![]() Guthrum was determined to take Wessex and burnt and pillaged his way across the region, Alfred could do little as Guthrum occupied Exeter and Wareham. If the Vikings had continued with the offensive it is unlikely that Alfred could have held out, as it happened, events in the North forced the Vikings to swing about and this gave Alfred the space he needed.īy 875, the Vikings had carved the land up into three parts and a Viking overlord, Guthrum. In a battle at Ashdown, Alfred proved to be a more than competent warrior and made a small gain against the Vikings but there was to be no letting up, in the Summer of 871 another force of Vikings arrived and King Ethelred died.Īlfred was hurriedly made king but there was little time to dwell on the fact as the Vikings attacked Alfred at Wilton and forced him to retreat. The outcome was disappointing for both sides. In 870 the Vikings switched their attention to the south and the Thames Valley and faced Wessex.Įthelred and Alfred prepared for the inevitable battle and gathering a small army headed for Reading where the Vikings were encamped. The death of his father saw the succession pass from son to son until Ethelred became king and Alfred his deputy and then the Viking began their attacks, first in the north sweeping all before them. This learning and erudition would serve him well for what was to come. Judith was a literate woman who encouraged Alfred to learn to read and further extend his learning. Being the youngest meant that he had more time possibly to spend with his father, whatever the case Alfred the child went on a journey with his father to Rome, where he stayed for over a year, absorbing all that he could, his education reaching far and wide but possibly more important than that, he and his father stopped at the Frankish court and there Aethelwulf married the great grand daughter of Charlemagne, Judith. It had trade, through Southampton, an ecclesiastical power base in Winchester and wealth but perhaps most importantly it had, waiting in the wings a king who was intelligent, diplomatic and educated, Alfred.Īlfred was the youngest son of Aethelwulf. Wessex was unusual in that it already had a long succession of relatively stable kings and overlords stretching back hundreds of years. Cut adrift from their natural leaders, the people of Britain were caught like rabbits in the headlights, uncertain which way to turn.Īlone, amongst all this carnage, the kingdom of Wessex held together. Men of learning, men of the church, had been slaughtered, as had warlords and members of the wealthiest families. It was an incredibly barbaric time, the Vikings showed no mercy and were relentless in pursuit of their goal.įor ten years the raids continued and by the end of that time the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia ceased to exist. Thousands of Vikings led by formidable leaders tracked their way from settlement to settlement murdering the people and burning them to the ground. This unsettling period continued until the mid 860’s when the Vikings launched what can only be described as a mass invasion. ![]() ![]() The raids ebbed and flowed and the wealth built up over hundreds of years by the Anglo Saxons, with their lightly defended towns, started to look very vulnerable. This may in part, have resulted from their fierce suspicion of the Christian religion, they were a Pagan people who held strongly to their beliefs. When the Viking raids began, Offa was king, they targeted Christian sites such as Lindisfarne, showing unprecedented brutality. They were a pagan society who quickly understood that the portable items of gold crosses and church plate, the beautifully chained and jeweled bibles and the wealth of coins struck by King Offa, often stored in monasteries, were there for the taking. It is an interesting thought that the spread of Christianity throughout the British Isles may well have the spark that drew the Vikings to these shores to raid and plunder. King Alfred the Great, May He Finally Rest?.
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