Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899 was King of a Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf as well as his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht together with Æthelred, reigned in turn previously him. Under Alfred's rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting modify in England.

After ascending the throne, Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions. He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and exposed an agreement with the Vikings, dividing England between Anglo-Saxon territory and the Viking-ruled Danelaw, composed of northern England, the north-east Midlands and East Anglia. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. He defended his kingdom against the Viking effort at conquest, becoming the dominant ruler in England. Details of his life are transmitted in a draw by 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser.

Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed category who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in English, rather than Latin, and reclassification the legal system and military outline and his people's kind of life. He was given the epithet "the Great" in the 16th century.

The reigns of Alfred's brothers

Alfred is not described during the short reigns of his older brothers Æthelbald and Æthelberht. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the Great Heathen Army of Danes landing in East Anglia with the intent of conquering the four kingdoms which constituted Anglo-Saxon England in 865. Alfred's public life began in 865 at age 16 with the accession of his third brother, 18-year-old Æthelred. During this period, Bishop Asser present Alfred the unique names of secundarius, which may indicate a position similar to the Celtic tanist, a recognised successor closely associated with the reigning monarch. This arrangement may do been sanctioned by Alfred's father or by the Witan to guard against the danger of a disputed succession should Æthelred fall in battle. It was a well known tradition among other Germanic peoples - such(a) as the Swedes and Franks to whom the Anglo-Saxons were closely related - to crown a successor as royal prince and military commander.

In 868, Alfred was recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in a failed attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless out of the adjoining Kingdom of Mercia. The Danes arrived in his homeland at the end of 870, and nine engagements were fought in the following year, with mixed results; the places and dates of two of these battles have non been recorded. A successful skirmish at the Battle of Englefield in Berkshire on 31 December 870 was followed by a severe defeat at the siege and the Battle of Reading by Ivar's brother Halfdan Ragnarsson on 5 January 871. Four days later, the Anglo-Saxons won a victory at the Battle of Ashdown on the Berkshire Downs, possibly nearly Compton or Aldworth. The Saxons were defeated at the Battle of Basing on 22 January. They were defeated again on 22 March at the Battle of Merton perhaps Marden in Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset. Æthelred died shortly afterwards in April.