King Alfred the Great was born in 849 at Wantage in Berkshire. He was youngest of five sons and one daughter of King Aethelwulf. His father and brothers died defending their kingdom mostly from the Vikings and Alfred came to power in 871 at the age of 22. He died on the 26 October 899 aged 52. He had united Anglo-Saxon England and provided a foundation for the later reconquest of the Danelaw lands by his successors. Although Alfred was never King of all England, his acheivements made him the true founder of the unified Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the 10th and 11th centuries. He was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester.
A Saxon Coin (The inscription reads - ”ETHELUULF MONETA”)
In 858 Ethelwulf died he was succeeded in turn by his sons Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and Alfred . In those days the Northmen restarted their invasions, most of the time they attacked North, Middle England and the East. They did not meet with serious resistance, but in the year of 871 when Ethelred was King, the heathen men, as the chronicles call them, passed into the lands of the West Saxons. They met with strenuous resistance, and in that year 871 six great battles were fought. Of these the best known is Ashdown near Reading in which the Saxons were victorious; but in four out of six the Northmen had the better, and after the battle of Wilton, which the Northmen won, The English were glad to make terms
During the fighting Ethelred died, and was succeeded by his younger brother “ALFRED “, the last of the sons of Ethelwulf. For the next seven years Alfred had much ado to defend his land from the Northmen and who swept over the other kingdoms. In 876 & 877 they divided the North and the East Midlands amongst themselves creating the Danelaw. In 878 the Northmen had summoned another great army under Guthrum, who attacked Alfred and forcing him to retreat to the Isle of Athelney amongst the marshes of the river Parrot in Somerset. There he was safe from pursuit; and the same year 878 , he issued a call to arms from his retreat. Alfred surprised and defeated the Danes at the great battle of Ethandun now called Edington. This victory drove the Northmen from Alfred’s kingdom. The following year, a treaty was made at Chippenham, sometimes known as the “Treaty of Wedmore” In 885 a second treaty was agreed with Alfred that the boundary of his kingdom should run on the estuary of the river Thames, the river Lea to its source near Bedford, the river Ouse until it cross’s Watling Street, and continue along Watling street until the Welsh Border Basically Alfred’s Kingdom was from London across England diagonal to Chester.
Alfred concentrated on making a strongly defended region, he trained up his fyrd or militia, in order to protect the kingdom. He also set out to improve the education of his people. He invited learned men from overseas to help translate books and manuscripts of history, travel, and religion from Latin and Greek into English. Alfred kept a day to day diary which he referred to as blossoms. Recordings of traditions and copies of narratives were kept in the Monasteries, so while Alfred reigned there was a record of what was happening in England at the time
Alfred fought many battles with the Northmen in which they were mostly succesful. Following his break-out from Athelney and the Peace of Wedmore, Alfred forced the Northman to turn their attentions to Normandy in France, where the descendants of the Northmen became Normans. Alfred reign was very productive for the English, he encouraged the education of the English people, translated books and manuscripts were ready available to folk , English defences and armoury was fortified along with the new larger ships of the English Navy.
SAXON KINGS and The” HEROIC CODE ”
A King could call on any freemen from the towns and villages he ruled upon, to drop what they are doing , discard their farms in order to form a fryd, i.e., ”militia” to fight and die for their lord. The King always had a bodyguard andso did King Edwin.
One day a stranger called Eumer came to see King Edwin at his Palace, pretending to be a messenger, and from underneath his cloak he produced not a scroll but a dagger. As he lunged at King Edwin, Lilla the kings bodyguard threw himself in the way. The King survived but Lilla was killed.On the battlefield the bodyguard set all the other soldiers a good example. They fought with skill and would fight to the death, even if they saw the king killed they would carry on fighting. This bond between the king and his bodyguard meant that the bodyguard would recieve the best of everything. He would feast and drink with the king in the banqueting halls. The Minstrel would play his Lyre and sing of great battles in the mead halls. The king would often give out treasures of gold to his guests as roaring logs blazed, while the kill of the day roasted over the fire. In that way the bonds, which bound the Anglo-Saxon ”geneat” to his lord, were forged.
| Monarch | Born | Reign | Married |
| Egbert | circa 780 son of Ealhmund of Kent |
827-839 | Redburga |
| Ethelwulf | son of Egbert and Redburga |
839-856 | (1) Osburga (2) Judith of Flanders |
| Ethelbald | circa 831 son of Ethelwulf and Osburga |
856-860 | Judith of Flanders |
| Ethelbert | circa 831 son of Ethelwulf and Osburga |
860-865 | |
| Ethelred I | circa 837 son of Ethelwulf and Osburga |
865-871 | Wulfrida |
| Alfred the Great | circa 849 son of Ethelwulf & Osburga |
871-899 | Eahlswith |
| Edward the Elder | c.871-877 son of Alfred the Great & Ealhswith |
899-924 | (1) Ecgwynn (2) Aelffaed (3) Edgiva of Kent |
| Ælfweard | 904 son of Edward the Elder and Elfleda |
924 | |
| Athelstan | 895 son of Edward the Elder & Ecgwynn |
924-939 | |
| Edmund I | c.921 son of Edward the Elder and Edgiva of Kent |
939-946 | (1) Elgiva (2) Æthelflæd |
| Edred | c.923 son of Edward the Elder & Edgiva of Kent |
946-955 | |
| Edwy the Fair | c.940 son of Edmund I & Elgiva |
955-959 | Elgiva |
| Edgar the Peaceful | c.943 son of Edmund I and Elgiva |
959-975 | (1) Ethelflaed (2) Wulfthryh (3) Ælfthryth |
| Edward the Martyr | c.962 son of Edgar the Peaceful & Ethelflaed |
975-978 | |
| Ethelred II the Redeless | c.968 son of Edgar the Peaceful & Ælfthryth |
978-1016 | Ælflaed of Northumbria (2) Aelgifu (3) Emma of Normandy |
| Edmund II Ironside | c.993 son of Ethelred II & Ælflaed of Northumbria |
1016 | Edith of East Anglia |
| Edward the Confessor | c.1005 son of Ethelred II & Emma of Normandy |
1042-1066 | Edith Godwineson |
| Harold Godwineson | c.1020 son of Godwine, Earl of Wessex & Gytha Thorkelsdótti |
1066 | Elgiva |