Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex and is the only English monarch ever accorded the epithet "the Great." He came to the throne in 871 during a desperate moment: the Great Heathen Army of the Vikings had overrun the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and was pressing hard on Wessex. In 878, after nearly losing everything and famously hiding in the Somerset marshes, Alfred rallied his forces and decisively defeated the Viking leader Guthrum at the Battle of Edington. The subsequent Treaty of Wedmore forced Guthrum's baptism and established the Danelaw — the boundary dividing English and Danish England — buying Alfred time to rebuild. He fortified Wessex with a network of garrisoned burhs (fortified towns) spaced so that no place was more than a day's march from a garrison, effectively making the kingdom invulnerable to Viking occupation. He also created the first English navy, commissioning larger warships to intercept Viking fleets before they could land. Alfred was exceptional among medieval kings for his commitment to education and learning. He personally translated Latin works into Old English — including Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy — so that his people could read them. He established schools and promoted literacy among the nobility. His court was a cultural center, and his promotion of the English language as a medium for governance and learning was foundational to the development of English national identity.
- Lived: 849 CE – 899 CE
- Nationality: english
- Roles: leader, writer, military_leader
