either surrendered or escaped (Hampshire people fled to the Isle of Wight),

and the West Saxons were reduced to hit and run attacks seizing provisions

when they could. With only his royal bodyguard, a small army of thegns (the

king's followers) and Aethelnoth ealdorman of Somerset as his ally, Alfred

withdrew to the Somerset tidal marshes in which he had probably hunted as a

youth. (It was during this time that Alfred, in his preoccupation with the

defence of his kingdom, allegedly burned some cakes which he had been asked

to look after; the incident was a legend dating from early twelfth century

chroniclers.)

A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted the

Danes' tactics by building a fortified base at Athelney in the Somerset

marshes and summoning a mobile army of men from Wiltshire, Somerset and

part of Hampshire to pursue guerrilla warfare against the Danes. In May

878, Alfred's army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington. According

to his contemporary biographer Bishop Asser, 'Alfred attacked the whole

pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and by divine will

eventually won the victory, made great slaughter among them, and pursued

them to their fortress (Chippenham) ... After fourteen days the pagans were

brought to the extreme depths of despair by hunger, cold and fear, and they

sought peace'. This unexpected victory proved to be the turning point in

Wessex's battle for survival.

Realising that he could not drive the Danes out of the rest of England,

Alfred concluded peace with them in the treaty of Wedmore. King Guthrum was

converted to Christianity with Alfred as godfather and many of the Danes

returned to East Anglia where they settled as farmers. In 886, Alfred

negotiated a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontier was

demarcated along the Roman Watling Street and northern and eastern England

came under the jurisdiction of the Danes - an area known as 'Danelaw'.

Alfred therefore gained control of areas of West Mercia and Kent which had

been beyond the boundaries of Wessex. To consolidate alliances against the

Danes, Alfred married one of his daughters, Aethelflaed, to the ealdorman

of Mercia -Alfred himself had married Eahlswith, a Mercian noblewoman - and

another daughter, Aelfthryth, to the count of Flanders, a strong naval

power at a time when the Vikings were settling in eastern England.

The Danish threat remained, and Alfred reorganised the Wessex defences in

recognition that efficient defence and economic prosperity were

interdependent. First, he organised his army (the thegns, and the existing

militia known as the fyrd) on a rota basis, so he could raise a 'rapid

reaction force' to deal with raiders whilst still enabling his thegns and

peasants to tend their farms.

Second, Alfred started a building programme of well-defended settlements

across southern England. These were fortified market places ('borough'

comes from the Old English burh, meaning fortress); by deliberate royal

planning, settlers received plots and in return manned the defences in

times of war. (Such plots in London under Alfred's rule in the 880s shaped

the streetplan which still exists today between Cheapside and the Thames.)

This obligation required careful recording in what became known as 'the

Burghal Hidage', which gave details of the building and manning of Wessex

and Mercian burhs according to their size, the length of their ramparts and

the number of men needed to garrison them. Centred round Alfred's royal

palace in Winchester, this network of burhs with strongpoints on the main

river routes was such that no part of Wessex was more than 20 miles from

the refuge of one of these settlements. Together with a navy of new fast

ships built on Alfred's orders, southern England now had a defence in depth

against Danish raiders.

Alfred's concept of kingship extended beyond the administration of the

tribal kingdom of Wessex into a broader context. A religiously devout and

pragmatic man who learnt Latin in his late thirties, he recognised that the

general deterioration in learning and religion caused by the Vikings'

destruction of monasteries (the centres of the rudimentary education

network) had serious implications for rulership. For example, the poor

standards in Latin had led to a decline in the use of the charter as an

instrument of royal government to disseminate the king's instructions and

legislation. In one of his prefaces, Alfred wrote 'so general was its

[Latin] decay in England that there were very few on this side of the

Humber who could understand their rituals in English or translate a letter

from Latin into English ... so few that I cannot remember a single one

south of the Thames when I came to the throne.'

To improve literacy, Alfred arranged, and took part in, the translation

(by scholars from Mercia) from Latin into Anglo-Saxon of a handful of books

he thought it 'most needful for men to know, and to bring it to pass ... if

we have the peace, that all the youth now in England ... may be devoted to

learning'. These books covered history, philosophy and Gregory the Great's

'Pastoral Care' (a handbook for bishops), and copies of these books were

sent to all the bishops of the kingdom. Alfred was patron of the Anglo-

Saxon Chronicle (which was copied and supplemented up to 1154), a patriotic

history of the English from the Wessex viewpoint designed to inspire its

readers and celebrate Alfred and his monarchy.

Like other West Saxon kings, Alfred established a legal code; he

assembled the laws of Offa and other predecessors, and of the kingdoms of

Mercia and Kent, adding his own administrative regulations to form a

definitive body of Anglo-Saxon law. 'I ... collected these together and

ordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, those

which I liked; and many of those which I did not like I rejected with the

advice of my councillors ... For I dared not presume to set in writing at

all many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please those

who should come after us ... Then I ... showed those to all my councillors,

and they then said that they were all pleased to observe them' (Laws of

Alfred, c.885-99).

By the 890s, Alfred's charters and coinage (which he had also reformed,

extending its minting to the burhs he had founded) referred to him as 'king

of the English', and Welsh kings sought alliances with him. Alfred died in

899, aged 50, and was buried in Winchester, the burial place of the West

Saxon royal family.

By stopping the Viking advance and consolidating his territorial gains,

Alfred had started the process by which his successors eventually extended

their power over the other Anglo-Saxon kings; the ultimate unification of

Anglo-Saxon England was to be led by Wessex. It is for his valiant defence

of his kingdom against a stronger enemy, for securing peace with the

Vikings and for his farsighted reforms in the reconstruction of Wessex and

beyond, that Alfred - alone of all the English kings and queens - is known

as 'the Great'.

EDWARD «THE ELDER» (899-924)

Well-trained by Alfred, his son Edward 'the Elder' (reigned 899-924) was

a bold soldier who defeated the Danes in Northumbria at Tettenhall in 910

and was acknowledged by the Viking kingdom of York. The kings of

Strathclyde and the Scots submitted to Edward in 921. By military success

and patient planning, Edward spread English influence and control. Much of

this was due to his alliance with his formidable sister Aethelflaed, who

was married to the ruler of Mercia and seems to have governed that kingdom

after her husband's death.

Edward was able to establish an administration for the kingdom of

England, whilst obtaining the allegiance of Danes, Scots and Britons.

Edward died in 924, and he was buried in the New Minster which he had had

completed at Winchester. Edward was twice married, but it is possible that

his eldest son Athelstan was the son of a mistress.

ATHELSTAN (924-939)

Edward's heir Athelstan (reigned 925-39) was also a distinguished and

audacious soldier who pushed the boundaries of the kingdom to their

furthest extent yet. In 927-8, Athelstan took York from the Danes; he

forced the submission of king Constantine of Scotland and of the northern

kings; all five Welsh kings agreed to pay a huge annual tribute (reportedly

including 25,000 oxen), and Athelstan eliminated opposition in Cornwall.

The battle of Brunanburh in 937, in which Athelstan led a force drawn

from Britain and defeated an invasion by the king of Scotland in alliance

with the Welsh and Danes from Dublin, earned him recognition by lesser

kings in Britain.

Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom;

currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise

fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burghs,

encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns

were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by

marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in Western Europe.

He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic

and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave

away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in

order to retain their support.

Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a

church charter of 934 described him as 'King of the English, elevated by

the right hand of the Almighty ... to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of

Britain'. Athelstan died childless.

EDMUND I (939-46)

Son of Edward the Elder, succeeded his half-brother, Жthelstan, with whom

he had fought at Brunanburh. Combated the Norse Vikings in Northumbria and

subdued them in Cumbria and Strathclyde. He entrusted these lands to an

ally, Malcolm I of Scotland. Edmund met his death when he was killed at

Pucklechurch, in Gloucestershire, by a robber.

EADRED (946-55)

King of Wessex and acknowledged as overlord of Mercia, the Danelaw and

Northumbria. A challenge to Eadred, which serves to illustrate one of his

chief qualities, developed in the north, in the early 950's. Eric Bloodaxe,

an aptly named, ferocious, Norse Viking who had been deposed by his own

people, established himself as king of Northumbria at York, apparently with

the fearful acquiescence of the Northumbrians. Eadred responded by marching

north with a considerable force to meet the threat. He proceeded to ravage

the Norse-held territories, then moved back to the south. He was attacked

on the way home by Eric's forces. Eadred was so enraged that he threatened

to go back to Northumbria and ravage the entire land.

This prospect frightened the already frightened Northumbrians into

abandoning Eric Bloodaxe. It must be that they viewed Eadred as more

formidable than a bloodthirsty Viking, who had been thrown out of a society

known for its bloodthirstiness, because he was too bloodthirsty and

tyrannical for them. In any case, according to the "AngloSaxon Chronicle",

"the Northumbrians expelled Eric."

As to his personal side, William of Malmesbury provides some

illumination. He says that Eadred was afflicted with some lingering

physical malady, since he was, "constantly oppressed by sickness, and of so

weak a digestion as to be unable to swallow more than the juices of the

food he had masticated, to the great annoyance of his guests." Regarding

his spiritual side, apparently the pillaging, ravaging and laying waste

that he did, had no deleterious effects on him. As Malmesbury states, he

devoted his life to God, "endured with patience his frequent bodily pains,

prolonged his prayers and made his palace altogether the school of virtue."

He died while still a young man, as had so many of the kings of Wessex,

"accompanied with the utmost grief of men but joy of angels."

EADWIG (EDWY) (955-59 AD)

On the death of Eadred, who had no children, Eadwig was chosen to be king

since he was the oldest of the children in the natural line of the House of

Wessex. He became king at 16 and displayed some of the tendencies one could

expect in one so young, royalty or not. Historians have not treated Eadwig

especially well, and it is unfortunate for him that he ran afoul of the

influential Bishop Dunstan (friend and advisor to the recently deceased

king, Eadred, future Archbishop of Canterbury and future saint), early in

his reign. An incident, which occurred on the day of Eadwig's consecration

as king, purportedly, illustrates the character of the young king.

According to the report of the reliable William of Malmesbury, all the

dignitaries and officials of the kingdom were meeting to discuss state

business, when the absence of the new king was noticed. Dunstan was

dispatched, along with another bishop, to find the missing youth. He was

found with his mind on matters other than those of state, in the company of

the daughter of a noble woman of the kingdom. Malmesbury writes, Dunstan, "

regardless of the royal indignation, dragged the lascivious boy from the

chamber and...compelling him to repudiate the strumpet made him his enemy

forever." The record of this incident was picked up by future monastic

chroniclers and made to be the definitive word on the character of Eadwig,

mainly because of St. Dunstan's role in it.

Dunstan was, after that incident, never exactly a favorite of Eadwig's,

and it may be fair to say that Eadwig even hated Dunstan, for he apparently

exiled him soon after this. Eadwig went on to marry Жlgifu, the girl with

whom he was keeping company at the time of Dunstan's intrusion. For her

part, "the strumpet" was eventually referred to as among "the most

illustrious of women", and Eadwig, in his short reign, was generous in

making grants to the church and other religious institutions. He died,

possibly of the Wessex family ailment, when he was only 20.

EDGAR (959-975)

Edgar, king in Mercia and the Danelaw from 957, succeeded his brother as

king of the English on Edwy's death in 959 - a death which probably

prevented civil war breaking out between the two brothers. Edgar was a firm

and capable ruler whose power was acknowledged by other rulers in Britain,

as well as by Welsh and Scottish kings. Edgar's late coronation in 973 at

Bath was the first to be recorded in some detail; his queen Aelfthryth was

the first consort to be crowned queen of England.

Edgar was the patron of a great monastic revival which owed much to his

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