A related tribe called the "Saxons" settled in the south of England. He has every right to be remembered as Alfred "The Great". The rise of King Alfred from this minute swampy land to the re-establishment of Saxon supremacy in England elevated him to the level of a great monarch and hero in the eyes of his people. They had at least 5 children who reached adulthood and a number of children, that died as infants. Egbert, king of Wessex, managed to conquer Mercia in 829, but he, too, lost control over this territory. He is the only English monarch known as 'the Great'. Guthrum, leader of a major Danish invasion of Anglo-Saxon England who waged war against the West Saxon king Alfred the Great (reigned 871–899) and later made himself king of East Anglia (reigned 880–890). Further Reading. The large volume of books that fill England’s libraries began with the translations of Alfred, and above all the chronicles of his reign. That is why that period of English history is called "Anglo-Saxon". When was King Alfred the Great born? King Alfred is the only English King to have ever been called “Great.” He rose from exile and isolation to overthrow Viking slave masters, fortify his nation, unite his people, provide an early example of an accessible Christian education, and have his vision for society taken to the ends of the earth. Alfred did not invent Anglo-Saxon law or the navy, though he did write laws and design ships. Before him, England possessed in her own tongue one great poem and a train of ballads and battle-songs (Abrahms 2). The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent states: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He was born in 849 CE, but the youngest of five children. Guthrum went to England in the great Danish invasion of 865, and in mid-January 878 he Alfred der Große (auch Ælfred, von altenglisch Ælfrēd; * 848 oder 849 in Wantage, Oxfordshire; † 26. Many towns claim to have been founded by Alfred as part of his plan for defending England. At the Battle of Edington, an army of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum on a date between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Edward the Elder succeeds him as king of Wessex; Ethelfled, married to the king of Mercia and stronger than her husband, is the real power in the Midlands. He did say he was "King of the English". He was the youngest son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex. In the early 890s, Alfred’s biographer, Asser, wrote of the agonising illness, thought to be Crohn’s disease, that afflicted the king during his final years. He's the odd sort of king insofar as he doesn't seem to have lusted after the throne. King Alfred is famous for fighting the Danes. This united the British people through language and religion. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". ; As a boy of four he accompanied his father Aethelwulf on a pilgrimage to Rome. It was then the young Alfred, who at the time was only sixteen, was named “Secundus” by the most powerful bishop of England. Thanks to his education, Alfred learned ancient languages and works of the great writers of his time and his history. Alfred the Great’s death in October 899 could hardly have come as a surprise. England was named after a Germanic tribe called the "Angles", who settled in Central, Northern, and Eastern England in the 5th and 6th centuries. The next brother to rule Wessex was Ethelbert. A PowerPoint presentation of this article is … And not without good reason. Sources: Alfred the Great, by Jacob Abbott, 1849 Alfred the Great; The Truth Teller, Maker of England, by Beatrice Adelaide Lees, 1915 A History of the English Speaking People, by Winston Churchill, 1956 The Life of King Alfred, by Dr. Giles. It would be his grandson Aethelstan who would be called the first King of England. For most of this time, England did not exist as a united country. In 871, die he did, and Alfred, age 22, became “King of the West Saxons”. In the same year he succeeded his brother there was a great Viking raid on the south coast of England. Primary sources locate the battle at "Eðandun".Until a scholarly consensus linked the battle site with the present-day town of Edington in … He may have earned this title in part by defending his kingdom against the Vikings and for his efforts in improving education. What made King Alfred so Great? Alfred the Great was king of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred the Great was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire in 849. Alfred Aetheling, also Ælfred Æþeling (English: Alfred the Noble) (c. 1005–1036), was one of the eight sons of the English king Æthelred the Unready.He and his brother Edward the Confessor were sons of Æthelred's second wife Emma of Normandy. Alfred agreed a treaty with Guthrum, the Viking leader, which recognised the legal and territorial rights of the Danes and English on either side of a line that bisected Mercia. (In those days England was divided into four kingdoms, Northumbria in the north, East Anglia and Mercia in the Midlands and Wessex in the south). He united all of Wessex into one kingship. Alfred the Great united Saxon England and created relative peace with the Danes. In charters of the 880s and 890s, Alfred began to be described as king ‘of the Angles and Saxons’ and even ‘of the Anglo-Saxons’. He also encouraged literacy, record keeping and Christianity. 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