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Alfred was the youngest son of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. [5] According to his biographer, Asser, writing in 893, "In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons", was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire [a] ("which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box tree grows very abundantly").
The initial page of the Peterborough Chronicle [1]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons.. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899).
In 878, Alfred the Great defeated the Viking Army at the Battle of Edington. Guthrum subsequently retreated with the remnants of his army to their "stronghold"; Alfred pursued and besieged him for fourteen days. [16] Guthrum eventually gave in, and a truce was negotiated. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the terms of the surrender:
A map of burhs named in the 10th-century Burghal Hidage.. A burh (Old English pronunciation:) or burg was an Anglo-Saxon fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers.
The walled defence round a burgh. Alfred's capital, Winchester. Saxon and medieval work on Roman foundations. [73] In the 860s, instead of raids, the Danes mounted a full-scale invasion. In 865, an enlarged army arrived that the Anglo-Saxons described as the Great Heathen Army. This was reinforced in 871 by the Great Summer Army. [72]
The Treaty of Wedmore [a] is a 9th century agreement between King Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king, Guthrum the Old.The only contemporary reference to the treaty is that of a Welsh monk, Asser, in his biography of Alfred, known as Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum, or "The Life of King Alfred", in which Asser describes how after Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington ...
Battle then raged around a small thorn tree and finally the West Saxons were victorious. Although both the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser emphasise Alfred's role in the victory, in the view of Richard Abels it was the attack by Æthelred when he joined the battle which was decisive and he might have intended all along to take the Vikings ...
In Alfred the Great's time, the king's mundbyrd was £5. [91] Individuals received protection through kinship ties or by entering the service of a lord. [92] Mund is the origin of the king's peace. [82] Initially, the king's mund was limited to the royal residence. As royal power and responsibilities grew, the king's peace was applied to other ...