Alfred+the+Great



**Alfred the Great**

As the eighth century came to an end, England fell prey to the waves of Viking invasions throughout Europe. In 793 AD the Norse invaders landed on the northwestern shore of England, sacking the monasteries of Jarrow and Lindisfarne. These invaders, called “the Danes” by the Anglo Saxons, moved their way down into the island, sacking cities and destroying many of the monasteries and abbeys where the scriptures were copied and kept safe. By the middle of the ninth century over half of England was under their control. The Danes then moved southward into Wessex. King Aethelred kept them at bay for two years by paying hefty tributes, but eventually they moved into the kingdom. Aethelred was killed in the Battle of Merton in 871 AD, and his brother Alfred the Great became king.

Alfred continued being beaten back until he was finally cornered in the marshlands of Somerset. Facing the imminent defeat of the Anglo-Saxons at the hands of the Danes, Alfred built up a coalition of surrounding kingdoms and surprised the Danes with a counterattack at Ethandune. In the treaty of Wedmore he forced the Danes north of a line called the Danelaw. With the Viking battles past Alfred began to work on creating a national identity for the English people. He set up a system of common laws and education, but more importantly tried to unite the scattered tribes throughout the land by use of the common bond of their tongue. Alfred started a program to systematically translate, write and record texts into Old English. This effectively made the Old English language a part of the English identity, keeping it alive and thriving, and preserving what little we have of it to this day.

As Alfred united his people he created the Doom Book, or his code of laws. Alfred’s preface to the Doom Book shows his philosophy of connecting civil and ecclesiastical law. The preface contains Old English translations of the Ten Commandments, as well as portions of the Book of Exodus and the Acts of the Apostles. Alfred is also said to have translated fifty of the Psalms. Although this cannot be verified, some scholars believe that his translation is in a book known as the Paris Psalter.

Links: The Danelaw Image of the Paris Psalter