Alfred the Great

Why is Alfred the Great the best remembered of all British Dark Age rulers?

Who is fifth in line for the British throne? Does anyone know or care? Poor Prince Harry is third in line and his chances of ever being King seem pretty remote. Still, stranger things have happened, such as the case of Alfred the Great. Alfred was the youngest of five brothers. Although their father decreed that succession should pass through all his sons, it probably still seemed unlikely that the crown would ever make it to Alfred. In fact, his name even suggests such thinking. His brothers, Aethelwulf, Aethelbald, Aethelbert, and Aethelred, all bore the title Aethel as part of their name. This is short for Aetheling, meaning prince or heir to the throne. One by one they all became king, and one by one they all died in office, leaving Alfred king before the age of 25.

Alfred the Great is probably the most famous figure of the British Dark Ages and we are lucky to know so much about him. The Dark Ages are so named because so little evidence remains from that time. A few sources are left to us and one of the most academically interesting is Bishop Asser's Life of Alfred. Scholars are currently arguing over the actual source of this work, whether it was really authored by the Bishop Asser who was a close friend to Alfred the Great in his later years. We'll probably never know for sure. Either way everyone seems to agree that the original manuscript (lost in a fire in the eighteenth century) was written sometime before 1000AD which puts it pretty close to Alfred, historically speaking. British Dark Age manuscripts are rare enough, but to have a biography of a king is almost unique. We should all feel pretty lucky that such a work survived to tell us most of what we know about the unlikely king who became Alfred the Great.

And, if you are wondering, the fifth in line for the British Throne is Princess Beatrice of York, eldest daughter of Prince Andrew, Brother of Prince Charles.