Footprint of Alfred the Great
Alfred, King of the West Saxons, whose fame has endured and grown for more than a thousand years, ascended the throne in the year 871, at a most critical moment in the history of his country; for it was when the whole land was being devastated by hordes of savage marauders from beyond the North Sea that the young prince became king, in succession to his brother Ethelred. The year of his accession was one of such terrible carnage and desolation that it was called by the chroniclers "the year of battles" - a fitting description of a year in which nine pitched battles took place, in addition to many unrecorded fights and to innumerable skirmishes. It was not only the territory of the West Saxons which was being overrun by the fierce northern Vikings; for, as almost the whole of the rest of the country had been crushed into sullen submission, Alfred, who was only twenty-two years of age, had to face alone the furious onslaught which threatened to overwhelm the people and to end in the complete conquest of the land by the Northmen. Needless to say, had the Vikings been victorious the whole course of English history would have been changed. But the West Saxons, led by their gallant king, withstood the storm; and thus was the country saved from a repetition of the conquest by which the Teutonic invaders from whom Alfred was descended had established themselves in the land, when the withdrawal of the Roman legions left the degenerate Britons at the mercy of virile and remorseless foes. The unique position which King Alfred occupies in the annals of England is due, partly to the splendid services which he rendered to his country in the hour of need, and partly-even principally - to the glorious example which he bequeathed to posterity, both as the ruler of a realm and as a man.
According to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," which is by no means the least precious of the legacies that King Alfred has bequeathed to posterity, the first incursion of the Northmen of which there is any record occurred in the year 787, while Beortric was king of the West Saxons; and the hearts of the people quailed, while their arms were almost paralysed by fear, because the coming of the scourge was said to be the fulfilment of a prediction that had been made more than three hundred years earlier, when the Teutonic tribesmen were setting out for Britain from their northern homes along the banks of the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems.
Happily, King Alfred was not amongst those who were dominated by a superstitious belief in the evil destiny of the race. He girded his loins for the mighty struggle; and to the clearness of vision with which he realized that a dangerous foe who arrived by sea would have to be met and defeated upon the water, if the country were to be saved, must be attributed his complete victory over the invaders.
Alfred was the fifth and youngest son of Ethelwulf, King of the West Saxons, and of the Lady Osburga, his wife; and by both his parents the boy was more dearly loved than any of their other children, all of whom he excelled in beauty of feature, of form, and nature. Even in his youth, although he was always the foremost in the chase, he was delicate; for, as a child, he suffered from a painful malady against which only his innate courage enabled him to prevail. This disease or some obscure development of it, became very acute on the day of his marriage to Elswyth, in the year 868; and when it is remembered that during the remainder of his life Alfred was frequently almost incapacitated by excruciating agony, to such an extent that he could not move or even think, the magnitude of his many-sided activities and of his great achievements must arouse the deepest admiration and amazement.
Even from his infancy the fondest care and the highest hopes of his parents were lavished upon Alfred; and it seems, indeed, that they must have foreseen the wonderful future which lay before him, for every effort was made to prepare him to fulfil some great destiny. While he was still very young, for example-a child of five years old, according to his friend and biographer Asser-he was sent by his father to Rome, accompanied by an imposing .retinue of nobles and servants; and it was while he was there that an incident occurred which has been the subject of endless speculation throughout the centuries.
In Rome the boy was very well received-and even affectionately treated-by Pope Leo the Fourth, by whom he was adopted as "bishop's son," created, a Roman Consul, and " hallowed to king," as the record states; and so it is quite evident that little Alfred was the recipient of very signal marks of honour and of favour which were intended to prepare him for some special career.
There are obscurities which surround even the childhood of King Alfred with a hedge of mystery; and these difficult problems increase in number, rather than decrease, when the events of the great king's later life have to be closely examined by the historian. Even the three best-known stories connected with his life-namely, the generally-accepted accounts of how he won a coveted book of Saxon poems, of how he allowed some cakes to burn upon the hearth while he was in the island of Athelney, and of how he penetrated into the camp of Guthrum in the disguise of a minstrel-are of very doubtful historical authenticity; for although all these traditions were, no doubt, originally founded upon a basis of fact, they have become so obscured by the additions of later writers that the grains of truth cannot be discovered. In other words, although the incidents may very likely have occurred, the versions of the narratives, as they are generally related, are unsupported by any reliable historical evidence.
There is, indeed, no purely historical personage who has occupied a position of anything like equal pre-eminence around whom has been spun such a tangled web of romance, in which the warp and the woof of fact and fiction are inseparably interwoven; but although the mysteries which are encountered upon all sides are baffling, the irrefutable greatness of King Alfred remains as an established tact, and his wonderful achievements-those about which there can be no shadow of doubt-entitle him to the unique place of honour that he occupies in the history of England, and in that Temple of Fame which is rightly and justly reserved for the greatest men of all races and of all ages.
Indeed, the fame of King Alfred would have been secured for all time had he bequeathed to posterity nothing more than the gloriously inspiring example of his noble and blameless life.
The exact day upon which King Alfred placed the crown upon his own head-literally upon the battlefield when he was fighting to save the country from the Vikings-is duly recorded by Florence of Worcester, who died about the year 1118; for, if the chronology of the worthy monkish chronicler be correct, King Ethelred died three weeks after Easter, on the ninth day before the kalends of May, in the year 871, having been mortally wounded in the Battle of Merton. Easter in that year was on the 31st of March; and consequently-much against his will, and only in order that the people should not be left leaderless after the death of his brother-Alfred immediately became king, this event taking place on Tuesday, the 23rd of April, 871.
Thus, by a strange and happy coincidence, the national hero of the British race ascended the throne upon the day that is set aside as the festival of S. George, the patron saint of England; and it was exactly thirty years, six months, and three days later -on October 26, 901-when the great king died at Winchester, that his labours for the welfare of his people ceased with the end of his life.
Alfred was in the fifty-third year of his age when he died; but although he was not old, as age is counted by years, he was tired and worn in body and in mind by toil and by sickness. With kingly pomp he was laid to rest in the "Newan Mynstre," dedicated to S. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, which he had built in Winchester as a mausoleum for himself and for his successors. According to a legend which is preserved in the "Liber Monasterii de Hyda," the remains of King Alfred were removed to the Abbey of Hyde during the reign of his son Edward-the reason being that the canons had seen his ghost walking in the church; but be the cause what it may have been, the fact remains that Alfred was re-buried in the New Minster, in the Abbey of Hyde-a building which must not be confused with the first church, that was then known as the Old Minster-some time during the century following his death. His tomb was of "the most precious porphyry marble," and in it his bones rested for more than six centuries, despite another translation in the year 1110, when the monks betook themselves and their treasures to the second Abbey of Hyde, an action owing to a quarrel with King Henry the First.
There is a possibility - but hardly a probability - that the remains of King Alfred may be contained in one of the six leaden chests that are still preserved in the sanctuary of Winchester Cathedral, where relics of great antiquity certainly repose. But whatever the fate of his bones and dust may have been, the great king requires no tomb - no gorgeous sepulchre-to keep his memory fresh and for ever cherished in the hearts of the British people.
There are few authentic links with the great king still in existence, for example, the famous Alfred Jewel which is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, and at Corby Castle there is a tablet bearing his name and a date; while in the British Museum there are coins with his head and name upon them. The British Museum also contains two gold rings which are of great historic interest; for one of them bears the name of King Ethelwulf, and the other the name of the Lady Ethelswyth, who were the father and the sister of King Alfred .
The inscribed tablet which has been already mentioned was found amongst the ruins of the Abbey of Hyde, in the year 1797, by Mr. Henry Howard, who was then quartered at Winchester with his regiment; and by him it was taken to his home at Corby Castle, near Carlisle, in Cumberland, where it is still preserved. Inscribed upon the tablet are the words, "Alfred Rex, DCCCLXXXI"; but it is doubtful whether the inscription was actually made in the year 881.
The famous Alfred Jewel was found in the year 1693, at Newton Park, in Somersetshire, between Athelney and Bridgwater; and this precious relic irrefutably establishes the connexion of King Alfred with the little marshland island, which was formed at the confluence of the rivers Tone and Parret. It was there, in fact, that Alfred, having been surprised and nearly captured at Chippenham, found a safe refuge in the early part of the year 878; and it was from there that he sallied forth five months later, and defeated the Viking leader Guthrum, in the decisive battle of Ethandune.
Moreover, as all the world knows, it was while Alfred was in Athelney, laying his plans for the deliverance of the country, that he is said to have received a sound scolding from the wife of a poor herd, because he had allowed her bread - or cakes - to burn on the hearth; but as to the historical authenticity of this incident no close inquiry need be made. But even though the burning of the cakes may be a legend, there is irrefutable evidence that, while he was hiding from his enemies amidst the Somersetshire swamps, Alfred was hospitably sheltered by a peasant of the island; for when he regained his throne, as a token of his gratitude he richly rewarded and advanced a humble man of Athelney, Denewulf by name, whose curious history is fully recorded by the chroniclers. Alfred met Denewulf, who was then an illiterate swineherd, while he was on the island; and it is said that the king was so grateful for the kindness he received from the poor man, whose intelligence and thirst for knowledge aroused his interest, that he afterwards elevated him to the bishopric of Winchester.
The Alfred Jewel is so famous and so historically interesting that a short description of it must be given. It is, roughly, pear-shaped, being two-and-a-half inches long and half-an-inch thick; and it weighs one ounce and five-eighths. At the narrow end there is the head of a reptile, from which there was originally some projection that has been lost. On the front, set under a crystal, there is a picture in enamel, composed of the three-quarter length figure of a man wearing a green tunic and a red belt, and holding a sceptre in each hand; and the background is in blue enamel. On the reverse there is a floral design; and round the bevelled edge runs the beautifully incised inscription: "ÆLFREDMECHEHTGEWYRCAN" - "Alfred had me made."
There has been much dispute concerning the identity of the man represented; for while it has been contended that the rather strange figure is intended to be a portrait of Alfred or of S. Neot, who was probably his brother, it has also been thought that it represents Jesus Christ, holding in his hands the sceptres of the church in heaven and of the church on earth, respectively.
One thing is certain-namely, that the Jewel bears witness to the well-deserved reputation which had been won by the Saxon goldsmiths who flourished in the ninth century.
London must also be regarded as a place that is very closely connected with the name of King Alfred ; for it was by him that the city was rebuilt after it had been sacked and utterly destroyed by the Vikings. Asser records the fact of the restoration, stating that Alfred "handsomely restored the city of London and made it habitable," in the year 886; and it may be added that the rebuilt city was given to Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia, who was the husband of the king's eldest daughter, Aethelflaed.
One of the most persistent of false statements is the one which relates how Alfred was the founder of Oxford University. There is no proof of this claim; and, indeed, the evidence is a palpable exaggeration of the vague statement that was made by John Capgrave in his "Chronicle of England," expanded by the Warwickshire antiquary, John Ross, in his "Historia Regum Anglias," and given definite form by Stowe, in his "English Chronicles" -a work which was written towards the end of the sixteenth century. The earliest form of the legend appears in the fourteenth century "Polychronicon," of Ralph Higden, and the development of the myth may be explained by the fact that the claim was advanced in the year 1377, when the Master and the Scholars of University College sought to extricate themselves from a legal embarrassment, by endeavouring to show that their college had been founded by King Alfred the Great.
Every pious pilgrim who would make a journey to the places that are most intimately connected with the great king should set forth from Wantage, in Berkshire, where Alfred was born in the year 849. In the time of Alfred Wantage was called Waneting; while the name of Berkshire was Berrocscire-being derived from the Berroc wood, where box trees, or bushes, flourished. There is, naturally, nothing in the modern town of Wantage that was standing when the baby prince was born; but the place remains a peaceful, old-world country town amid the Berkshire Downs, with a population of less than four thousand souls. Moreover, the memory of the greatest of its sons is preserved by an imposing statue of the king, the work of Count Gleichen, which stands in the market place; for, with a battle-axe in his right hand and with a charter in his left hand, Alfred seems to be keeping everlasting watch and ward over his birthplace-prepared to defend the rights and the liberties which he was ever ready to bestow.
There is much that might be said about the topography of the long and arduous campaigns against the Vikings which Alfred undertook during three eventful periods of his reign; but here it must suffice to give a brief account of those momentous events, indicating only the places which have been identified as the result of patient research.
The four outstanding engagements which took place in "the year of battles"-that is to say, the year 871, in which Alfred became king-were fought at Æscesdune, Basing, Merton, and Wilton; and it may be added that, although nine great fights are said to have taken place, only two others are specifically mentioned by the chroniclers. In most of these encounters, despite the superb devotion to duty and the great courage that were displayed by the West Saxons, the Vikings appear to have been victorious; and yet, although the Northmen "held the place of carnage," in the words of the chroniclers, they were unable to consolidate their successes.
One notable exception to the general rule must be recorded; for at Æscesdune, where the second battle in the campaign of 871 was fought, King Ethelred and Alfred, who then held the title of "Secundarius" in the kingdom, won a decisive victory and completely routed the invaders. The exact site of this battle has been the subject of an endless debate; but it is safe to say that it was fought on the range of the White Horse Downs, in the Ashdown district-and, probably, the actual conflict took place near Ashton, or Ashampstead. The battle of Basing was fought near the modern town of Basing-stoke; while the Merton engagement, in which King Ethelred was mortally wounded, most probably took place at Merton, in Surrey. Wilton is in Wiltshire; and it was there, towards the end of the year 871, that King Alfred fought the first battle in which he engaged after his accession to the throne.
This campaign, despite the Viking successes, secured a comparatively long period of peace; for the West Saxon king, who devoted the respite to the introduction of far-reaching reforms, was not again called into the field until the year 876. Once more the country was then overrun by invaders; and this campaign, which began with the siege of Wareham, in Dorsetshire, where the Vikings had fortified their position, after having swung to Exeter and to Chippenham, ended at Ethandune, in May 878, when Alfred, having emerged from his retreat at Athelney, overwhelmed Guthrum and his Danish warriors.
Wareham, Chippenham, and Exeter can be identified without reservation, and although it is not easy to ascertain the site of the momentous battle of Ethandune, it may be accepted as an established fact that the desperate conflict took place at Edington, near Westbury, in Wiltshire. Possibly the White Horse that is cut in the turf on the side of the downs at Westbury may have been drawn to commemorate the battle; for, undoubtedly, the great victory which led to the Treaty of Wedmore, whereby the boundary of the Danelaw, or Danelagh, was definitely established, was worthy of a permanent memorial.
The frontier between the kingdom of the West Saxons and the Danelaw, which was established by the Treaty of Wedmore, followed the course of the river Thames from its mouth to the spot at which it is joined by the river Lea; and from there it followed the course of the river Lea to its source, whence, having diverged to Bedford, it followed the old Roman road known as Watling Street as far as Chester. Beyond Chester the line of demarcation cannot be traced with certainty; but it probably followed the course of the river Dee to the shores of the Irish Sea.
With only one slight lapse Guthrum faithfully abided by the terms of the Treaty of Wedmore during the remainder of his life; for even when fresh hosts of Vikings arrived under the redoubtable Hasting, in the year 892, he honourably remained neutral. Moreover, the partition of the country was not the only direct result of the Battle of Ethan-dune; for Guthrum, having declared his willingness to embrace Christianity-having seen, as he said, that it was the religion of a God who was mightier in battle than the gods of his forefathers-came to Aller, near Athelney, accompanied by many of his chief warriors, and was baptised at Wedmore, on the Polden Hills, in July, 878, with King Alfred acting in the capacity of his godfather.
This decisive victory secured peace for about fourteen years; and by the time that the great "summer lead" under Hasting arrived, in the year 892, King Alfred had completed many of the great labours which are associated with his name. He reorganized the army; for it was by establishing a national militia, called the fyrd, in which only half of the male population served at any one time-except when the entire forces were levied to meet some great emergency-that he reduced the burden of military service to a minimum. He introduced and encouraged an improved system of agriculture. He embarked upon his literary labours; and by his example he attracted scholars from abroad, and it was under his auspices that the great "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was begun. He drew up a code of laws, which he based upon the ancient "dooms" of the people; and he sternly reformed the system under which justice and government were administered. But by far the most important of his many achievements, as the subsequent history of England has shown, was his work as the founder of the British navy; for by building English ships, which were manned by English sailors, he was able to dispense with the hired vessels, with their foreign crews, upon which his predecessors had relied for the defence of the country.
Alfred was the first king of England who ever commanded his own ships in action, and the prowess of his truly national fleet was a sure shield against invasion; for his mighty vessels, which were built in accordance with his own design, were so much more formidable than their opponents that the navy of England became invincible.
One other place must be specially mentioned in connexion with the campaign which took place against the Northmen during the last decade of the ninth century. This is Widbury Camp, in Hertfordshire, where the Vikings occupied such a strongly-fortified position that they were able to withstand the attacks of the Londoners, and to defy all those who attempted to dislodge them until King Alfred appeared upon the scene. The campaign, which lasted for about three years, had been very arduous, and terribly exhausting to the king, whose health was worse than ever; for Hasting and his band of marauders had overrun the whole of the country between Watling Street and the river Thames, penetrating as far westward as the river Severn. Widbury Camp was situated on a stretch of high ground above the left bank of the river Lea, at about twenty miles from London; but its site, which has been given as Bishop's Stortford, Ware, Waltham Abbey, and Hertford, remained a matter of dispute until what appears to be its true position at Widbury was identified by Eliot Howard, the Essex archaeologist.
Still holding the position, which they regarded as impregnable, the Vikings watched without concern the building of two towers, one upon each bank of the river Lea; but before long they had cause for alarm, for they observed that the level of the water was falling, and that their ships were lying aground on the muddy bed of the river. Terrified by this tragedy, the Northmen left their camp, even abandoning their stranded ships, and fled in disorder, hotly pursued by the West Saxons; and thus was the country once more delivered by Alfred from the inroads of the marauders, for it was he who ordered and supervised the diversion of the course of the river, owing to which the Viking ships were left stranded as the booty of the Londoners.
Only passing references can be made to the religious houses which Alfred founded at Athelney and at Shaftesbury to commemorate his escape from Chippenham and his victory over the Danes at Ethandune, in the year 878 Athelney Abbey, which stood where Athelney Farmhouse has been built, was richly endowed by its founder; but its chief historical interest is due to the fact that, in all probability, its monks once possessed the æstel of which the famous Alfred Jewel was the handle. The island, which is a tract of low-lying land, rising but very little above the level of the far-reaching fens that then surrounded it, is one of the sacred shrines of English history; for it was from there that Alfred sent forth an anonymous summons, bidding the men of Wiltshire and Hampshire to rally at Egbert's Stone, by Selwood Forest, in "the seventh week after Easter" - probably about May 6, 878, and when they mustered at the appointed place, at Ecgbrithes Stan-which was probably near Brixton, in Wiltshire--they found Alfred awaiting them. The golden dragon, the banner of the West Saxons, was once more unfurled; and the hated oppressors-having been defeated at Ethandune, or Edington, near Westbury- were driven out of the kingdom.
Shaftesbury Abbey was founded by Alfred as a convent for nuns; and it was his second daughter, Elgiva, whom the king nominated as its first abbess.
Last, but most important of all, Winchester, the capital of the West Saxons, and for centuries the capital of England, is the true goal of every pious pilgrim who would follow in the footprints of King Alfred .
It is there, at the end of the ancient High Street, that a magnificent statue was erected in 1901 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the great king's death.
In one of the niches of the beautiful City Cross, which was built in the reign of King Henry the Sixth, there is another statue of King Alfred ; but it is not of any special historical importance, having been added only in the year 1865, when the Cross was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott, and it is completely overshadowed by the grandly simple millenary statue, designed by Sir Hamo Thornycroft.
On the front of the perpendicular pedestal below the figure of the king is the word Alfred-which is the nearest approach that can be made in modern spelling to the Saxon name, meaning, " rede of the elves," or "counsel of the elves "; while the pedestal bears the following inscription:
TO THE FOUNDER OF THE KINGDOM
AND THE NATION
D. OCTOBER, DCCCCI
WINCHESTER AND THE ENGLISH NAME
SEPTEMBER, MDCCCCI
It is worthy of note that on this official memorial the king is described simply as "Alfred" - without any reference to the title "great," by which he is commonly known; and, historically, this is correct, for there does not seem to be any authority for the use of the cognomen "great" before the seventeenth century. But, indeed, it is immaterial whether the well-deserved title be used or be omitted; for Alfred, the man, was great enough to be distinguished for ever from all the other bearers of the name.
According to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," which is by no means the least precious of the legacies that King Alfred has bequeathed to posterity, the first incursion of the Northmen of which there is any record occurred in the year 787, while Beortric was king of the West Saxons; and the hearts of the people quailed, while their arms were almost paralysed by fear, because the coming of the scourge was said to be the fulfilment of a prediction that had been made more than three hundred years earlier, when the Teutonic tribesmen were setting out for Britain from their northern homes along the banks of the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems.
Happily, King Alfred was not amongst those who were dominated by a superstitious belief in the evil destiny of the race. He girded his loins for the mighty struggle; and to the clearness of vision with which he realized that a dangerous foe who arrived by sea would have to be met and defeated upon the water, if the country were to be saved, must be attributed his complete victory over the invaders.
Alfred was the fifth and youngest son of Ethelwulf, King of the West Saxons, and of the Lady Osburga, his wife; and by both his parents the boy was more dearly loved than any of their other children, all of whom he excelled in beauty of feature, of form, and nature. Even in his youth, although he was always the foremost in the chase, he was delicate; for, as a child, he suffered from a painful malady against which only his innate courage enabled him to prevail. This disease or some obscure development of it, became very acute on the day of his marriage to Elswyth, in the year 868; and when it is remembered that during the remainder of his life Alfred was frequently almost incapacitated by excruciating agony, to such an extent that he could not move or even think, the magnitude of his many-sided activities and of his great achievements must arouse the deepest admiration and amazement.
Even from his infancy the fondest care and the highest hopes of his parents were lavished upon Alfred; and it seems, indeed, that they must have foreseen the wonderful future which lay before him, for every effort was made to prepare him to fulfil some great destiny. While he was still very young, for example-a child of five years old, according to his friend and biographer Asser-he was sent by his father to Rome, accompanied by an imposing .retinue of nobles and servants; and it was while he was there that an incident occurred which has been the subject of endless speculation throughout the centuries.
In Rome the boy was very well received-and even affectionately treated-by Pope Leo the Fourth, by whom he was adopted as "bishop's son," created, a Roman Consul, and " hallowed to king," as the record states; and so it is quite evident that little Alfred was the recipient of very signal marks of honour and of favour which were intended to prepare him for some special career.
There are obscurities which surround even the childhood of King Alfred with a hedge of mystery; and these difficult problems increase in number, rather than decrease, when the events of the great king's later life have to be closely examined by the historian. Even the three best-known stories connected with his life-namely, the generally-accepted accounts of how he won a coveted book of Saxon poems, of how he allowed some cakes to burn upon the hearth while he was in the island of Athelney, and of how he penetrated into the camp of Guthrum in the disguise of a minstrel-are of very doubtful historical authenticity; for although all these traditions were, no doubt, originally founded upon a basis of fact, they have become so obscured by the additions of later writers that the grains of truth cannot be discovered. In other words, although the incidents may very likely have occurred, the versions of the narratives, as they are generally related, are unsupported by any reliable historical evidence.
There is, indeed, no purely historical personage who has occupied a position of anything like equal pre-eminence around whom has been spun such a tangled web of romance, in which the warp and the woof of fact and fiction are inseparably interwoven; but although the mysteries which are encountered upon all sides are baffling, the irrefutable greatness of King Alfred remains as an established tact, and his wonderful achievements-those about which there can be no shadow of doubt-entitle him to the unique place of honour that he occupies in the history of England, and in that Temple of Fame which is rightly and justly reserved for the greatest men of all races and of all ages.
Indeed, the fame of King Alfred would have been secured for all time had he bequeathed to posterity nothing more than the gloriously inspiring example of his noble and blameless life.
The exact day upon which King Alfred placed the crown upon his own head-literally upon the battlefield when he was fighting to save the country from the Vikings-is duly recorded by Florence of Worcester, who died about the year 1118; for, if the chronology of the worthy monkish chronicler be correct, King Ethelred died three weeks after Easter, on the ninth day before the kalends of May, in the year 871, having been mortally wounded in the Battle of Merton. Easter in that year was on the 31st of March; and consequently-much against his will, and only in order that the people should not be left leaderless after the death of his brother-Alfred immediately became king, this event taking place on Tuesday, the 23rd of April, 871.
Thus, by a strange and happy coincidence, the national hero of the British race ascended the throne upon the day that is set aside as the festival of S. George, the patron saint of England; and it was exactly thirty years, six months, and three days later -on October 26, 901-when the great king died at Winchester, that his labours for the welfare of his people ceased with the end of his life.
Alfred was in the fifty-third year of his age when he died; but although he was not old, as age is counted by years, he was tired and worn in body and in mind by toil and by sickness. With kingly pomp he was laid to rest in the "Newan Mynstre," dedicated to S. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, which he had built in Winchester as a mausoleum for himself and for his successors. According to a legend which is preserved in the "Liber Monasterii de Hyda," the remains of King Alfred were removed to the Abbey of Hyde during the reign of his son Edward-the reason being that the canons had seen his ghost walking in the church; but be the cause what it may have been, the fact remains that Alfred was re-buried in the New Minster, in the Abbey of Hyde-a building which must not be confused with the first church, that was then known as the Old Minster-some time during the century following his death. His tomb was of "the most precious porphyry marble," and in it his bones rested for more than six centuries, despite another translation in the year 1110, when the monks betook themselves and their treasures to the second Abbey of Hyde, an action owing to a quarrel with King Henry the First.
There is a possibility - but hardly a probability - that the remains of King Alfred may be contained in one of the six leaden chests that are still preserved in the sanctuary of Winchester Cathedral, where relics of great antiquity certainly repose. But whatever the fate of his bones and dust may have been, the great king requires no tomb - no gorgeous sepulchre-to keep his memory fresh and for ever cherished in the hearts of the British people.
There are few authentic links with the great king still in existence, for example, the famous Alfred Jewel which is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, and at Corby Castle there is a tablet bearing his name and a date; while in the British Museum there are coins with his head and name upon them. The British Museum also contains two gold rings which are of great historic interest; for one of them bears the name of King Ethelwulf, and the other the name of the Lady Ethelswyth, who were the father and the sister of King Alfred .
The inscribed tablet which has been already mentioned was found amongst the ruins of the Abbey of Hyde, in the year 1797, by Mr. Henry Howard, who was then quartered at Winchester with his regiment; and by him it was taken to his home at Corby Castle, near Carlisle, in Cumberland, where it is still preserved. Inscribed upon the tablet are the words, "Alfred Rex, DCCCLXXXI"; but it is doubtful whether the inscription was actually made in the year 881.
The famous Alfred Jewel was found in the year 1693, at Newton Park, in Somersetshire, between Athelney and Bridgwater; and this precious relic irrefutably establishes the connexion of King Alfred with the little marshland island, which was formed at the confluence of the rivers Tone and Parret. It was there, in fact, that Alfred, having been surprised and nearly captured at Chippenham, found a safe refuge in the early part of the year 878; and it was from there that he sallied forth five months later, and defeated the Viking leader Guthrum, in the decisive battle of Ethandune.
Moreover, as all the world knows, it was while Alfred was in Athelney, laying his plans for the deliverance of the country, that he is said to have received a sound scolding from the wife of a poor herd, because he had allowed her bread - or cakes - to burn on the hearth; but as to the historical authenticity of this incident no close inquiry need be made. But even though the burning of the cakes may be a legend, there is irrefutable evidence that, while he was hiding from his enemies amidst the Somersetshire swamps, Alfred was hospitably sheltered by a peasant of the island; for when he regained his throne, as a token of his gratitude he richly rewarded and advanced a humble man of Athelney, Denewulf by name, whose curious history is fully recorded by the chroniclers. Alfred met Denewulf, who was then an illiterate swineherd, while he was on the island; and it is said that the king was so grateful for the kindness he received from the poor man, whose intelligence and thirst for knowledge aroused his interest, that he afterwards elevated him to the bishopric of Winchester.
The Alfred Jewel is so famous and so historically interesting that a short description of it must be given. It is, roughly, pear-shaped, being two-and-a-half inches long and half-an-inch thick; and it weighs one ounce and five-eighths. At the narrow end there is the head of a reptile, from which there was originally some projection that has been lost. On the front, set under a crystal, there is a picture in enamel, composed of the three-quarter length figure of a man wearing a green tunic and a red belt, and holding a sceptre in each hand; and the background is in blue enamel. On the reverse there is a floral design; and round the bevelled edge runs the beautifully incised inscription: "ÆLFREDMECHEHTGEWYRCAN" - "Alfred had me made."
There has been much dispute concerning the identity of the man represented; for while it has been contended that the rather strange figure is intended to be a portrait of Alfred or of S. Neot, who was probably his brother, it has also been thought that it represents Jesus Christ, holding in his hands the sceptres of the church in heaven and of the church on earth, respectively.
One thing is certain-namely, that the Jewel bears witness to the well-deserved reputation which had been won by the Saxon goldsmiths who flourished in the ninth century.
London must also be regarded as a place that is very closely connected with the name of King Alfred ; for it was by him that the city was rebuilt after it had been sacked and utterly destroyed by the Vikings. Asser records the fact of the restoration, stating that Alfred "handsomely restored the city of London and made it habitable," in the year 886; and it may be added that the rebuilt city was given to Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia, who was the husband of the king's eldest daughter, Aethelflaed.
One of the most persistent of false statements is the one which relates how Alfred was the founder of Oxford University. There is no proof of this claim; and, indeed, the evidence is a palpable exaggeration of the vague statement that was made by John Capgrave in his "Chronicle of England," expanded by the Warwickshire antiquary, John Ross, in his "Historia Regum Anglias," and given definite form by Stowe, in his "English Chronicles" -a work which was written towards the end of the sixteenth century. The earliest form of the legend appears in the fourteenth century "Polychronicon," of Ralph Higden, and the development of the myth may be explained by the fact that the claim was advanced in the year 1377, when the Master and the Scholars of University College sought to extricate themselves from a legal embarrassment, by endeavouring to show that their college had been founded by King Alfred the Great.
Every pious pilgrim who would make a journey to the places that are most intimately connected with the great king should set forth from Wantage, in Berkshire, where Alfred was born in the year 849. In the time of Alfred Wantage was called Waneting; while the name of Berkshire was Berrocscire-being derived from the Berroc wood, where box trees, or bushes, flourished. There is, naturally, nothing in the modern town of Wantage that was standing when the baby prince was born; but the place remains a peaceful, old-world country town amid the Berkshire Downs, with a population of less than four thousand souls. Moreover, the memory of the greatest of its sons is preserved by an imposing statue of the king, the work of Count Gleichen, which stands in the market place; for, with a battle-axe in his right hand and with a charter in his left hand, Alfred seems to be keeping everlasting watch and ward over his birthplace-prepared to defend the rights and the liberties which he was ever ready to bestow.
There is much that might be said about the topography of the long and arduous campaigns against the Vikings which Alfred undertook during three eventful periods of his reign; but here it must suffice to give a brief account of those momentous events, indicating only the places which have been identified as the result of patient research.
The four outstanding engagements which took place in "the year of battles"-that is to say, the year 871, in which Alfred became king-were fought at Æscesdune, Basing, Merton, and Wilton; and it may be added that, although nine great fights are said to have taken place, only two others are specifically mentioned by the chroniclers. In most of these encounters, despite the superb devotion to duty and the great courage that were displayed by the West Saxons, the Vikings appear to have been victorious; and yet, although the Northmen "held the place of carnage," in the words of the chroniclers, they were unable to consolidate their successes.
One notable exception to the general rule must be recorded; for at Æscesdune, where the second battle in the campaign of 871 was fought, King Ethelred and Alfred, who then held the title of "Secundarius" in the kingdom, won a decisive victory and completely routed the invaders. The exact site of this battle has been the subject of an endless debate; but it is safe to say that it was fought on the range of the White Horse Downs, in the Ashdown district-and, probably, the actual conflict took place near Ashton, or Ashampstead. The battle of Basing was fought near the modern town of Basing-stoke; while the Merton engagement, in which King Ethelred was mortally wounded, most probably took place at Merton, in Surrey. Wilton is in Wiltshire; and it was there, towards the end of the year 871, that King Alfred fought the first battle in which he engaged after his accession to the throne.
This campaign, despite the Viking successes, secured a comparatively long period of peace; for the West Saxon king, who devoted the respite to the introduction of far-reaching reforms, was not again called into the field until the year 876. Once more the country was then overrun by invaders; and this campaign, which began with the siege of Wareham, in Dorsetshire, where the Vikings had fortified their position, after having swung to Exeter and to Chippenham, ended at Ethandune, in May 878, when Alfred, having emerged from his retreat at Athelney, overwhelmed Guthrum and his Danish warriors.
Wareham, Chippenham, and Exeter can be identified without reservation, and although it is not easy to ascertain the site of the momentous battle of Ethandune, it may be accepted as an established fact that the desperate conflict took place at Edington, near Westbury, in Wiltshire. Possibly the White Horse that is cut in the turf on the side of the downs at Westbury may have been drawn to commemorate the battle; for, undoubtedly, the great victory which led to the Treaty of Wedmore, whereby the boundary of the Danelaw, or Danelagh, was definitely established, was worthy of a permanent memorial.
The frontier between the kingdom of the West Saxons and the Danelaw, which was established by the Treaty of Wedmore, followed the course of the river Thames from its mouth to the spot at which it is joined by the river Lea; and from there it followed the course of the river Lea to its source, whence, having diverged to Bedford, it followed the old Roman road known as Watling Street as far as Chester. Beyond Chester the line of demarcation cannot be traced with certainty; but it probably followed the course of the river Dee to the shores of the Irish Sea.
With only one slight lapse Guthrum faithfully abided by the terms of the Treaty of Wedmore during the remainder of his life; for even when fresh hosts of Vikings arrived under the redoubtable Hasting, in the year 892, he honourably remained neutral. Moreover, the partition of the country was not the only direct result of the Battle of Ethan-dune; for Guthrum, having declared his willingness to embrace Christianity-having seen, as he said, that it was the religion of a God who was mightier in battle than the gods of his forefathers-came to Aller, near Athelney, accompanied by many of his chief warriors, and was baptised at Wedmore, on the Polden Hills, in July, 878, with King Alfred acting in the capacity of his godfather.
This decisive victory secured peace for about fourteen years; and by the time that the great "summer lead" under Hasting arrived, in the year 892, King Alfred had completed many of the great labours which are associated with his name. He reorganized the army; for it was by establishing a national militia, called the fyrd, in which only half of the male population served at any one time-except when the entire forces were levied to meet some great emergency-that he reduced the burden of military service to a minimum. He introduced and encouraged an improved system of agriculture. He embarked upon his literary labours; and by his example he attracted scholars from abroad, and it was under his auspices that the great "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was begun. He drew up a code of laws, which he based upon the ancient "dooms" of the people; and he sternly reformed the system under which justice and government were administered. But by far the most important of his many achievements, as the subsequent history of England has shown, was his work as the founder of the British navy; for by building English ships, which were manned by English sailors, he was able to dispense with the hired vessels, with their foreign crews, upon which his predecessors had relied for the defence of the country.
Alfred was the first king of England who ever commanded his own ships in action, and the prowess of his truly national fleet was a sure shield against invasion; for his mighty vessels, which were built in accordance with his own design, were so much more formidable than their opponents that the navy of England became invincible.
One other place must be specially mentioned in connexion with the campaign which took place against the Northmen during the last decade of the ninth century. This is Widbury Camp, in Hertfordshire, where the Vikings occupied such a strongly-fortified position that they were able to withstand the attacks of the Londoners, and to defy all those who attempted to dislodge them until King Alfred appeared upon the scene. The campaign, which lasted for about three years, had been very arduous, and terribly exhausting to the king, whose health was worse than ever; for Hasting and his band of marauders had overrun the whole of the country between Watling Street and the river Thames, penetrating as far westward as the river Severn. Widbury Camp was situated on a stretch of high ground above the left bank of the river Lea, at about twenty miles from London; but its site, which has been given as Bishop's Stortford, Ware, Waltham Abbey, and Hertford, remained a matter of dispute until what appears to be its true position at Widbury was identified by Eliot Howard, the Essex archaeologist.
Still holding the position, which they regarded as impregnable, the Vikings watched without concern the building of two towers, one upon each bank of the river Lea; but before long they had cause for alarm, for they observed that the level of the water was falling, and that their ships were lying aground on the muddy bed of the river. Terrified by this tragedy, the Northmen left their camp, even abandoning their stranded ships, and fled in disorder, hotly pursued by the West Saxons; and thus was the country once more delivered by Alfred from the inroads of the marauders, for it was he who ordered and supervised the diversion of the course of the river, owing to which the Viking ships were left stranded as the booty of the Londoners.
Only passing references can be made to the religious houses which Alfred founded at Athelney and at Shaftesbury to commemorate his escape from Chippenham and his victory over the Danes at Ethandune, in the year 878 Athelney Abbey, which stood where Athelney Farmhouse has been built, was richly endowed by its founder; but its chief historical interest is due to the fact that, in all probability, its monks once possessed the æstel of which the famous Alfred Jewel was the handle. The island, which is a tract of low-lying land, rising but very little above the level of the far-reaching fens that then surrounded it, is one of the sacred shrines of English history; for it was from there that Alfred sent forth an anonymous summons, bidding the men of Wiltshire and Hampshire to rally at Egbert's Stone, by Selwood Forest, in "the seventh week after Easter" - probably about May 6, 878, and when they mustered at the appointed place, at Ecgbrithes Stan-which was probably near Brixton, in Wiltshire--they found Alfred awaiting them. The golden dragon, the banner of the West Saxons, was once more unfurled; and the hated oppressors-having been defeated at Ethandune, or Edington, near Westbury- were driven out of the kingdom.
Shaftesbury Abbey was founded by Alfred as a convent for nuns; and it was his second daughter, Elgiva, whom the king nominated as its first abbess.
Last, but most important of all, Winchester, the capital of the West Saxons, and for centuries the capital of England, is the true goal of every pious pilgrim who would follow in the footprints of King Alfred .
It is there, at the end of the ancient High Street, that a magnificent statue was erected in 1901 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the great king's death.
In one of the niches of the beautiful City Cross, which was built in the reign of King Henry the Sixth, there is another statue of King Alfred ; but it is not of any special historical importance, having been added only in the year 1865, when the Cross was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott, and it is completely overshadowed by the grandly simple millenary statue, designed by Sir Hamo Thornycroft.
On the front of the perpendicular pedestal below the figure of the king is the word Alfred-which is the nearest approach that can be made in modern spelling to the Saxon name, meaning, " rede of the elves," or "counsel of the elves "; while the pedestal bears the following inscription:
TO THE FOUNDER OF THE KINGDOM
AND THE NATION
D. OCTOBER, DCCCCI
WINCHESTER AND THE ENGLISH NAME
SEPTEMBER, MDCCCCI
It is worthy of note that on this official memorial the king is described simply as "Alfred" - without any reference to the title "great," by which he is commonly known; and, historically, this is correct, for there does not seem to be any authority for the use of the cognomen "great" before the seventeenth century. But, indeed, it is immaterial whether the well-deserved title be used or be omitted; for Alfred, the man, was great enough to be distinguished for ever from all the other bearers of the name.
Pictures for Footprint of Alfred the Great
Wedmore Old Cross >>>>
Jewels of Kind Alfred: a triumph of the Saxon Goldsmith >>>>
King Alfred and the British Navy >>>>
King Alfreds Mont, Athelney: the Kings statue at Wantage >>>>
Shaftesbury Terrace; and Wedmore Church Somerset >>>>
Statue of King Alfred at his Capital and Home >>>>
West Dean, near Seaford: the reputed meeting place with Asser >>>>
Alfriston, in the Cuckmere valley, an ancient Saxon centre >>>>