Essay, Research Paper: Alfred The Great

Alfred, the King of the West Saxons, was a truly influential
man who was given the title "Great" by his people. He was,
and still is today, the only English king to have been given
this title1 and for good reason. Alfred was an accomplished
military leader and leader in the development of education
among his people and for this he is credited with helping to
make modern English speaking society what it is today. This
essay will examine his military feats, his planned defence
of his kingdom, his part in the development of education in
his society, his compassion as a leader and how these
accomplishments made him a key historical figure.

In the 860's, Saxon England was ruled by Alfred's elder
brother Ethelred.2 It was around this time that the kingdom
was in grave danger of being overtaken by the Vikings who
had already conquered many of the surrounding villages.
Ethelred was seen as the only king left who could stop the
Vikings and save what was left of Saxon England from total
foreign domination. He was perhaps capable of this, but
ironically his downfall was that he was a very religious man
who placed great value in Mass. He was attending a mass
when the Vikings approached in their attempt to overtake the
kingdom. Ethelred insisted on finishing the mass before
confronting them.3 When Alfred heard this, he led the
Wessex men into battle without his brother and when Ethelred
joined much later on, they were well on their way to victory. This battle may have been lost and the kingdom
overtaken if it had not been for Alfred's quick thinking and
leadership.

Later that year Ethelred passed away and although not
next in the monarchical system to be king, Alfred was chosen
by the people, because they believed he was the most
suitable person for the job during the crisis they were
facing. Their choice proved correct when the Danes began to
attack Wessex and Alfred, knowing his kingdom may not be
triumphant, paid the Vikings for five years of peace.4 In
876, when the five years were up, the attacks began again
and Alfred again paid for a few more months of peace.5 By
Christmas of 877 it was thought that Wessex was safe from
the Vikings. Alfred spent that Christmas at Chippenham
which was in Wiltshire.6 During his stay there, the Danes
attacked and only Alfred and a few followers were able to
escape. Afraid of being caught and killed, they took refuge
in a wooded swampland called the Isle of Athelney and
remained there until 878 when they were joined by enough
village men to organize an attack.7 This attack was an all
day battle which was fought at Ethandune on the Wiltshire
Downs.8 The Wessex men and Alfred were triumphant in
driving the Danes out. The kingdom was now secure and
strong enough to withstand any counter attacks from the
Vikings. In 8869, Alfred led his men in the seizure of
London and created a treaty to secure the south and west parts of England. Alfred's strong leadership
qualities, determination and military tactics were the main
contributing factors to the rightful seizing of the English
land by the Wessex men and the safeguarding of what we now
know as the modern English speaking world.

After the Wessex land was won back under Alfred's
command in 878, he had to deal with pillagers who attacked
by sea, raided livestock and property and quickly escaped
the area without punishment.10 The main reason for this was
because Wessex did not have a permanent army that patrolled
the kingdom. It was difficult to acquire soldiers because
most were also farmers who would only fight when great
rewards and money was promised to them. Alfred knew that a
permanent army would solve many of their problems so he
implemented a program within the kingdom to obtain this.
This program required all landowners who held estates to
supply troops for the king's army. Alfred then split this
army in to two parts. The first was a militia which guarded
the farms and villages within the kingdom and the second was
required to fight the Vikings. Everyone in the king's army
was made to take a turn in each of these groups. Alfred
also had thirty strongholds built surrounding the kingdom11
which were manned by those in the militia and provided a
safe area in which the villagers could live.

The last great improvement Alfred made in the defence of his
kingdom was to start England's first navy. He designed the
ships which were to be used by the navy and with the help of
a few top offficials, began the training of the individuals
who were to be sailors. When these ideas and plans of
Alfred's were implemented, the defence of the kingdom
greatly improved. The village people no longer had to worry
about unknown attacks because of the strongholds, the
Vikings were no longer able to secretly attack by water
because of the navy and the militia and army kept the people
safe in case of an attack.

Alfred was not only a great military leader but he was
also a very intelligent man who was concerned with improving
the education of his people. In 877 the only form of
schooling available was in monasteries which trained boys to
become monks.12 During the Viking attacks many of the
monasteries were destroyed and Alfred saw that they were
rebuilt. He also believed that some form of education
should be offered to other children, so he started what were
called Noble Schools. These schools taught princes and sons
of noblemen to read, write, hunt and wrestle. These schools
were a great success in the kingdom. Alfred also had many
books translated from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, a fact which
was key to the education of his people. To accomplish this,
he invited many European scholars to move to Wessex and even
translated some of the books himself. Alfred also insisted that the history of his kingdom and Anglo-Saxon England be
recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.13 These are now
some of our most revealing and helpful documents in our
quest to find out more about that period in English history.

Alfred the Great was also a humanitarian. He believed in
reform and justice for all. During the first defeat of the
Vikings in the battle at Ethandune, he was offered hostages.
He did not kill these hostages as was expected, but instead
he made them convert to Christianity and took an active part
in this process. He went so far as to be the godfather of
the Danish leader Chieftain Guthrum.14 Impressed by
Alfred's way of handling the situation, Guthrum and many of
his men settled peacefully in East Anglia.

Alfred also reformed the justice system in Wessex. At
the time a person's innocence or guilt was determined
through trial by ordeal. King Alfred believed that this was
unfair and implemented a process where twelve people, who
didn't know the accused or the accuser, decided the fate of
the accused.15 This system is know today as the jury
system. Alfred's determination to provide fair judgement
for everyone and to save life in any way he could were truly
revolutionary at the time and have provided us with a
procedure used in courtrooms all over the world today.


Alfred the Great, the king of the West Saxons was a very
successful man who always strived to better himself and his
kingdom. He had a great impact on society by leading his
people to many military victories and safeguarded their land
with his defence plans and strategies. He also helped
develop his society in a great way through the translation
of many books and the establishment of schooling and jury
systems. Many of the things which he achieved and developed
over 1000 years ago have helped shape and develop the
society which we know today. Our world maybe vastly
different today if it was not for Alfred's strong desire to
protect his land from the Vikings and better his society
with many innovative ideas. Alfred was a truly influential
man whose compassion was as important as his ideas and
accomplishments. It was this immense compassion for people
that made him not only a strong, creative and effective
leader but also a popular leader who gained the respect of
many and the well deserved title Great.


Bibliography

Jones, David. Your Book Of Anglo-Saxon England. London: Faber and Faber Limited.
1976.

May, Robin. Alfred The Great And The Saxons. East Sussex: Wayland Publishers Ltd.
1984.

Purves, Amanda. Growing Up In A Saxon Village. East Sussex: Wayland Publishers Ltd.
1978.

Triggs, Tony D. Peoples Of The Past; The Saxons. London; Macdonald Educational.
1979.




Endnotes

1. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 4

2. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 5

3. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 6


4. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 7

5. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 7

6. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 7

7. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 9

8. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 8

9. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 8

10. D. Jones, Your Book Of Anglo-Saxon England (London: Faber and Faber
Limited, 1976.) pg. 29

11. D. Jones, Your Book Of Anglo-Saxon England (London: Faber and Faber
Limited, 1976.) pg. 29

12 R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 10

13. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 10

14. R. May, Alfred The Great And The Saxons (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers
Ltd., 1984.) pg. 9

15. A. Purves, Growing Up In A Saxon Village (East Sussex: Wayland Publishers Ltd.,
1978) pg. 31