At the centre of Alfred's reformed military defence system was a network of fortresses, or burhs, distributed at strategic points throughout the kingdom.

Historian Richard Abels sees Alfred's educational and military reforms as complementary.

When King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfred's brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelbert and Æthelred.

Alfred's burh system posed such a formidable challenge against Viking attack that when the Vikings returned in 892 and successfully stormed a half-made, poorly garrisoned fortress up the Lympne estuary in Kent, the Anglo-Saxons were able to limit their penetration to the outer frontiers of Wessex and Mercia.

Restoring religion and learning in Wessex, Abels contends, was to Alfred's mind as essential to the defence of his realm as the building of the burhs.

By the end of Alfred's reign in 899 he was the only remaining English king, having reduced Mercia to a dependency of Wessex, governed by his son-in-law Ealdorman Aethelred.

Alfred's son and successor Edward the Elder, then annexed London, Oxford and the surrounding area, probably including Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from Mercia to Wessex.

One story implicates Earl Godwin of Wessex in Alfred's subsequent death, but others blame Harold.

Sherborne was made the capital of Wessex, one of the seven Saxon kingdoms of England, and King Alfred's elder brothers King Ethelbert and King Ethelbald are buried in the abbey.

He is first recorded in 883, when he made a grant to Berkeley Abbey with the approval of King Alfred of Wessex, showing that he acknowledged Alfred's lordship.

Famously, the greater part of the Danish army ( 280 ships-5000 men ) wintered at Appledore in 892-893, before moving into Wessex and suffering defeat at the hands of the Saxons led by King Alfred's son Edward the Elder at Farnham in Surrey.

Alfred's burhs ( later termed boroughs ) consisted mainly of massive earthen walls surrounded by wide ditches, probably reinforced with wooden revetments and palisades.

One of the terms of the surrender was that Guthrum convert to Christianity ; and three weeks later the Danish king and 29 of his chief men were baptised at Alfred's court at Aller, near Athelney, with Alfred receiving Guthrum as his spiritual son.

Characteristically, all of Alfred's innovations were firmly rooted in traditional West Saxon practice, drawing as they did upon the three so-called ‘ common burdens ' of bridge work, fortress repair and service on the king's campaigns that all holders of bookland and royal loanland owed the Crown.

Asser joined several other noted scholars at Alfred's court, including Grimbald, and John the Old Saxon ; all three probably reached Alfred's court within a year of each other.

Characteristically, all of Alfred's innovations were firmly rooted in traditional West Saxon practice, drawing as they did upon the three so-called ‘ common burdens ' of bridge work, fortress repair and service on the king's campaigns that all holders of bookland and royal loanland owed the Crown.

Characteristically, all of Alfred's innovations were firmly rooted in traditional West Saxon practice, drawing as they did upon the three so-called ‘ common burdens ' of bridge work, fortress repair and service on the king's campaigns that all holders of bookland and royal loanland owed the Crown.

( Oddfellows Lodge ) began using the upstairs hall for their meetings, and three years later in 1905, the Oddfellows purchased the building from the Sage family upon Alfred's death.

Other surreal elements to the cartoon include such strange characters as the evil genie of the bottle, living chess pieces from Alfred's chess game, Pied Piper style Clown On The Moon, and aliens who appear like ducks except for their human-style feet, and a " dream " style Wild West episode during which Dolf seems to become aware that he is a character in a cartoon.

She and her brother continued Alfred's policy of building fortified burhs, and in 917-18 they were able to conquer the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and Danish Mercia.

The building is topped by Prince Alfred's Tower, named after the Duke.

Within the parish and close to the border with Wiltshire is the high King Alfred's Tower, a grade I listed building, designed in 1765 by Henry Flitcroft.

In 1839, Tupper published A Modern Pyramid to commemorate a Septuagint of Worthies, being sonnets and essays on seventy famous men and women ; in 1841 An Author's Mind containing skeletons of thirty unpublished books ; in 1844, The Crock of Gold, The Twins, and Heart tales illustrative of social vices, and which passed through numerous editions ; in 1847, Probabilities, an Aid to Faith, giving a new view of Christian evidences ; A Thousand Lines, Hactenus, Geraldine, Lyrics, Ballads for the Times, Things to Come, A Dirge for Wellington, Church Ballads, White Slavery Ballads, American Ballads, Rifle Ballads, King Alfred, a patriotic play ; King Alfred's poems, translated from Anglo-Saxon into corresponding English metres.

Neither Alfred's reformed fyrd nor his burhs alone would have afforded a sufficient defence against the Vikings ; together, however, they robbed the Vikings of their major strategic advantages: surprise and mobility.

Neither Alfred's reformed fyrd nor his burhs alone would have afforded a sufficient defence against the Vikings ; together, however, they robbed the Vikings of their major strategic advantages: surprise and mobility.

Neither Alfred's reformed fyrd nor his burhs alone would have afforded a sufficient defence against the Vikings ; together, however, they robbed the Vikings of their major strategic advantages: surprise and mobility.

According to the Burghal Hidage, a list written in the early 10th century, it was one of the biggest of Alfred's burhs, supported by 1500 hides, units of land required to supply one soldier each for the garrison in time of emergency.

In the one recorded naval engagement in the year 896, Alfred's new fleet of nine ships intercepted six Viking ships in the mouth of an unidentified river along the south of England.

The link between the Mosaic Law and Alfred's code is the " Apostolic Letter ," which explained that Christ " had come not to shatter or annul the commandments but to fulfill them ; and he taught mercy and meekness " ( Intro, 49. 1 ).

It entailed the recruitment of clerical scholars from Mercia, Wales and abroad to enhance the tenor of the court and of the episcopacy ; the establishment of a court school to educate his own children, the sons of his nobles, and intellectually promising boys of lesser birth ; an attempt to require literacy in those who held offices of authority ; a series of translations into the vernacular of Latin works the king deemed " most necessary for all men to know "; the compilation of a chronicle detailing the rise of Alfred's kingdom and house ; and the issuance of a law code that presented the West Saxons as a new people of Israel and their king as a just and divinely inspired law-giver.

King Alfred's ( Alfred the Great ) translation of Orosius ' history of the world uses Angelcynn (- kin ) to describe England and the English people ; Bede used Angelfolc (- folk ); there are also such forms as Engel, Englan ( the people ), Englaland, and Englisc, all showing i-mutation.

It is evident from Asser's account that he spent a good deal of time with Alfred: he recounts meeting Alfred's mother-in-law, Eadburh ( who is not the same Eadburh who died as a begger in Pavia ), on many occasions ; and says that he has often seen Alfred hunting.

The effectiveness of Alfred's ' fleet ' has been debated ; Dr. Kenneth Harl has pointed out that as few as eleven ships were sent to combat the Vikings, only two of which were not beaten back or captured.

King Alfred's Monument When translated from the Anglo-Saxon, the name of the isle, Æthelinga íeg, is often thought to mean the Island of Princes ; if correct this might suggest that the island had royal connections prior to Alfred.

According to Bishop Asser's Life of King Alfred Chippenham was, under Alfred's reign, a royal vill ; historians have also argued, from its proximity to the royal forests at Melksham and Barden, that it was probably a hunting lodge.

Sir Alfred's descendants include the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis ; his son, the television presenter Adam Hart-Davis ; and the Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, a 2nd great grandson.

On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk and King Alfred's Tower, a 50-metre-tall, brick folly designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1772 ; on another hill the temple of Apollo provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent rhododendrons, water, cascades and temples.

Alfred's death was a blow to Cope ; his father was a constant confidant.

Alfred's ships immediately moved to block their escape to the sea.

When that occurred, the Danes rushed back to their boats, which being lighter, with shallower drafts, were freed before Alfred's ships.

It reflected Alfred's own belief in a doctrine of divine rewards and punishments rooted in a vision of a hierarchical Christian world order in which God is the Lord to whom kings owe obedience and through whom they derive their authority over their followers.

In 1660 when a replacement crown called St Edward's Crown was cast for the coronation of Charles II the gold from the aforementioned King Alfred's Crown ( the original crown of Edward the Confessor ) was used, so presumably even after the various jewels had been melted down strenuous efforts were made to recover their components.

At the Battle of Edington, Guthrum ’ s entire army was routed by Alfred's and fled to their encampment where they were besieged by Alfred's fyrd for two weeks.

The Danes promptly slipped off to Exeter, even deeper into Alfred's kingdom, where they concluded in the autumn of 877 a " firm peace " with Alfred, under terms that entailed their leaving his kingdom and not returning.

However, in 1998, the same year that their discussion was published, another Cross-and-Lozenge penny struck in Ceolwulf's name came to light, which appears to be contemporary with Alfred's earliest coinage.

According to Asser, in his Life of Alfred, the Vikings gave Alfred peace hostages, and " swore in addition that they would leave his kingdom immediately, and Guthrum, their king, promised to accept Christianity and to receive baptism at King Alfred's hand ; all of which he and his men fulfilled as they had promised.

They played their first gig as a five-piece at King Alfred's College, Winchester.

Later in 1899 Alfred's uncle the Duke of Connaught and his son Prince Arthur of Connaught renounced their succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The narration is interrupted by Roy, Alfred's lover, with the news that their friend Jerome has been murdered in Russia.

Alfred's much older brother, Augustus, attended the United States Military Academy and served as Assistant Adjutant General and paymaster of the state of Pennsylvania ; his career direction obviously affected his younger brother's and both boys were assured nomination to the Academy by their father's fame from the War of 1812.

A yellow diagonal stripe denotes their year group ; below this is a stripe in the house colours ( for King Alfred's this is a shade of gold ).