If you’re visiting Winchester, then you have more than likely seen a statue of an armoured man holding a sword boldly in the air. This is the infamous Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex Alfred the Great, the only English monarch to earn the title of ‘the Great’.
Alfred was born in 848 CE to King Aethelwulf of Wessex. He was the 5th son of Aethelwulf and therefore 5th in line to the throne, making the odds of him succeeding to the throne slim, especially given the short life expectancy of the time. Alfred was born into a dark and bloody time; the coasts of England had been under constant threat of Viking raids since the late 8th century. These Danish raiders had been a constant threat to the petty kings of the English isles and in 867 CE, the Vikings seized York settling in the region and founding their own kingdom of Northumbria. The great heathen army as it became known would go on to raid the Kingdom of Mercia in 868 CE and conquer East Anglia in 869 CE, two of the most prominent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
The final Anglo-Saxon opposition was the Kingdom of Wessex whose forces were led by the then king Aethelred and his younger brother Alfred. Wessex proved to be a tougher kingdom to overcome and would resist the Vikings for considerably longer. However, in 871 CE, multiple Viking victories over Wessex and the death of Aethelred left Wessex on the back foot and put a young King Alfred on the throne.
Despite only being 21, Alfred was no stranger to positions of leadership, he was a battle-hardened veteran and had faced the Vikings in many a battle. Arguably, there was no better man to lead the remaining resistance to the Vikings. Knowing how real the Viking threat was, Alfred would attempt to broker peace with them on two separate occasions. Both attempts would be futile as the Vikings would breach any negotiated peace in attempts to join up with reinforcements from the sea.
Just one year after ascending to the throne, Alfred would face the Vikings in one of the most defining battles in English history. In 878 CE, the Danes under the leadership of King Guthrum would seize Chippenham, forcing Alfred into hiding in the swamps of Somerset and placing the Kingdom of Wessex on the brink of defeat. It was in these darkest hours that many of the myths surrounding Alfred are set, legends that tell of how the king mustered the bravery to reclaim his power and save the kingdom.
Alfred would make his move at the Battle of Edington. The battle itself is largely undocumented, therefore, we can’t know for sure what happened except for one fact that is certain: Alfred won. In the aftermath of the battle various terms of peace were negotiated. The Viking leader Guthrum was baptized becoming a devout Christian. The Danish occupation of Northumbria and East Anglia was accepted by Alfred with much of Mercia going to Wessex. His military leadership had secured Wessex land but more importantly he had achieved peace, which he used wisely to reform his Kingdom extensively.
Check out our next Culture on Call, Alfred the Great: King, to learn how Alfred cemented his title as the Great.
