{{Infobox British Royalty|Monarch
| name                 =Alfred the Great
| title                =King of the Anglo-Saxons
| image                =Statue d'Alfred le Grand à Winchester.jpg
| caption              =Statue of Alfred the Great, Winchester
| reign                =23 April 871 &ndash; 26 October 899
| predecessor          =Æthelred of Wessex
| successor            =Edward the Elder
| issue                =Ælfthryth<br />Ethelfleda<br />Ethelgiva<br />Edward the Elder<br />Æthelwærd
| full name            =Ælfrēd of Wessex
| royal house          =House of Wessex
| date of birth        =c. 849
| place of birth       =Wantage, Berkshire
| date of death        = (around 50)
| date of burial       =c. 1100
| place of burial      =Winchester, Hampshire, now lost.
| spouse               =Ealhswith
| father               =Æthelwulf of Wessex
| mother               =Osburga
|}}
'''Alfred the Great''' (also '''''Ælfred''''' from the Old English ''Ælfrēd,'' ) (c. 849 &ndash; Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Danish English King to be awarded the Danish.</ref> Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". Details of his life are discussed 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.

== Childhood ==

Alfred was born sometime between 847 and 849 at Wantage in the present-day ceremonial county of historic county of Berkshire). He was the fifth and youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, by his first wife, Osburga.<ref>Alfred was the youngest of five brothers[http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page25.asp]</ref> In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of Ethelred Mucill.<ref>[http://www.treasurehunting.tv/king_alfred.htm  The Life of King Alfred] </ref>

At five years old, Alfred is said to have been sent to 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 older 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.<ref>Wormald, Patrick, 'Alfred (848/9-899)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004).</ref> 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&ndash;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 legend designed to illustrate the  young
Alfred's love of learning.

== Under Ethelred ==
During the short reigns of his two eldest brothers, Æthelbald and Ethelbert, Alfred is not mentioned. However with the accession of the third brother, Ethelred, in 866, the public life of Alfred began. It is during this period that Asser applies to him the unique title of "secundarius", which may indicate a position akin to that of the ''tanist'', a recognised successor closely associated with the reigning monarch. It is possible that this arrangement was sanctioned by the Germanic tribes, such as the Swedes and Franks, with whom the Anglo-Saxons had close ties.

In 868, Alfred is recorded fighting beside his brother Ethelred, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the invading Danes out of the adjoining Siege and Battle of Reading, on Berkshire Downs, possibly near Compton or Aldworth. Alfred is particularly credited with the success of this latter conflict. However, later that month, on 22 January, the English were again defeated at Basing and, on the following 22 March at the  Battle of Merton (perhaps Marden in Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset) in which Ethelred was killed. The two unidentified battles may also have occurred in between.

==King at war==
In April 871, King Ethelred died, and Alfred succeeded to the throne of Wessex and the burden of its defence, despite the fact that Ethelred left two young sons. Although contemporary turmoil meant the accession of Alfred&mdash;an adult with military experience and patronage resources&mdash;over his nephews went unchallenged, he remained obliged to secure their property rights. While he was busy with the burial ceremonies for his brother, the Danes defeated the English in his absence at an unnamed spot, and then again in his presence at Wilton in May. Following this, peace was made and, for the next five years, the Danes occupied other parts of England. However, in 876, under their new leader, Wareham in Dorset. From there, early in 877, and under the pretext of talks, they moved westwards and took Exeter in Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had been staying over Christmas, "and most of the people they reduced, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way by wood and swamp, and after Easter he made a fort at Athelney, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe" (''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'').

right|thumb|250px|Statue of Alfred the Great at Wantage

A popular legend originating from early twelfth century chronicles,<ref>[http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page25.asp History of the Monarchy - The Anglo-Saxon Kings - Alfred 'The Great']</ref> tells how when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes burn and was taken to task by the woman upon her return. Upon realising the king's identity, the woman apologised profusely, but Alfred insisted that he was the one who needed to apologise. From his fort at Athelney, a marshy island near North Petherton, Alfred was able to mount an effective resistance movement while rallying the local militia from Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Another story relates how Alfred disguised himself as a Saxons, and the northeastern half including London, thence known as the Danelaw, was kept by the Vikings. By the following year (879), both Wessex and Mercia, west of Watling Street, were cleared of the invaders. 

For the next few years there was peace, with the Danes being kept busy in Europe. A landing in Kent in 884 or 885 close to Milton also in Kent. The invaders brought their wives and children with them, indicating a meaningful attempt at conquest and colonisation. Alfred, in 893 or 894, took up a position from whence he could observe both forces. While he was in talks with Haesten, the Danes at Appledore broke out and struck northwestwards. They were overtaken by Alfred's eldest son, Edward, and were defeated in a general engagement at Hertfordshire Colne, where they were blockaded and were ultimately compelled to submit. The force fell back on Essex and, after suffering another defeat at Benfleet, coalesced with Haesten's force at Shoebury.

Alfred had been on his way to relieve his son at Thorney when he heard that the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes were besieging Chester. The English did not attempt a winter blockade but contented themselves with destroying all the supplies in the neighbourhood. Early in 894 (or 895), want of food obliged the Danes to retire once more to Essex. At the end of this year and early in 895 (or 896), the Danes drew their ships up the Lea and fortified themselves twenty miles (32 km) north of London. A direct attack on the Danish lines failed, but later in the year, Alfred saw a means of obstructing the river so as to prevent the egress of the Danish ships. The Danes realised that they were out-manoeuvred. They struck off northwestwards and wintered at Bridgenorth. The next year, 896 (or 897), they gave up the struggle. Some retired to Northumbria, some to East Anglia. Those who had no connections in England withdrew back to Europe.

==Reorganisation==
After the dispersal of the Danish invaders, Alfred turned his attention to the increase of the English navy. There had been earlier naval operations under Alfred. One naval engagement was fought in the reign of Æthelwulf in 851 by Alfred's brother, Athelstan, and earlier ones, possibly in 833 and 840. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', however, does credit Alfred with the construction of a new type of ship, built according to the king's own designs, "swifter, steadier and also higher/more responsive (hierran) than the others". However, these new ships do not seem to have been a great success, as we hear of them grounding in action and foundering in a storm. Nevertheless both the British Royal Navy and the United States Navy claim Alfred as the founder of their traditions. 

Alfred's main fighting force, the ''fyrd'', was separated into two, "so that there was always half at home and half out" (''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''). The level of organisation required to mobilise his large army in two shifts, of which one was feeding the other, must have been considerable. The complexity which Alfred's administration had attained by 892 is demonstrated by a reasonably reliable charter whose witness list includes a ''thesaurius'', ''cellararius'' and ''pincerna''&mdash;treasurer, food-keeper and butler. Despite the irritation which Alfred must have felt in 893, when one division, which had "completed their call-up (stemn)", gave up the siege of a Danish army just as Alfred was moving to relieve them, this system seems to have worked remarkably well on the whole.

One of the weaknesses of pre-Alfredian defences had been that, in the absence of a standing army, fortresses were largely left unoccupied, making it very possible for a Viking force to quickly secure a strong strategic position. Alfred substantially upgraded the state of the defences of Wessex, by erecting fortified Wareham, Cricklade, Lydford and Wallingford) it has been demonstrated that "in every case the rampart associated by the excavators with the borough of the Alfredian period was the primary defence on the site" (Brooks). The obligations for the upkeep and defence of these and many other sites, with permanent garrisons, are further documented in surviving transcripts of the administrative manuscript known as the Burghal Hidage. Dating from, at least, within twenty years of Alfred's death, if not actually from his reign, it almost certainly reflects Alfredian policy. Comparison of town plans for Wallingford and Wareham with that of Winchester, shows "that they were laid out in the same scheme" (Wormald), thus supporting the proposition that these newly established burhs were also planned as centres of habitation and trade as well as a place of safety in moments of immediate danger. Thereafter, the English population and its wealth were drawn into such towns where it was not only safer from Viking soldiers, but also taxable by the King.

Alfred is thus credited with a significant degree of civil reorganisation, especially in the districts ravaged by the Danes. Even if one rejects the thesis crediting the "Burghal Hidage" to Alfred, what is undeniable is that, in the parts of Mercia acquired by Alfred from the Vikings, the hundreds and tithings. Alfred's care for the administration of justice is testified both by history and legend; and he has gained the popular title "protector of the poor". Of the actions of the Witangemot, we do not hear very much under Alfred. He was certainly anxious to respect its rights, but both the circumstances of the time and the character of the king would have tended to throw more power into his hands. The legislation of Alfred probably belongs to the later part of the reign, after the pressure of the Danes had relaxed. He also paid attention to the country's finances, though details are lacking.

=== Legal reform ===

Alfred the Great’s most enduring work was his legal code, called '''Deemings''', or Book of '''Dooms''' (Book of Laws). Sir Winston Churchill believed that Alfred blended the Mosaic Law, Celtic Law, and old customs of the pagan Anglo-Saxons.<ref>Churchill, Sir Winston: The Island Race, Corgi, London, 1964, II, p. 219.</ref> Dr. F.N. Lee traced the parallels between Alfred’s Code and the Mosaic Code.<ref>Lee, F. N., [http://www.dr-fnlee.org/docs6/alfred/alfred.html King Alfred the Great and our Common Law] Department of Church History, Queensland Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Brisbane, Australia, August 2000</ref> However, as Thomas Jefferson concluded after tracing the history of English common law: "The common law existed while the Anglo-Saxons were yet pagans, at a time when they had never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced or that such a character existed".<ref>Reports of Cases Determined in the General Court, appendix.  Thomas Jefferson.</ref> Churchill stated that Alfred’s Code was amplified by his successors and grew into the body of Customary Law administered by the Shire and The Hundred Courts. This led to the Charter of Liberties, granted by Henry I of England, AD 1100.

==Foreign relations==
Asser speaks grandiosely of Alfred's relations with foreign powers, but little definite information is available. His interest in foreign countries is shown by the insertions which he made in his translation of Elias III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and possibly sent a mission to India. Contact was also made with the Caliph in Baghdad. Embassies to Rome conveying the English alms to the Pope were fairly frequent. Around 890, Wulfstan of Haithabu undertook a journey from Haithabu on Jutland along the Baltic Sea to the Prussian trading town of Truso. Alfred ensured he reported to him details of his trip.

Alfred's relations with the Celtic princes in the western half of Britain are clearer. Comparatively early in his reign, according to Asser, the southern Welsh princes, owing to the pressure on them of North Welsh followed their example, and the latter cooperated with the English in the campaign of 893 (or 894). That Alfred sent alms to Irish as well as to European monasteries may be taken on Asser's authority. The visit of the three pilgrim "Scots" (i.e., Irish) to Alfred in 891 is undoubtedly authentic. The story that he himself in his childhood was sent to Ireland to be healed by Saint Modwenna, though mythical, may show Alfred's interest in that island.

==Religion and culture==
Very little is known of the church under Alfred. The Danish attacks had been particularly damaging to the monasteries, and though Alfred founded two or three new monasteries and enticed foreign monks to England, monasticism did not revive significantly during his reign. The Danish raids had also an impact on learning, leading to the practical extinction of Latin even among the clergy: the preface to Alfred's translation of Old English bearing eloquent, if not impartial witness, to this. <!-- HOW DOES IT DO THIS?? -->  

Alfred established a court school, following the example of Charlemagne.<ref>''Codicology of the court school of Charlemagne: Gospel book production, illumination, and emphasised script (European university studies. Series 28, History of art)'' ISBN 3820472835</ref> To this end, he imported scholars like Grimbald and John the Saxon from Europe, and Asser from South Wales. Not only did the King see to his own education, he also made the series of translations for the instruction of his clergy and people, most of which survive. These belong to the later part of his reign, probably the last four years, of which the chronicles are almost silent.

Apart from the lost ''Handboc'' or ''Encheiridion,'' which seems to have been merely a commonplace book kept by the king, the earliest work to be translated was the ''Dialogues of Gregory,'' a book greatly popular in the Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. The priority should likely be given to the Orosius, but the point has been much debated. In the Orosius, by omissions and additions, Alfred so remodels his original as to produce an almost new work; in the Bede the author's text is closely stuck to, no additions being made, though most of the documents and some other less interesting matters are omitted. Of late years doubts have been raised as to Alfred's authorship of the Bede translation. But the skeptics cannot be regarded as having proved their point.

Alfred's translation of ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' of Boethius was the most popular philosophical handbook of the Middle Ages. Here again Alfred deals very freely with his original and though the late Dr. G. Schepss showed that many of the additions to the text are to be traced not to Alfred himself, but to the glosses and commentaries which he used, still there is much in the work which is solely Alfred's and highly characteristic of his genius. It is in the Boethius that the oft-quoted sentence occurs: "My will was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after, my memory in good works." The book has come down to us in two manuscripts only. In one of these<ref>Oxford Bodleian Library MS Bodley 180</ref> the writing is prose, in the other<ref>British Library Cotton MS Otho A. vi</ref> a combination of prose and alliterating verse. The latter manuscript was severely damaged in the 18th and 19th centuries,<ref>Kiernan, Kevin S., "[http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/iconic/iconic.htm Alfred the Great's Burnt ''Boethius'']".  In Bornstein, George and Theresa Tinkle, eds., ''The Iconic Page in Manuscript, Print, and Digital Culture'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998).</ref> and the authorship of the verse has been much disputed; but likely it also is by Alfred. In fact, he writes in the prelude that he first created a prose work and then used it as the basis for his poem, the Lays of Boethius, his crowning literary achievement. He spent a great deal of time working on these books, which he tells us he gradually wrote through the many stressful times of his reign to refresh his mind. Of the authenticity of the work as a whole there has never been any doubt.

The last of Alfred's works is one to which he gave the name ''Blostman'', i.e., "Blooms" or Anthology. The first half is based mainly on the ''Soliloquies'' of St Augustine of Hippo, the remainder is drawn from various sources, and contains much that is Alfred's own and highly characteristic of him. The last words of it may be quoted; they form a fitting epitaph for the noblest of English kings. "Therefore he seems to me a very foolish man, and truly wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear."

{{Bio
|Nome = Alfredo
|Cognome = 
|PostCognome = '''il Grande'''
|PreData = in inglese antico: ''Ælfred''
|Sesso = M
|LuogoNascita = Wantage
|LuogoNascitaLink = West Berkshire
|GiornoMeseNascita = 
|AnnoNascita = 849
|LuogoMorte = 
|GiornoMeseMorte = 26 ottobre
|AnnoMorte = 899
|Attività = sovrano
|Epoca = 0800
|Nazionalità = inglese
|Categorie = Categoria:Re del Wessex
|Immagine =  Alfred the Great.jpg
|Didascalia = Alfredo il Grande
}}
Fu re del regno Re d'Inghilterra". Le notizie sulla sua vita ci sono pervenute soprattutto  grazie all'opera dello studioso gallese Asser. Uomo colto, Alfredo incoraggiò l'istruzione e migliorò il sistema di leggi dello stato (Doom Book).

==Infanzia==
Alfredo nacque tra l'Etelredo I (Æþelræd I) al trono dall'866, gli successe come re del Wessex e della Mercia nell'871.

Sembra sia stato un ragazzo dalla singolare attrattiva e talento e si ricordano storie sulla sua fanciullezza. A 5 anni, nell'853, si dice sia stato mandato a Roma, dove fu cresimato da Papa Leone IV, che si dice lo abbia "unto come re". In seguito gli scrittori presero questa come un'incoronazione anticipata in preparazione della sua successione al trono del Wessex. Ciò, tuttavia, non può essere successo nell'853, in quanto Alfredo aveva tre fratelli maggiori ancora in vita. Probabilmente fu più un investitura con le insegne consolari o forse con qualche sotto-regno come quello del Kent.

Questa storia comunque è probabilmente apocrifa, nonostante che nell'854-855 Alfredo quasi certamente sia andato col padre in pellegrinaggio a Roma, spendendo del tempo alla corte di Carlo il Calvo, re dei Franchi.

==Vita pubblica==
left|thumb|200px|Statua di Alfredo il Grande a Winchester
Durante i brevi regni dei suoi due fratelli maggiori, Ethelbald e Ethelbert, non si hanno notizie di Alfredo. Ma con la salita al trono del terzo fratello, Etelredo, iniziò la vita pubblica di Alfredo, con il suo grande lavoro per salvare l'Inghilterra dai tribu germaniche, come gli svedesi o i franchi, con i quali gli Anglosassoni avevano stretti rapporti.

Nell'868 Alfredo sposò Ealhswith, figlia di Etelredo Mucill, che era il priore magistrato dei Gaini, un popolo che viveva nel Lincolnshire presso Gainsborough. Lei era la nipote di un passato re della Mercia, ed ebbero cinque o sei bambini, tra cui una figlia, Ethelfleda, sarebbe diventata di diritto regina della Mercia.

Lo stesso anno Alfredo, combattendo al fianco di suo fratello Etelredo, fallì il tentativo di liberare la Mercia dalla pressione dei danesi. Per quasi due anni il Wessex ebbe una tregua. Ma alla fine dell'870 le lotte ricominciarono e l'anno che seguì fu chiamato "l'anno di battaglie di Alfredo."

Sono tramandate nove battaglie, combattute con alterne fortune, delle quali si conosce data e luogo per solo due. Una vittoriosa schermaglia nella battaglia di Englefield, Berkshire (31 dicembre 870) fu seguita da una sonora sconfitta nella battaglia di Reading (4 gennaio 871), e questa, quattro giorni più tardi, dalla brillante vittoria nella battaglia di Ashdown, vicino Compton Beauchamp nello Shriwenam Hundred.

Il 22 gennaio 871 gli inglesi vennero sconfitti ancora a Basing, e il 22 marzo 871 a Marton, Wiltshire, e in questo intervallo vennero combattute presumibilmente le due battaglie non identificate.

Il re danese Guthrun venne sconfitto grazie al ricorso di tecniche dell'esercito romano, che Alfredo aveva avuto modo di apprendere nella sua educazione: egli venerava infatti il sapere antico, cosa molto rara per un re laico dell'epoca, ed era fermamente convinto che la cultura antica avrebbe permesso un deciso rinnovamento nella vita politica e culturale del suo regno. Dalla vittoria gli inglesi ottennero una pace vantaggiosa con nuovi e migliori confini.

La pace permise ad Alfredo di dedicarsi alla riorganizzazione economica ed amministrativa del regno, aiutato sempre dalla cultura classica.