Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

I 851 kom de først danske og norske vikingene til England, de okkuperte og ødela det som var igjen av London etter romerne. I 886 tok Alfred tilbake London fra de norske og danske vikingene og bygde byen opp til å bli den største byen i kongerike , større enn hovedstaden som da var Westminster, Han overtok etter halv broren Ethelred den I Alfred (849-899), King of Wessex (871-899), referred to as Alfred the Great by English historians from the 16th century onward. This epithet reflects his achievement in saving Wessex from conquest by Viking Danish armies, in preparing the way fo r the creation of the kingdom of England by his successors, and in directing a policy to revive Christian learning in Wessex. Born in Wantage, Alfred was the youngest and apparently the favourite son of Ethelwulf, King of the West Saxons (839-854) by his first wife Osburh. As a very young boy, he accompanied his father to Rome in 853 and again in 854, and was accompanie d by Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, on the return journey in 856. The successive deaths of his three elder brothers between 860 and 871 could hardly have been foreseen. Within a month of his accession, however, he faced a Viking army at Wil ton in 871 and a further invasion took place between 875 and 877. On both occasions Alfred was in no position to decisively defeat the Danes and instead bought them off. A Viking surprise attack in January 878 on Alfred at Chippenham probably had the aim of capturing the king and annexing Wessex. His escape and the desperate period during which he was a fugitive is the context for several famous stories. He raise d an army and in May, at Edington, Wiltshire, he defeated and shortly afterwards obtained the submission of the invaders. This was sealed by the baptism of their king, and the Treaty of Wedmore which defined their territory in eastern England (th e Danelaw). In 886 Alfred took control of London and has been credited with creating a network of defensive centres for his kingdom known as burhs (boroughs), many of which were developed as fortified towns. Some burhs, as in the cases of Londo n and Winchester, were Roman towns whose stone walls still survived, but most were new foundations initially defended by timber palisades and ditches. Thirty of these burhs are listed in a document, the Burghal Hidage, and their existence help s to explain Alfred's success in dealing with fresh Viking invasions in the 890s. His reorganization of military service, so that half of his home guard (the fyrd) was farming, when the other half was in the field against invaders, and his creatio n of a fleet to meet the Vikings on equal terms, were other elements of the same policy. Alfred took the responsibilities of a Christian ruler seriously and the spiritual welfare of his subjects was as important to him as their protection from conquest by Scandinavian pagans. He persuaded scholars to join him from the neighbouring Mer cian kingdom of the west Midlands (Werferth, Plegmund, and Æthelstan), from the Welsh (Asser from St David's), and from France (Grimbald and John). He prepared a law code and with the aid of these scholars he translated a series of religious an d philosophical texts from Latin into English to make them more widely available. His translation of Pastoral Care by Pope Gregory I is the most famous of these and he was still working at this self-imposed task when he died. An enlightened yet di sciplined ruler, he had a clear vision that his kingdom needed a literate and educated clergy as well as warriors and well-maintained defences. As a result, more is known about Alfred than any other Anglo-Saxon king and the creation at Wincheste r of the historical record called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, together with Asser's Life of King Alfred, explains why many later historians came to regard him as a great, even model, king.

Occupation:
Konge 871-900

Family/Spouse: Lady ALSWITHA. Lady was born about 0850; died on 5 Dec 0902. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Edvard 1, død 924, sønn av Alfred den store, kuet danene, den første konge over hele England.

Edward the Elder (died 924), King of Wessex (899-924), son of King Alfred. He succeeded as king of the Angles and Saxons in 899, despite a rebellion led by his cousin Ethelwald with the support of the Danes of Northumbria and East Anglia. Afte r a protracted struggle he defeated the Danes, and in 912, on the death of his brother-in-law Ethelred, alderman of Mercia, he annexed the cities of London and Oxford and their environs. The Danes submitted formally in 918, and soon thereafter th e sovereignty of Edward was acknowledged by the North Welsh, the Scots, the Northumbrians, and the Welsh of Strathclyde. Edward was succeeded by his son Athelstan.1


1"Edward the Elder," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Konge 900 til 924

Family/Spouse: Eadgifu. Eadgifu died on 25 Aug 0953. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Flandern, Belgia

Notes:

Occupation:
prinsesse

Family/Spouse: Baldwin II Den SKALLEDE. Baldwin (son of Baldwin I Jern ARM and Judith Av FRANKRIKE) was born about 870 in Flandern, Belgia; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Athelstan, 895-940, engelsk konge 925-940, vant Wales og Skottland; i norrøne sagaer kalles han Adalstein; hos ham ble Håkon den gode oppfostret.

Athelstan (895-939), king of Wessex (924-939), and the first monarch to take the title of king of England. The grandson of King Alfred, he was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames and seems to have possessed both great ambition and talent. It is suppos ed that his design was to unite, under his personal rule, the entire island of Britain. On the death of his brother-in-law Sihtric (reigned about 921-926), king of Northumbria, Athelstan took possession of his dominions. The other kings of the isl and submitted to him, in some instances voluntarily, and he styled himself Rex totius Britanniae (King of all Britain). A league, composed of Welsh, Scottish, and Danish allies, was formed against him. A fierce and decisive battle was fought (937 ) at Brunanburh, in which the allies were utterly defeated. After this the renown of Athelstan spread to the Continent. He exhibited a deep interest in the welfare of his people, improved the laws, and encouraged the translation of the Bible int o the vernacular.1

1"Athelstan," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
konge 925-940

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Limerick, Irland

Notes:

Occupation:
prinsesse/dronning

Family/Spouse: Sigtrygg II IVARSON. Sigtrygg (son of Ivar INGJALDSON) was born about 845 in Limerick, Irland; died in 927. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Edmund I (921-946), Saxon King of the English (939-946), the son of King Edward the Elder. He participated in the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 and succeeded his half-brother Athelstan as king in 939. The following year Olaf Godfreyson, a Viking rul er of Dublin, seized the territory of Northumbria in northern England and extended his rule as far south as Leicester. After Olaf's death in 941, Edmund made war on the Vikings, expelling them from the country three years later. In 945 Edmund occu pied the kingdom of Strathclyde, west of Northumbria, and turned it over to his ally Malcolm I MacDonald, King of Scotland. The following year Edmund was stabbed to death by a robber and was succeeded by his brother Eadred. Edmund was know n as a legal reformer, especially for his restrictions on the blood feud.1

1"Edmund I," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
konge

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Flandern, Belgia

Notes:

Occupation:
Hertug

Family/Spouse: Alisa Av VERMANDOIS. Alisa (daughter of Herbert II) was born about 0910 in Vermandois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Dublin/Limerick, Ireland

Notes:

Occupation:
Konge

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: England

Notes:

Edgar, called The Peaceful (944-975), Saxon King of the English (959-975), younger son of King Edmund I. In 957, during the rule of his brother, Eadwig, Edgar was chosen by the Mercians and Northumbrians to be their sovereign. One of his first act s was to recall the monastic reformer St Dunstan, whom Eadwig had exiled; Edgar subsequently made Dunstan Bishop of Worcester and London and Archbishop of Canterbury. In 959 Edgar succeeded to the entire English Kingdom. His reign was notable fo r the establishment of national consolidation, reformation of the clergy, improvement of the judiciary system, and formation of a fleet to defend the coast against the Scandinavian Vikings.1

1"Edgar," Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Occupation:
Konge

Family/Spouse: Elfrida. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Flandern, Belgia

Notes:

Occupation:
Hertug

Family/Spouse: Mathilda BILLUNG. Mathilda (daughter of Hermann BILLUNG and Hildegard WESTERBURG) was born about 920 in Sachsen; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]