They spent a year traveling and on the way back, stopped at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks. Aethelwulf decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome and took Alfred with him. Pope Leo IV had an investiture ceremony where he made Alfred a consul (official of Rome).Īround 855, it is believed that Osburh died. When he was four, his father sent him on a trip to Rome. Although he had tutors, he laments in his biography to Asser that he didn’t learn to read English until he was older and he didn’t learn Latin until he was a grown man. Alfred spent most of his childhood at court in the care of his parents and his tutors.
At the time of his birth, the likelihood of him becoming king was remote. He had three older brothers and a sister. His father was King Aethelwulf of Wessex and his mother was Osburh. The most likely date and birthplace for Alfred was in 849 in Wantage.
#King alfred vikings sickness trial#
The Vikings came back in 892, putting Alfred’s new defenses on trial and were repulsed in 896 allowing Alfred to resume his reforms. Most importantly, he started a curriculum of education which he personally participated in. He transformed the defense of the realm, rebuilt his naval fleet, and overhauled the law codes. His great victory in 878 at Edington allowed for a period of relative calm so Alfred could begin a program of far reaching reform. Alfred managed to turn the Vikings away and set up conditions on the island for the unification of England. From the moment Alfred became King, Wessex was in a desperate struggle against the “heathen army”. On October 26, 899, Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, died. “Therefore a man never attains virtue and excellence through his power rather he attains power and authority through his virtue… Study wisdom, therefore, and when you have learned it, do not neglect it, for I say to you without hesitation that you can attain authority through wisdom”.
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