#house of wessex

ALFRED THE GREAT //  ÆLFRED OF WESSEX

born in 849 to Æthelwulf (King of Wessex) and Osburh (the first wife of Æthelwulf). He became King of Wessex on April 23rd, 871 shortly after his brother Æthelred died. As king, Alfred the Great defended his kingdom from the Vikings that attempted to take over Wessex and by the time of his death, he was the dominant ruler of England. Alfred is one of the only two English monarchs who were given the epithet “the Great” (which was given by writers in the sixteenth century) and he was the first to style himself as “King of the Anglo-Saxons.” 

Alfred is said to have been a devout Christian and a pious leader. He promoted English rather than Latin so that the translations he had commissioned would be viewed as untainted by late Roman Catholics with influences from the Normans. Alfred was described as a learned and merciful man with a gracious and level-headed nature. He also encouraged education in his kingdom, as well as improving the legal system, military structure and the quality of his people’s lives. 

While his biographer was Bishop Asser (who Alfred commissioned) did emphasize the more positive aspects and didn’t dwell on any of the ruthlessness that any King during that time would have, later historians also reinforced his favorable image. In 1441, Henry VI attempted to have Alfred the Great canonized as a saint. The attempt failed but some Catholics do regard him as a saint, the Anglican Communion regards him as a Christian hero (with a feast day on October 26th). And he his often found depicted in the stained glasses in Church of England parish churches. 

Throughout his life, Alfred the Great suffered through a painful illness. And while his death, which occurred on October 26th, 899 was due to unknown causes, his illness may very well have been the cause. Due to the detailed account in Bishop Asser’s biography of the late King, many modern doctors have given possible diagnoses. It’s mostly believed that he suffered from Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease) or haemorrhoidal disease (Hemorrhoids). 

Alfred the Great was originally (but temporarily) buried in the Old Minster in Winchester. Four years after his death, he moved to the New Minster (which may have been built for him). When the New Minster moved to Hyde in 1100, the monks and Alfred’s body (and those presumably of his wife and children) were transferred to Hyde Abbey.  During Henry VIII’s reign, in 1539 the church was demolished (but the graves were left intact). In 1788, while a prison was being constructed by convicts, the graves were probably rediscovered. Coffins were stripped of lead and the bones were scattered and/or lost. The prison was then demolished between 1846 and 1850. And excavations in 1866 and 1897 were inconclusive. In 1866, an amateur antiquarian named John Mellor recovered somes from the site and claimed they were King Alfred’s. They then went to a vicar of the nearby St. Bartholomew’s Church and were buried in an unmarked grave. In 1999, an archaeological excavation uncovered a second pit in front of where the high alter would have been. The dig uncovered foundations of the abbey buildings and some bones (which at the time suggested they were Alfred but were later proved to belong to an elderly woman). 

In 2013, the Diocese of Winchester exhumed the bones from the unmarked grave at St. Bartholomew’s and put them in a secure storage. They were radiocarbon dated which told them that the bones were from the 1300′s, meaning they aren’t Alfred’s. However, in January 2014, a fragment of a pelvis bone from the 1999 dig was also radiocarbon dated and has been suggested that it either belongs to Alfred or his son Edward the Elder. But it still remains unproven.