| Notes |
- [dunbar_tree.FTW]
Alfred was one of the greatest military leaders in history; crowned at
Winchester Cathedral in 871; founded the British Navy; a scholar, etc. The
Mercian kingdom ended during his reign "and in 886 Alfred's authority was
accepted by all Englishmen who were not under the power of the Danes. From
this time onward the history of Wessex is the history of England."
{-Encyclopaedia Britannica, '56, 23:520; cf.8:483. Primary source is "Life
of King Alfred," Bishop Asser, trans. L. C. Jane (London: Chatto & Windus
Ltd., 1924).}
----- Compton's Encyclopedia (America Online, 1995) records:
ALFRED THE GREAT (848?-899). The course of English history would have been
very different had it not been for King Alfred. He won renown both as a
statesman and as a warrior and is justly called "the Great."
The England of Alfred's time was a country of four small Saxon kingdoms.
The strongest was Wessex, in the south. Born in about 848, Alfred was the
youngest son of Ethelwulf, king of Wessex. Each of Alfred's three older
brothers, in turn, ruled the kingdom. Alfred was by temperament a scholar,
and his health was never robust.
Nevertheless in his early youth he fought with his brother Ethelred
against Danish invaders. Alfred was 23 when Ethelred died, but he had already
won the confidence of the army and was at once acclaimed king in 871. By this
time the Danes, or Vikings, had penetrated to all parts of the island. Three
of the Saxon kingdoms--Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia--had one after
another fallen to the Danish invaders.
Under Alfred's leadership, the Saxons again found courage. The worst
crisis came in the winter of 877, when the Danish king, Guthrum, invaded
Wessex with his army. In 878 Alfred was defeated at Chippenham, where he was
celebrating Christmas, and was forced to go into hiding.
A few months later he forced Guthrum to surrender at Chippenham. The Danes
agreed to make the Thames River and the old Roman road called Watling Street
the boundary between Alfred's kingdom and the Danish lands to the north. The
treaty, however, did not assure permanent peace. The Danes assaulted London
and the coast towns repeatedly. In about 896 they finally admitted defeat and
ceased their struggle for a foothold in southern England.
Alfred was much more than the defender of his country. He took a keen
interest in law and order and was concerned with the improvement of the
cultural standards of his people. He encouraged industries of all kinds and
rebuilt London, which had been partly destroyed by the Danes. He collected
and revised the old laws of the kingdom. He invited learned men from other
countries to instruct the people because even the clergy of Wessex no longer
knew Latin, the international language of the church. He established a school
similar to the Palace School of Charlemagne.
The "books most necessary for all men to know" were translated from Latin
into English so that the people might read them. Alfred himself took a part
in preparing the translations. The `Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' was probably begun
under his direction.
Alfred died at the age of about 51 in 899. He was in no sense a true king
of England, for he ruled less than half of the island. After his death,
however, his capable son, Edward the Elder, and his grandsons extended their
rule over all of England.
- - - - -
From an Internet article at Ancestry.com:
"A British and U.S. archaeological team believes it has found the grave of
King Alfred, the great Saxon king, best remembered for fighting off the Danes
in the ninth century. As then befitted a king of great piety, Alfred was
buried in 899 at the New Minster church in Winchester, 65 miles southwest
of London. His remains are thought to have been moved 200 years later to
Winchester's Hyde Abbey, one of the great medieval monasteries. But the
abbey was destroyed in 1538, and the site believed to be Alfred's tomb now
lies next to a parking lot."
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849 - 900 (51 years)
[1] 
