King Alfred in the goatherd's hut English Ælfrēd 849 – October 26 899 thern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex
Alfred the Great (Old English: Ælfrēd; 849 – October 26, 899), also spelled Ælfred, was king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is noted for his defence of the kingdom against the Danish Vikings, becoming the only English king to be awarded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the English". Details of his life are described in a work by the Welsh scholar Asser. Alfred was a learned man, and encouraged education and improved his kingdom's law system as well as its military structure. Alfred was born in 847 at Wantage, Oxfordshire (in the historic county of Berkshire). He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, by his first wife, Osburga. In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of Ethelred Mucil. At five years old, Alfred is said to have been sent to Rome where, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV who "anointed him as king." Victorian writers interpreted this as an anticipatory coronation in preparation for his ultimate succession to the throne of Wessex. However, this coronation could not have been foreseen at the time, since Alfred had three living elder brothers. A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a "consul" and a misinterpretation of this investiture, deliberate or accidental, could explain later confusion. It may also be based on Alfred later having accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome and spending some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, around 854–855. On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was deposed by his son Æthelbald. Æthelwulf died in 858, and Wessex was ruled by three of Alfred's brothers in succession. Asser tells the story about how as a child Alfred won a prize of a volume of poetry in English, offered by his mother to the first of her children able to memorise it. This story may be true, or it may be a myth intended to illustrate the young Alfred'
Size: 4555px × 3919px
Photo credit: © 19th era / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, 1800, 19th, 2d, 8, 871, 899., academic, age, alfred, ancient, anglo-saxon, antique, antiquity, awarded, black, book, bw, bygone, century, classical, copy, cut, cutout, danish, defence, drawing, duplicate, embossed, empire, english, engrave, engraved, engraver, engraving, epithet, etching, expression, figure, formal, front, frontispiece, goatherd, graphic, great, hand, heritage, historic, history, hut, illustration, image, imperial, king, kingdom, late, lifelike, majesty, margin, master, monotone, national, nineteenth, notable, noted, obscure, obsolete, olden, original, paper, period, pictorial, picture, portrait, pre, press, print, printed, printing, prior, proof, publication, publicity, queen, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, relief, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, retro, review, romantic, social, southern, spelled, standard, steel, studio, style, subject, teach, time, title, tool, topic, topical, tract, true, unusual, victoria, victorian, vikings, visual, wessex, white, Ælfred, Ælfrē
