He directed England’s first secular history, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and actively supported the development of education and the arts. Gregory the Great and the Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. The chart shows their (claimed) descent from the traditional first king of Wessex, Cerdic, down to the children of Alfred the Great. With the country scarred by years of fighting against Viking war parties, Alfred spent his energies in peacetime founding and rebuilding monasteries, churches, and centers of learning.Īlfred the Great’s own contributions to scholarship included Anglo-Saxon (Old English) translations from the Latin of Boethius, Orosius, St. He studied law-giving and authored a legal code, curtailing the ancient practice of the blood feud and establishing trial by jury. After the battle, the Vikings still ruled Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia, leaving only Wessex and western Mercia under Anglo-Saxon control. He's the odd sort of king insofar as he doesn't seem to have lusted after the throne. More than any other single individual, Alfred created the country we know as England.Īs an administrator, Alfred championed social order and justice. Alfred had succeeded thelred as king of Wessex in 871, and almost faced defeat against the Danish Vikings until his decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878. Alfred, king of Wessex (the area south of the Thames River in England and the Thames is the river that runs through London, so go ahead and check the map), is universally referred to as The Great. Uniting the petty kingdoms of 9th-century England, formulating an effective strategy of defensive communities or burghs and winning a 15-year period of peace for his people were tremendous accomplishments of diplomacy. If Alfred the Great’s reign had been characterized simply by his prowess as a military leader, however, he would today be just another little-recalled Dark Age chieftain.
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