Page 80 - All About History - Issue 27-15

Alfred

TheVikings

Howadefeatedandabandonedkingrosefrom

the ultimate underdog to become one of the most

celebrated monarchs in English history

Written by Frances White

he rain thundered down on the wet, something he was perfectly happy about. Although conquest. Soon, the only Anglo-Saxon nation that
swampy moors of Wessex. A crack of far from a coward, he was milder and more remained unclaimed by the pagan raiders was the
lightning set the sky alight before the thoughtful than his rowdy brothers. However, he exposed kingdom of Wessex.
wasteland was plunged into darkness had been born in a time of unrest and war. The Vikings were not hesitant about making
once more. Alfred staggered as he Since the attack on Lindisfarne monastery in their move; they captured Reading in the winter of
ran breathlessly through the plains, 793, Viking raids all around Britain had increased 870 but suffered a surprising defeat at Englefield
accompanied by a handful of men. in number and ferocity. In 865, a huge army by a small Anglo-Saxon force. Spurred by news
T They were all pale, shivering and dismounted from a fleet of ships, and while the of this triumph, the young king and his brother
soaked to the bone. previous attacks had been men eager for quick were determined to stop the raiders in their tracks.
“We must find shelter.” The words had barely left plunder, this was an army that didn’t intend to Fuelled by the taste of victory, Alfred and Æthelred
Alfred’s mouth before his foot caught on a root and return home. It wanted one thing – conquest. gathered their forces for a raid on the Viking
he crashed into the mud. “My lord,” his companion This attack was very bad timing for the kingdom stronghold in Reading.
offered his hand, but Alfred shook his head and of Wessex. Alfred’s father, king of Wessex for nearly Although they were filled with dogged
pushed himself to his feet. Standing breathlessly in 20 years, was dead. The throne passed between determination, this was the first time both of the
the wide, open plain he glanced back to the land his two eldest sons, but death followed them both brothers had faced a real battle situation, and it
that was once his. The cities of Wessex were a mere quickly, and in 865, the leadership fell to Alfred’s didn’t end well. Although they achieved initial
glimmer in the distance, little lights where he had older brother Æthelred. success, when the gates of the fortress opened a
grown into a man, shot his first boar and fathered In 866, the Viking army was on the move. At wave of bloodthirsty Vikings poured out and laid
his children. Now they belonged to his enemies least 1,000 strong, it slaughtered its way across waste to the Wessex forces. The English turned
and he was an exile, betrayed by those he thought the country, felling any nation that stood in its and fled for their lives, pursued for miles. It was a
loyal, no longer a king and anything but great. way. East Anglia, Northumbria and even Mercia, humiliating defeat for the man who would one day
Alfred was not born to be king. He wasn’t strong, Wessex’s northern neighbour, became Viking be known as ‘great’.
he suffered with illness throughout his life and property. Those kings who tried to pay the invaders For the Vikings the victory was all the
most of all, he was the fifth-born son. He seemed off, such as the East Anglian king, Edmund, encouragement they needed. With Wessex exposed
destined to a life of study in the priesthood, found themselves later repaid by swift and brutal and the rest of England in submission, they
80