Name: King Alfred the Great
Born: c.849 at Wantage, Berkshire
Parents: Æthelwulf and Osburh
House of: Wessex
Became King: 871
Married: Ealhswith of Mercia
Children: 5 children, Ælfthryth, Æthelflaed, Æthelgifu, Edward, Æthelweard
Died: October 26, 899
Buried at: Winchester Cathedral
Succeeded by: his son Edward
Alfred (Ælfred) was born at Wantage in England, historically in Berkshire, but currently in Oxfordshire, the youngest son of Æthelwulf (d. 858), king of the West Saxons.
In 870 Alfred and his brother Æthelred fought many battles against the Danes. Alfred gained a victory over the Danes at Ashdown in 871, and succeeded Æthelred as King in April 871 after a series of battles in which the Danes had been defeated. Not all his campaigns were so successful; on a number of occasions he had to resort to buying off the Danes for a brief respite.
Five years of uneasy peace followed while the Danes were occupied in other parts of England. In 876 the Danes attacked again, and in 878 Alfred was forced to retire to the stronghold of Athelney which was at that time an island in the Somerset Levels. The legend of him burning the cakes probably comes from this period.
His come back and great victory over the Vikings at Edington (Ethandun). in 878 secured the survival of Wessex and thus England.
He began to use the word English to decribe the people joining the Angles and Saxons under one name as well as meaning the common language they spoke.
The story of Alfred is made known to us in some detail in the pages of Asser, a monk of St David’s, who became Bishop of Sherborne. The Bishop dwells naturally upon the religious and moral qualities of his hero; but we must also remember that, in spite of ill-health, he was renowned as a hunter, and that his father had taken him to Rome as a boy, so that he had a lively comprehension of the greater world. Alfred began as second-in-command to his elder brother, the King. There were no jealousies between them, but a marked difference of temperament. Ethelred inclined to the religious view that faith and prayer were the prime agencies by which the heathen would be over-come. Alfred, though also devout, laid the emphasis upon policy and arms.
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Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "King Alfred the Great" https://englishhistory.net/middle-ages/king-alfred-the-great/, February 17, 2022