King Alfred the Great

M, b. 849, d. 26 October 899
FatherÆthelwulf King of Wessex b. bt 795 - 810, d. 13 Jan 858
MotherOsburga Queen of Wessex b. 810
Relationship32nd great-grandfather of Pamela Joyce Wood
Last Edited29 Sep 2012
King Alfred, Temple of British Worthies, Stowe, Buckinghamshire
     King Alfred the Great was born in 849 at Royal Palace, Wantage, Berkshire, England.1 He was the son of Æthelwulf King of Wessex and Osburga Queen of Wessex. King Alfred the Great married Ælhswitha, daughter of Æthelred Mucil and Eadburh, in 868; There was a great famine this year according to Asser. They had at least 5 children who reached adulthood and a number of children, that died as infants.2 King Alfred the Great died on 26 October 899 at Winchester, Hampshire, England; Alfred had been plagued by an illness for years, historians feel that it could have been Crohn's didease, which seemed to be inherited by his grandson King Edred.2 He was buried at Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire, England; Hyde Abbey was the final resting place for the bones of King Alfred the Great, his Queen Aelswitha and their son Edward the Elder. An unmarked grave outside the east window is disputed as the place where Alfred and his family were re-buried after the Abbey vaults were excavated in the mid 19th century.
     Youngest son of King Æthelwulf, Alfred became King of Wessex during a time of constant Viking attack. He was driven into hiding by a Viking raid into Wessex, led by the Dane, Guthorm, and took refuge in the Athelney marshes in Somerset. There, he recovered sufficient strength to be able to defeat the Danes decisively at the Battle of Eddington. As a condition of the peace treaty which followed, Guthorm received Christian baptism and withdrew his forces from Wessex, with Alfred recognizing the Danish control over East Anglia and parts of Mercia. This partition of England, called the "Danelaw", was formalized by another treaty in 886.

Alfred created a series of fortifications to surround his kingdom and provide needed security from invasion. The Anglo-Saxon word for these forts, "burh", has come down to us in the common place-name suffix, "bury." He also constructed a fleet of ships to augment his other defenses, and in so doing became known as the "Father of the English Navy." The reign of Alfred was known for more than military success. He was a codifier of law, a promoter of education and a suppor|er of the arts. He, himself, was a scholar and translated Latin books into the Anglo-Saxon tongue. The definitive contemporary work on Alfred's life is an unfinished account in Latin by Asser, a Welshman, bishop of Sherbourne and Alfred's counsellor. After his death, he was buried in his capital city of Winchester, and is the only English monarch in history to carry the title, "the Great."3

Family

Ælhswitha b. 852, d. 5 Dec 905
Children

Citations

  1. [S403] Wikipedia.com, online http://www.wikipedia.com, Alfred the Great.
  2. [S726] Wikipedia, online http://en.wikipedia.org, Alfred the Great.
  3. [S1041] Britannia, Online, online http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon6.html, King Alfred the Great.