Alfred the Great and Modern England

[doodle•bug]

Ælfred of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons

Alfred the Great (Old English: Ælfrēd, Ælfrǣd, "elf counsel" or "wise elf"; 849 – 26 October 899) was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.

Alfred was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. His father died when he was young and three of Alfred's brothers reigned in turn. Taking the throne after the death of his brother Æthelred, Alfred spent several years dealing with Viking invasions. After a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 Alfred made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as Danelaw in the North of England. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of the Viking leader, Guthrum.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England. He is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet "the Great", the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". Details of Alfred's life are described in a work by the 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser.

Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in English rather than Latin, and improved his kingdom's legal system, military structure, and his people's quality of life.

In 2002 Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.



Would Ælfrēd be proud of what England has accomplished over the centuries?
__________


◾If England were an independent country, its economy would be sixth largest in the world.


◾Three of the world's ten most decorated universities (including the globe's top two universities) are in England.

• 1 University of Oxford | United Kingdom
• 2 University of Cambridge | United Kingdom
• =3 California Institute of Technology | United States
• =3 Stanford University | United States
• 5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States
• 6 Harvard University | United States
• 7 Princeton University | United States
• 8 Imperial College London | United Kingdom
• 9 University of Chicago | United States
• =10 ETH Zurich | Switzerland
• =10 University of Pennsylvania | United States

https://www.timeshighereducation.com...asc/cols/stats


◾England has a very high level of human development. - http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI

_________

How might Alfred assess modern England and the contemporary English? What might he say?

[♥ Lily ♥]

I'm originally from Dorset which was part of the Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Wessex.





My very tall maternal grandfather taught me as a child that the modern-day counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire used to be a single county known as Wessex for many years. Some people still use the term Wessex for the area, just like some people still refer to NW Greater London as 'Middlesex' when writing addresses.


King Alfred the Great defended and protected the south of England and Wales against the Danelaw when England was divided into two kingdoms between the English and the Danes. https://www.theapricity.com/forum/sh...ers-Of-England

[♥ Lily ♥]

A mass grave of beheaded Vikings was found in Dorset. The local people were defending themselves and their territory.

[♥ Lily ♥]

King Alfred the Great was also loved by the Victorians many long centuries after his reign. He's credited for saving the English language from becoming Danish.

[Iloko]

This writing: Ælfrǣd ..looks cool

[doodle•bug]

My very tall maternal grandfather taught me as a child that the modern-day counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire used to be a single county known as Wessex for many years. Some people still use the term Wessex for the area, just like some people still refer to NW Greater London as 'Middlesex' when writing addresses.

Many counties in the United States were named after the English counties from which the residents came. Sussex, Middlesex, and Essex are the names of three counties in the U.S. state of New Jersey, as are Gloucester, Monmouth (from Monmouthshire in Wales), Somerset, Cumberland (from Prince William, Duke of Cumberland), Camden (from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden), and Burlington (derived from a market near Bridlington, England).