BIOGRAPHY Eric Delderfield: "Alfred of Wessex was taken to Rome at age four in 853. He came to the throne in 871. The Danes had become settlers in eastern England during the middle of the ninth century, had conquered most of England, and were pushing southwards toward Wessex. In 871 the West Saxons fought nine battles against the Danes, at all of which Alfred was second-in-command. In the middle of the year his elder brother, Ethelred I, died. The twenty-two-year-old Alfred had won the confidence of the army, and he was chosen king by the Witan (the council of Anglo-Saxon kings). The victory at Ashdown, fought just before Alfred's accession, provided some respite from Viking incursions, but in 878 came the major crisis of his life. Guthrum, King of the Danes from East Anglia, burst into Wessex in mid-winter, compelling Alfred to seek refuge amidst the island fastnesses of the Somerset marshes. Having established a stronghold at Athelney, Alfred marshalled his forces, summoning the thanes of Devon, and in May of 878 Alfred emerged to defeat the Danes at Edgington in Wiltshire. In one of the pivotal battles in English history, Alfred prevented the Viking domination of England, winning such a victory that at the peace of Wedmore, Guthrum agreed to be christened. For the next decade Alfred consolidated his hold over Wessex, created a navy and sent a fleet against the Danes of East Anglia in 884, taking London in 886. A treaty with Guthrum ficed Watling Street, the Great Ouse and the River Lea from its source as the southern boundary of Danelaw, leaving London to the English king. A period of respite enabled Alfred to turn his attention to the arts of peace, for which he showed as much aptitude as his martial skills. Alfred's varied accomplishments have led to the comparison with Charlemagne [# 3057], whose scale of operation may have been larger but who never forged a united and permanent kingdom as did Alfred and his descendants. Alfred created many fortified towns, some on old Roman sites, some on new ones; in all he founded some twenty-five towns, or about one-third the number founded by the Romans in three and a half centuries. Viking raids had destroyed libraries and even disrupted the passing on of religious knowledge and forms, leaving a clergy that no longer understood the meaning of the Latin mass they sang. He set aside half of all revenue to be spent on educational needs; established schools where the sons of nobility could be taught to read and write; brought in foreign scholars and craftsmen; restored monasteries and convents. He helped to design houses, invented a candle clock, mastered Latin and translated many books into Anglo-Saxon, including Boethus' [IT: Consolation of Philosophy:IT] and histories of Bede and Orosius. He ordered the compilation of the first English history book, the [IT:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:IT], which was continued for more than two centuries after his death, 'men longed for the laws of King Alfred'. Had Alfred never fought a battle, he would still deserve a place among the greatest rulers of history.

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Record Change October 25, 1999

Burial 899 Winchester, England