Vikings, however, changed all that. By smashing the power of the individual small Saxon kingdoms, they unwittingly caused the surviving leaders and warriors to band together and unite against their common enemy. To form and maintain such an unprecedented alliance would have required an exceptional man – and Alfred of Wessex fitted that bill.
“The Tudors thought him inspiring enough to award him, alone of all their predecessors, the honorific appellation of ‘Great’ in direct analogy of with Charlemagne, Charles the Great”, writes Simon Schama. It wasn’t for nothing that this man became Engele hirde, Engele dirling (England’s shepherd, England’s darling).
Alfred’s Early Life
The fifth son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex, Alfred was born in 849 in what is now Wantage, Oxfordshire. He is recorded by his biographer Asser, a Welsh monk, as being a bright and bookish child, eager for knowledge. Following the death of his father in 858, his elder brothers became, in turn, king of what was then the most powerful of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms in England. In 868, with his last remaining brother, Aethelred, on the throne, he was married to Eahlswith in a clear tactical alliance with the Mercian Royal family.
The Vikings are Coming!
Viking raids had, until this point, been nothing more than an inconvenience to Wessex; a distant nuisance that only threatened the kingdom’s more northerly and easterly neighbours. In 870, however, an army of Danes reached Reading, on the borders of Wessex, and the time to stop ignoring the Viking threat had arrived. During 870 and 871, Aethelred and Alfred fought a series of battles against the raiders to secure their kingdom, culminating in the victory at Ashdown. Aethelred died shortly after the battle was won, leaving Alfred to become King of Wessex and face another invading army that had just reached Reading. The downfall of Alfred’s Wessex seemed imminent.
It was fortunate for Alfred, then, that the Vikings were fighting in a series of loosely banded alliances rather than a coherent national army – following their defeat in 871, the army simply broke up into small groups and drifted away to other areas. It wasn’t until a jarl (chieftain) called Guthrum moved to Gloucester with the aim of having another go at defeating Wessex that Alfred was called into action again. A series of treaties, oaths and hostages exchanges kept an uneasy truce, but a man like Guthrum was not going to be held off forever with money and promises of peace.
In January 878, with Alfred and his Christian court busy celebrating Twelfth Night in a largely undefended Chippenham, Guthrum seized the opportunity to attack and try to capture the Wessex king. He very nearly succeeded. Alfred fled with a small group of supporters, and what happened next is at the core of his enduring legend.
Burning the Cakes
A fugitive in the marshes of Somerset, Alfred used local knowledge of the area as his defence against the Vikings who were hunting him down. Living on what they could scavenge and steal – including famously burning the cakes of a swineherd’s wife who had tried to feed Alfred and his followers – the king started to turn his thoughts to resistance. In a way, this would make Alfred one of the earliest guerrilla warriors.
Following a vision of Saint Cuthbert who promised him victory and the return of Wessex, Alfred set about gathering together whatever weapons and allies he could find. By the spring of 878, he had enough men to bring battle against Guthrum’s Vikings at Edington in Wiltshire – and won decisively. So decisively, in fact, that Guthrum and several of his men converted to Christianity following their surrender and abandoned the warring Viking lifestyle.
Alfred may have succeeded in defeating one jarl and his army, but there were still many Vikings in England. It was clear by this point that they were in the country for the long haul, as colonisers now more than the smash-and-grab raiders they had once been. Still, Alfred’s victory at Edington gave them reason to leave Wessex in peace, buying the King several years of priceless respite from war. Alfred used this time well, building defensive structures around his kingdom (30 forts called burhs), and better equipping his fyrd (militia) so they had horses and there was always one section on duty to respond quickly to raiders.
Rex Anglorum
In 886, King Alfred entered London, where something of great significance happened. He was acclaimed ruler or all the English not under subjugation of the Danes – and even by some as King of the Anglo Saxons. Some coins of the period named him as Rex Anglorum – King of the English. England became divided in two, with northern and eastern parts being the Danelaw, the areas under Scandinavian law and rule, with southern and western parts remaining Anglo Saxon under English kings.
King Alfred, then, preserved a significant part of Anglo Saxon England by his actions, and under his rule the idea of a united English realm under one ruler first became conceivable. It is not for nothing that he is called “the Great”.
Sources
Schama, S. (2000). A History of Britain (Part 1). London: BBC Books
Gardiner, J. (ed). (2000). The History Today Who’s Who in British History. London: Collins & Brown.
Sharon Brookshaw - Freelance writer, university research administrator and PhD in archaeology/museum studies.
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