Alfred the Great and his successors |
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Anglo-Saxon England VI |
Alfred the soldier
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Alfred the Great was traditionally regarded as the founder of the British Navy. This is an exaggeration, but he did appreciate the need to defeat the Danes at sea. Alfred ordered the construction of larger, stronger ships, hired experienced Frisian sailors, and defeated the Danes in at least two naval battles. |
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Alfred may well have been the first king in England to institute the systematic construction of burhs - i.e. defensible centers of population. Offa and others had anticipated this policy but Alfred developed it greatly. |
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The City of York (Eoforwic) fell to the Vikings led by Ivar the Boneless in 866, and became the capital of the Viking's northern territory. In the South of England, burhs were built on systematic street plans - a rectilinear grid - and were fortified against attack. The burh of Winchester had fortifications based on old Roman walls. Others, such as Wallingford, the Saxons built from scratch. Chichester was a Roman town that had been virtually abandoned. As secure centers of communication and administration they also acted as magnets for trade and manufacture. Many also minted coins, which facilitated trade. |
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Alfred reorganized the army to produce a more flexible response force,
unlike the earlier unskilled levies suitable only for local defense. |
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Law and education |
| The monasteries suffered heavily from the early Viking raids - Alfred reinvigorated them as centers of religion and education. |
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Alfred wanted all free-born English boys to become literate, and he planned that his court should be a center for the education of the children of noblemen and others. |
| Alfred arranged for the translation of a number of books into English, and himself assisted in translating five books. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was compiled at Alfred's instigation. |
| Alfred also exercised his political influence to promote Christianity and learning in the parts of England controlled by the Vikings. |
| The Law Code of Alfred the Great drew on earlier English laws as well as on biblical law. The code reveals that English society was still hierarchical and personal bondage continued. |
Edward the Elder and Æthelflæd |
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| During the early 10th Century, Edward the Elder (899–924) allied with his sister Æthelflæd "the Lady of the Mercians" (869-919?) to attack the Vikings in the East of England. |
| After a decisive victory at Tettenhall (910), Æthelflæd (who succeeded her husband as effective ruler of western Mercia in 911) and Edward recaptured all of England south of the Humber river. |
| Edward introduced Wessex' system of local government into the re-conquered areas -- shires of 1200 or 2400 hides, (a hide = 120 acres), each governed by an ealdorman. Ealdormen controlled the militia and presided over local courts of justice. |
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Viking resurgence |
| Vikings from Norway had for many years lived in Ireland, where they established the town of Dublin. They then turned their attention eastwards to Northwest England. |
| In 917, these Irish Vikings (Hiberno-Norse) led by Rægnald defeated the Scots, and in 919 attacked York where Rægnald established himself as king. His cousin, Sihtric, ravaged Cheshire and neighboring areas. |
| Edward the Elder obtained the submission of Rægnald and was recognized as overlord in Scotland and Wales as well as England. |
| In 926, Edward's son and successor, Athelstan (924-39) allied with Sihtric, who had succeeded Rægnald as King of York. But when Sihtric died in 927, Athelstan attacked and seized York. |
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In the Battle of Brunanburh (937), Athelstan defeated Hiberno-Norse and Scottish forces, who had allied under the leadership of Olaf, son of Sihtric. |
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þelstan
cyning, |
Athelstan King, Lord among Earls, Bracelet-bestower and Baron of Barons, He with his Brother, Edmund Atheling, Gaining a lifelong Glory in battle, Slew with the sword-edge There by Brunanburh, Brake the shield-wall, Hew'd the linden-wood, Hack'd the battle-shield, Sons of Edward with hammer'd brands. Theirs was a greatness Got from their grand-sires, Theirs that so often in Strife with their enemies Struck for their hoards and their hearths and their homes. |
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The opening lines of a poem on the Battle of
Brunanburh in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, with Alfred Lord
Tennyson's translation. |
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Athelstan's successors - Edmund (939-46) and Eadred (946-55) - in alliance with Oswulf of Bambrugh struggled to retain control of Northern England against the repeated attacks of Olaf and Eric Bloodaxe (son of the King of Norway). |
| Eric Bloodaxe was assassinated in 954, and the kingdom of York was annexed by Wessex. However, although no independent Viking kingdom now survived, many of the distinctively Scandinavian customs and laws lived on in the Danelaw (a term which means both the territory in the North and East of England where the Danes settled, and the laws and customs there in use). |
The Viking settlements
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The
English language contains very few Celtic words, because the
Anglo-Saxons almost entirely replaced the native British population.
In complete contrast, the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons spoke mutually
comprehensible languages and much of their vocabulary was absorbed
indicating considerable social interaction. |
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Outlaw, husband, awkward, happy, ugly, weak, skull, skin, bull, knife, trust, crawl, scare, take, want, birth. |
Just a few of the modern English words derived from Scandinavian. |
Many English place-names (for example, those ending in kirk and
thorp) give evidence of Viking communities. |
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Anglo-Saxon and Viking social structure were not dissimilar - both were hierarchical. The slave or "thrall" (from the Norse þræll) stood below the leysing (freedman) who had some limited legal rights. Truly free farmers (called karls or bondi) varied greatly in wealth, and stood one rank below holdas (minor noblemen with hereditary rights to their land). Superior noblemen were jarls (earls). |
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Despite its hierarchical structure, Viking society allowed considerable freedom and self-determination to bondi both in the law courts and local government. |
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The wapentake (weapon-taking) was the basic unit of Viking government probably for military as well as civilian purposes. |
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By the mid 10th Century, the Danes and the English were living harmoniously side by side. |
