12/31/2023 0 Comments King alfredThe best-preserved earthworks are at Wareham, Dorset.Further burhs were old hillforts or former Roman towns or forts (like Porchester, Hampshire) whose defences were repaired.Others were large earthwork enclosures containing settlements that would grow into towns (such as Cricklade, Wiltshire).Earthwork rampart of the Saxon ‘burh’ on the east side of Wareham in Dorset. We know them from documentary sources, as well as through archaeology. He built fortificationsĪlfred organised a network of defended places known as ‘burhs’. His work enabled his successors to finish the task of uniting England under the House of Wessex. Through clever politics and a marriage alliance, he influenced neighbouring territory in western England (western Mercia). A map of England showing the situation after King Alfred’s treaty and the areas of Viking control. He did not rule over all of EnglandĪlfred has been called called ‘the founder of the English Nation’, but this was not the case.Īfter the battle of Ethandune, Alfred made a treaty with the Vikings, dividing up England so that they controlled the North, East Anglia and the East Midlands as ‘the Danelaw’, and he held southern England. He built up his forces and defeated the Vikings decisively at Ethandune, probably near Edington, Wiltshire. PLB/N050053.īut even after a surprise attack on him at Chippenham, Wilshire, Alfred waged war against the Scandinavian invaders from his base at Athelney in the Somerset marshes. Reenactment of a battle between Vikings and Saxons. He fought off Viking invaders from his KingdomĪll the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen to the Vikings. He lived at a turbulent time when the course of English history hung in the balance as the Vikings invaded the small kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons. Alfred was the King of Wessex from AD 871 to 899.
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