Alfred the Great is known in History for his battles against the Viking invasions, and he
won a number of key battles against them. He also was involved in the conversion of a Viking leader,
and he helped to spread Christianity within his Kingdom of Wessex. But more than being a skilled
military leader, he was a learned and calm man, who demonstrated great leadership throughout his
time on the throne of Wessex. As time went on, his reputation for being a scholar and a man who
promoted education and writing histories developed and he gained the nickname The Great in the 1500s.
At the time of his ruling, England was divided between different Kingdoms and lands, and it was
a very turbulent time in which he was ruling, with invasion and hostility a constant threat.
Alfred wished for peace a significant amount of time, and he changed things in England forever.
But what happened in his demise and death? Join us today as we look at the Painful
Death of Alfred The Great. Remember to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Alfred was born around the year 849, and was the son of Aethelwulf the King of Wessex
and his wife Osburh. His biographer Asser wrote that, ‘in the year of our lords incarnation 849,
Alfred King of the Anglo Saxons was born in Wantage, which at the time was a royal estate.
He was the youngest of six children, and his elder brother Aethelstan was later appointed
the sub king of Kent, but he died in the 850s. His next three brothers were Kings of Wessex,
and his sister was married to Burgred the King of Mercia in 853. Alfred’s mother was described
as a most religious woman, noble by temprament and noble by birth, and she passed these religious
qualities onto her son. In 868, Alfred married Ealhswith, who was the daughter of a Mercian
nobleman, who was the Ealdorman of the Gaini. This group of men were a tribal group of Mercia,
and together the couple had five or six children. Alfred’s successor was his son Edward the
Elder who succeeded his father, and Aethelflaed his daughter became the lady of the Mercians,
and another daughter Aelthryth married Baldwin II, the Count of Flanders.
In 868, Alfred was recorded as fighting alongside Aethelred in an attempt to keep the Viking Army,
the Great Heathen Army which was commanded by Ivar the Boneless out of the Kingdom of Mercia.
There were a number of engagements fought between the Saxons and Vikings at the time,
and the Saxons were victorious in a number of battles, but were defeated in a few too.
In April 871, Aethelred died, and Alfred came onto the throne of Wessex despite Aethelred leaving two
sons who were considered too young to rule. Whilst Alfred was attending to his brother’s funeral, the
Danes attacked the Saxons whilst he was away, and later defeated them again at Wilton. The Viking
army did withdraw later, and it’s assumed that Alfred paid the Vikings to leave, and hoards have
been found that show large sums of Viking silver and gold paid by Alfred. Alfred titled himself the
King of the West Saxons and later labelled himself the King of the Anglo Saxons as more of England
came under his rule and control, but he was not the first to claim he was the King of the English.
One of his greatest victories came in the Battle of Edington in 878. He pushed the Danes back to
their stronghold at Chippenham, and then starved them to the point where they had to negotiate and
do a deal with the Saxons. One of the terms of the surrender was that the Danish King Guthrum
was to convert to Christianity, and this happened three weeks later and a number of Guthrum’s
closest leaders also were baptised. Also Alfred created what was known as the Danelaw in the North
of England during these negotiations, and it was said that peace hopefully would have been kept
between those living under the Danelaw and the Kingdom of Wessex. Alfred laster travelled to Rome
and whilst here he learned how other Kings across in Europe had dealt with Viking raids and raiders,
and whilst here he decided to come up with a form of taxation for his kingdom. He changed
the taxation in Wessex to make sure that defences could be paid for and maintained, and a system of
fortifications called burh’s were created at the time to help deal with Viking raids.
Viking raids resumed in 892 and Alfred was in a much stronger position to defend against them now,
as he had a mobile field army, a significant number of garrisons and professional soldiers
and also a small fleet of ships that would be used on the rivers and estuaries inside of his land.
The Danes crossed across to Wessex initially in 330 ships, and they based themselves in Kent and
they even brought their wives and children with them, showing that they intended on settling and
colonising England. Alfred negotiated with Hastein, a commander of part of the army,
and the Danes were defeated. The Vikings did attempt to break through the English lines,
but were later plagued by a lack of food and supplies, and a few years later then withdrew.
Despite being a successful military leader and commander, Alfred’s legacy was also in that he was
seen as a reformer and a advocate of education. Alfred was involved in translating works from
Latin to English to make sure that his population had a wealth of books that they could learn from.
He was inspired in this by Charlemagne, and he created court schools which allowed the nobility
to have access to a good standard of education. Also those who were not the nobility were allowed
to attend, and inside of these schools the best scholars across Wessex would teach.
Alfred’s influence was to try and help develop Anglo-Saxon culture and society, to make the
people more learned. Alfred was known for being a man of education and being level headed, and
he wished for his people to learn in Old English rather than in Latin. Danish raids had previously
caused chaos with education and learning in England, but Alfred sought to try and make this
better. Shortly before his death, Alfred ordered the creation of the New Minster in Winchester,
which he hoped would become a mausoleum for he and his family once they had passed away.
In terms of his reputation across the Kingdom, it was said
‘He was loved greatly more than all his brothers, with a universal and profound love,
and he was always brought up in royal court. He was seen as more comely in his appearance
than his brothers, and more pleasing in manner, speeches and behaviour. In spite
of all the demands of the present life, it has been the desire for wisdom more than anything
else together with the nobility of his birth which have characterised the nature of his noble mind.
But on the 26th October 899, at the age of around 50 or 51, Alfred the Great passed away.
For much of his life he had suffered greatly with a pain and illness relating to his stomach and
digestive system. His biographer Asser who wrote down and described a large amount of Alfred’s
life, documented a description of Alfred’s symptoms. The pain Alfred had was harsh and
relentless, and it persisted for over 20 years and the cause remained unknown to physicians at
the time. This led to many people speculating that the King was possessed by the devil, or had been
punished by a witch or a danish seer. Many others thought that he may have suffered with an unknown
fever or possible haemorrhoids, but using what we now know about illnesses and the human body,
it’s interesting to consider that Alfred the Great suffered from Crohn’s disease. This causes painful
and chronic inflammation of the digestive system, and can cause ulcers to form. Doctors still
not know exactly what causes it, and common symptoms of it are abdominal pain, cramping,
fever, tiredness and passing blood in stools, of which Alfred was known to have suffered with.
Alfred it’s alleged did manage to work out which foods made his pain worse such as meat,
and may have eaten mostly a vegetarian based died because of this. Further evidence points
towards the King having Crohn’s as its considered that his grandson King Eadred
also suffered with the similar symptoms and problems that Alfred did. With this,
he would have suffering from the pain throughout most of his life, and there would have been little
relief for Alfred the Great. His pain must have been difficult to deal with along with being the
King od Wessex, and it was said that he tended to have periods where it did not bother him too much.
He went from times where the pain was not present, to times where the pain was so severe
that he was unable to leave his room. If Alfred suffered with Tuberculosis or colon cancer
he would not have lived as ling as he did, so it’s considered that the King died from Crohns.
Alfred was buried for a short period at the Old Minster in Winchester
with his wife and later son Edward the Elder. Four years after his death, his body and families body
were exhumed and were laid to rest in the New Minster. They were there for 211 years,
until William the Conquer demolished the New Minster Abbey where Alfred was laid to rest.
Monks did exhume the bodies of him and his family, and he was reinterred at Hyde Abbey.
They were buried before the high altar, but during the reign of Tudor King Henry VIII,
many of the Roman Catholic Churches and sites were vandalised by the English during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. Hyde Abbey was dissolved in 1538, and the graves housing Alfred
and his family remained underground, before the construction of a town jail was created
on the site. Before the construction began, convicts who were later imprisoned
there were sent to prepare the ground, and they discovered the coffins of Alfred and his family.
The local priest wrote, Thus miscreants couch amidst the ashes of our Alfreds and Edwards;
and where once religious silence and contemplation were only interrupted by the bell of regular
observance, the chanting of devotion, now alone resound the clank of the captives chains
and the oaths of the profligate! In digging for the foundation of that mournful edifice, at almost
every stroke of the mattock or spade some ancient sepulchre was violated, the venerable contents of
which were treated with marked indignity. On this occasion a great number of stone coffins were dug
up, with a variety of other curious articles, such as chalices, patens, rings, buckles,
the leather of shoes and boots, velvet and gold lace belonging to chasubles and other vestments;
as also the crook, rims, and joints of a beautiful crosier double gilt.’
Today the remains of Alfred the Great remain lost, and it is not known what happened to them.
He was a King who changed England and Wessex for good, and he helped to defeat the Danes
a number of times. He was a clever man and an intelligent one, but also a King
who devoted much of his time to god and his religious. But he did suffer throughout his life
with a painful stomach condition that caused him to waste away, and later killed him.
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