麻豆APP

Photo by Samuel Woodforde –

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Alfred the Great.

Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons.

At their father’s behest and by mutual agreement, Alfred’s elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn, rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a time when the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from Denmark.

Alfred the Great (849-899) was one of the most famous Anglo-Saxon kings and is famous for bringing various reform to England at the time.

He is known to most people as the King who won against the Viking invasion. Alfred the Great was the king of Wessex, which was an Anglo-Saxon empire in the South of England.

He came to the throne in 871 without any notice when his brother died in a battle..

Better known as King Alfred the Great, has continued to be one of the most celebrated monarchs in English history.

He was endlessly influential within his own society, especially regarding the future of England and the very idea that a united England could even exist.

As you could imagine, many legends sprung up around Alfred in the centuries after his passing. To separate legend from facts let’s take a look at  10 of them.

1. Alfred the Great Proclaimed  Himself  King.

Photo by PD Art –

Usually, the oldest son inherits the throne, but Alfred the Great, the youngest, got the throne.

Then, how did he get it? All of his brothers died, many of them in the battle against the Vikings. Alfred was lucky to survive and claimed the throne.

When his brother died, the next in line was his older brother鈥檚 son, his nephew.

However, scholars suggest that Alfred might have claimed himself to be the king after his brother died

Since he was a better general and has the endorsement from the pope, he would make a better king than his nephew.

2.  He was not Expected to be a Great Warrior.

Because he was the oldest of the five children, his prospects of becoming king were very dim.

Consequently, he was not raised to be a warrior but  received military training just like others who were born into a prestigious family.

 There was no expectation of him to be a great warrior.

Instead, his mother instilled in him a great love for learning, especially for poetry.

Also, he was fascinated with Latin, probably because of his visits to Rome.

His love for learning had a great impact on his reign.

3. Alfred the Great was King of Wessex, not England.

Photo by John Casell –

Alfred, despite being an English king, was never the King of England as was later established.

During his lifetime, England was divided into several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the most powerful ones being Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia and Alfred鈥檚 kingdom of Wessex.

Over the years, these kingdoms changed size, and some even merged together but with the invasion of Danish and other Scandinavian forces, everything would change.

4. Alfred the Great Enjoyed Learning.

There were plenty of other kings that were brilliant generals.

What made Alfred the Great stand out was his love of learning and his effort to spread learning throughout the kingdom.

He promoted the English language, recruited scholars from Europe, translated literature, etc.

Because of his effort, Wessex transformed from an uncultured mob of people to educated citizens.

5. Alfred鈥檚  Sister Aethelswith was  Exiled from her Mercia Kingdom.

Apart from his four brothers, Alfred also had one sister, who was the middle child amongst her siblings.

Aethelswith was married off to Burgred, the King of Mercia.

Sadly, she and her husband would be forced to flee Mercia and the rest of England when their kingdom was conquered by the Great Heathen Army/Vikings in 874 AD.

Burgred and Ethelswith settled in Italy where both would later die to be buried.

6. Alfred the Great Biography is the Only One for a Saxon King.

No other Anglo-Saxon leaders t had a biography before Alfred and definitely none after.

His advisor wrote a biography of him but Alfred did not endorse the work.

 It may have been possible that he did not know that it existed.

Whatever the case is, he became the only leader in Anglo-Saxon history that has a biography.

It is important because we can see detailed descriptions of his life.

7.  Alfred the Great Fought the Feared Vikings.

Photo by Morris M Williams –

The Vikings were one of the Anglo-Saxons鈥� most powerful and dangerous enemies.

Because they worshipped the Norse gods, the Christian Anglo-Saxons called their troops 鈥渢he Great Heathen Army.鈥�

The three sons of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok led the biking hordes.

These men were Ivar the Boneless, Ubba and Halfdan.

The trio conducted an invasion of England as vengeance for their father鈥檚 death in Northumbria, as well as out of a desire to conquer and pillage.

8. Alfred the Great was Deeply Religious.

Alfred the Great the Confessor Photo by PadredelElToro –

One of Alfred鈥檚 most well-known traits was his piety. Throughout his life, Alfred was highly devoted to defending the Church, and he would offer pardons to pagan invaders if they converted to Christianity.

At the age of four, he visited the pope in Rome and claims, was blessed with the right to rule.

The historical records claim that the Pope 鈥渁nointed him as a king,鈥� though this might have been written with the benefit of hindsight, as there was no way that anyone would have expected the boy to become king with four living older brothers.

 Alfred founded monasteries and convinced foreign monks to his new monasteries.

Whilst he did not enact any major reforms to religious practice, Alfred did strive to appoint learned and pious bishops and abbots.

9. Alfred the Great Lived in a Swamp.

Key locations involved in King Alfred’s interactions with the Great Heathen Army. Photo by Asncvikingage –

In the year 878, the Vikings launched a lightning attack on Wessex, claiming the majority of it as their own.

Alfred, his household and some of his warriors managed to escape and took refuge at Athelney, at that time an island in the marshes of Somerset. It was a highly defensible position, almost impenetrable to the Vikings.

The little island of Athelney and the wetlands that surrounded it was the full extent of Alfred鈥檚 Kingdom for four months.

A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted the Danes’ tactics by building a fortified base at Athelney in the Somerset marshes and summoning a mobile army of men from Wiltshire, Somerset and part of Hampshire to pursue guerrilla warfare against the Danes.

In May 878, Alfred’s army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington.

10. The only one to be Called the Great.

Queen Judith Relating to Alfred the Great by Westall, Richard R.A. –

He saved English society after being annihilated, ruled with a just and honest determination, conceived and implemented the idea of a single united Angle-Land.

Alfred constructed a new salient code of law and established the first English navy: a man worthy of the epithet 鈥渢he Great鈥�.

Alfred the Great and Cnut the Great are the only two kings from England to be christened “the Great”

However, Cnut was a Danish king who managed to build an empire that consisted of Denmark, England, and Norway, so Alfred still holds the title as the only English king known as 鈥渢he Great.鈥�

Alfred the Great is the only monarch in England to be called 鈥淕reat鈥�  because of his accomplishments in saving England from Viking invasion, 

Alfred鈥檚 success at fighting Viking invasions and the creation of the Danelaw helped establish him as the dominant ruler in England.

Ten years before his death, Alfred鈥檚 charters and coinage named him as 鈥楰ing of the English鈥�, a new and ambitious idea that his dynasty carried forward to the ultimate realisation of a united England.