EnglandRecovery from the Viking Occupation

Alfred the Great vs. The Vikings

Alfred Jewel

‘Alfred had me made’

Found near his refuge in 878 at Athelney. Oxford

Truce with Guthrum

“Engliscne & Deniscne”

Treaty

This is the peace that King Alfred and King Guthrum, and the witan of all the English nation, and all the people that are in East Anglia, have all ordained and with oaths confirmed, for themselves and for their descendants, as well for born as for unborn, who reck of God's mercy or of ours.

Treaty

• 878 Guthrum is baptized• Agrees to abandon campaign against

Wessex• Guthrum retreats to Gloucester, then

Cirencester and East Anglia

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 880 … went among the East Angles, where they divided out the country and began to settle.’

Asser, Life of Alfred

Treaty

1. Set land boundaries along rivers and a Roman road..

2. If a man be slain, we estimate all equally dear, English and Danish, at 8 half marks of pure gold; except the ceorl who resides on rented land and their [the Danes'] freedmen; they also are equally dear, either at 200 shillings.

Treaty

3. And if a king's thegn be accused of manslaying, if he dare clear himself on oath, let him do that with 12 king's thegns. – For a man of lesser degree, 11 equals and one

thegn– Similarly for civil suits above a threshold.

Alfred-Military Reforms

• Fyrd and hidage• Burhs• Navy• Rotating army

Anglo-Saxon Armed Groups

Law of Ine• “Thieves" less than seven• "band of marauders" [or "war-band"] 7-35• Here army >35• Fyrd Militia The military array of the whole

country before the Conquest; also, the obligation to military service.[OED]

Fyrd

Offa• Service for expeditions,

bridges and construction of fortifications

• Conscription as needed

Alfred• Service for expeditions,

bridges and construction of fortifications

• Conscription on regular basis – standing army

• Home guard to maintain burhs

• Add thegns as mounted warriors to match Viking mobility

Support for fyrd

Offa• Tribal hidage - tribute

Alfred• Burghal hidage based on

size of burhs• Taxation for ship building in

later period

Burh

• Defensible dwelling house → Fortified town

• House populace during raids• Use prehistoric and Roman fortifications• Maintained by local population

~one man/four feet of perimeter

Burhs – Learning from the enemy

• Vikings used Roman defenses at York in 867

• Vikings build fortifications at Reading in 871 and Repton in 874

• Use fortified bases as foci for obtaining local supplies and moving forward

Burhs - Location

• Strategic points – River crossings– Road junctions

• Use of Roman structures and roads• Within ~days travel from any point

Burhs: Locations

Defensive Fortifications-Burhs

Offa• Offa’s Dyke• Burhs

– Combine bridges and fortifications to secure rivers

• Church and administrative centers?

• May have been used by Vikings as administrative centers

Alfred• Planned set of burhs to

insure regional defense• Some reuse Offa’s sites

Reuse of Fortifications

  Romanfortified

city

Mid-Saxon Vikingarmy baseor trading

center

Alfredburh

Bedford   X X X

Cambridge X X X X

Godmanchester /Huntingdon

X X X X

Hcreford   X   XLeicester X X X ?Lincoln X X X  

London X X X X

Nottingham   X X X

Northampton   X X X

Oxford       X

Stamford   ? X XTamworth       XWinchcombe       ?

Worcester X     X(Canterbury) X X    (Norwich)   X   X

Burhs – Further significance

• Secure storage of supplies for fyrd leads to marketing areas and foster trade

• Location of mints• Means for political control of the area

– Provision of haga for king or local leaders– Coincidence of hidal area with later boroughs

• Under Æthelflaed, Edward the Elder and Athelstan these became the basis for territorial extension

Burhs – Further significance II

• Regular distributed defense• Basis for local administrative control• Haga grant of land within the burhs that

conferred political obligation• Under Æthelflaed, Edward the Elder and

Athelstan these became the basis for territorial extension

Oxford

Oxford-Burh

Wallingford, Burh Wall

Ramparts Wareham and Cricklade

Design of burhs• Rectangular

– Except where constrained by topography

• Main street– Side streets at right angles

• Units in 2-4-8-16 ratio• Use 16.5’ pole with 0.7%

error

Alfred’s Navy

• Use of captured Viking ships(885)• Destruction of ships at Viking bases (893,

895)• 896 De novo production of large 60 oar

ships– Report 90 ships; 3380 sailors– Viking forces of 200 ships

Alfred and Anglo-Saxon Literature

• Religion – Translation of Gregory, Boethius, etc.

• History – Anglo-Saxon Chronicle• Law – Codification of Laws

Alfred’s Advisors

• Grimbald, Benedictine (monk from France)• John the Old Saxon, Abbot of Athelney

(monk from Saxony or France)• Plegemund, archbishop of Canterbury

– Organize sees on shire basis• Werferth, bishop of Worcester• Asser, authorized biographer

Alfred’s Pastoral Care

Recovery

• 886 Captures London– Gives control to his son-in-law, Æthelred of

Mercia• Reoccupation of Roman London• 892 Defends Rochester from a new Viking

assault

Restoration of London

Monasteries and Churches

• Athelney Abbey. Somerset• Shaftesbury – nunnery w. daughter,

Ethelgiva• St. Clement Danes

2nd Viking War

Alfred’s Burghal Hidage

Reconquest of the Danelaw

After Alfred

• Edward the elder, King of Wessex• Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia called

Myrcna hlaford (Lord of the Mercians) married to Alfred’s daughter, Æthelflæd called Myrcna hlœfdige (Lady of the Mercians) after Æthelred’s death

More Burhs

• 25 burhs established by Edward and Æthelflæd – Chester, Manchester on Roman foundations– Buckingham (2), Hertford(2), Bedford,

Nottingham used to attack Danes– Welsh border (temporary?)– Bridgnorth, Tamworth, Stafford, Hertford,

Warwick, Maldon develop into later towns

Edward the Elder and Æthelflæd

Cuerdale Hoard, ~905

Goldsborough Hoard, North Yorkshire

Silver penny of Edward 'the Elder’ or Ethelflaed

Jorvik (York)

• 866 Captured by Ivar the Boneless• Ragnall (d. 920), grandson of Ivar• Sihtric Cáech (d. 927), brother of Ragnall?

– Allied w. Æthelstan• Erik Bloodaxe (d.954), King of Northumbria

including York; last Viking King of York

“St. Peter’s” Penny York, ~910

Athelstan, King of all Britain (REX TO BRIT)

Marriage as Diplomacy

Æthelstan's sister, Eadgifu marries Charles the Simple, King of the Franks922 Charles displaced by Robert, count of ParisEadgifu returns to England with her son, Louis d'Outremer926 Sister, Eadhild marries Hugh, duke of the Franks and son of Count Robert

Marriage as Diplomacy

929 Two sisters sent for Otto of Saxony to choose; Otto marries Eadgyth.

Other sister, Ælfgifu, marries into Burgundian royal family

Otto becomes Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor

Athelstan (924-939), Winchester mint

Edward the Elder and Athelstan, Kings

Eadred (946-955)

Edmund (939-946)

• Law codes– Church reform– Regulate violence including the feud– Public order; Cattle rustling

Edmund (939-946)

Eric Bloodaxe (947-954), Last Viking King of York

Eadwig