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Genealogy of a Large and Diverse Family

A Journey Through Time

, Alfred “The Great”

Alfred "The Great"I8879
b: 849
d: 899
Biography
Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son ofAethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. At their father''s behest and bymutual agreement, Alfred''s elder brothers succeeded to the kingship inturn, rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-agechildren at a time when the country was threatened by worsening Vikingraids from Denmark.
Since the 790s, the Vikings had been using fast mobile armies, numberingthousands of men embarked in shallow-draught longships, to raid thecoasts and inland waters of England for plunder. Such raids wereevolving into permanent Danish settlements; in 867, the Vikings seizedYork and established their own kingdom in the southern part ofNorthumbria. The Vikings overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,East Anglia and Mercia, and their kings were either tortured to death orfled. Finally, in 870 the Danes attacked the only remaining independentAnglo-Saxon kingdom, Wessex, whose forces were commanded by KingAethelred and his younger brother Alfred. At the battle of Ashdown in871, Alfred routed the Viking army in a fiercely fought uphill assault.However, further defeats followed for Wessex and Alfred''s brother died. As King of Wessex at the age of 21, Alfred (reigned 871-99) was astrongminded but highly strung battle veteran at the head of remainingresistance to the Vikings in southern England. In early 878, the Danesled by King Guthrum seized Chippenham in Wiltshire in a lightning strikeand used it as a secure base from which to devastate Wessex. Local peopleeither surrendered or escaped (Hampshire people fled to the Isle ofWight), and the West Saxons were reduced to hit and run attacks seizingprovisions when they could. With only his royal bodyguard, a small armyof thegns (the king''s followers) and Aethelnoth earldorman of Somerset ashis ally, Alfred withdrew to the Somerset tidal marshes in which he hadprobably hunted as a youth. (It was during this time that Alfred, in hispreoccupation with the defence of his kingdom, allegedly burned somecakes which he had been asked to look after; the incident was a legenddating from early twelfth century chroniclers.)
A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted theDanes'' tactics by building a fortified base at Athelney in the Somersetmarshes and summoning a mobile army of men from Wiltshire, Somerset andpart of Hampshire to pursue guerrilla warfare against the Danes. In May878, Alfred''s army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington. According to his contemporary biographer Bishop Asser, ''Alfred attackedthe whole pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and by divinewill eventually won the victory, made great slaughter among them, andpursued them to their fortress (Chippenham) ... After fourteen days thepagans were brought to the extreme depths of despair by hunger, cold andfear, and they sought peace''. This unexpected victory proved to be theturning point in Wessex''s battle for survival.
Realising that he could not drive the Danes out of the rest of England,Alfred concluded peace with them in the treaty of Wedmore. King Guthrumwas converted to Christianity with Alfred as godfather and many of theDanes returned to East Anglia where they settled as farmers. In 886,Alfred negotiated a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontierwas demarcated along the Roman Watling Street and northern and easternEngland came under the jurisdiction of the Danes - an area known as''Danelaw''. Alfred therefore gained control of areas of West Mercia andKent which had been beyond the boundaries of Wessex. To consolidatealliances against the Danes, Alfred married one of his daughters,Aethelflaed, to the ealdorman of Mercia. Alfred himself had marriedEahlswith, a Mercian noblewoman, and another daughter, Aelfthryth, to theCount of Flanders, a strong naval power at a time when the Vikings weresettling in eastern England.
The Danish threat remained, and Alfred reorganised the Wessex defences inrecognition that efficient defence and economic prosperity wereinterdependent. First, he organised his army (the thegns, and theexisting militia known as the fyrd) on a rota basis, so he could raise a''rapid reaction force'' to deal with raiders whilst still enabling histhegns and peasants to tend their farms.
Second, Alfred started a building programme of well-defended settlementsacross southern England. These were fortified market places (''borough''comes from the Old English burh, meaning fortress); by deliberate royalplanning, settlers received plots and in return manned the defences intimes of war. (Such plots in London under Alfred''s rule in the 880sshaped the streetplan which still exists today between Cheapside and theThames.) This obligation required careful recording in what becameknown as ''the Burghal Hidage'', which gave details of the building andmanning of Wessex and Mercian burhs according to their size, the lengthof their ramparts and the number of men needed to garrison them. Centred round Alfred''s royal palace in Winchester, this network ofburhs with strongpoints on the main river routes was such that no part ofWessex was more than 20 miles from the refuge of one of thesesettlements. Together with a navy of new fast ships built on Alfred''sorders, southern England now had a defence in depth against Danishraiders.
Alfred''s concept of kingship extended beyond the administration of thetribal kingdom of Wessex into a broader context. A religiously devout andpragmatic man who learnt Latin in his late thirties, he recognised thatthe general deterioration in learning and religion caused by the Vikings''destruction of monasteries (the centres of the rudimentary educationnetwork) had serious implications for rulership. For example, the poorstandards in Latin had led to a decline in the use of the charter as aninstrument of royal government to disseminate the king''s instructions andlegislation. In one of his prefaces, Alfred wrote ''so general was its[Latin] decay in England that there were very few on this side of theHumber who could understand their rituals in English or translate aletter from Latin into English ... so few that I cannot remember a singleone south of the Thames when I came to the throne.''
To improve literacy, Alfred arranged, and took part in, the translation(by scholars from Mercia) from Latin into Anglo-Saxon of a handful ofbooks he thought it ''most needful for men to know, and to bring it topass ... if we have the peace, that all the youth now in England ... maybe devoted to learning''. These books covered history, philosophy andGregory the Great''s ''Pastoral Care'' (a handbook for bishops), and copiesof these books were sent to all the bishops of the kingdom. Alfred waspatron of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (which was copied and supplemented upto 1154), a patriotic history of the English from the Wessex viewpointdesigned to inspire its readers and celebrate Alfred and his monarchy.
Like other West Saxon kings, Alfred established a legal code; heassembled the laws of Offa and other predecessors, and of the kingdoms ofMercia and Kent, adding his own administrative regulations to form adefinitive body of Anglo-Saxon law. ''I ... collected these together andordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, thosewhich I liked; and many of those which I did not like I rejected with theadvice of my councillors ... For I dared not presume to set in writing atall many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please thosewho should come after us ... Then I ... showed those to all mycouncillors, and they then said that they were all pleased to observethem'' (Laws of Alfred, c.885-99).
By the 890s, Alfred''s charters and coinage (which he had also reformed,extending its minting to the burhs he had founded) referred to him as''king of the English'', and Welsh kings sought alliances with him. Alfreddied in 899, aged 50, and was buried in Winchester, the burial place ofthe West Saxon royal family.
By stopping the Viking advance and consolidating his territorial gains,Alfred had started the process by which his successors eventuallyextended their power over the other Anglo-Saxon kings; the ultimateunification of Anglo-Saxon England was to be led by Wessex. It is forhis valiant defence of his kingdom against a stronger enemy, for securingpeace with the Vikings and for his farsighted reforms in thereconstruction of Wessex and beyond, that Alfred - alone of all theEnglish kings and queens - is known as ''the Great''. [Royal]
Facts
  • 849 - Birth - ; Wantage, Berkshire, England
  • 899 - Death -
  • From 871 to 899 - Reign - as King of Wessex
Ancestors
   
Egbert
- 839
 
 
Ethelwulf
- 856
  
  
  
Redburga
-
 
Alfred "The Great"
849 - 899
  
 
  
Oslac of Isle of Wight
-
 
 
Osburga
-
  
  
  
?
 
Family Group Sheet - Child
PARENT (M) Ethelwulf
Birth
Death856
Marriageto Judith of Flanders
Marriageto Osburga
FatherEgbert
MotherRedburga
PARENT (F) Osburga
Birth
Death
Marriageto Ethelwulf
FatherOslac of Isle of Wight
Mother?
CHILDREN
MEthelbald
Birth
Death860
Marriageto Judith of Flanders
MAlfred "The Great"
Birth849Wantage, Berkshire, England
Death899
Marriageto Ealhswith
Family Group Sheet - Spouse
PARENT (M) Alfred "The Great"
Birth849Wantage, Berkshire, England
Death899
Marriageto Ealhswith
FatherEthelwulf
MotherOsburga
PARENT (F) Ealhswith
Birth
Death905
Marriageto Alfred "The Great"
Father?
Mother?
CHILDREN
MEdward "The Elder"
Birth
Death924
Marriageto Elfleda
Marriageto Eogwyn
Marriageto Edgiva
FElfrida
Birth
Death
Marriageto Baldwin II
Evidence
[S240]Official Web Site of the British Monarchy, The
Descendancy Chart
1 Alfred "The Great" b: 849 d: 899
+ Ealhswith d: 905
2 Edward "The Elder" d: 924
+ Elfleda
3 Eadgyth
+ Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
3 Eadgifu of Wessex
+ Charles III "The Simple" b: 17 SEP 879
4 Louis IV of France
+ Gerberga of Saxony
5 Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
+ Adelaide
6 Gerberga of Lower Lorraine
+ Lambert I, Count of Louvain
7 Maud de Leuven
+ Eustace I, Count of Boulogne
8 Lambert II, Count of Lens d: 1054
+ Adelaide of Normandy b: ABT 1030 d: BEF 1090
9 Judith of Lens
+ Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
10 Maud, Countess of Huntingdon
+ Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton
+ Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim
8 Eustace II, Count of Boulogne
+ Ida of Lorraine
9 Eustace III, Count of Boulogne
+ Mary of Scotland, Countess of Boulogne
10 Matilda of Boulogne
+ Stephen of Blois
+ Goda of England
7 Lambert II, Count of Louvain
+ Uda of Verdun
8 Henry II, Count of Louvain
+ Adèle of Orthen
9 Godfrey I, Count of Louvain
+ Ida of Chiny
10 Godfrey II, Count of Louvain
+ Luitgarde of Sulzbach
10 Adeliza of Louvain b: ABT 1103 d: 23 APR 1151
+ Henry I of England d: 1 DEC 1135
+ Clementia of Burgundy
9 Henry III, Count of Louvain
+ Gertrude of Flanders, Duchess of Lorraine
10 Adelaide of Leuven d: 1158
+ Simon I, Duke of Lorraine
9 Ida of Louvain
+ Baldwin II of Hainaut
10 Baldwin III of Hainaut
+ Yolande de Wassenberg
6 Ermengarde
+ Albert I, Count of Namur d: ABT 1101
7 Albert II, Count of Namur d: 1063/1064
+ Regelinde of Verdun
8 Hedwige of Namur
+ Gérard, Duke of Lorraine
9 Beatrix of Lorraine
+ Stephen I, Count of Burgundy
10 Renaud III, Count of Burgundy
+ Agatha of Lorraine d: 1147
9 Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine
+ Gertrude of Flanders, Duchess of Lorraine
10 Thierry, Count of Flanders
+ Swanhilde d: 1132
+ Sibylla of Anjou
+ Hedwige of Formbach
10 Petronilla (Gertrude) of Lorraine
+ Floris II, Count of Holland
10 Simon I, Duke of Lorraine
+ Adelaide of Leuven d: 1158
8 Albert III, Count of Namur b: 1048 d: 1102
+ Isa of Saxony
9 Henry I of la Roche b: ABT 1100 d: 1126
+ Matilda of Limburg
10 Matilda de la Roche
+ Thierry de Walcourt
+ Nicholas d''Oisy, Lord of Avesnes b: ABT 1130 d: ABT 1170
9 Godfrey I of Namur
+ Ermesinde of Luxembourg
10 Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg
+ Laurette of Flanders d: 1175
+ Agnes of Guelders
10 Alice of Namur
+ Baldwin IV of Hainaut
5 Matilda of France
+ Conrad I of Burgundy
6 Gerberga of Burgundy
+ Herman II, Duke of Swabia
7 Gisela of Swabia
+ Ernest I, Duke of Swabia d: March 31 or May 31, 1015
8 Herman IV, Duke of Swabia b: ABT 1015 d: JUL 1038
+ Adelaide of Susa b: 1014/1020 d: 19 DEC 1091
+ Brun I, Count of Brunswick
+ Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
8 Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
+ Agnes of Poitou b: ABT 1025 d: 14 DEC 1077
9 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
+ Bertha of Savoy
10 Agnes of Germany b: 1072/1073 d: 24 SEP 1143
+ Frederick I, Duke of Swabia
+ Leopold III, Margrave of Austria
9 Matilda of Swabia b: OCT 1048 d: 12 MAY 1060
+ Rudolf of Rheinfelden d: 1080
7 Matilda of Swabia
+ Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine
8 Sophie, Countess of Bar
+ Louis, Count of Montbéliard
9 Theodoric I, Count of Montbéliard
+ Ermentrude of Bourgogne
10 Reginald I, Count of Bar
+ Giselle of Vaudémont
+ Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia
6 Bertha of Burgundy
+ Odo I, Count of Blois
7 Odo II, Count of Blois
+ Ermengarde of Auvergne
8 Theobald III, Count of Blois
7 Agnes de Blois
+ Geoffrey II of Thouars
8 Aimery IV of Thouars
+ Aurengarde de Mauleon
9 Aleanor de Thouars
+ Boson II de Châtellerault
10 Aimery I, Viscount of Châtellerault b: ABT 1075 d: 7 NOV 1151
+ Dangereuse de L'' Isle Bouchard
9 Hildegarde de Thouars
+ Hugh VI of Lusignan
10 Hugh VII of Lusignan
+ Saracena de Lezay
3 Eadhild
+ Hugh the Great
+ Eogwyn
+ Edgiva
3 Edmund I b: ABT 921 d: 946
+ Elgiva
4 Edgar "The Peaceable" d: 8 JUL 975
+ Elfrida
5 Ethelred "The Unready" II b: ABT 972 d: 1016
+ Elfgifu
6 Edmund II d: NOV 1016
+ Ealdgyth
7 Edward The Excile
+ Agatha b: BEF 1030 d: AFT 1070
8 Margaret Of Scotland b: ABT 1045 d: 16 NOV 1093
+ Máel Coluim mac Donnchada b: ABT 1031 d: 13 NOV 1093
9 Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim
+ Maud, Countess of Huntingdon
10 Henry of Scotland b: 1114 d: 1152
+ Ada de Warenne b: ABT 1120 d: 1178
9 Mary of Scotland, Countess of Boulogne
+ Eustace III, Count of Boulogne
10 Matilda of Boulogne
+ Stephen of Blois
9 Eadgith (or Matilda)
+ Henry I of England d: 1 DEC 1135
10 Matilda of England
+ Henry V
+ Geoffrey Plantagenet Count of Anjou
+ Emma
6 Goda of England
+ Eustace II, Count of Boulogne
+ Ethelfleda
2 Elfrida
+ Baldwin II
3 Arnulf I of Flanders
+ Adele of Vermandois b: 910/915 d: 1 JAN 960
4 Hildegarde of Flanders
+ Dirk II, Count of Holland
5 Arnulf, Count of Holland
+ Lutgardis of Luxemburg
6 Adelina of Holland b: ABT 990 d: ABT 1045
+ Enguerrand I, Count of Ponthieu
7 Hugh II, Count of Ponthieu
+ Bertha of Aumale
8 Guy I, Count of Ponthieu
+ ?
9 Agnes, Countess of Ponthieu b: ABT 1080 d: AFT 1105
+ ?
10 William III of Ponthieu b: ABT 1095 d: JUN 1172
+ Helie of Burgund
10 William III, Count of Ponthieu
+ Helie of Burgundy
8 Enguerrand II, Count of Ponthieu d: 1053
+ Adelaide of Normandy b: ABT 1030 d: BEF 1090
+ Baldwin II, Count of Boulogne
7 Eustace I, Count of Boulogne
+ Maud de Leuven
8 Lambert II, Count of Lens d: 1054
+ Adelaide of Normandy b: ABT 1030 d: BEF 1090
9 Judith of Lens
+ Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
10 Maud, Countess of Huntingdon
+ Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton
+ Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim
8 Eustace II, Count of Boulogne
+ Ida of Lorraine
9 Eustace III, Count of Boulogne
+ Mary of Scotland, Countess of Boulogne
10 Matilda of Boulogne
+ Stephen of Blois
+ Goda of England
6 Dirk III, Count of Holland
+ Othelindis
7 Floris I, Count of Holland
+ Gertrude of Saxony
8 Dirk V, Count of Holland
+ Othilde
9 Floris II, Count of Holland
+ Petronilla (Gertrude) of Lorraine
10 Dirk VI, Count of Holland
+ Sophia of Rheineck
8 Bertha of Holland
+ Philip I of France b: 23 MAY 1052 d: 30 JUL 1108
9 Constance of France, Princess of Antioch
+ Bohemond I of Antioch
10 Bohemond II of Antioch
+ Alice of Antioch
9 Louis VI of France
+ Adelaide of Maurienne b: 1092 d: 18 NOV 1154
10 Robert I, Count of Dreux
+ Agnès de Garlande b: 1122 d: 1143
+ Hawise of Salisbury b: 1118 d: 1152
+ Agnes de Baudemont, Countess of Braine
10 Peter I of Courtenay
+ Elisabeth of Courtenay
10 Louis VII of France
+ Constance of Castile
+ Adèle of Champagne b: ABT 1140 d: 4 JUN 1206
4 Baldwin III of Flanders
+ Mathilde Billung of Saxony
5 Arnulf II of Flanders
+ Rozala of Lombardy
6 Baldwin IV of Flanders
+ Ogive of Luxembourg
7 Baldwin V of Flanders d: 1067
+ Adèle of France, Countess of Flanders b: 1009 d: 8 JAN 1079
8 Mathilda of Flanders
+ William I b: ABT 1028 d: 9 SEP 1087
9 Adela of Normandy b: ABT 1067 d: 8 MAR 1137
+ Stephen II, Count of Blois
10 Stephen of Blois
+ Matilda of Boulogne
10 Theobald II, Count of Champagne
+ Matilda of Carinthia
9 Henry I of England d: 1 DEC 1135
+ Eadgith (or Matilda)
10 Matilda of England
+ Henry V
+ Geoffrey Plantagenet Count of Anjou
+ ?
10 Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
+ Mabel FitzHamon
+ Adeliza of Louvain b: ABT 1103 d: 23 APR 1151
8 Robert I of Flanders
+ Gertrude of Saxony
9 Gertrude of Flanders, Duchess of Lorraine
+ Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine
10 Thierry, Count of Flanders
+ Swanhilde d: 1132
+ Sibylla of Anjou
+ Henry III, Count of Louvain
10 Adelaide of Leuven d: 1158
+ Simon I, Duke of Lorraine
8 Baldwin VI of Flanders
+ Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut
9 Baldwin II of Hainaut
+ Ida of Louvain
10 Baldwin III of Hainaut
+ Yolande de Wassenberg
+ Eleanor of Normandy
7 Judith of Flanders, Countess of Northumbria
+ Welf I, Duke of Bavaria
8 Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
+ Wulfhilde of Saxony
9 Judith of Bavaria, Duchess of Swabia
+ Frederick II, Duke of Swabia
10 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
+ Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy

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