When Alfred was crowned King of Wessex in 871 AD, Viking ships from Scandinavia were sailing unchallenged around the coast from the Shetland to Dorset. Their fierce crews murdered, robbed and burned their way across Britain. 20 years later Alfred's longboats, a strong regular army, and a network of fortified towns had become more than a match for the invader.
But Alfred was not just a soldier. Artists, scholars and craftsmen were brought from Europe and he restocked the libraries that the Vikings had destroyed. Alfred himself learned to read and translated into English the first fifty Psalms in the Bible.
As a Christian, Alfred believed in honesty, loyalty and the value of life. He placed the Ten Commandments at the beginning of his own law book and showed how they should be understood ‘by the love and compassion of the Lord Christ’.
On the field of battle Alfred was brave and skilful, but in victory he surprised everyone by his mercy. Alfred was the only English king ever to be given the title ‘great’. He once wrote, ‘I have tried to live a worthy life. I want to leave those who come after me an example of good works’. | |  |
