Anglican Commemoration
King of the West Saxons & Defender of the Faith
October 26 · d. 899
also known as Alfred of Wessex
Alfred was King of Wessex from 871 to 899 — the only English monarch called 'the Great.' He saved Christian England from Danish conquest, then devoted himself to the revival of learning and faith in a kingdom devastated by decades of Viking warfare. He translated key works of Christian thought into English (including Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, and Augustine's Soliloquies), established schools, reformed law on Christian principles, and laid the foundations for the eventual unification of England.
The story of Alfred burning the cakes — sheltering in a peasant woman's cottage during his exile in the Somerset marshes and being scolded for letting her cakes burn — first appears in the 11th-century Vita Sancti Neoti and later versions of Asser. It is not in Asser's original text and is a classic humility topos (the king reduced to peasant circumstances). It may preserve folk memory of the Athelney exile but is not historically attestable.
Alfred's childhood visits to Rome (853 and 855) are attested by Asser and the Chronicle, but the tradition that Pope Leo IV anointed him as future king is probably a misunderstanding of a consular ceremony. Later tradition inflated this into a papal prophecy of kingship.
Alfred's personal piety — described by Asser in detail — is historical rather than hagiographic. Asser records that Alfred suffered from a painful and debilitating illness (possibly Crohn's disease) throughout his adult life, which he bore with patience and prayer.
Alfred was born in 849, the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. As a child he twice visited Rome, and the tradition that Pope Leo IV 'confirmed' him — perhaps a misinterpretation of a consular anointing — later fed the belief that he was marked for kingship from childhood.
He became king in 871 after the deaths of his father and three older brothers, inheriting a kingdom under relentless Danish assault. His first years were desperate: in early 878, a surprise Danish attack forced him into hiding in the Somerset marshes, reduced to a guerrilla leader with a handful of followers. From this nadir he rallied, defeated the Danish king Guthrum at the Battle of Edington (878), and negotiated the Treaty of Wedmore, which established the Danelaw boundary and required Guthrum's baptism.
With the military situation stabilized, Alfred turned to the revival of learning and faith. He lamented that the Danish invasions had destroyed monastic libraries and that 'there were very few men south of the Humber who could understand their divine services in English, or even translate a letter from Latin.' His response was a remarkable program of translation: he personally translated — or supervised the translation of — Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, Augustine's Soliloquies, and the first fifty psalms. He also commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and a translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.
Alfred reformed law, drawing on Mosaic, Christian, and Anglo-Saxon precedents. He established a system of public education, built monasteries (notably at Athelney, the site of his refuge), reorganized the military (the burghal system), and developed a navy.
He died on October 26, 899, having ruled for twenty-eight years and transformed Wessex from a beleaguered kingdom into the most powerful state in Britain.
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of your servant Alfred the Great, may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at last, with him, we attain to your eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.