King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886 King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886
Alfred the Great was born in 849 AD, he became the renowned King of Wessex and although he was not expected to become King because of his older brothers who were ahead of him in line to the throne, he was certainly trained to be a King and was an excellent warrior and an expert in the art of warfare.
Alfred the Great Anglo Saxon King
Alfred the Great had two older brothers that would be in a position to succeed him and he was too young to be proclaimed king when his father died in the year 855.
Alfred the Great was involved in many battles against the Viking armies that constantly invaded England, he won some of these battles fighting alongside his brothers but also lost others, his brother King Æthelred who was the King at that time was wounded in a battle against the Vikings and later died.
Viking Raiders
This event led to Alfred becoming king and eventually the undisputed ruler of England, unfortunately for Alfred, this was not a particularly good time to become king as the great Viking armies were taking over the country and English forces were struggling to hold back the Norse invaders.
Quote about Alfred The Great “he overthrew the Pagans with great slaughter, smiting the fugitives, and he pursued them as far as the fortress”.
Pagan Vikings
Alfred The Greats’ brother Æthelred died In 871, Viking reinforcements were arriving in England from Denmark to bolster the Viking army at this time and it was a period of relentless invasions by the Vikings who arrived inland on their longboats.
Alfred in his weakened position of being a newly crowned king lost many of the initial skirmishes that took place, although he tried hard he was unable to hold back this continual bombardment.
Alfred the Great was forced to come to an agreement with the Vikings not to attack Wessex again in return for a large sum of money.
Although ‘Alfred the Great’ paid off the Vikings they continued to attack and there were several close shaves for Alfred the Great in which he was almost defeated several times by the invading Viking armies.
The Viking leader Guthrum invaded Wessex in 876 and on this occasion Alfred great was saved by divine intervention, as a fleet of Viking ships was almost entirely destroyed by a devastating storm in the North Sea.
In 878 Alfred the great was caught by surprise at the end of the Christmas festivities by another invading Viking army, he was forced to flee and hide in the Athelney marshes, this was a major embarrassment for the English king.
However, it was this humiliation that transformed Alfred the great and made him into the great future leader that he was to become. During this difficult time in the marshes, Alfred the Great worked hard trying to gather strong support and made himself much stronger.
This was the time when “Alfred the Great” formed a resistance force of troops at an Edbert’s Stone, amazingly 4000 people came and it was now Alfred the Great who would have the momentum against the Viking leader Guthrum, it was now Alfred’s the Greats turn to surprise the Vikings.
Viking leader Guthrum
Alfred the Great soon launched a surprise attack against the Viking armies who were overwhelmed by the strength of Anglo-Saxon fighters at Edington.
Guthrum was surrounded and was forced to accept Christian baptism under a peace settlement that had been drafted. Alfred the Great had now captured Wessex and Western Murcia, the Vikings were left with the Eastern part of Murcia and East Anglia.
Guthrum and Alfred the Great came to an agreement in which Guthrum would not attack Wessex again but Alfred had to accept that the Vikings would be permanent settlers in England.
Plans to divide the lands between them were created and boundaries established that they could not break. Alfred’s land would be to the west of Wessex and Vikings’ land would be to the East.
Alfred the Great used this period of peace to reinforce his army by providing better training and better fighting equipment to his troops.
Alfred the Great also built up his naval fleet of ships and created fortified towns across Britain, this helped him keep Wessex safe from any future attacks from the Vikings.
The Viking parts of England now had Danish laws and customs which became commonly known as Danelaw.
Alfred the Great had a grand vision of a united England of Anglo-Saxons, other leaders began to see the strength of Alfred the Great and bought into his vision.
Alfred the Great had managed to break down the barriers between competing Anglo-Saxon tribes, the name Angelcynn was also introduced by Alfred the Great which means “the English”. Alfred The Great is widely regarded as the greatest Anglo-Saxon King.