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| Rank: | 6th |
| Ruled: | 871– 26 October 899 |
| Predecessor: | Ethelred I |
| Date of Birth: | 849 |
| Place of Birth: | Wantage, Oxfordshire, England |
| Wife: | Ealhswith |
| Buried: | Winchester Cathedral |
| Date of Death: | 26 October 899 |
| Parents: | Ethelwulf and Osburga |
Alfred ( 849? – 26 October, 899) (sometimes spelt Ælfred) was king of England from 871 to 899, though at no time did he rule over the whole of the land. Alfred is famous for his defence of the kingdom against the Danes ( Vikings), and gained the epithet "the Great" as a result (he is the only English monarch who is remembered as such). Details of his life are known as a result of a work by the Welsh scholar, Asser. A learned man, Alfred encouraged education and improved the kingdom's law system.
Alfred was born some time between 847Events Succession of Pope Leo IV, (847 855) Births Alfred the Great Deaths Pope Sergius II, ( 844 847) 847. and 849 AD at Wantage in Berkshire (alterations to county borders in 1974 mean that Wantage is now part of Oxfordshire), the fourth son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex (or Aethelwulf), most likely by his first wife, Osburh . He succeeded his brother, Ethelred I, as King of Wessex and Mercia in 871.
He seems to have been a child of singular attractiveness and promise, and tales of his boyhood were remembered. At five years old, in 853, he is said to have been sent to Rome, where he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV, who is also said to have "anointed him as king." Later writers took this as an anticipatory crowning in preparation for his ultimate succession to the throne of Wessex. That, however, could not have been foreseen in 853, as Alfred had three elder brothers living. It is likely to be understood either of investiture with the consular insignia or possibly with some titular royalty such as that of the under-kingdom of Kent.
This tale is likely apocryphal, though in 854- 855 Alfred almost certainly did go with his father on a pilgrimage to Rome, spending some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks. In 858, Ethelwulf died.
During the short reigns of his two eldest brothers, Ethelbald and Ethelbert, nothing is heard of Alfred. But with the accession of the third brother, Ethelred, in 866 the public life of Alfred begins, and he begins his great work of delivering England from the Danes. It is in this reign that Asser applies to Alfred the unique title of secundarius, which seems to show a position akin to that of the Celtic tanist, a recognized successor, closely associated with the reigning prince. It is likely that this arrangement was sanctioned by the Witenagemot, to guard against the danger of a disputed succession should Aethelred fall in battle. The arrangement of crowning a successor as co-king, however, is well-known among Germanic peoples, such as the Swedes, and the Franks, with whom the Anglo-Saxons had close ties (see Germanic king).
In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of Aethelred Mucill , who is called ealdorman of the Gaini , a folk who dwelt in Lincolnshire about Gainsborough. She was the granddaughter of a former King of Mercia, and they had five or six children, one a daughter, Ethelfleda, who would become queen of Mercia in her own right.
The same year Alfred, fighting beside his brother Ethelred, made an unsuccessful attempt to relieve Mercia from the pressure of the Danes. For nearly two years Wessex had a respite. But at the end of 870 the storm burst; and the year which followed has been rightly called "Alfred's year of battles."
Nine general engagements were fought with varying fortune, though the place and date of two of them have not been recorded. A successful skirmish at Englefield , Berkshire ( 31 December 870), was followed by a severe defeat at Reading ( 4 January 871), and this, four days later, by the brilliant victory of Ashdown , near Compton Beauchamp in Shrivenham Hundred .
On 22 January 871 the English were again defeated at Basing , and on 22 March 871 at Marton , Wiltshire, the two unidentified battles having perhaps occurred in the interval.
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