A Chronological History of Britain
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What was Alfred’s reaction to the news of a massive viking fleet crossing the channel? Was it a surprise? Did he just expect it at this point? Was he angry that he would have to fight for his kingdom yet one more time?
Based on his apparent devotion to his religion, I imagine he wondered what they had done to invite yet another test of their faith in the form of bristling war ships.
But in truth, there was nothing he could have done. The Danes were, in many respects, like a natural disaster… but in the case of this fleet, what launched them towards the shores of Wessex was an actual natural disaster.
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A massive fleet was off the coast of Kent, heading directly for Alfred’s realm. It was a fleet of 250 ships teeming with skilled, highly experienced raiders. But fleets don’t materialize out of thin air. They come from somewhere…
And curiously, over the last 14 years, the scribes of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle were actually giving the backstory to this particular fleet … because this fleet is the very same one that occupied Fulham in 879. Back when Alfred had only just defeated Guthrum and his kingdom was stretched too thin to be able to oust them.
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Today we’re going to cover 5 or 6 years, and we’re going to cover a fascinating theory that (if true) should color virtually everything we know about the life of Alfred the Great… and that’s because the Life of Alfred the Great might not have been written for Alfred.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
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The Sons of Rhodri Mawr were in a difficult position. Their father had been a powerful ruler in Britain… he was a man who had gained vast swaths of territory for his dynasty and was one of the few kings in British history that could claim the title of “the great.” Now when he died, there was a period of instability. War had threatened to turn his kingdom… the mighty kingdom of Gwynedd… into nothing more than a Mercian subkingdom. However, Rhodri’s sons proved to be just as ferocious as their father, and they quickly reestablished the independence of North Wales and set their confederation of kingdoms on a path for further expansion. But recent events had presented them with a significant barrier to their ambitions.
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The Sons of Rhodri, rulers of vast swaths of Wales, have followed in their father’s footsteps in their quest to bring all of the Western Kingdoms under a command of a single dynasty. Their dynasty.
In aid of this, they sought common cause with the Danes of Jorvik and their new King… a man called Guthred. There were rumors surrounding him. Rumors that likely gave the Sons of Rhodri Mawr hope.
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“I can not find anything better in man, than that he know, and nothing worse than that he be ignorant.”
That’s a quote from Alfred, and I think it’s my favorite quote. The nice thing about Alfred is that he’s a man for all seasons. There’s something in his reign for everyone. He’s got an excellent comeback story. He’s goes through a sort of Che Guevara phase. He’s got a period where he’s riding around with a cavalry strike force like King Arthur. He’s got a pious side. A scholarly side. A horny side. He has a keen mind for politics, for manipulation, and for tactics. Whatever your need… there’s an Alfred for that.
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One of the interesting things about piecing together the life of Alfred is that we find little windows into who he was in the strangest of places. Most kings of this era didn’t write much down for us to read… but Alfred did. In fact, he translated entire books (which we’re going to talk about today) and he didn’t just translate the books, he included his own thoughts on them as well. For example, in his translation of Pastoral Care by Pope Gregory the Great. Alfred tells us…
“[T]here were happy times then throughout England and… the kings, who had authority over this people, obeyed God and his messengers; and how they not only maintained their peace, morality and authority at home but also extended their territory outside; and how they succeeded both in wisdom and in warfare.”