ALFRED THE GREATAlfred the Great - His name rings down through history as one of our greatest kings.
He was born in 849 at the royal estate of Wantage to his father King Aethelwulf and mother Osburh. The king already had 4 sons and a daughter by his previous wife.
Within months of Alfred’s arrival a great Danish army of some 350 long ships entered the mouth of the Thames, stormed Canterbury, put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia and his levies, and then went south into Surrey where they were halted and defeated in battle by Alfred’s father.
Alfred came to the throne in 871 after his 4 elder brothers, and by then he was a seasoned warrior, and it seemed at that time that fighting battles was the usual thing.
In 878, after a great defeat Alfred and a small group of loyal supporters were forced to hide at Athelney on the Somerset Levels. He was lucky because their fortified hideout- although visible to the Vikings from distant hills - was surrounded by water and so they were safe whilst carrying out guerrilla attacks on the Vikings. It was here that Alfred drew on his strength and resolve to carry on to win back Wessex.
In May of that year, he came out from the levels, gathered a mighty Saxon army and defeated Guthrun and his Viking army at Edington.
A treaty was made, the Vikings withdrew to beyond a line from the Thames, River Lea and then across to Chester. This gave Alfred time to reorganise, fortify and start to win back Wessex.
He went on to rule till his death in 899, and his son Edward carried on his important work.
Some of Alfred’s greatest achievements were the reform of the Saxon army so that there were always men available to fight; encouraging his nobles to learn to read to read and write so that they would be better rulers; building a series of fortified towns to defend Wessex from the Vikings; inventing the candle clock; starting the writing of the Anglo -Saxon Chronicle.
Mike Granger mentioned that, that he had heard that the foundations of Alfred’s statute in Winchester are made of sugar! anyone for a cuppa !
The next meeting will be on Monday 20th April, when the subject will be “Celts and the Iron Age”. …
Michael Page.
