In 878, surprised by Guthrum at Chippenham, Alfred fled to Athelney (Somerset), but defeated the Danes in a desperate last-stand battle at Edington. They also damaged Christian faith and institutions.
The 870s saw continuing war against the Danes, who were numerous, skilled, treacherous, well led, wanting conquest and settlement, not unattractive as allies or lords to rivals. He assisted Æthelred against the ‘great army’ which invaded in 865, and his accession in 871 was most likely not a certainty. The quality of his own writings suggests that he had a sound education in Latin. And if the denial of the text's authenticity, powerfully reasserted in 1995, should carry the day, then significant elements of the traditional reconstruction of Alfred's career will disappear.Īsser says Alfred was born in 849 in Wantage and married a Mercian lady in 868. But there was probably a different side to Alfred's character. Perception of Alfred's personality, policies, and methods depends largely upon his seemingly intimate hagiographical biography by Asser. Extreme revisionists emphasize his skill as propagandist, downgrading his achievements. A popular image of Alfred is of national superman destined by his father's ( Æthelwulf) will to be king, despite having three surviving older brothers ( Æthelbald, Æthelbert, and Æthelred I) saviour of the English from the Vikings architect of a united England founder of the navy, reformer of the army, town-planner, exponent of time and resource management patron of the church promoter of universal education and father of English prose saintly, and easy to know, since we have more evidence for him than for any earlier king. Finally, in the last third of the book, Asser describes his maturing king and how he sought to learn the way of the Church through learning to write and read quotations of saints and scripture, and to carefully budget his wealth into bettering his kingdom and making sure half of his money went into Godly pursuits (giving to the poor, building monasteries and an abbey, etc.Alfred (849–99), king of Wessex (871–99).
So, a good portion of the writing is a chronicle of the various wars, describing neighboring kingdoms, who the invaders were, and each outcome, for about twenty years. From my understanding of the text, the environment surrounding this kingdom was wild and changeable, and Alfred became a king little by little as he led people settled in the area in many different attacks by the "pagans" or foreign invaders who are described as coming in waves every year or so. The writer begins with a stunning genealogy, taken from scripture and continuing with the history with which he would have been familiar, and finishing with King Alfred.
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