Family and Early Years
To my lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, the honorable and devout ruler of all Christians on the island of Britain: Asser, least of all God’s servants, wishes a thousandfold prosperity in both lives, according to the desires of his heart.
1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal estate of Wantage in Berkshire. Berkshire receives its name from Berroc Wood, where box trees grow very abundantly.
His genealogy is traced in this order: King Alfred was the son of King Æthelwulf, who was the son of Egbert, son of Ealhmund, son of Eafa, son of Eoppa, son of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons, were brothers. Ine went to Rome, where he honorably ended this present life and entered the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ.
Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred, son of Ceolwald, son of Cutha, son of Cuthwine, son of Ceawlin, son of Cynric, son of Creoda, son of Cerdic, son of Elesa, [son of Esla], son of Gewis, from whom the Welsh call that entire people Gegwis, [son of Wig, son of Freawine, son of Freothegar], son of Brond, son of Beldeag, son of Woden, son of Frithowald, son of Frealaf, son of Frithuwulf, son of Finn, [son of] Godwulf, son of Geata. This Geata was long worshiped as a god by the heathen. Sedulius mentions him in his metrical Paschal Poem:
> If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe, > While in a turgid stream their numbers flow; > Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage, > Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage; > If by the art of song they still revive > The taint of ill, and bid old vices live; > If monumental guilt they sing, and lies > Commit to books in magisterial wise; > Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre, > And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir, > Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone, > And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own?
This Geata was the son of Tætwa, son of Beaw, son of Sceldwea, son of Heremod, son of Itermod, son of Hathra, son of Hwala, son of Bedwig, son of Sceaf, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, [son of Jared], son of Mahalalel, son of Kenan, son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam.
2. Alfred’s Maternal Genealogy
Alfred’s mother was named Osburh. She was an extremely devout woman, noble in character as well as in descent. She was the daughter of Oslac, King Æthelwulf’s famous cupbearer.
Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes, specifically from the line of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and ealdormen. They received possession of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and from his son Cynric, their cousin. At a place called Wihtgaraburg, they killed the few British inhabitants they could find on the island, for the others had either been killed or escaped into exile.
3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 851, the third year of King Alfred’s life, Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, and the men of Devon fought against the heathen at a place called Wicganbeorg. The Christians won the victory.
That same year, the heathen spent the winter for the first time on the island called Sheppey, meaning “Sheep Island.” It lies in the River Thames between Essex and Kent, though nearer Kent than Essex, and contains a fine monastery.
4. The Danes Sack Canterbury
That same year, a great heathen army came with three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the River Thames. They sacked Dorubernia, or Canterbury, [and also London], which lies on the north bank of the Thames at the borders of Essex and Middlesex, though in truth the city belongs to Essex. They then put Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, and the entire army he had led against them to flight.
5. The Battle of Aclea
After doing these things, the heathen host entered Surrey, a shire on the southern bank of the River Thames and west of Kent. Æthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and his son Æthelbald fought against them for a long time at a place called Aclea, meaning “Oak Plain,” with their entire army.
After a lengthy battle, fought with great courage on both sides, most of the heathen horde was utterly destroyed and killed. We have never heard of them being struck down so severely in a single day, either before or since, in any region. The Christians won an honorable victory and kept possession of the battlefield.
6. The Danes Defeated at Sandwich
That same year, Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere killed a large heathen army at Sandwich in Kent and captured nine ships from their fleet. The other ships escaped.
7. Æthelwulf Assists Burgred
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 853, the fifth year of King Alfred’s life, Burgred, King of the Mercians, sent messengers to ask Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, to help him bring the inhabitants of Mid-Wales under his rule. These people, who lived between Mercia and the western sea, were resisting Burgred beyond measure.
As soon as he received the message, King Æthelwulf mobilized his army and advanced against Wales with King Burgred. Immediately upon entering the country, he ravaged it and brought it under Burgred’s rule. Having done this, he returned home.
8. Alfred at Rome
That same year, King Æthelwulf sent his previously mentioned son Alfred to Rome with an honorable escort of nobles and commoners. Pope Leo then presided over the apostolic see. In the city, he anointed the child Alfred as king and, adopting him as his son, confirmed him.
9. Other Events of 853
That same year, Ealdorman Ealhere and the men of Kent, together with Huda and the men of Surrey, fought bravely and resolutely against a heathen army on the island of Thanet, called Tenet in the Saxon language and Ruim in Welsh. At first, the Christians were victorious. The battle lasted a long time. Many fell on both sides and drowned in the water, and both ealdormen were killed there.
In the same year, after Easter, Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, gave his daughter to Burgred, King of the Mercians, to be his queen. Their marriage was celebrated in princely fashion at the royal estate of Chippenham.
10. The Heathen Winter on Sheppey
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 855, the seventh year of the previously mentioned king’s life, a great heathen army spent the entire winter on the island of Sheppey.
11. Æthelwulf Journeys to Rome
That same year, the devout King Æthelwulf freed one-tenth of his entire kingdom from every royal service and tribute. For the redemption of his own soul and those of his predecessors, he offered it on the cross of Christ as an everlasting grant to God, the One and Three.
In the same year, he traveled to Rome with great honor. Because he loved Alfred more than his other sons, he took the previously mentioned King Alfred with him on the same journey for a second time. He remained in Rome for an entire year. Afterward, he returned to his own country, bringing with him Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.
12. Æthelbald’s Rebellion
Meanwhile, while King Æthelwulf was spending this short time overseas, a wicked deed contrary to the morals of all Christians was committed in the western part of Selwood. King Æthelbald, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have conspired to prevent King Æthelwulf from being received back into his kingdom after his return from Rome.
Many attribute this unfortunate event, unheard of in all previous ages, to the bishop and ealdorman alone, saying that it resulted from their counsel. Many others attribute it entirely to King Æthelbald’s insolence, because he was obstinate in this matter and in many other wrongdoings. I have heard certain people relate this, and the outcome of what followed proved it.
When Æthelwulf returned from Rome, his previously mentioned son, together with all his counselors, or rather, the plotters lying in wait for him, attempted the crime of driving the king from his own kingdom. But God did not permit it, nor would the nobles of all Wessex consent to it.
A war between father and son would have exposed Wessex to irreparable danger. Indeed, it would have caused the whole nation to wage civil war with increasing fierceness and cruelty as different people took one side or the other. Through the father’s extraordinary mercy, supported by the consent of all the nobles, the previously undivided kingdom was therefore divided between the two. The eastern districts were given to the father and the western districts to the son. Thus the unjust and obstinate son ruled where the father should rightfully have reigned, for western Wessex is always superior to eastern Wessex.
13. Judith’s Position in Wessex
When Æthelwulf returned from Rome, the whole nation rejoiced in its ruler’s arrival, as was fitting. If he had allowed them, they would have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald and all his counselors from the kingdom. But as I have said, Æthelwulf acted with great mercy and wise counsel. He would not permit this, for fear that it would endanger the kingdom.
He also commanded Judith, the daughter of King Charles whom he had received from her father, to sit beside him on the royal throne. Despite the perverse custom of that nation, none of his nobles disputed or opposed this, even to the end of his life.
The West Saxon nation does not allow the king’s wife to sit beside him or to be called queen, but calls her only the king’s wife. The leading men of that land say that this refusal, or rather disgrace, arose because of a certain obstinate and malevolent queen of their nation. She acted so contrary to her lord and the entire people that the hatred she brought upon herself not only caused her own exclusion from the queen’s throne, but also inflicted the same dishonor upon the women who came after her.
Because of this queen’s extreme wickedness, all the inhabitants of the land bound themselves by an oath never in their lives to allow a king to reign over them if he commanded his queen to sit beside him on the royal throne.
I think many people do not know how this perverse and detestable custom first arose in Wessex, contrary to the customs of all the Germanic peoples. It therefore seems right to explain it more fully. I heard the story from my lord Alfred the truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often told it to me. He, in turn, had heard it from many truthful men who related the event, or rather, expressly preserved its memory.
14. Offa and Eadburh
In recent times, there was a valiant king in Mercia who was feared by all the neighboring kings and states. His name was Offa, and he had the great dike built from sea to sea between Wales and Mercia.
His daughter Eadburh married Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. As soon as she had secured the king’s favor and virtually all the power of the realm, she began to rule tyrannically, after the manner of her father. She cursed every man whom Beorhtric loved and did everything hateful to God and humanity. She accused everyone she could before the king and treacherously deprived them either of life or of power.
If she could not obtain the king’s consent, she would kill them with poison. This is known to have happened to a certain young man whom the king loved. When she found that she could not accuse him before the king, she poisoned him.
It is also said that King Beorhtric unknowingly tasted the poison. The queen had intended it for the young man, not for him, but the king took it first, and so they both died.
15. Eadburh’s Later Life
After King Beorhtric’s death, the queen could no longer remain among the Saxons. She sailed overseas with countless treasures and came to Charles, King of the Franks.
As she stood before the dais, bringing the king many gifts, Charles said to her, “Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son, who stands with me on this dais.”
Without thinking, she foolishly replied, “If I may choose, I choose your son, because he is younger than you.”
Charles smiled and answered, “If you had chosen me, you would have had my son. But since you have chosen him, you shall have neither me nor him.”
Nevertheless, he gave her a large convent of nuns. She laid aside her secular clothing, put on the nuns’ habit, and served as abbess for a few years. Just as she is said to have lived irrationally in her own country, she appears to have behaved even more irrationally among a foreign people. At last, she was caught in illicit relations with a man of her own nation and expelled from the monastery by order of King Charles.
From then until her death, she lived shamefully in poverty and misery. At last, accompanied by only one slave, she begged daily for her bread at Pavia, as I have heard from many people who saw her. There she died wretchedly.
16. Æthelwulf’s Will
King Æthelwulf lived for two years after returning from Rome. During that time, among his many other good deeds in this present life, he reflected that he would depart by the way of all flesh. To prevent his sons from quarreling unreasonably after their father’s death, he ordered a will, or letter of instructions, to be written.
In it, he commanded that his kingdom be properly divided between his two eldest sons; that his private inheritance be divided among his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and that the money he left behind be divided among provisions for his soul, his sons, and his nobles.
I have thought it proper to record a few of the many examples of this prudent policy so that posterity may imitate them. I will include those understood to concern chiefly the needs of the soul. It is unnecessary to include the others, which concern only human stewardship, in this little work, lest excessive length disgust those who read it or wish to hear it.
For the benefit of his soul, which he had sought to promote in everything from the first flower of his youth, he directed that his successors provide one poor person, whether native or foreign, for every ten hides throughout all his hereditary lands with food, drink, and clothing until the final Day of Judgment. This command applied, however, only as long as the land remained inhabited by both people and cattle and did not become deserted.
He also commanded that a large sum of money, namely three hundred mancuses, be carried to Rome each year for the good of his soul. It was to be distributed as follows: one hundred mancuses in honor of St. Peter, especially to buy oil for the lights of that apostolic church on Easter Eve and at cockcrow; one hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, likewise to buy oil for the church of St. Paul the Apostle and fill its lamps on Easter Eve and at cockcrow; and one hundred mancuses for the universal apostolic pope.
17. Æthelbald Marries Judith
When King Æthelwulf was dead [and buried at Winchester], his son Æthelbald acted contrary to God’s prohibition, the dignity of a Christian, and the customs even of all the heathen. He entered his father’s bed and married Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks, bringing great disgrace upon himself in the judgment of all who heard of it. After his father, he governed the West Saxons in lawlessness for two and a half years.
18. Æthelbert’s Reign
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 860, the twelfth year of King Alfred’s life, [King] Æthelbald [died and] was buried at Sherborne. His brother Æthelbert, as was right, added Kent, Surrey, and Sussex to his realm.
During his reign, a great heathen army came from the sea and attacked and devastated the city of Winchester. As the heathen returned to their ships laden with plunder, Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire, faced them bravely with his men, as did Ealdorman Æthelwulf with the men of Berkshire.
Battle was joined in the town, and the heathen were killed on every side. Finding themselves unable to resist, they fled like women, and the Christians held the battlefield.
19. Æthelbert’s Death
Æthelbert governed his kingdom for five years in peace, love, and honor. Then, to the great grief of his subjects, he went the way of all flesh. He lies honorably buried at Sherborne beside his brother.
20. The Danes in Kent
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 864, the heathen wintered on the Isle of Thanet and made a firm treaty with the people of Kent, who promised them money in return for keeping their agreement.
Meanwhile, however, the heathen slipped out of their camp secretly by night, after the manner of foxes. They disregarded their promises and scorned the offered money, which they knew was less than they could obtain by plunder. They then ravaged the entire eastern coast of Kent.
21. Æthelred’s Accession
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 866, the eighteenth year of King Alfred’s life, Æthelred, brother of King Æthelbert, assumed the government of the West Saxon realm.
That same year, a great heathen fleet came to Britain from the Danube and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, which in the Saxon language is called East Anglia. There they became, for the most part, an army of cavalry.
But, to speak in nautical terms, I will no longer commit my vessel to the waves and sails or steer a roundabout course far from land through so many disastrous wars and successive years. Instead, I will return to what first prompted me to undertake this work. I think it right to include briefly here the little I have learned about the character of my revered lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years of his infancy and boyhood.
22. Alfred’s Upbringing
He was loved extraordinarily by both his father and mother, and indeed by all the people, more than all his brothers. He was raised with his brothers at the royal court and was their constant companion.
As he advanced through infancy and youth, he appeared more handsome than his brothers. His face, speech, and manners were also more pleasing than theirs. From his cradle, his noble birth and noble nature implanted in him a love of wisdom above all things, even amid all the concerns of this present life.
But, shameful as it is to say, through the unworthy neglect of his parents and guardians, he remained illiterate until he was twelve years old or more. Nevertheless, day and night he listened attentively to the Saxon poems he often heard recited. Because he learned readily, he kept them in his memory.
He eagerly practiced every branch of hunting and pursued the chase with great diligence and success. His skill and good fortune in this art, as in all God’s other gifts, surpassed everyone else’s, as I have often witnessed.
23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems
One day, his mother was showing him and his brothers a book of Saxon poetry that she held in her hand. At last she said, “I will give this book to whichever of you can learn it soonest.”
Stirred by these words, or rather by divine inspiration, and attracted by the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the book, [Alfred] spoke before all his brothers. Though they were older than he was, they were not greater in grace.
He asked his mother, “Will you really give the book to whichever one of us can first understand it and recite it to you?”
His mother smiled with satisfaction and confirmed what she had said before. “Yes,” she said, “I will.”
The boy then took the book from her hand, went to his teacher, and learned it by heart. Afterward, he brought it back to his mother and recited it.
24. Alfred’s Handbook
After this, [he learned] the daily course, that is, the celebration of the hours, and later certain Psalms and many prayers. These were contained in a book that, as I myself have seen, he kept against his chest day and night and always carried with him for prayer through all the activity and business of this present life.
But, sad to say, he could not satisfy his ardent desire to acquire the liberal arts because, as he often said, there were at that time no good teachers anywhere in the kingdom of the West Saxons.
25. Alfred’s Love of Learning
With many laments and heartfelt sighs, he would confess that this had been one of the greatest difficulties and obstacles of his present life. When he was young and possessed both the leisure and the ability to learn, he had no teachers. When he was older, he was continually occupied, even harassed, day and night. He suffered from many illnesses unknown to all the physicians of this island, from the inward and outward anxieties of kingship, and from heathen invasions by sea and land. Though he then had some supply of teachers and writers, it was entirely impossible for him to study.
Yet amid the obstacles of this present life, from childhood to the present day [and, as I believe, even until his death], he has continued to feel the same insatiable desire.
26. The Danes Occupy York
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 867, the nineteenth year of the previously mentioned King Alfred’s life, the heathen army already described moved from East Anglia to the city of York, which is situated on the north bank of the River Humber.
27. The Northumbrians Defeated
At that time, through the devil’s instigation, violent discord arose among the Northumbrians, as always tends to happen to a people who have incurred the wrath of God.
As I have said, the Northumbrians had expelled their lawful king, Osbert, from his realm and placed a certain tyrant named Ælla, who was not of royal birth, over the kingdom’s affairs. But when the heathen approached, the discord was somewhat quieted through divine providence and the nobles’ efforts for the common good. Osbert and Ælla united their resources, assembled an army, and marched to York.
At their approach, the heathen fled and attempted to defend themselves within the city walls. When the Christians saw the heathen fleeing in terror, they decided to pursue them inside the city’s fortifications and demolish the wall. They succeeded because the city was not then surrounded by firm or strong walls.
Once the Christians had made the breach they intended, many entered the city together with the heathen. Driven by anguish and necessity, the heathen made a fierce attack upon them. They killed, routed, and cut down the Christians both inside and outside the walls.
Almost the entire Northumbrian army fell in that battle, and both kings were killed. The survivors made peace with the heathen.
28. The Death of Ealhstan
In the same year, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, went the way of all flesh after honorably governing his see for fifty years. He was buried in peace at Sherborne.
