Alfred the Great

“Alfred I” and “King Alfred” redirect here. For (i.e., traditional Wessex), and Æthelwulf would rule in the Bohemian nobleman, see Alfred I, Prince of the east. Windisch-Grätz. For other uses, see Alfred the Great When King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled (disambiguation) and King Alfred (disambiguation) by three of Alfred’s brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred.[7] Alfred the Great (849 – 26 October 899) (Old English: Bishop Asser tells the story of how as a child Alfred won Ælfrēd, Ælfrǣd, “elf counsel”) was King of Wessex from a prize of a volume of poetry in Saxon, offered by his 871 to 899. mother to the first of her children able to memorize it.[8] Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Legend also has it that the young Alfred spent time in Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death Ireland seeking healing. Alfred was troubled by health had become the dominant ruler in England.[1] He is the problems throughout his life. It is thought that he may only English monarch to be accorded the epithet “the have suffered from Crohn’s disease.[9] Statues of Alfred Great”.[2][3] Alfred was the first King of the West Sax- in Winchester and Wantage portray him as a great war- ons to style himself “King of the Anglo-Saxons". rior. Evidence suggests he was not physically strong, and Details of Alfred’s life are described in a work by the though not lacking in courage, he was noted more for his intellect than a warlike character.[10] 10th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser. A de- vout Christian, Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education and improved his kingdom’s legal 2 Reigns of Alfred’s brothers system, military structure and his people’s quality of life.

1 Childhood

Further information: House of Wessex family tree

Alfred was born in the village of Wanating, now Wantage, Oxfordshire. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, by his first wife, Osburh.[4] In 853, at the age of four, Alfred is said to have been sent to Rome where, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chroni- cle,[5] he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV who “anointed him as king”. Victorian writers later interpreted this as an anticipatory coronation in preparation for his ultimate succession to the throne of Wessex. However, his suc- cession could not have been foreseen at the time, as Al- fred had three living elder brothers. A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a "consul"; a misinterpreta- tion of this investiture, deliberate or accidental, could ex- plain later confusion.[6] It may also be based on Alfred’s later having accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to A map of the route taken by the Viking Great Heathen Army Rome where he spent some time at the court of Charles that arrived in England from Denmark, Norway and southern Sweden in 865. the Bald, King of the Franks, around 854–855. On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was de- During the short reigns of the older two of his three elder posed by his son Æthelbald. With civil war looming, the brothers, Æthelbald of Wessex and Æthelberht of Wes- magnates of the realm met in council to hammer out a sex, Alfred is not mentioned. An army of Danes which compromise. Æthelbald would retain the western shires the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described as the Great Hea-

1 2 3 KING AT WAR

then Army had landed in East Anglia with the intent of conquering the four kingdoms that constituted Anglo- Saxon England in 865.[11] It was with the backdrop of a rampaging Viking army that Alfred’s public life began, with the accession of his third brother, Æthelred of Wes- sex, in 866. It is during this period that Bishop Asser applied to Al- fred the unique title of “secundarius”, which may indicate a position akin to that of the Celtic tanist, a recognised successor closely associated with the reigning monarch. It is possible that this arrangement was sanctioned by Al- fred’s father, or by the Witan, to guard against the dan- Alfred the Great plots the capture of the Danish fleet. ger of a disputed succession should Æthelred fall in bat- tle. The arrangement of crowning a successor as royal prince and military commander is well known among The deceased’s sons would receive only whatever prop- other Germanic tribes, such as the Swedes and Franks, erty and riches their father had settled upon them and to whom the Anglo-Saxons were closely related. whatever additional lands their uncle had acquired. The unstated premise was that the surviving brother would be 2.1 Fighting the Viking invasion king. Given the ongoing Danish invasion and the youth of his nephews, Alfred’s succession probably went uncon- In 868, Alfred is recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in tested. an unsuccessful attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army While he was busy with the burial ceremonies for his led by Ivar the Boneless out of the adjoining Kingdom brother, the Danes defeated the English in his absence of Mercia.[5] At the end of 870, the Danes arrived in his at an unnamed spot, and then again in his presence at homeland. The year which followed has been called “Al- Wilton in May.[12] The defeat at Wilton smashed any re- fred’s year of battles”. Nine engagements were fought maining hope that Alfred could drive the invaders from with varying outcomes, though the place and date of two his kingdom. He was forced instead to make peace with of these battles have not been recorded. them, according to sources that do not tell what the terms In Berkshire, a successful skirmish at the Battle of En- of the peace were. Bishop Asser claimed that the 'pa- glefield on 31 December 870 was followed by a se- gans’ agreed to vacate the realm and made good their [13] vere defeat at the siege and Battle of Reading by Ivar’s promise. brother Halfdan Ragnarsson on 5 January 871. Four Indeed, the Viking army did withdraw from Reading in days later, the Anglo-Saxons won a brilliant victory at the autumn of 871 to take up winter quarters in Mer- the Battle of Ashdown on the Berkshire Downs, possibly cian London. Although not mentioned by Asser or by near Compton or Aldworth. Alfred is particularly cred- the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Alfred probably also paid the ited with the success of this latter battle.[12] Vikings cash to leave, much as the Mercians were to do [13] Later that month, on 22 January, the English were de- in the following year. Hoards dating to the Viking feated at the Battle of Basing. They were defeated again occupation of London in 871/2 have been excavated on 22 March at the Battle of Merton (perhaps Marden in at Croydon, Gravesend, and Waterloo Bridge. These Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset).[12] Æthelred died shortly finds hint at the cost involved in making peace with the afterwards on 23 April. Vikings. For the next five years, the Danes occupied other parts of England.[14] In 876 under their new leader, Guthrum, the Danes 3 King at war slipped past the English army and attacked and occupied Wareham in Dorset. Alfred blockaded them but was un- [12] 3.1 Early struggles, defeat and flight able to take Wareham by assault. Accordingly, he ne- gotiated a peace which involved an exchange of hostages [5] In April 871, King Æthelred died, and Alfred succeeded and oaths, which the Danes swore on a “holy ring” as- to the throne of Wessex and the burden of its defence, sociated with the worship of Thor. The Danes, however, broke their word and, after killing all the hostages, slipped despite the fact that Æthelred left two under-age sons, [5] Æthelhelm and Æthelwold. This was in accordance with away under cover of night to Exeter in Devon. the agreement that Æthelred and Alfred had made earlier Alfred blockaded the Viking ships in Devon, and with a that year in an assembly at Swinbeorg. The brothers had relief fleet having been scattered by a storm, the Danes agreed that whichever of them outlived the other would were forced to submit. The Danes withdrew to Mer- inherit the personal property that King Æthelwulf had left cia. In January 878, the Danes made a sudden attack jointly to his sons in his will. on Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had 3.2 Counter-attack and victory 3 been staying over Christmas, “and most of the people they killed, except the King Alfred, and he with a lit- tle band made his way by wood and swamp, and af- ter Easter he made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe”.[5] From his fort at Athelney, an island in the marshes near North Petherton, Alfred was able to mount an effec- tive resistance movement, rallying the local militias from Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.[12]

King Alfred’s Tower (1772) on the supposed site of Egbert’s Stone, the mustering place before the Battle of Edington.[17]

three shires. This meant not only that the king had re- tained the loyalty of ealdormen, royal reeves and king’s thegns (who were charged with levying and leading these forces), but that they had maintained their positions of au- thority in these localities well enough to answer his sum- mons to war. Alfred’s actions also suggest a system of scouts and messengers.[18] Alfred won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Ed- ington which may have been fought near Westbury, Wilt- [12] Alfred the Great is scolded by his subject, a neatherd’s wife, for shire. He then pursued the Danes to their stronghold at not turning the breads but readily eating them when they are Chippenham and starved them into submission. One of baked in her cottage. the terms of the surrender was that Guthrum convert to Christianity. Three weeks later the Danish king and 29 A popular legend, originating from 12th century of his chief men were baptised at Alfred’s court at Aller, chronicles,[15] tells how when he first fled to the Somerset near Athelney, with Alfred receiving Guthrum as his spir- Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, itual son.[12] unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she The “unbinding of the chrism” took place with great cer- had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the prob- emony eight days later at the royal estate at Wedmore in lems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes Somerset, after which Guthrum fulfilled his promise to burn, and was roundly scolded by the woman upon her leave Wessex. There is no contemporary evidence that return. Alfred and Guthrum agreed upon a formal treaty at this 870 was the low-water mark in the history of the Anglo- time; the so-called Treaty of Wedmore is an invention of Saxon kingdoms. With all the other kingdoms having modern historians. The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, fallen to the Vikings, Wessex alone was still resisting.[16] preserved in Old English in Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge (Manuscript 383), and in a Latin compilation known as Quadripartitus, was negotiated later, perhaps 3.2 Counter-attack and victory in 879 or 880, when King Ceolwulf II of Mercia was deposed.[19] In the seventh week after Easter (4–10 May 878), around Whitsuntide, Alfred rode to 'Egbert’s Stone' east of That treaty divided up the kingdom of Mercia. By Selwood, where he was met by “all the people of Somer- its terms the boundary between Alfred’s and Guthrum’s set and of Wiltshire and of that part of Hampshire which kingdoms was to run up the River Thames, to the River is on this side of the sea (that is, west of Southampton Lea; follow the Lea to its source (near Luton); from there [5] extend in a straight line to Bedford; and from Bedford Water), and they rejoiced to see him”. Alfred’s emer- [20] gence from his marshland stronghold was part of a care- follow the River Ouse to Watling Street. fully planned offensive that entailed raising the fyrds of In other words, Alfred succeeded to Ceolwulf’s kingdom, 4 3 KING AT WAR

consisting of western Mercia; and Guthrum incorporated Marinus’ friendship with King Alfred, the pope granted the eastern part of Mercia into an enlarged kingdom of an exemption to any Anglo-Saxons residing within Rome East Anglia (henceforward known as the Danelaw). By from tax or tribute.[26] terms of the treaty, moreover, Alfred was to have con- After the signing of the treaty with Guthrum, Alfred trol over the Mercian city of London and its mints—at [21] was spared any large-scale conflicts for some time. De- least for the time being. The disposition of Essex, held spite this relative peace, the king was still forced to deal by West Saxon kings since the days of Egbert, is unclear with a number of Danish raids and incursions. Among from the treaty, though, given Alfred’s political and mil- these was a raid taking place in Kent, an allied country in itary superiority, it would have been surprising if he had South East England, during the year 885, which was quite conceded any disputed territory to his new godson. possibly the largest raid since the battles with Guthrum. Asser’s account of the raid places the Danish raiders at [23] 3.3 The quiet years; Restoration of Lon- the Saxon city of Rochester, where they built a tem- don (880s) porary fortress in order to besiege the city. In response to this incursion, Alfred led an Anglo-Saxon force against the Danes who, instead of engaging the army of Wes- sex, fled to their beached ships and sailed to another part of Britain. The retreating Danish force supposedly left Britain the following summer.[27] Not long after the failed Danish raid in Kent, Alfred dis- patched his fleet to East Anglia. The purpose of this expe- dition is debated, though Asser claims that it was for the sake of plunder.[27] After travelling up the River Stour, the fleet was met by Danish vessels that numbered 13 or 16 (sources vary on the number) and a battle ensued.[27] The Anglo-Saxon Fleet emerged victorious and as Hunt- ingdon accounts, “laden with spoils”.[28] The victorious fleet was then caught unaware when attempting to leave the River Stour and was attacked by a Danish force at the mouth of the river. The Danish fleet was able to defeat Alfred’s fleet which may have been weakened in the pre- vious engagement.[29]

A coin of Alfred, king of Wessex, London, 880 (based upon a Roman model). Obv: King with royal band in profile, with legend: ÆLFRED REX “King Ælfred”.

With the signing of the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, an event most commonly held to have taken place around 880 when Guthrum’s people began settling East Anglia, Guthrum was neutralised as a threat.[22] In conjunction with this agreement a Danish army left the island and sailed to Ghent.[23]

Alfred was still forced to contend with a number of Dan- A plaque in the City of London noting the restoration of the Ro- ish threats. A year later in 881 Alfred fought a small sea man walled city by Alfred. battle against four Danish ships “on the high seas”.[23] Two of the ships were destroyed and the others sur- A year later, in 886, Alfred reoccupied the city of London rendered to Alfred’s forces.[24] Similar small skirmishes and set out to make it habitable again.[30] Alfred entrusted with independent Viking raiders would have occurred for the city to the care of his son-in-law Æthelred, ealdorman much of the period as they had for decades. of Mercia. The restoration of London progressed through In the year 883, though there is some debate over the the latter half of the 880s and is believed to have revolved year, King Alfred, because of his support and his dona- around a new street plan, added fortifications in addition tion of alms to Rome, received a number of gifts from to the existing Roman walls, and, some believe, the con- [25] struction of matching fortifications on the south bank of the Pope Marinus. Among these gifts was reputed to [31] be a piece of the true cross, a true treasure for the de- the River Thames. vout Saxon king. According to Asser, because of Pope This is also the period in which almost all chroniclers 5

agree that the Saxon people of pre-unification England blockaded at Buttington. Some identify this with Butting- submitted to Alfred.[32] This was not, however, the point ton Tump at the mouth of the River Wye, others with at which Alfred came to be known as King of England; in Buttington near Welshpool. An attempt to break through fact he would never adopt the title for himself. In truth the the English lines was defeated. Those who escaped re- power which Alfred wielded over the English peoples at treated to Shoebury. Then, after collecting reinforce- this time seemed to stem largely from the military might ments, they made a sudden dash across England and oc- of the West Saxons, Alfred’s political connections from cupied the ruined Roman walls of Chester. The En- having the ruler of Mercia as his son-in-law, and Alfred’s glish did not attempt a winter blockade, but contented keen administrative talents. themselves with destroying all the supplies in the district. Between the restoration of London and the resumption of Early in 894 (or 895), want of food obliged the Danes to retire once more to Essex. At the end of this year large scale Danish attacks in the early 890s, Alfred’s reign was rather uneventful. The relative peace of the late 880s and early in 895 (or 896), the Danes drew their ships up the River Thames and River Lea and fortified them- was marred by the death of Alfred’s sister, Æthelswith, who died en route to Rome in 888.[33] In the same year selves twenty miles (32 km) north of London. A direct attack on the Danish lines failed but, later in the year, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelred, also died. One year later Guthrum, or Athelstan by his baptismal name, Alfred saw a means of obstructing the river so as to pre- Alfred’s former enemy and king of East Anglia, died and vent the egress of the Danish ships. The Danes realised was buried in Hadleigh, Suffolk.[34] that they were outmanoeuvred. They struck off north- westwards and wintered at Cwatbridge near Bridgnorth. Guthrum’s passing marked a change in the political The next year, 896 (or 897), they gave up the strug- sphere Alfred dealt with. Guthrum’s death created a gle. Some retired to Northumbria, some to East Anglia. power vacuum which would stir up other power–hungry Those who had no connections in England withdrew back warlords eager to take his place in the following years. to the continent.[12] The quiet years of Alfred’s life were coming to a close, and war was on the horizon. 4 Military reorganisation 3.4 Further Viking attacks repelled (890s)

After another lull, in the autumn of 892 or 893, the Danes attacked again. Finding their position in mainland Europe precarious, they crossed to England in 330 ships in two divisions. They entrenched themselves, the larger body at Appledore, Kent, and the lesser, under Hastein, at Milton, also in Kent. The invaders brought their wives and chil- dren with them, indicating a meaningful attempt at con- quest and colonisation. Alfred, in 893 or 894, took up a position from which he could observe both forces.[35] While he was in talks with Hastein, the Danes at Ap- pledore broke out and struck northwestwards. They were overtaken by Alfred’s eldest son, Edward, and were defeated in a general engagement at Farnham in Surrey. They took refuge on an island at Thorney, on Hertfordshire’s River Colne, where they were blockaded and were ultimately forced to submit.[35] The force fell back on Essex and, after suffering another defeat at Benfleet, coalesced with Hastein’s force at Shoebury.[12] Alfred had been on his way to relieve his son at Thorney Alfred the Great silver offering penny, 871–899. Legend: AEL- when he heard that the Northumbrian and East Anglian FRED REX SAXONUM "Ælfred King of the Saxons”. Danes were besieging Exeter and an unnamed stronghold on the North Devon shore. Alfred at once hurried west- The Germanic tribes who invaded Britain in the fifth and ward and raised the Siege of Exeter. The fate of the sixth centuries relied upon the unarmoured infantry sup- other place is not recorded. Meanwhile, the force under plied by their tribal levy, or fyrd, and it was upon this Hastein set out to march up the Thames Valley, possibly system that the military power of the several kingdoms with the idea of assisting their friends in the west. But of early Anglo-Saxon England depended.[36] The fyrd they were met by a large force under the three great eal- was a local militia in the Anglo-Saxon shire, in which all dormen of Mercia, Wiltshire and Somerset, and forced freemen had to serve; those who refused military service to head off to the northwest, being finally overtaken and were subject to fines or loss of their land.[37] According 6 4 MILITARY REORGANISATION to the law code of King Ine of Wessex, issued in about ence was able to put together a system of taxation and de- 694: fence for his own kingdom. Also, there had been a system of fortifications in pre-Viking Mercia that may have been an influence. So when the Viking raids resumed in 892, If a nobleman who holds land neglects mil- Alfred was better prepared to confront them with a stand- itary service, he shall pay 120 shillings and for- ing, mobile field army, a network of garrisons, and a small feit his land; a nobleman who holds no land fleet of ships navigating the rivers and estuaries.[42][43][44] shall pay 60 shillings; a commoner shall pay a fine of 30 shillings for neglecting military [38] service. 4.1 Administration and taxation

Wessex’s history of failures preceding his success in 878 Tenants in Anglo-Saxon England had a threefold obliga- emphasised to Alfred that the traditional system of battle tion based on their landholding; the so-called “common he had inherited played to the Danes’ advantage. While burdens” of military service, fortress work, and bridge both the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes attacked settle- repair. This threefold obligation has traditionally been ments to seize wealth and other resources, they employed called trinoda neccessitas or trimoda neccessitas.[45] The very different strategies. In their raids, the Anglo-Saxons Old English name for the fine due for neglecting military traditionally preferred to attack head-on by assembling service was fierdwite or fyrdwitee[38] their forces in a shield wall, advancing against their tar- To maintain the burhs, and to reorganize the fyrd as a get and overcoming the oncoming wall marshaled against standing army, Alfred expanded the tax and conscription them in defence.[39] system based on the productivity of a tenant’s landhold- In contrast, the Danes preferred to choose easy targets, ing. The hide was the basic unit of the system on which mapping cautious forays designed to avoid risking all their the tenant’s public obligations were assessed. A hide is accumulated plunder with high-stake attacks for more. thought to represent the amount of land required to sup- Alfred determined their strategy was to launch smaller port one family. The hide would differ in size according scaled attacks from a secure and reinforced defensible to the value and resources of the land and the landowner base to which they could retreat should their raiders meet would have to provide service based on how many hides strong resistance.[39] he owned.[45][46] These bases were prepared in advance, often by capturing an estate and augmenting its defences with surrounding ditches, ramparts and palisades. Once inside the fortifi- 4.2 Burghal system cation, Alfred realised, the Danes enjoyed the advantage, better situated to outlast their opponents or crush them See also: Burghal Hidage with a counter-attack as the provisions and stamina of the At the centre of Alfred’s reformed military defence sys- besieging forces waned.[39] The means by which the Anglo-Saxons marshaled forces to defend against marauders also left them vulnerable to the Vikings. It was the responsibility of the shire fyrd to deal with local raids. The king could call up the national militia to defend the kingdom; however, in the case of hit and run raids by Vikings, problems with communication and raising supplies meant that the national militia could not be mustered quickly enough: It was only after the raids were underway that a call went out to landowners to gather men for battle. Large regions could be devastated before the newly assembled fyrd arrived. And although the landowners were obliged to the king to supply these men when called, during the attacks in 878, many of them opportunistically abandoned their king and collaborated A map of burhs named in the Burghal Hidage. with Guthrum.[40][41] tem was the network of burhs, distributed at strategic With these lessons in mind, Alfred capitalised on the rela- [47] tively peaceful years immediately following his victory at points throughout the kingdom. There were thirty- Edington by focusing on an ambitious restructuring of his three in total, spaced approximately 30 kilometres (19 miles) apart, enabling the military to confront attacks kingdom’s military defences. On a trip to Rome, Alfred [48][49] had stayed with Charles the Bald and it is possible that anywhere in the kingdom within a single day. he may have studied how the Carolingian kings had dealt Alfred’s burhs (later termed boroughs) ranged from for- with the Viking problem, and learning from their experi- mer Roman towns, such as Winchester, where the stone 4.3 English navy 7 walls were repaired and ditches added, to massive earthen walls surrounded by wide ditches probably reinforced with wooden revetments and palisades such as at Bur- pham, Sussex.[50][51] The size of the burhs ranged from tiny outposts such as Pilton to large fortifications in es- tablished towns, the largest at Winchester.[52] A contemporary document now known as the Burghal Hidage provides an insight into how the system worked. It lists the hidage for each of the fortified towns contained in the document. For example Wallingford had a hidage of 2400 which meant that the landowners there were re- sponsible for supplying and feeding 2,400 men, the num- ber sufficient for maintaining 9,900 feet (3.0 kilometres) of wall.[53] A total of 27,071 soldiers were needed system wide, or approximately one in four of all the free men in Wessex.[54] Alfred, disguised as a gleeman, is introduced to Guthrum, image Many of the burhs were twin towns that straddled a river from Bill Nye’s Comic History of England and connected by a fortified bridge, like those built by Charles the Bald a generation before.[43] The double-burh blocked passage on the river, forcing Viking ships to navi- the birth of the English Navy. Wessex possessed a royal gate under a garrisoned bridge lined with men armed with fleet before this. King Athelstan of Kent and Ealdorman stones, spears, or arrows. Other burhs were sited near for- Ealhhere had defeated a Viking fleet in 851, capturing tified royal villas allowing the king better control over his nine ships,[61] and Alfred himself had conducted naval strongholds.[55] actions in 882.[62] This network of well-garrisoned burhs posed significant But, clearly, the author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and obstacles to Viking invaders, especially those laden with probably Alfred himself regarded 897 as marking an im- booty. The system threatened Viking routes and com- portant development in the naval power of Wessex. The munications making it far more dangerous for the Viking chronicler flattered his royal patron by boasting that Al- raiders. However, the Vikings lacked both the equipment fred’s ships were not only larger, but swifter, steadier and necessary to undertake a siege against the burh and a de- rode higher in the water than either Danish or Frisian veloped doctrine of siegecraft, having tailored their meth- ships. It is probable that, under the classical tutelage of ods of fighting to rapid strikes and unimpeded retreats Asser, Alfred utilised the design of Greek and Roman to well defended fortifications. The only means left to warships, with high sides, designed for fighting rather than them was to starve the burh into submission, but this al- for navigation.[63] lowed the king time to send assistance with his mobile Alfred had seapower in mind—if he could intercept raid- field army or garrisons from neighbouring burhs. In such ing fleets before they landed, he could spare his kingdom cases, the Vikings were extremely vulnerable to pursuit from ravaging. Alfred’s ships may have been superior in by the king’s joint military forces.[56] Alfred’s burh sys- conception. In practice they proved to be too large to ma- tem posed such a formidable challenge against Viking at- noeuvre well in the close waters of estuaries and rivers, tack that when the Vikings returned in 892 and success- the only places in which a naval battle could occur.[63] fully stormed a half-made, poorly garrisoned fortress up the Lympne estuary in Kent, the Anglo-Saxons were able The warships of the time were not designed to be ship to limit their penetration to the outer frontiers of Wessex killers but troop carriers. It has been suggested that, like and Mercia.[57] sea battles in late Viking age Scandinavia, these battles may have entailed a ship coming alongside an enemy ves- Alfred’s burghal system was revolutionary in its strategic sel, at which point the crew would lash the two ships to- conception and potentially expensive in its execution. His gether before boarding the enemy craft. The result was contemporary biographer Asser wrote that many nobles effectively a land battle involving hand-to-hand fighting balked at the new demands placed upon them even though on board the two lashed vessels.[64] they were for “the common needs of the kingdom”.[58][59] In the one recorded naval engagement in the year 896,[5][60] Alfred’s new fleet of nine ships intercepted six 4.3 English navy Viking ships in the mouth of an unidentified river along the south of England. The Danes had beached half their Alfred also tried his hand at naval design. In 896,[60] he ships, and gone inland,[60] either to rest their rowers or ordered the construction of a small fleet, perhaps a dozen to forage for food. Alfred’s ships immediately moved to or so longships, that, at 60 oars, were twice the size of block their escape to the sea. The three Viking ships Viking warships. This was not, as the Victorians asserted, afloat attempted to break through the English lines.[60] 8 5 LEGAL REFORM

Only one made it; Alfred’s ships intercepted the other Alfred singled out in particular the laws that he “found in two.[60] the days of Ine, my kinsman, or Offa, king of the Mer- Lashing the Viking boats to their own, the English crew cians, or King Æthelberht of Kent, who first among the boarded the enemy’s vessels and proceeded to kill every- English people received baptism.” He appended rather one on board. The one ship that escaped managed to do so than integrated the laws of Ine into his code, and although only because all of Alfred’s heavy ships became grounded he included, as had Æthelbert, a scale of payments in when the tide went out.[64] What ensued was a land bat- compensation for injuries to various body parts, the two tle between the crews of the grounded ships. The Danes, injury tariffs are not aligned. Offa is not known to have issued a law code, leading historian Patrick Wormald to heavily outnumbered, would have been wiped out if the tide had not risen. When that occurred, the Danes rushed speculate that Alfred had in mind the legatine capitulary of 786 that was presented to Offa by two papal legates.[67] back to their boats, which being lighter, with shallower drafts, were freed before Alfred’s ships. Helplessly, the About a fifth of the law code is taken up by Alfred’s in- English watched as the Vikings rowed past them.[64] troduction, which includes translations into English of the The pirates had suffered so many casualties (120 Danes Decalogue, a few chapters from the Book of Exodus, and dead against 62 Frisians and English),[60] that they had the “Apostolic Letter” from Acts of the Apostles (15:23– [60] 29). The Introduction may best be understood as Al- difficulties putting out to sea. All were too damaged [68] to row around Sussex and two were driven against the fred’s meditation upon the meaning of Christian law. It Sussex coast (possibly at Selsey Bill).[60][64] The ship- traces the continuity between God’s gift of Law to Moses wrecked sailors were brought before Alfred at Winchester to Alfred’s own issuance of law to the West Saxon peo- and were hanged.[60] ple. By doing so, it links the holy past to the historical present and represents Alfred’s law-giving as a type of divine legislation.[69] 5 Legal reform This is the reason that Alfred divided his code into pre- cisely 120 chapters: 120 was the age at which Moses died and, in the number-symbolism of early medieval bib- Main article: Doom book lical exegetes, 120 stood for law.[70] The link between In the late 880s or early 890s, Alfred issued a long the Mosaic Law and Alfred’s code is the “Apostolic Let- ter,” which explained that Christ “had come not to shat- ter or annul the commandments but to fulfill them; and he taught mercy and meekness” (Intro, 49.1). The mercy that Christ infused into Mosaic Law underlies the injury tariffs that figure so prominently in barbarian law codes, since Christian synods “established, through that mercy which Christ taught, that for almost every misdeed at the first offence secular lords might with their permission re- ceive without sin the monetary compensation, which they then fixed.”[71] The only crime that could not be compensated with a pay- ment of money is treachery to a lord, “since Almighty God adjudged none for those who despised Him, nor did Christ, the Son of God, adjudge any for the one who betrayed Him to death; and He commanded everyone to love his lord as Himself.”[71] Alfred’s transformation of Christ’s commandment from “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt. 22:39–40) to love your secular lord as A silver coin of Alfred. you would love the Lord Christ himself underscores the importance that Alfred placed upon lordship, which he domboc or law code, consisting of his “own” laws fol- understood as a sacred bond instituted by God for the [72] lowed by a code issued by his late seventh-century prede- governance of man. cessor King Ine of Wessex.[65] Together these laws are ar- When one turns from the domboc's introduction to the ranged into 120 chapters. In his introduction, Alfred ex- laws themselves, it is difficult to uncover any logical ar- plains that he gathered together the laws he found in many rangement. The impression one receives is of a hodge- "synod-books” and “ordered to be written many of the podge of miscellaneous laws. The law code, as it has ones that our forefathers observed—those that pleased been preserved, is singularly unsuitable for use in law- me; and many of the ones that did not please me, I re- suits. In fact, several of Alfred’s laws contradict the laws jected with the advice of my councillors, and commanded of Ine that form an integral part of the code. Patrick them to be observed in a different way.”[66] 9

Wormald’s explanation is that Alfred’s law code should reign the North Welsh followed their example, and the be understood not as a legal manual, but as an ideological latter cooperated with the English in the campaign of 893 manifesto of kingship, “designed more for symbolic im- (or 894). That Alfred sent alms to Irish and Continental pact than for practical direction.”[73] In practical terms, monasteries may be taken on Asser’s authority. The visit the most important law in the code may well be the very of the three pilgrim “Scots” (i.e. Irish) to Alfred in 891 first: “We enjoin, what is most necessary, that each man is undoubtedly authentic. The story that he himself in keep carefully his oath and his pledge,” which expresses his childhood was sent to Ireland to be healed by Saint a fundamental tenet of Anglo-Saxon law.[74] Modwenna, though mythical, may show Alfred’s interest in that island.[12] Alfred devoted considerable attention and thought to ju- dicial matters. Asser underscores his concern for judi- cial fairness. Alfred, according to Asser, insisted upon reviewing contested judgments made by his ealdormen 7 Religion and culture and reeves, and “would carefully look into nearly all the judgements which were passed [issued] in his absence anywhere in the realm, to see whether they were just or unjust.”[75] A charter from the reign of his son Edward the Elder depicts Alfred as hearing one such appeal in his chamber, while washing his hands.[76] Asser represents Alfred as a Solomonic judge, painstak- ing in his own judicial investigations and critical of royal officials who rendered unjust or unwise judgments. Al- though Asser never mentions Alfred’s law code, he does say that Alfred insisted that his judges be literate so that they could apply themselves “to the pursuit of wisdom.” The failure to comply with this royal order was to be pun- ished by loss of office.[77] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, commissioned at the time of Alfred, was probably written to promote unification (of England),[78] whereas Asser’s The Life of King Alfred promoted Alfred’s achievements and personal qualities. It was possible that the document was designed this way, so that it could be disseminated in Wales, as Alfred had recently acquired overlordship of that country.[78]

6 Foreign relations

Asser speaks grandiosely of Alfred’s relations with for- eign powers, but little definite information is available.[12] King Alfred the Great pictured in a stained glass window in the His interest in foreign countries is shown by the in- West Window of the South Transept of Bristol Cathedral. sertions which he made in his translation of Orosius. In the 880s, at the same time that he was “cajoling and He certainly corresponded with Elias III, the Patriarch [12] threatening” his nobles to build and man the burhs, Al- of Jerusalem, and possibly sent a mission to India fred, perhaps inspired by the example of Charlemagne in honour of Saint Thomas the Apostle, whose tomb [79] almost a century before, undertook an equally ambitious was believed to lie in that country. Contact was also [12] [80] effort to revive learning. It entailed the recruitment of made with the Caliph in Baghdad. Embassies to Rome clerical scholars from Mercia, Wales and abroad to en- conveying the English alms to the Pope were fairly [81] hance the tenor of the court and of the episcopacy; the frequent. Around 890, Wulfstan of Hedeby undertook establishment of a court school to educate his own chil- a journey from Hedeby on Jutland along the Baltic Sea dren, the sons of his nobles, and intellectually promis- to the Prussian trading town of Truso. Alfred personally [82] ing boys of lesser birth; an attempt to require literacy in collected details of this trip. those who held offices of authority; a series of transla- Alfred’s relations with the Celtic princes in the western tions into the vernacular of Latin works the king deemed half of Britain are clearer. Comparatively early in his “most necessary for all men to know";[83] the compila- reign, according to Asser, the southern Welsh princes, tion of a chronicle detailing the rise of Alfred’s kingdom owing to the pressure on them from North Wales and and house, with a genealogy that stretched back to Adam, Mercia, commended themselves to Alfred. Later in his thus giving the West Saxon kings a biblical ancestry.[84] 10 7 RELIGION AND CULTURE

Very little is known of the church under Alfred. The Dan- 7.2 Establishment of a court school ish attacks had been particularly damaging to the monas- teries, and though Alfred founded monasteries at Athel- Following the example of Charlemagne, Alfred estab- ney and Shaftesbury, the first new monastic houses in lished a court school for the education of his own chil- Wessex since the beginning of the eighth century.[85] Ac- dren, those of the nobility, and “a good many of lesser cording to Asser, Alfred enticed foreign monks to Eng- birth”.[83] There they studied books in both English and land for his monastery at Athelney as there was little in- Latin and “devoted themselves to writing, to such an terest for the locals to take up the monastic life.[86] extent .... they were seen to be devoted and intelli- [95] Alfred undertook no systematic reform of ecclesiastical gent students of the liberal arts.” He recruited schol- institutions or religious practices in Wessex. For him the ars from the Continent and from Britain to aid in the key to the kingdom’s spiritual revival was to appoint pi- revival of Christian learning in Wessex and to provide ous, learned, and trustworthy bishops and abbots. As king the king personal instruction. Grimbald and John the he saw himself as responsible for both the temporal and Saxon came from Francia; Plegmund (whom Alfred ap- spiritual welfare of his subjects. Secular and spiritual au- pointed archbishop of Canterbury in 890), Bishop Wer- thority were not distinct categories for Alfred.[87][88] ferth of Worcester, Æthelstan, and the royal chaplains Werwulf, from Mercia; and Asser, from St. David’s in He was equally comfortable distributing his translation south-western Wales.[96] of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care to his bishops so that they might better train and supervise priests, and us- ing those same bishops as royal officials and judges. Nor 7.3 Advocacy of education in the English did his piety prevent him from expropriating strategically language sited church lands, especially estates along the border with the Danelaw, and transferring them to royal thegns Alfred’s educational ambitions seem to have extended be- and officials who could better defend them against Viking yond the establishment of a court school. Believing that attacks.[88][89] without Christian wisdom there can be neither prosperity nor success in war, Alfred aimed “to set to learning (as long as they are not useful for some other employment) all the free-born young men now in England who have the means to apply themselves to it.”[97] Conscious of the 7.1 Impact of Danish raids on education decay of Latin literacy in his realm, Alfred proposed that primary education be taught in English, with those wish- ing to advance to holy orders to continue their studies in The Danish raids had a devastating impact on learning in Latin.[98] England. Alfred lamented in the preface to his translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care that “learning had declined so A problem, however, was that there were few “books of thoroughly in England that there were very few men on wisdom” written in English. Alfred sought to remedy this side of the Humber who could understand their di- this through an ambitious court-centred programme of translating into English the books he deemed “most nec- vine services in English, or even translate a single letter [98] from Latin into English: and I suppose that there were essary for all men to know.” It is unknown when Al- fred launched this programme, but it may have been dur- not many beyond the Humber either”.[90] Alfred undoubt- edly exaggerated for dramatic effect the abysmal state of ing the 880s when Wessex was enjoying a respite from Viking attacks. learning in England during his youth.[91] That Latin learn- ing had not been obliterated is evidenced by the presence Apart from the lost Handboc or Encheiridion, which in his court of learned Mercian and West Saxon clerics seems to have been a commonplace book kept by the such as Plegmund, Wæferth, and Wulfsige.[92] king, the earliest work to be translated was the Dia- Manuscript production in England dropped off precip- logues of Gregory the Great, a book greatly popular in the itously around the 860s when the Viking invasions be- Middle Ages. The translation was undertaken at Alfred’s command by Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, with the gan in earnest, not to be revived until the end of the [12] century.[93] Numerous Anglo-Saxon manuscripts burnt king merely furnishing a preface. Remarkably, Alfred, up along with the churches that housed them. And a undoubtedly with the advice and aid of his court schol- solemn diploma from Christ Church, Canterbury dated ars, translated four works himself: Gregory the Great’s 873 is so poorly constructed and written that historian Pastoral Care, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, St. Augustine's Soliloquies, and the first fifty psalms of the Nicholas Brooks posited a scribe who was either so [99] blind he could not read what he wrote or who knew lit- Psalter. tle or no Latin. “It is clear”, Brooks concludes, “that One might add to this list Alfred’s translation, in his law the metropolitan church [of Canterbury] must have been code, of excerpts from the Vulgate Book of Exodus. The quite unable to provide any effective training in the scrip- Old English versions of Orosius's Histories against the Pa- tures or in Christian worship.”[94] gans and Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Peo- 7.3 Advocacy of education in the English language 11

ple are no longer accepted by scholars as Alfred’s own fred, a thirteenth-century work, contains sayings that are translations because of lexical and stylistic differences.[99] not likely to have originated with Alfred but attest to his Nonetheless, the consensus remains that they were part of posthumous medieval reputation for wisdom).[106] the Alfredian programme of translation. Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge suggest this also for Bald’s Leech- book and the anonymous Old English Martyrology.[100] Alfred’s first translation was of Pope Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care, which he prefaced with an introduction ex- plaining why he thought it necessary to translate works such as this one from Latin into English. Although he described his method as translating “sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense,” Alfred’s translation ac- tually keeps very close to his original, although through his choice of language he blurred throughout the dis- tinction between spiritual and secular authority. Alfred meant his translation to be used and circulated it to all his bishops.[12] Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy was the most pop- ular philosophical handbook of the Middle Ages. Un- like his translation of the Pastoral Care, Alfred here deals very freely with his original and though the late Dr. G. Schepss[101] showed that many of the additions to the text are to be traced not to Alfred himself, but to the glosses and commentaries which he used, still there is much in the work which is solely Alfred’s and highly characteristic of his style. It is in the Boethius that the oft-quoted sentence occurs: “My will was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after, my memory in good works.” The book has come down to us in two manuscripts only. In one of these[102] the writ- ing is prose, in the other[103] a combination of prose and alliterating verse. The latter manuscript was severely damaged in the 18th and 19th centuries,[104] and the authorship of the verse has been much disputed; but likely it also is by Alfred. In fact, he writes in the prelude that he first created a prose work and then used it as the basis for his poem Metres of Boethius. He spent a great deal of time working on these 2A drawing of the Alfred Jewel. books, which he tells us he gradually wrote through the many stressful times of his reign to refresh his mind. Of The Alfred jewel, discovered in Somerset in 1693, has the authenticity of the work as a whole, there seems to be long been associated with King Alfred because of its Old little doubt.[105] English inscription “AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYR- CAN” (Alfred ordered me to be made). The jewel is about The last of Alfred’s works is one to which he gave the 2 1⁄ inches (6.4 centimetres) long, made of filigreed gold, name Blostman, i.e., “Blooms” or Anthology. The first 2 enclosing a highly polished piece of quartz crystal be- half is based mainly on the Soliloquies of St Augustine of neath which is set a cloisonné enamel plaque, with an Hippo, the remainder is drawn from various sources, and enamelled image of a man holding floriate sceptres, per- contains much that is Alfred’s own and highly character- haps personifying Sight or the Wisdom of God.[107] istic of him. The last words of it may be quoted; they form a fitting epitaph for the noblest of English kings. It was at one time attached to a thin rod or stick based on “Therefore he seems to me a very foolish man, and truly the hollow socket at its base. The jewel certainly dates wretched, who will not increase his understanding while from Alfred’s reign. Although its function is unknown, he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that it has been often suggested that the jewel was one of the endless life where all shall be made clear”.[12] Alfred ap- æstels—pointers for reading—that Alfred ordered sent to pears as a character in the twelfth- or thirteenth-century every bishopric accompanying a copy of his translation poem The Owl and the Nightingale, where his wisdom of the Pastoral Care. Each æstel was worth the princely and skill with proverbs is praised. The Proverbs of Al- sum of 50 mancuses, which fits in well with the qual- ity workmanship and expensive materials of the Alfred 12 8 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER

ignorant to understand the Latin words they butchered in their offices and liturgies, if the ancient monasteries and collegiate churches lay deserted out of indifference, he was answerable before God, as Josiah had been. Al- fred’s ultimate responsibility was the pastoral care of his people.[109]

8 Appearance and character

Asser wrote of Alfred in his Life of King Alfred, “Now, he was greatly loved, more than all his brothers, by his father and mother—indeed, by everybody—with a universal and profound love, and he was always brought up in the royal court and nowhere else. ... [He] was seen to be more comely in appearance than his other broth- ers, and more pleasing in manner, speech and behaviour ... [and] in spite of all the demands of the present life, it has been the desire for wisdom, more than anything else, The Alfred Jewel, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, commis- together with the nobility of his birth, which have char- sioned by Alfred. acterized the nature of his noble mind.”[112] It is also written by Asser that Alfred did not learn to read jewel”.[108] until he was twelve years old or later, which is described as 'shameful negligence' of his parents and tutors. It is Historian Richard Abels sees Alfred’s educational and true, however, that Alfred was an excellent listener and military reforms as complementary. Restoring religion had an incredible memory, and he retained poetry and and learning in Wessex, Abels contends, was to Alfred’s psalms very well. A story is told by Asser about how his mind as essential to the defence of his realm as the build- mother held up a book of Saxon poetry to him and his ing of the burhs.[109] As Alfred observed in the preface brothers, and said; 'I shall give this book to whichever to his English translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral one of you can learn it the fastest.' After excitedly asking, Care, kings who fail to obey their divine duty to promote 'Will you really give this book to the one of us who can learning can expect earthly punishments to befall their understand it the soonest and recite it to you?' Alfred then people.[110] The pursuit of wisdom, he assured his read- took it to his teacher, learned it, and recited it back to his ers of the Boethius, was the surest path to power: “Study mother.[113] Wisdom, then, and, when you have learned it, condemn it not, for I tell you that by its means you may without fail Alfred is also noted as carrying around a small book, probably an ancient version of a small pocket notebook, attain to power, yea, even though not desiring it”.[111] which contained psalms and many prayers that he often The portrayal of the West-Saxon resistance to the Vikings collected. Asser writes: "[these] he collected in a single by Asser and the chronicler as a Christian holy war was book, as I have seen for myself; amid all the affairs of the more than mere rhetoric or 'propaganda'. It reflected Al- present life he took it around with him everywhere for the fred’s own belief in a doctrine of divine rewards and pun- sake of prayer, and was inseparable from it.”[113] ishments rooted in a vision of a hierarchical Christian world order in which God is the Lord to whom kings owe An excellent hunter in every branch of the sport, Alfred obedience and through whom they derive their authority is remembered as an enthusiastic huntsman against whom nobody’s skills could compare. However, it is recorded over their followers. The need to persuade his nobles to [113] undertake work for the 'common good' led Alfred and his that his skills and success did not strive in vain. court scholars to strengthen and deepen the conception of Although he was the youngest of his brothers, he was Christian kingship that he had inherited by building upon probably the most open-minded. Despite eventually be- the legacy of earlier kings such as Offa as well as cleri- coming one of the greatest warriors and forgers of peace cal writers such as Bede, Alcuin and the other luminaries in the kingdom, he was an early advocate for education. of the Carolingian renaissance. This was not a cynical His desire for learning could have come from his early use of religion to manipulate his subjects into obedience, love of English poetry and inability to read or physically but an intrinsic element in Alfred’s worldview. He be- record them until later in life. Asser writes that "[Alfred] lieved, as did other kings in ninth-century England and could not satisfy his craving for what he desired the most, Francia, that God had entrusted him with the spiritual as namely the liberal arts; for, as he used to say, there were well as physical welfare of his people. If the Christian no good scholars in the entire kingdom of the West Sax- faith fell into ruin in his kingdom, if the clergy were too ons at that time.”[113] 13

9 Family interred before the high altar. Soon after the dissolution of the abbey in 1539, during the reign of Henry VIII, [118] In 868, Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian the church was demolished, leaving the graves intact. nobleman, Æthelred Mucil, Ealdorman of the Gaini. The The royal graves and many others were probably redis- Gaini were probably one of the tribal groups of the Mer- covered by chance in 1788 when a prison was being con- cians. Ealhswith’s mother, Eadburh, was a member of structed by convicts on the site. Prisoners dug across the Mercian royal family.[114] the width of the altar area in order to dispose of rubble left at the dissolution. Coffins were stripped of lead, and They had five or six children together, including Edward bones were scattered and lost. The prison was demol- the Elder, who succeeded his father as king, Æthelflæd, ished between 1846 and 1850.[119] Further excavations in who became Lady (ruler) of the Mercians in her own 1866 and 1897 were inconclusive.[118][120] In 1866, ama- right, and Ælfthryth who married Baldwin II the Count teur antiquarian John Mellor claimed to have recovered a of Flanders. His mother was Osburga daughter of Oslac number of bones from the site which he said were those of the Isle of Wight, Chief Butler of England. Asser, of Alfred. These later came into the possession of the in his Vita Ælfredi asserts that this shows his lineage vicar of nearby St Bartholomew’s Church, who reburied from the Jutes of the Isle of Wight. This is unlikely as them in an unmarked grave in the church graveyard.[119] Bede tells us that they were all slaughtered by the Sax- ons under Cædwalla. In 2008 the skeleton of Queen Excavations conducted by the Winchester Museums Ser- Eadgyth, granddaughter of Alfred the Great was found vice of the Hyde Abbey site in 1999 located a second pit in Magdeburg Cathedral in Germany. It was confirmed dug in front of where the high altar would have been lo- in 2010 that these remains belong to her — one of the cated, which was identified as probably dating to Mellor’s [118] earliest members of the English royal family.[115] 1886 excavation. The 1999 archeological excavation uncovered the foundations of the abbey buildings and Osferth was described as a relative in King Alfred’s will some bones. Bones suggested at the time to be those of and he attested charters in a high position until 934. Alfred proved instead to belong to an elderly woman.[121] A charter of King Edward’s reign described him as the king’s brother, “mistakenly” according to Keynes and In March 2013, the Diocese of Winchester exhumed Lapidge, but in the view of Janet Nelson, he probably was the bones from the unmarked grave at St Bartholomew’s an illegitimate son of King Alfred.[116] and placed them in secure storage. The Diocese made no claim they were the bones of Alfred, but intended to secure them for later analysis, and from the atten- tions of people whose interest may have been sparked by 10 Ancestry the recent identification of the remains of King Richard III.[122][123] The bones were subsequently radiocarbon Ancestors of Alfred the Great dated, but the results showed that they were from the 1300s and therefore unrelated to Alfred. However, it was announced in January 2014 that a fragment of pelvis un- earthed in the 1999 excavation of the Hyde site, that had subsequently lain in a Winchester museum store room, had been radiocarbon dated to the correct period. It has 11 Death, burial and fate of re- been suggested that this bone may belong to either Alfred or his son Edward, but this remains unproved.[124][125] mains

Alfred died on 26 October 899. How he died is un- 12 Legacy known, although he suffered throughout his life with a painful and unpleasant illness. His biographer Asser gave a detailed description of Alfred’s symptoms and this has See also: Cultural depictions of Alfred the Great allowed modern doctors to provide a possible diagno- sis. It is thought that he either had Crohn’s disease or Alfred is regarded as a saint by some Catholics,[126] but haemorrhoidal disease.[9][117] His grandson King Edred an attempt by king Henry VI in 1441 to have him can- seems to have suffered from a similar illness. onized was unsuccessful.[127][128] The Anglican Commu- Alfred was originally buried temporarily in the Old Min- nion venerates him as a Christian hero, with a feast day of 26 October and he may often be found depicted in stained ster in Winchester; then, four years after his death, he [129] was moved to the New Minster (perhaps built especially glass in Church of England parish churches. to receive his body). When the New Minster moved to Alfred commissioned Bishop Asser to write his biogra- Hyde, a little north of the city, in 1110, the monks were phy, which inevitably emphasised Alfred’s positive as- transferred to Hyde Abbey, along with Alfred’s body and pects and did not dwell on the ruthless aspects that any those of his wife and children, which were presumably ninth-century king would have had. Later medieval histo- 14 14 NOTES rians, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth also reinforced Al- • King’s Lodge School, in Chippenham, Wiltshire is fred’s favourable image. By the time of the Reformation so named because King Alfred’s hunting lodge is re- Alfred was seen as being a pious Christian ruler, who puted to have stood on or near the site of the school. promoted the use of English rather than Latin, and so the translations that he commissioned were viewed as un- • The King Alfred School & Specialist Sports tainted by the later Roman Catholic influences of the Nor- Academy, Burnham Road, Highbridge is so named mans. Consequently it was writers of the sixteenth cen- due to its rough proximity to Brent Knoll (a Beacon tury who gave Alfred his epithet as 'the Great', rather site) and Athelney. than any of Alfred’s contemporaries.[130] The epithet was • retained by succeeding generations of Parliamentarians The King Alfred School in Barnet, North London, and empire-builders who saw Alfred’s patriotism, success UK. against barbarism, promotion of education and establish- • ment of the rule of law as supporting their own ideals.[130] King Alfred’s Middle School, Shaftesbury, Dorset [Now defunct after reorganisation] A number of educational establishments are named in Al- fred’s honour. These include: • King’s College, Taunton, Somerset. (The king in question is King Alfred).

• Saxonwold Primary School in Gauteng, South Africa names one of its houses after King Alfred. The others being Bede, Caedmon, and Dunston.

The Royal Navy has named one ship and two shore estab- lishments HMS King Alfred, and one of the first ships of the American Navy was named USS Alfred in his honor. In 2002, Alfred the Great was ranked number 14 in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK- wide vote.[131]

12.1 Wantage statue

A statue of Alfred the Great, situated in the Wantage market place, was sculpted by Count Gleichen, a relative of Queen Victoria's, and unveiled on 14 July 1877 by the Prince and Princess of Wales.[132] The statue was vandalised on New Year’s Eve 2007, los- ing part of its right arm and axe. After the arm and axe were replaced the statue was again vandalised on Christmas Eve 2008, once more losing its axe.[132]

13 See also Statue of Alfred the Great at Wantage

• Alfred Street in Oxford • The University of Winchester was created from the • Cultural depictions of Alfred the Great former 'King Alfred’s College, Winchester' (1928 to 2004).

• Alfred University and Alfred State College in 14 Notes Alfred, New York are both named after the king. [1] Yorke, Alfred • In honour of Alfred, the University of Liverpool cre- ated a King Alfred Chair of English Literature. [2] “Alfred the Great (849 AD - 899 AD)".

• King Alfred’s Academy, a secondary school in [3] Cnut the Great, who ruled England from 1016 to 1035, Wantage, Oxfordshire, the birthplace of Alfred. was a Dane. 15

[4] Alfred was the youngest of either four (Weir, Alison, [23] Asser 1983 p. 86. Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (1989), p.5) or five brothers, the primary record conflicting re- [24] Alfred 1969 p. 76. garding whether Æthelstan of Wessex was a brother or [25] Asser 1969 p. 78. uncle. [26] Asser 1983 p. 88. [5] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Freely licensed version at Gutenberg Project. Note: This electronic edition is a col- [27] Asser 1983 p. 87. lation of material from nine diverse extant versions of the Chronicle. It contains primarily the translation of Rev. [28] Huntingdon 1969 p. 81. James Ingram, as published in the Everyman edition. [29] Woodruff 1993 p. 86. [6] Wormald 2004. [30] Keynes 1998 p. 24. [7] Crofton, Ian (2006). The Kings & Queens of England. [31] Keynes 1998 p. 23. Quercus Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-84724-628-8. [32] Pratt 2007 p. 106. [8] Asserius de Rebus Gestis Aelfredi, Florentius Wigornien- sis 23, AD 866 [33] Asser 1969 p. 114.

[9] Craig, G (May 1991). “Alfred the Great: a diagnosis”. [34] Woodruff 1993 p. 89. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 84 (5): 303–305. PMC 1293232. PMID 1819247. Retrieved 6 February [35] Merkle 2009, p. 220 2011. [36] Preston 1956, p. 70 [10] Cornwell, Bernard (2009), “Historical Note” (p. 385 and [37] Hollister 1962, pp. 59–60 following), in “The Burning Land” (Harper) [38] Attenborough. The laws of the earliest English kings. pp. [11] Keynes/ Lapidge. Alfred the Great. pp.16-17 52-53

[12] Plummer 1911. [39] Abels 1998, pp. 194–5

[13] Abels 1998, pp. 140–141. [40] Abels 1998, pp. 139,152

[14] Brooks, N.P. and J.A. Graham-Campbell, “Reflections [41] Cannon 1997, p. 398 on the Viking-age silver hoard from Croydon, Surrey", in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History: Essays in Memory of [42] Abels 1998, p. 194 Michael Dolley (1986), pp. 91–110. [43] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, p. 14 [15] “History of the Monarchy – The Anglo-Saxon kings – Al- fred 'The Great'". Royal.gov.uk. 11 November 2011. Re- [44] Lavelle 2010, p. 212 trieved 4 February 2012. [45] Lavelle 2010, pp. 70–73

[16] Savage 1988 p. 101. [46] Lapidge 2001

[17] Horspool. Why Alfred Burnt the Cakes. p.173. The in- [47] Pratt 2007, p. 95 scription reads ALFRED THE GREAT AD 879 on this Summit Erected his Standard Against Danish Invaders To [48] Hull 2006, p. xx him We owe The Origin of Juries The Establishment of a Militia The Creation of a Naval Force ALFRED The [49] Abels 1998, p. 203 Light of a Benighted Age Was a Philosopher and a Chris- [50] Welch 1992, p. 127 tian The Father of his People The Founder of the English MONARCHY and LIBERTY [51] Abels 1998, p. 304

[18] Lavelle 2010, pp. 187–191 [52] Bradshaw 1999, which is referenced in Hull 2006, p. xx

[19] Abels 1998, p. 163. [53] Hill & Rumble 1996, p. 5

[20] Attenborough 1922, pp. 98–101Treaty of Alfred and [54] Abels 1998, pp. 204–7 Gunthrum [55] Abels 1998, pp. 198–202 [21] Blackburn, M.A.S. Blackburn, “The London mint in the reign of Alfred”, in Kings, Currency and Alliances: History [56] Abels 1988, p. 204, 304 and Coinage of Southern England in the 9th Century, ed. [57] Abels 1998, pp. 287,304 M.A.S. Blackburn and D.N. Dumville (1998), pp. 105– 24. [58] Asser, translated by Keynes & Lapidge 1983

[22] Pratt 2007 p. 94. [59] Abels 1998, p. 206 16 14 NOTES

[60] Savage 1988 p. 111. [92] Abels 1998, pp. 265-268.

[61] Savage 1988 pp. 86–88. [93] Dumville, David, Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar: Six Essays on Political, Cultural, and Ecclesiasti- [62] Savage 1988 p. 97. cal Revival (1992), p. 190.

[63] Abels 1998, pp. 305–307 Cf. the much more positive [94] Brooks, Nicholas, The Early History of the Church of Can- view of the capabilities of these ships in Gifford & Gifford terbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 (1984), pp. 172– 2003 pp. 281–89 3. [64] Lavelle 2010, pp. 286–297 [95] Asser, chap. 75, in Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. 99–1. Cf. [65] Attenborough. The Laws of the Earliest English Kings: Codicology of the court school of Charlemagne: Gospel Alfred’s Laws. Retrieved 9 June 2013. pp.62-93 book production, illumination, and emphasised script (Eu- ropean university studies. Series 28, History of art) [66] Alfred, Int. 49.9, trans. Keynes & Lapidge 1983 p. 164. [96] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, pp. 92–93 [67] Wormald 2001, pp. 280–1 [97] Preface to Alfred’s translation of Gregory the Great’s Pas- [68] Pratt 2007 p. 215. toral Care, in Keynes & Lapidge 1983 p. 126.

[69] Abels 1998, p. 248. [98] Asser, p. 126.

[70] Wormald 2001, p. 417 [99] Bately, Janet, “King Alfred and the Old English Trans- lation of Orosius”, Anglia 88 (1970): 433–60; idem, [71] Alfred, Intro, 49.7, trans. Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. "'Those books that are most necessary for all men to 164–5 know'. The Classics and late ninth-century England: a [72] Abels 1998, p. 250 cites Alfred’s Pastoral Care, ch. 28 reappraisal”, in The Classics in the Middle Ages, ed. Aldo S. Bernardo and Saul Levin (1990), pp. 45–78, [73] Wormald 2001, p. 427 [100] Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. 33–4. [74] Alfred, 2, in Keynes & Lapidge 1983 p. 164. [101] Dr. G. Schepss, “Zu König Alfreds Boethius” in Archiv [75] Asser, chap. 106, in Keynes & Lapidge 1983 p. 109 für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, xciv (1895), pp. 149–160 [76] The charter is Sawyer 1445, and is printed in English His- torical Documents, vol. 1, ed. Dorothy Whitelock, 2nd [102] Oxford Bodleian Library MS Bodley 180 edn (1979), pp. 544–6. [103] British Library Cotton MS Otho A. vi [77] Asser, chap. 106, in Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. 109–10. [104] Kiernan, Kevin S., "Alfred the Great’s Burnt Boethius". [78] Parker 2007, pp. 48–50 In Bornstein, George and Theresa Tinkle, eds., The Iconic Page in Manuscript, Print, and Digital Culture (Ann Arbor: [79] Medlycott 1905, p. 80. University of Michigan Press, 1998). [80] Pauli 1852, p. 244 [105] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, pp. 296–297 [81] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, p. 14. [106] Parker 2007, pp. 115–126 [82] A literal translation of King Alfred’s Anglo-Saxon version of the ... - Paulus Orosius, Robert Thomas Hampson. [107] Pratt 2007 pp. 189–91. Books.google.com. 1855. Retrieved 4 February 2012. [108] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, pp. 203–206 [83] Keynes & Lapidge 1983, pp. 28–29 [109] Abels 1998, pp. 219–257. [84] Gransden 1996, pp. 34–35 [110] Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. 124–5. [85] Yorke, Barbara, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages(1995), [111] Sedgefield, W.J., King Alfred’s Version of the Consolations p. 201 of Boethius. Done into Modern English (1900), p. 35. [86] Asser 1983, pp. 101–102 [112] Keynes, Simon, and Michael Lapidge. Alfred the Great: [87] Ranft 2012, pp. 78–79 Asser’s Life of Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources. London: Penguin Classics, 1983. Pages 74–75. [88] The Anglo Saxon Version of Gregory’s Pastoral pp. 1-9. Retrieved 16 September 2013 [113] Keynes, Simon, and Lapidge, p. 75.

[89] Fleming 1985 [114] Keynes & Lapidge 1983 pp. 77, 240–241

[90] Keynes & Lapidge 1983 p. 125. [115] Bones confirmed as those of Saxon Princess Eadgyth.

[91] Abels 1998, p. 55. [116] Keynes & Lapidge, p. 322, n. 79; Nelson, pp. 60-62 17

[117] Jackson, F I (January 1992). “Letter to the editor: Alfred • Asser (1969), “Life of King Alfred”, in J. A. Giles, the Great: a diagnosis”. Journal of the Royal Society of Memorials of King Alfred: being essays on the his- Medicine 85 (1): 58. PMC 1293470. PMID 1610468. tory and antiquities of England during the ninth cen- Retrieved 30 September 2013. tury, the age of King Alfred, by various authors, Burt [118] Summary of Hyde Community Archaeology Project Franklin research & source works series (287), New Study by Winchester Museums Service, completed in York: Burt Franklin 1999 • Asser (1983), “Life of King Alfred”, in Keynes, Si- [119] The Post-Mortem Adventures Of Alfred The Great, Church mon; Lapidge, Michael, Alfred the Great: Asser’s Monuments Society Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources, [120] Dodson, Aidan (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. Penguin Classics, pp. 67–112 London: Duckworth. • Attenborough, F.L. Tr., ed. (1922). The laws of [121] http://www.arqueologiamedieval.com/noticias/8356/& the earliest English kings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [122] Maev Kennedy, “Alfred the Great’s bones exhumed from unmarked grave”, The Guardian, 27 March 2013; Re- • Bradshaw, Anthony (1999), The Burghal Hidage: trieved 8 April 2013 Alfred’s Towns [123] Tamara Cohen, “Could these be the bones of Alfred the • Great?", iol scitech, 27 March 2013; Retrieved 8 April Cannon, John (1997). The Oxford Companion to 2013 British History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866176-2. [124] “Bone fragment 'could be King Alfred or son Edward'", BBC News, 17 January 2014 • Fleming, Robin (1985). “Monastic lands and Eng- land’s defence in the Viking Age” 100 (395). En- [125] “Bones of King Alfred the Great believed to have been found in a box at Winchester City Museum”, The Inde- glish Historical Review. pp. 247–65. pendent, 17 January 2014 • Foot, Sarah (2011). Æthelstan: The First King of [126] St. Alfred the Great, Catholic Online England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12535-1. [127] Foot, Æthelstan, p. 231 • [128] Some Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Alfred Gransden, Antonia (1996). Historical Writing in should be recognised as a saint. See Case for and Case England: c. 500 to c. 1307. London: Routledge. against ISBN 0-415-15124-4.

[129] Horspool 1996, pp. 190–191 • Gifford, Edwin; Gifford, Joyce (2003). “Alfred’s new longships”. In Reuter, Timothy. Alfred the [130] Yorke, Barbara (October 1999). “Alfred the Great: The Most Perfect Man in History?". History Today 49. Great (Studies in early medieval Britain). pp. 281– 89. ISBN 978-0-7546-0957-5. [131] “100 great Britons - A complete list”. Daily Mail. 21 August 2002. Retrieved 28 August 2012. • Gross, Ernie (1990). This Day In Religion. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-1- [132] “Wantage Herald Article”. 55570-045-4.

• Hollister, C. Warren (1962). Anglo-Saxon Military 15 References Institutions on the Eve of the Norman Conquest. Ox- ford: Clarendon Press. • Abels, Richard P. (1988). Lordship and Military • Obligation in Anglo-Saxon England. British Mu- Horspool, David (2006). Why Alfred Burned the seum Press. pp. 58–78. ISBN 978-0-7141-0552-9. Cakes. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-86197- 779-3. • Abels, Richard (1998). Alfred the Great: War, King- ship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Long- • Hull, Lise E. (2006). Britain’s Medieval Castles. man. ISBN 978-0-582-04047-2. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-98414-4. • Alfred (1969), “Saxon Chronicles”, in J. A. Giles, • Huntingdon, Henry (1969), “Histories”, in J. A. Memorials of King Alfred: being essays on the his- Giles, Memorials of King Alfred: being essays on the tory and antiquities of England during the ninth cen- history and antiquities of England during the ninth tury, the age of King Alfred, by various authors, Burt century, the age of King Alfred, by various authors, Franklin research & source works series (287), New Burt Franklin research & source works series (287), York: Burt Franklin New York: Burt Franklin 18 16 FURTHER READING

• Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael (1983). Alfred • Savage, Anne (1988). Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Pa- the Great, Asser’s Life of King Alfred and other con- permac. p. 288. ISBN 0-333-48881-4. temporary sources. Harmondsworth, England: Pen- • guin. pp. 7–65. ISBN 0-14-044409-2. Snyder, Christopher A., ed. (2008). The Early Peo- ples of Britain and Ireland. ABC-CLIO. p. 23. • Keynes, Simon (1998), “Alfred and the Mercians”, ISBN 978-1-84645-009-9. in Blackburn, Mark A.S.; Dumville, David N., • Vince, Alan (1990). “Saxon London: An Archaeo- Kings, currency, and alliances: history and coinage logical Investigation”. The Archaeology of London of southern England in the ninth century, Wood- series. Batsford Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85264-019-4. bridge: Boydell & Brewer, pp. 1–46, ISBN 978- 0-85115-598-2 • Welch, Martin (1992). Anglo-Saxon England. Lon- don: English Heritage. ISBN 0-7134-6566-2. • Keynes, Simon (2001), “Edward, King of the Anglo-Saxons”, in Higham, N.J.; Hill, D.H., Ed- • Woodruff, Douglas (1993). The Life And Times of ward the Elder 899–924, Routledge, pp. 44–45, Alfred the Great. London: Weidenfeld and Nicol- ISBN 978-0-415-21497-1 son. ISBN 978-0-297-83194-5. • Lapidge, Michael (2001). Blair, John; Keynes, Si- • Wormald, Patrick (2001) [1999]. The Making of mon; Scragg, Donald, eds. The Blackwell Ency- English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century. p. clopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. London: Black- 528. ISBN 978-0-631-22740-3. well. ISBN 0-631-22492-0. • Wormald, Patrick (2004), “Alfred (848/9–899)", • Lavelle, Ryan (2010). Alfred’s Wars Sources and In- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford terpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1 Age. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydel Press. ISBN • Yorke, B. A. E. (2001), “Alfred, king of Wessex 978-1-84383-569-1. (871-899)", in Michael Lapidge et al., The Blackwell • Medlycott, Adolphus (1905). India and the Apostle Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, Blackwell Thomas: an inquiry. London: David Nutt. p. 80. Publishing, pp. 27–28, ISBN 978-0-631-15565-2 • Merkle, Benjamin (2009). The White Horse King: Attribution The Life of Alfred the Great. New York: Thomas Nelson. p. 220. ISBN 1-59555-252-9. • This article incorporates text from a publication • Nelson, Janet (1999). Rulers and Ruling Families in now in the public domain: Cousin, John William Early Medieval Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN (1910). "Ælfred". A Short Biographical Dictionary 0-86078-802-4. of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource • Pauli, Reinhold (1852). The Life of King Alfred. London: Richard Bentley. • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Plummer, Charles • Parker, Joanne (2007). 'England’s Darling'. Manch- (1911). "Alfred the Great". In Chisholm, Hugh. ester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge 7190-7356-4. University Press. • Pratt, David (2007). The political thought of King Alfred the Great. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series 67. Cambridge Univer- 16 Further reading sity Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80350-2. • Discenza, Nicole Guenther; Szarmach, Paul E., ed. • Preston, Richard A; Wise, Sydney F; Werner, Her- (2015). A Companion to Alfred the Great. Leiden, man O (1956). Men in Arms: A History of Warfare Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27484-6. and Its Interrelationships with Western Society. New York: Frederick A. Praeger. • Frantzen, Allen J., King Alfred the Great (Twayne’s English Authors Series), ISBN 9780805769180 • Hill, David; Rumble, Alexander R., eds. (1996). The Defence of Wessex: The Burghal Hidage and • Fry, Fred: Patterns of Power: The Military Cam- Anglo-Saxon Fortifications. Manchester: Manch- paigns of Alfred the Great, 2006, ISBN 978-1- ester University Press. ISBN 0-719-03218-0. 905226-93-1 • Ranft, Patricia (2012). How the Doctrine of Incar- • Giles, J. A. (ed.): The Whole Works of King Alfred nation Shaped Western Culture. Plymouth, England: the Great (Jubilee Edition, 3 vols, Oxford and Cam- Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-7432-0. bridge, 1858) 19

• Stephen Heathorn (2002) “The Highest Type of En- glishman": Gender, War, and the Alfred the Great Commemoration of 1901. Canadian Journal of His- tory, December 2002, pp. 459–484. • Pollard, Justin: Alfred the Great: the man who made England, 2006, ISBN 0-7195-6666-5 • Reuter, Timothy (ed.), Alfred the Great (Studies in early medieval Britain), 2003, ISBN 978-0-7546- 0957-5

• The whole works of King Alfred the Great, with pre- liminary essays, illustrative of the history, arts, and manners, of the ninth century, 1969, OCLC 28387

17 External links

• Alfred the Great at royal.gov.uk • Lays of Boethius

• Orosius (c. 417). Alfred the Great; Barrington, Daines, eds. The Anglo-Saxon Version, from the Historian Orosius. London: Printed by W. Bowyer and J. Nichols and sold by S. Baker (published 1773). 20 18 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

18 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

18.1 Text

• Alfred the Great Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred%20the%20Great?oldid=649725953 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Jeron- imo, Malcolm Farmer, Sjc, Mark, Amillar, Andre Engels, Jkominek, Gritchka, Deb, Ortolan88, William Avery, DrBob, Zoe, Jaknouse, Dwheeler, Isis, Montrealais, R Lowry, Leandrod, Bdesham, JohnOwens, Michael Hardy, Llywrch, Nixdorf, Paul A, Ellywa, Ahoerste- meier, Stan Shebs, Jimfbleak, Muriel Gottrop, Gerhard, Angela, Den fjättrade ankan, Darkwind, Andrewa, Glenn, Netsnipe, Jeandré du Toit, BRG, Genie, Etherialemperor, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Rbraunwa, Stet, RickK, Zoicon5, Steinsky, PeterGrecian, Timc, Tp- bradbury, Whaleyland, Nickshanks, Lord Emsworth, Warofdreams, Skood, Wetman, Carbuncle, Jeffq, KuatofKDY, Branddobbe, Psmith, Owain, PBS, Burn the asylum, Wjhonson, Geogre, Auric, JB82, Timrollpickering, Hadal, Saforrest, Wikibot, JackofOz, Wereon, Wile E. 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18.2 Images

• File:045-ALFRED-DISGUISED_AS_A_GLEEMAN-IS_INTRODUCED_TO_GUTHRUN.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia. org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/045-ALFRED-DISGUISED_AS_A_GLEEMAN-IS_INTRODUCED_TO_GUTHRUN.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: https://archive.org/details/billnyescomichis00nyebrich Original artist: Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye • File:A_Chronicle_of_England_-_Page_050_-_Alfred_in_the_Neatherd’{}s_Cottage.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/7/7f/A_Chronicle_of_England_-_Page_050_-_Alfred_in_the_Neatherd%27s_Cottage.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Doyle, James William Edmund (1864) "Alfred" in A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, pp. p. 50 Retrieved on 12 November 2010. Original artist: James William Edmund Doyle • File:A_Chronicle_of_England_-_Page_057_-_Alfred_Plans_the_Capture_of_the_Danish_Fleet.jpg Source: http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/A_Chronicle_of_England_-_Page_057_-_Alfred_Plans_the_Capture_of_the_ Danish_Fleet.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Doyle, James William Edmund (1864) "Alfred" in A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, pp. p. 57 Retrieved on 12 November 2010. Original artist: James William Edmund Doyle • File:Alfred_Jewel.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Alfred_Jewel.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contrib- utors: Own work Original artist: Richard M Buck http://www.flickr.com/tortipede/ (Tortipede (talk)) • File:Alfred_Jewel_right_way_up.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Alfred_Jewel_right_way_up.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: File:Alfred Jewel - Project Gutenberg eText 16785.jpg cropped and reversed Original artist: from Project Gutenberg and Commons; adapted by me • File:Alfred_king_of_Wessex_London_880.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Alfred_king_of_ Wessex_London_880.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work by uploader, photographed at the British Museum Original artist: PHGCOM • File:Alfred_the_Great_silver_coin.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Alfred_the_Great_silver_coin. jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Saforrest • File:Alfred_the_great_silver_offering_penny_871_899.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Alfred_ the_great_silver_offering_penny_871_899.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work by uploader, photographed at the British Museum Original artist: PHGCOM • File:Anglo-Saxon_burhs.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Anglo-Saxon_burhs.svg License: CC BY- SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Hel-hama • File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ? • File:England_Great_Army_map.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/England_Great_Army_map.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Hel-hama • File:Geograph_886206.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Geograph_886206.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: From geograph.org.uk Original artist: Trevor Rickard • File:Gloriole_blur.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Gloriole_blur.svg License: Public domain Contrib- utors: Own work Original artist: Eubulides • File:Peterborough_Chronicle_cropped.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Peterborough_Chronicle_ cropped.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: File:Peterborough.Chronicle.firstpagetrimmed.jpg Original artist: anonymous • File:RichardHakluyt-BristolCathedral-stainedglasswindow-Alfred.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ fc/RichardHakluyt-BristolCathedral-stainedglasswindow-Alfred.jpg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:RichardHakluyt-BristolCathedral-stainedglasswindow-whole.jpg. Original artist: Charles Eamer Kempe. Cropped by User: Ranveig. • File:Southwark_Bridge_City_Plaque.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Southwark_Bridge_City_ Plaque.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Ionutzmovie Original artist: David (talk). Original uploader was Dpaajones at en.wikipedia • File:Statue_of_King_Alfred_in_Wantage_Market_Square.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/ Statue_of_King_Alfred_in_Wantage_Market_Square.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: From geograph.org.uk Original artist: Steve Daniels • File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ? • File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau

18.3 Content license

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