After his death in 860 his brothers Æthelberht (860–65),
then Æthelred (865–71), ruled in turn. No further parti-
tion occurred. Though Alfred was depicted by Asser as
heir-apparent in the late 860ls, his chances of succession
were slim, since Æthelred had two sons.
In 865 a large army of Danes landed in East Anglia
and in 866–67 gained control of Northumbria. In 868
Danes attacked Mercia, and Alfred joined King Burgred
(his brother-in-law) in a campaign of limited success.
Alfred now married Ealhswith, a Mercian noblewoman
of royal descent. Asser reports that Alfred was struck
down by a mysterious illness at his wedding and inter-
prets this as divinely sent preventive medicine against
pride.
In 869–70 Danes took control of East Anglia, kill-
ing King Edmund. Raids against Wessex began. When
Æthelred died in 871, Alfred succeeded, excluding
Æthelred’s sons; their supporters were overruled. Wes-
sex came under attack from several Danish warbands.
Under 871 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records nine bat-
tles, most of which Alfred lost. He probably bought off
attackers with tribute; his coinage became increasingly
debased. In 874 Burgred departed for Rome, leaving
Mercia to be partitioned between a coalition of Danish
warlords and a new Mercian king, Ceolwulf. Though the
written record is silent, joint coinage suggests that Alfred
and Ceolwulf sometimes allied. In 876 and 877 Danes
raided far into Wessex. At Wareham and Exeter Alfred
pursued Danish warbands, paying tribute to induce their
withdrawal. Protests from the archbishop of Canterbury
imply that he extracted substantial contributions from
churches, as did Carolingian contemporaries.
In January 878 a Danish force under Guthrum sur-
prised Alfred at Chippenham, Wiltshire, and obliged
him to withdraw to Athelney, Somerset, whence with
his “vassals” he “harried Danes and Christians who
had accepted Danish lordship” (Asser, ch. 53). In May
878 Alfred defeated Guthrum at Edington, Wiltshire.
Guthrum made peace, accepting baptism and agreeing
to leave Alfred’s kingdom. In 879 some Danes withdrew
to Mercia and then to East Anglia, while others went to
Francia (the “French” or western portion of the Caro-
lingian Empire). Victory at Edington enabled Alfred
to recruit further support. It was probably now that a
defector, the ealdorman of Wiltshire, was punished by
loss of offi ce and lands. Also at this time the coinage
was reformed.
During the 880s, with Danes active in the Thames
estuary and in Francia, Wessex was unscathed. By 883
Ceolwulf was dead and Alfred established overlordship
of western Mercia, with a Mercian noble, Æthelræd, as
his ealdorman. Leading Mercians joined Alfred’s court;
some West Saxons probably gained Mercian lands. A
formal peace was made with Guthrum, leaving Alfred in
control of Mercia west of Watling Street, the old Roman
route that divided the southwest and the northwest. In
886 London, “restored” by Alfred, was handed over to
Æthelræd, who married Alfred’s daughter Æthelfl æd.
Alfred used both preexisting and new fortified
settlements to organize a system of burhs covering his
kingdom. A few, like Winchester, were intended as po-
litical and fi scal centers. Basically the burhs’ function
was military; garrisoned by mounted warriors (thegns),
they could act as refuges and launchpads for counterof-
fensives. The followers of Alfred and his magnates (eal-
dormen and probably bishops) were coordinated with
the burh-thegns (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 893). Alfred
thus imposed heavy burdens on his nobility.
To secure cooperation Alfred wanted to retrain nobles
to think of themselves as an aristocracy of service.
Books purveying the service ideal and enhancing royal
authority were translated into OE, and bishops were
mobilized to ensure their distribution; nobles were told
to learn to read and threatened, if they failed, with loss of
offi ce. Since Alfred personally participated in the trans-
lation project, it offers a unique window on the mind of a
medieval king. Royal patronage attracted scholars from
Mercia, Wales, and Francia and inspired the production
of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser’s Life.
Danish attacks on Wessex resumed in 892 after
their defeat in Francia. Alfred was better prepared. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the years 893 to 896 is es-
sentially a record of success, including a minor naval
encounter. Alfred suffered less from Danish onslaughts
than from “high mortality among his best thegns.”
Alfred’s law code probably belongs to this decade.
It was to apply in Mercia as in Wessex. Some clauses
were monuments to Alfred’s talents as judge; others as-
serted the claims of lordship, especially royal lordship.
Perhaps following Carolingian models, he imposed
the death penalty for treason and probably demanded
a generalized oath of fi delity. He secured acknowledg-
ment of his overlordship from Welsh princes, weaning
Anarawd of Gwynedd from alliance with the Danes
at York. The marriage of Alfred’s daughter Ælfthryth
with Count Baldwin of Flanders signaled a new West
Saxon involvement, on Alfred’s terms, in Carolingian
politics. Alfred sould to avert dynastic disputes by ar-
ranging for sole succession of his elder son, Edward,
to his expanded kingdom, acknowledging Edward’s
infant son, Æthelstan, as a future king. Alfred died in
October 899.
Though claims have been made for Alfred as a inno-
vator in law, military organization, and economic plan-
ning, his essential success was political. He enhanced
West Saxon royal power both practically, extending his
control over part of Mercia and dealing ruthlessly with
opponents, and ideologically, by publicizing Bede’s
construct of the unity of English-kind and by winning
aristocratic consensus. His posthumous reputation grew,ALFRED THE GREAT