King Alfred the Great Essay

Asser looked up to Einhard and had a copy of Einhard’s, The Life of Charlemagne. He used it to help inspire him on how to be successful in writing The Life of King Alfred. Opposed to Einhard, Asser wrote his book about Alfred when Alfred was alive. Alfred was King of Wessex reigning from 871-899. Alfred endured many obstacles dealing with the war, however, he never gave up. Alfred became King in the middle of war. He defeated the Vikings in April of 878. Vikings were Scandinavian people who left homes to raid, pillage, trade, settle or all of the above. Many nations were paying tribute to the Vikings so that they could stop their attacks. Gunthrum, in charge of half of the Great Army led a surprise attack on Wessex, Alfred’s men were repulsed. Alfred secured his loyalty of his men by defeating the Vikings. Alfred was also a religious King, he prayed every night; certain psalms; and he learnt the daily course. He was not wasteful in which he gave money to the church. Unlike Charlemagne, Alfred the Great was a very literate person. He was big on education. He created education reforms, educated his sons and his royal court, tried to learn how to translate Latin into old English was always wanting to learn more. Alfred was deemed pious because he took care of the poor. Alfred was an active

Edward IV's Reign and Success Edward’s reign was mainly stable and successful. He was the first king to die financially solvent in over 200 years due mainly to his careful avoidance of major foreign wars and by the end of his reign there was evident recovery of prosperity in the southern counties. However, Edward died too early to ensure that his heir would succeed him unchallenged. He had not created a collective commitment to the future of his dynasty that would make his heir strong enough to survive a minority reign. Although this was his main failure, he did not wholly succeed in all other actions through his reign.

It was a time of many small kingdoms and attacks. In the quote the Anglo Saxons explain about the raids of the “Northmen” or the vikings, it tells how

The Anglo-Saxons prior to 1000AD were as a race fierce. They possessed great courage. Beowulf reflects their fierceness and courage in a variety of ways. Beowulf complains to Unferth in the Danish court: “Grendel would never have done such horrors … if you were so fierce as you suppose.” The hero, who had earlier killed nine sea monsters, opted to face Grendel in mortal combat WITHOUT sword or shield or the assistance of others: “but I shall seize my enemy in my hand grip and fight.” Later when the hero’s

Alfred the great was the most famous ruler of all the Anglo-Saxons. He was the tenacious ruler of the West Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons were fighting the Vikings. Alfreds four brothers sadly died so the crown was passed to him. Legend tells us, when he was fleeing from the Vikings he found a village and a woman asked him to watch her cakes while she rushed to feed her animals. He was so consentrated on planning an attack on the Vikings that the cakes burned. Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings and made peace with them which caused the Viking king to convert to Christianity. He established schools to educate his people. Alfred was a really prominent ruler.

In 865, the Great Heathen Army attacked East Anglia (England). After that invasion failed, they attacked England once again in 1066, but were defeated at the battle of Stamford Bridge. The Vikings attack England again during the Reign of Canute the Great Again in 1066, the Normans invaded and conquered England. The Vikings could not defeat Paris but the King was so impressed that he gave me land.

Charlemagne died at the age of 72 and designed his only surviving son Lewis as heir to his kingship. He was interred at his beloved cathedral in 814 A.D. In his will, he provided for the church, the cities in the kingdom, all of his children, grandchildren, palace workers, servants and the poor.

In 896 AD, Alfred, the King of England, defeated an army of Danish invaders. King Alfred, also known as Alfred the Great, went on to found the first English navy. He invited learned men from other countries to England to teach the British clergy Latin, and he supervised and assisted in the translation of many Latin books into English.

The battles between Alfred and the Vikings that demonstrate his responses to the Viking threat are the Battle of Ashdown, Alfred’s battles at sea, and the Battle

In the middle of September, England was invaded by Harold Hardrada, King of Norway. He was accompanied by Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, Harold's unruly and discontented brother, who had earlier been banished and his earldom confiscated

Alfred the Great was born in the royal village of Want age. He was born in the year 846 A.D... He was born into a family that supposedly could trace their roots all the way back to Adam. His father was king Ethelwulf and his mother was Oostburg noble both by birth and nature. He grew up being loved by everybody around him, his family, friends and even all the people. He was more loved by the people than his older brothers. He was well educated by the court. But even though he was well educated he never got to learn what he wanted to learn the most: liberal arts. He couldn't learn this because there were no good teachers in the kingdom of the West-Saxons.

The Vikings organized attacks very well, they set more and more extravagant goals, and soon met them. Their attacks on England were successful mostly because no one expected them. In May of 841, Danish Vikings led by a man named Asgeir sailed the River Seine, and they burnt the city Rouen to the ground. Next they moved into St. Denis, but decided that it was in their best interest not to provoke the passing Frankish army. But they went right back at it again in 842 they destroyed Quenstovic, the Frisian harbor town. In 845 they attacked the tri-divided Holy Roman Empire, all at the same time!

Charlemagne also known as Charles the Great, was born around the 2nd of April 747 and died on the 28th of January 814. He was noted down in history as King of the Franks, a Germanic-speaking people who invaded western Rome residing in current day Germany, the King of the Lombards, Germanic people who resided in parts of the Italian peninsula, and finally was the First Holy Roman Emperor. Another name that has been bestowed upon Charlemagne was the title “Father of Europe”. Due to the Carolingian empires rule, Charlemagne was able to unite nearly all of western Europe. The last empire to do so was the Roman Empire and no other country would unite Europe until the eighteen hundred under napoleon. Charlemagne’s father was named Pepin the Short, a name that deceives most on the battlefield due to his incredible and unmatched strength. Pepin the Short was the predecessor to Charlemagne as the king of the Franks. Pepin also set up the Carolingian dynasty but did not peak its power until the crowning of Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s successor was his son, Louis the Pious, who would be dissimilar from Charlemagne. In fact, for most of his reign, Louis the Pious would have to deal with many civil wars which foreshadowed the diminishing strength of the Carolingian empire. Charlemagne would serve as the prototype for most of medieval western Europe for the next millennium until the founding of the new world.

On the other hand, the weaknesses of the Anglo-Saxons needs to be considered in terms of its contribution towards the success of the Vikings with this particularly being centred around King AEthelred. This particular alternative factor is noteworthy as AEthelred's reign (978-1013) was characterised by the return of Viking raids in Britain. His mistakes are particularly significant due to the expectations of him to live up to the reputation of King Alfred the Great and his success against the Viking threat at the battle of the Edington (878) and through the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. Reference to AEthelred as being “the unready” already allows us to have some idea of his abilities as king. Firstly, one particularly unsuccessful strategy he took on involved Vikings being employed as mercenaries which started in 994 and also involved a pledge of loyalty in exchange for gifts (including both land

Although King Arthur is one of the most well-known figures in the world, his true identity remains a mystery. Attempts to identify the historical Arthur have been unsuccessful, since he is largely a product of fiction. Most historians, though, agree that the real Arthur was probably a battle leader of the Britons against the Anglo-Saxons in the sixthth century. In literature, King Arthur's character is unique and ever changing, taking on a different face in every work. There is never a clearly definitive picture that identifies Arthur's character. It is therefore necessary to look at a few different sources to get better insight into the character of Arthur, the once and future king.