Alfred the Great was born to Queen Osburgha and King Ethulwulf in 848. During his childhood, his mother was trying to teach her kids to read, rewarding the first one to accomplish that with an illuminated book. Alfred really wanted that book, so he quickly learned how to read and got the book. Skipping the rest of his childhood and early life, we will go straight to his kingship.
Alfred was twenty-three when he became king. During his reign, he gets attacked by the Danes and has to evacuate his castle. Thanks to the minimal publicity of that time, not very many actually knew what the king looked like, and so he was able to exchange his royal robes for peasant's dress and live for a while at the house of a cowherd.
Later he left and dressed up as a minstral and headed to the Danes' camp. There he was able to spy on them while he played. Eventually he is able to, with
the help of his spying, win the war against the Danes. The outcome to the war was actually pretty good. The Danish leader, Guthrum, becomes a Christian, and
the rest of the Danes move east into an area that gets called the Danelaw and live "like honest englishmen".
Alfred did many good things for his people, and the things he did improved society. He:
- translated books
- punished thieves harshly
- made just laws
- built schools
- removed unjust judges, and
- learned from the wise, passing that knowledge on to others
Alfred died at the age of 53, after ruling for 30 years, in 901 A.D. He died with a good reputation and information for history books around the world.