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- [00:00]
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Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
K Pop Demon Hunters Saja Boys Breakfast Meal and Hunt Tricks Meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that Rumi?
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Commercial Narrator
It's not a battle. So glad the Saja Boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
It is an honor to share.
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Commercial Narrator
No, it's our honor.
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Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
It is our larger honor. No really stop. You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side
- [00:57]
Podcast Host James Osborne
the and participate in McDonald's while supplies
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Commercial Narrator
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Podcast Host James Osborne
Welcome to the History Extra Podcast. We've got the second instalment today of our four part Sunday series exploring the Viking Great heathen army. As Dr. Eleanor Barraclough tells James Osborne about the rise of a figure whose name has become famous down the centuries, Alfred the Great. As it became clear that the Vikings Great Heathen army had no intention of leaving Anglo Saxon England. How did the Anglo Saxons respond? And how did this land's fate fall into the hands of Alfred the Great? I'm James Osborne and in this second episode of a four part series on the Viking invasion of Anglo Saxon England in the late 9th century, I'm joined by historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough to discuss the Anglo Saxon lands that fell victim to the Vikings and the rise of the man who would become Alfred the Great. Eleanor, we should probably begin this episode by talking about the land that this great heathen army has actually landed and at what is the Anglo Saxon context at this time? Culturally, socially, politically, religiously and for ordinary people.
- [03:06]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Ooh. Okay, so let's start at the top. We can look at the overall structure. By this point, pretty much there's four main independent kingdoms, there's smaller ones hanging on or sort of, but for the most part, the north, we've got Northumbria. In the east, we've got East Anglia. Across the west and south we've got Wessex, and in the middle we've got Mercia. So that's our basic pattern. And at this point, Mercia has been dominant for quite a long time, but Wessex is on the rise and again, Northumbria's had its moment and maybe slightly less so now, but, you know, that's the basic structure which is sort of important to picture. Coming down a level. We're talking maybe somewhere between half a million and a million people are living in these various kingdoms that make up what we call Anglo Saxon England at the moment. For each of those kingdoms, for the most part, again, hugely simplifying, but we've got a king and then we've got the royal family, but then we've got the ealdormen, so sort of the king's chief advisors. And they partly form what is called a witan, which is basically the council. They come together to advise the King and then under that we've got the local lords, the landowners, and they basically are responsible for the great mostly unwashed masses. But we're talking about free peasants, agricultural laborers, and then we're talking about enslaved people as well. And estimates are sort of maybe as much a quarter of the population was enslaved. And that's really important to remember because sometimes when, when we're talking about this period, and partly because the Vikings are very much heathen and associated with slavery, we tend to forget that that is also true of Christian kingdoms and it's certainly true of Anglo Saxon England. For most people, we're talking rural lives, lived on farmsteads where you have the livestock in enclosures and you have very intensively cultivated lands directly around the farmstead and then bits further afield that you know you can take your animals, animals for grazing and so on. That's what most people are doing. Most buildings are made from wood. Churches and monasteries are the big structures. They're more likely to be stone. But it's not at that point yet where every locality has its own church. It's not that sort of parish system that comes in later at this point. So it's more dispersed than that. Then we can think about. There are some trading sites. A trading site was called a witch. We can wic. We can see that still. Places like Ipswich for example, example, but in the 9th century, although these are royal, for the most part, they're royally controlled, they're in decline. And part of the reason so many of them seem to be going through a tough time is because of the Viking raids. But it's still really important to remember that they're there. In terms of everyday life for people, it's sort of fairly nasty, brutish and short. Obviously childbirth for women is particularly dangerous. Child mortality is certainly higher than now. It's pretty high life expectancy, I think it's possibly higher than it was say in the Industrial revolution, but it's still sort of significantly lower than it is today. And the age of legal responsibility seems to be around 12. And so that gives us a sense of some of the parameters we're working within.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
That's scary. 12 year olds having legal responsibility over their own.
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Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Well, for the most part in the law code it's if they've killed someone, are they responsible for that? So let's hope not. Too many people had to sort of answer to the law in that respect. But yeah, certainly childhood was again nasty, brutish and short as far as it existed.
- [07:01]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So this is actually a highly stratified hierarchical society deeply embedded with its religious beliefs. And that religious belief is Christianity.
- [07:13]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Very much so. And that's why it's so important when we look at the source material about the Vikings from whatever period going back to those first early raids at the end of the 8th century, certain into the period where the great heathen army, that Hadan Heere is arriving. That sense of their heathenism is what sets them apart. That's also true on the continent. Again, the Frankish empire is very Christian and so that sense of the Scandinavians or the Norse being other because they're not Christian is a really important part of their identity. I think to some extent from both sides, but certainly from the Christian perspective.
- [07:50]
Podcast Host James Osborne
I think it's really interesting because that word heathen, these Vikings who are coming over, they're almost described as like these unintelligible aliens, but actually beyond that word heathen, these two cultures, the Anglo Saxons and the broader Norse world, actually pretty similar, aren't they? I mean, they both came to exist in a post Roman context. They both have very Germanic links. You had Anglo Saxon paganism before it was Christianized. These are actually very intertwined cultures in many, many ways.
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Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, exactly. And you just have to look at the languages. So the general idea is that although they are distinct Germanic languages, they're still very much both Germanic languages. And I think I remember someone saying it would be a case of for communicating. It's sort of some grunts and some hand gestures and some pointing, but basically you would be able to understand each other to a certain degree. And from the Anglo Saxon perspective, they are very aware of their origins in what is now Denmark and northern coastline of continental Europe. You know, they're very aware of that's where they came from in the centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. So those connections are still there. And perhaps the most famous example of those connections, culturally speaking, is the old English poem Beowulf. And Beowulf, of course, is completely old English. You know, the first lines in Huat way gardene in jardaugum theod kuning thrum jafrynon. But it's talking about the Danish context because the whole poem is set that Gardena is spear Danes. It's set in Denmark and Sweden. And so there's very. We don't quite know when that poem is written. There's some debates. The manuscript is from later, but it's how far does that story go back? How far is it in Britain? But it certainly seems to be pre great heathen army arriving. And so we have that sense of exactly as you say, culturally distinct peoples. Yes, but also very much culturally connected peoples. They've also been trading for a long time. This isn't just who on earth are these people just tipping up? We didn't even know that there was anything on the other side of the North Sea. It's not that at all. There are connections going way back.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
You mentioned Beowulf, and Beowulf makes me think of burial mounds. And I think a really good example of the fact that these two cultures are so linked and interconnected is they both love Burylmands. Sutton Hoo is this amazing symbol of Anglo Saxonism. It's Very Viking in a way.
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Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, exactly. And look at that famous helmet from the famous burial mounds. Possibly Radwald. Radwald is a king. This is pre, very much pre the period we're talking about.
- [10:40]
Podcast Host James Osborne
About 200 years.
- [10:41]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, exactly. And it's the cusp of conversion. And the story goes that he very much. He had an altar to both. Both types of gods. He's hedging his bets there. But that helmet, which is today in the British Museum, which is so iconic, the nearest parallels for that are in Sweden and in Scandinavia more generally. And so. Yeah, exactly that There are strong connections at all levels as well. So, you know, there we're talking kingship, but we're also talking just normal traders that are moving across these different coastal regions too.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
So before the Anglo Saxons had Christianized and formally become Christians, it seems like they are just so similar, so almost identical in many, many ways.
- [11:23]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah. The religion thing is a really interesting one because we have, relatively speaking, and certainly compared to the Nordic model, we have so little that we can actually piece together about pre Christian religion in Anglo Saxon culture. But certainly, yeah, there seems to be, for example, similarities, the types of gods there are. Yeah, exactly. And even you have some stranger later texts that seem to embed bits of those stories that we know much more readily from the old Norse mythological text. You know, this idea of, you know, the nine nights that Odin is hanging on the tree, you know, gets wisdom, those things. There's just these little hints of a version of that that's certainly in Anglo Saxon England, together with things like runes, you know, which again, very sort of North Germanic script, which goes back to at least the second century. It's there in England, it's there in Scandinavia and further afield.
- [12:23]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So that's why the word heathen in the Great Heathen army, that's why that's such an imperative word. Because when the great Heathen army arrives, that's what they're seeing as one of the major differences. When it arrives, it lands in East Anglia in 865 and East Anglia is under the rule of a king called England, Edmund. How does Edmund initially deal with this massive influx of Vikings who've just crossed the sea?
- [12:47]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
So, I mean, to be fair to him, it doesn't say specifically King Edmund gave them horses, but certainly the East Anglians give them horses. And it looks like they basically pay them off to keep them quiet.
- [12:58]
Podcast Host James Osborne
And that makes sense, doesn't it? Because that is how they've been dealing with these Viking raids up until this point. And, you know, I Guess they don't know at this point that they're here to stay.
- [13:06]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
No. No, it's not.
- [13:07]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So that makes sense.
- [13:07]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Exactly. And there's evidence later that it seems, you know, it's like even Alfred, when we get to Alfred, he at some point makes peace with them. And again, the most likely way he did that is to pay them to leave. We see this going on and on. This is still going on. By the time we get to sort of the end of the 10th century, it completely makes sense. It's a form of kidnapping, essentially. Except what you're holding to ransom is the land, in a way. So, yeah, so they make peace, and then the following year, they've got these lovely horses now, and obviously they've got their ships, they travel north and they get to York in the kingdom of Northumbria. And at that point, Northumbria is in a bit of trouble. And you remember it was a bit like, you know, we said sort of on the continent, the point where there's political turmoil or sort of internal divisions, the Vikings are really good at taking advantage of that. And in the case of the Northumbrian kings, there's two. There's Osbert and Ala, and they're fighting for control. And what that means is that they don't come together until the following, I think, spring to actually mount a strategically coherent defense against the Vikings, by which point it's basically too late. And so those two Northumbrian kings get wiped out. They get replaced with what seems to be a puppet king. This is a really interesting change as well, this idea. And they've sort of seen, so the Franks or the Carolingians, whatever, they've done this to the Vikings or at least to the Scandinavians. They've, at points earlier in the 9th century, tried to install puppet kings to make sure that they have some control, for example, in Denmark. And the Vikings are saying, oh, well, this works quite well. We're going to try this in England. And so they've got their puppet king there. From there, they come down from Northumbria into the kingdom of Mercia once again. They sort that out. They winter in Nottingham, and then by 869, they're back in East Anglia. Now, poor King Edmund probably hoped that he'd seen the last of this great heathen army, and he most definitely had not. What happens then? It's a little hard. So the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, and I think Asser as well, who later writes the life of King Alfred, such an important sorceress, basically say that King Edmund is killed I think in battle is the assumption.
- [15:28]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So he doesn't try and buy them off this time. This time they've come back, there's a fight. And he decides, okay, this isn't gonna work. Just giving them horses money isn't gonna work. It's only gonna empower them. They've just been up to Northumbria. Destroyed. Well, I say destroyed. They've just been up to North Korea.
- [15:45]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
No, they have destroyed. Yeah, absolutely.
- [15:47]
Podcast Host James Osborne
York is wrecked, come back down. And he realizes, okay, oh, dear, I'm actually gonna have to deal or try to deal with this.
- [15:54]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Exactly. So they've overwintered in Thetford, which, again, is very strategically significant. It's where, you know, Boudicca's lot, the Yesenia, that's where they go as well. That's a really important place from which to launch attacks. And so they're not playing around now. And you do get this sense throughout this period that there's this sense that from the Anglo Saxon perspective, it's almost like, hey, that's not fair. You're not meant to do. That's not the rules. And that very much is that you see, for example, that there's this tendency for them to attack on Christian religious festivals. Like Christmas, for example, happens later on. So for Edmund, yes, I can imagine there's probably a sense of, oh, I gave you horses and money. This is.
- [16:32]
Podcast Host James Osborne
It's poor behavior.
- [16:33]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah. This is not sporting. And so. And so what happens, unfortunately, is he's killed. Now, having said that, the latest story that develops about the death of St. Edmund as he then becomes. And the fact that he then becomes a saint is really significant in how this story develops. What? This is sort of late 10th century, so we're talking over a century later in The Life of St. Edmund by Abbo of Fleury in France. He spends some time in Ramsay, sort of in East Anglia. And the story he tells is that Edmund is tied to a tree. He's shot all through with arrows until he looks like a hedgehog. Shades of St. Sebastian here. I'm just saying, you know, there is definitely this hagiographical bigging up of this death. And then the story goes from there. They cut his head off, they throw it into a wood, a wolf finds it. It's guarding the holy head. Everyone's trying to find the head.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
Sounds real to me so far.
- [17:35]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Right. I know what could possibly be embellished with this. And then as the holy Headhunters are trying to find the head of St. Edmund, as he will be, they hear hic. Hic, hic, which is Latin for hear, hear, hear. And there is the head shouting, here I am. And so, yeah, there's this very much. This sense of a story that is growing in the telling. Having said that. And there's a couple of other times where this happens, where stories are obviously, you know, not history in the sense that we would understand history, but maybe have deeper roots than we might think. A bit like we talked about the Blood Eagle in the last episode, where, again, it's. We don't quite know what the kernel of truth is. The same is true here, because there is a suggestion that this is actually local oral traditions that go back to certainly sort of the court, you know, a good few decades. And so, you know, who knows what's going on in that telling and which bits of this are true and which bit, let's assume not the head shouting, you know, to the people who are trying to find it. But certainly there is a story there. And what's interesting about that story is that when we come to the point where East Anglia is being ruled by basically the leader of the. One of the leaders of the great Viking heathen army, Guthrum, after that time, the leaders that follow him, the kings that follow him, are also very invested in that story. And so that becomes a very important part of local East Anglian identity. If you go to Ely Cathedral today, it's one of the chapels, sort of. If you go in sort of near the octagon, this amazing sort of tower in the middle chapel to the left. If you go there, you can actually see medieval wall painting of the death of St. Edmund, which is still there on the wall. It's really important.
- [19:30]
Podcast Host James Osborne
I think the reason why Edmund's story is so important within this broader story is that because he's almost the starting point for this invasion, they arrive at East Anglia, he enables them by giving them all this stuff that he thinks is gonna make them go away, but actually they just come back, obviously, for more.
- [19:51]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Stray cat syndrome.
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Podcast Host James Osborne
Exactly, stray cats. And I think there's something. Maybe this is just me, but I find something darkly amusing about that. It just seems naive. And I think it really typifies the fact that the Anglo Saxons, they just weren't able to deal with this new type of Viking threat, were they?
- [20:10]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, exactly. And that's true. And I think how we judge that sort of retrospect is a wonderful thing, isn't it? You know, you can look back and you can see, this didn't work, this is what happened. But the fact is, exactly as you say they're not set up for these sorts of surprise attacks, but also this overwintering where it's relentless, it's there and they are throughout that winter because they're having to get local supplies and everything. It's like this attrition on the local communities. It's almost like they just don't know how to deal with it. And when we get to Alfred, obviously we'll see. Yes, it works for Alfred, but there are so many points in his story where it almost didn't work in the same way that actually possibly it could have worked for King Edmund. You know, we just. There are so many sliding doors points in the history of this period.
- [21:07]
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- [22:35]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
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- [22:38]
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- [22:53]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
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- [23:20]
Podcast Host James Osborne
When I'm thinking about why the Vikings were able to just storm through these kingdoms, it's partly because, as you mentioned, they're not united. There is a degree of internal disruption in these places, like in Northumbria, where it's ruled by divided people. Also, I wonder to what extent these people have come across from harder lands. I guess England, Anglo Saxon England at this point, by comparison, is quite mild. Even in the winter. You compare that to a Norwegian winter, I wonder if that difference plays any role in why they were able to subjugate these lands so easily.
- [24:00]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
That is a really good thought.
- [24:02]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Yes.
- [24:02]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Only when you think of overwintering, it's absolutely. My Norwegian friends think it's absolutely hilarious. I'll say, oh, look, we've had half an inch of snow, and then I will see you. That half inch will raise you three feet. Like, no, this is not. So there is that sense of, yeah, I think what they could survive over the winter is probably different. There's also that other factor that although, yes, they are Scandinavian for the most part, not all, but, you know, in terms of sort of their origins and their upbringing, many of them have come from previous campaigns of this sort. And so that really gives them the upper hand, because, of course, we're, for example, when they were on the continent or when they were in the Mediterranean, whatever it might be, again, they're dealing with the element of surprise, but all the time they're learning. And so, once again, when it comes to England, it's hugely the element of surprise, but they've already seen what works.
- [24:58]
Podcast Host James Osborne
I guess the average member of this Norse population is just militarized in a way that the Anglo Saxon farmers aren't. They're just farmers, whereas the Norse farmers, they are also Vikings.
- [25:10]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
It's certainly the ones that are coming over. Yeah, I mean, there's probably plenty of Norse farmers who are like, no, you go and enjoy that. I will stay here and I will mind the sheep. Thank you very much. Yeah, but certainly. Exactly. If you are over here in your longships as part of this war ban, by definition, yeah, you are likely to be battle hardened. Or if you haven't already been, you are likely to become so very quickly. There's also, exactly, as you say, there is an issue, and it's sort of a. It's not like Anglo Saxon England or the various kingdoms, you know, could not be violent places to live in. Absolutely. No. There's a lot of violence. But in terms of how defence is set up, and we see this with Wessex and Alfred, it's not designed for this sort of warfare because basically you have to call up your army. There's no standing army that comes with Alfred. And so that's a really important point, that by the time you've assembled your forces, we've called them off their farms, it's too late, you know, the attacks already happened. And so this sense, exactly as you say, of this ability, they are so movable, they are so fluid, literally fluid, often because they're on the waterways. This is the key to their success.
- [26:23]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Okay, so these vikings, they've landed 865, they've gone up, they've come back down, and at this point, they've been in Anglo Saxon England for a handful of years and they have managed to take and control so much territory just through this new form of warfare that Anglo Saxon England just isn't equipped to deal with at this point. Now they are looking at Wessex as, you know, in the words of Bernard Cornwell, the last kingdom. This is the last major Anglo Saxon kingdom standing. What's at stake at this moment when it is just Wessex alone?
- [27:03]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, I mean, everything. I think it's really hard to talk about this period without feeling like you're being hyperbolic or overdramatic. But the fact is, as we say, we've seen in very quick succession here, over a couple of years, we've seen the deaths of three kings already at the hands of this world. This is a big deal. This isn't sort of, oh, you know, these are some nasty raiders and they'll go off again. It's like, oh, no, you are toppling kingdoms. You are cutting off, literally cutting off the heads of these kingdoms. And this is this change in strategy, in tactics, in goals, which is much more about the control, which means that for Wessex, this is a big deal, because they're not just after Lute, they are after Lute, sure, but they're not just after Lute. They are, to all intents and purposes, after the kings themselves. And that's why Alfred ultimately becomes such a major figure of resistance, because for him, it is, it literally is a matter of life and death. The way we can compare that is to look at, for example, that early first raid on Lindisfarne793. After that raid, Alcuin, who's Anglo Saxon, but he's living at the court of Charlemagne. He's writing to the King of Northumbria saying, this is absolutely awful, what just happened. But it's not like the King himself is seen to be in any danger. This is of a different magnitude.
- [28:32]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So the Vikings are on the border of Wessex now, and as you just outlined, there is a lot at stake at this moment. Being at Wessex brings us to Alfred. Listeners will know him as Alfred the Great. He actually wasn't known as Alfred the Great in his own time. That was imposed on him much later down the line, centuries after he was just Alfred of Wessex or King Alfred. So do you think that's how we can call him?
- [28:59]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
I think that's very fair. And to be honest, for a long time, you know, up to 871, he's just Alfred because he was born the youngest of, I think, five brothers and a sister or something. And so there's not this sense that he is, because of his birth order, destined for greatness. That idea of the great comes later on. It's also implied, I think, in the source material, particularly Asser's Life of King Alfred and also the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. But we have to remember that these are written very much with Alfred and his achievements and his glorification in mind. So I think just plain Alfred will do for now.
- [29:40]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Just plain Alfred and those two sources you just mentioned, Assa's biography of Alfred. And Assa is a Welsh monk who comes into Alfred's court and they're probably buddies to some extent. He writes this glowing biography of Alfred, praising him, and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle that was commissioned under Alfred. So these two sources that we've got for him and his life, then. Yeah, they're fairly biased, perhaps, aren't they?
- [30:09]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
This is it. And it really depends on what angle you take here. I've seen the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, for example, described as propaganda, wartime propaganda, which makes sense. But at the same time, maybe it's a question of degrees, because I think it would be very hard to take away from Alfred's very substantial and important achievements. You know, maybe it's a question of, you know, are there other important figures, I wouldn't even necessarily say equally important figures, but other important figures whose biographies here, whose achievements, whose contributions to what's going on at this point, might be slightly blurred or slightly pushed to the edges. That's possible, certainly with Assa, Asser is writing this biography of King Alfred almost. It is sort of in the style of the great Carolingian Frankish king. Biographies that are written on the continent so, you know, there's definitely a blueprint, and that blueprint is big up your king. At the same time, he's also, I think, writing with one eye on the sort of Old Testament kings. And so that religious aspect of Alfred is very much sort of just tweaked up slightly, we might say. Having said that, there would be plenty of others who argue that to label the Anglo Saxon chronicles for this period, you know, what's being talked about as wartime propaganda is unfair. I don't think I have a particular dog in the fight. I think it's. But we just have to remember that no source ever comes to us without a motive or at least a perspective.
- [31:51]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So we've talked about his name, the great. We've talked about the sources from which we can learn about his life. We've talked around him. Who actually is Alfred? What is his context? He's embedded in Wessex. Beyond that.
- [32:03]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah. So Alfred is born at. In849 Wantage, and he is yet the youngest son of the royal house of Wessex. Now, that's actually more incredible than it looks because for the last 200 years or so, Wessex has tended to be the sort of younger sibling between them and the kingdom of Mercia to the north, that sort of middle kingdom that's going on. And so. But there's been a shift, and that shift really comes with Alfred's grandfather, Ecgberht. Now we're gonna hear his name again because of a stone that is associated with.
- [32:41]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Every great man has to have a stone.
- [32:42]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
You've got to have a stone. Right. You know, and every great woman. I mean, I have several stones myself, all in my back garden. I can pat them every morning. So the fact is that Ecgberht is important because up to that point, I think this is true. But for the couple of centuries prior to that, no king has been succeeded by his son in Wessex because there's just so much political turmoil. Now, we already mentioned the fact that that political turmoil is like catnip for these stray cat Vikings. Okay. So we saw that in Northumbria, for example. But what that means is the relative stability that we're seeing in Wessex at this time is important because Ecgberht is succeeded by Athelwolf, which means noble wolf, which is a good name.
- [33:26]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Right.
- [33:27]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
We need to bring that back into circulation. And Athelwulf is the father not only of Alfred, but his older brothers and a sister who marries into the house of Mercia. And so already we have a closer conn. But Wessex has very much emerged as the dominant force there.
- [33:44]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So it's the last kingdom. It's also the most stable kingdom, I think.
- [33:49]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
So I think, certainly. Well, in comparison to poor East Anglia at this point. Yes.
- [33:54]
Podcast Host James Osborne
You know, and certainly Northumbria as well.
- [33:56]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, yeah. And then Burgered, I think, is at that point, King of Mercia. And then. Yeah, at that point, I can't remember what year it is, but I think that the Vikings go to him and very kindly suggest that he might want to go on holiday to Rome.
- [34:08]
Podcast Host James Osborne
This is the King of Mercia.
- [34:09]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
This is the king. And he's like, rome sounds nice this time. I hear the weather's excellent. Thank you very much. Off I go, you know. So, yeah, there's certainly this sense that Wessex, if there is going to be a famous last stand, Wessex has the best chance of getting through that in one piece. However, having said that, what there isn't a sense of is Alfred ever being the person who's going to accomplish that. So as the youngest, you know, his brothers have become, I think, his oldest brother, I think, is like 20 years older than him or something. So there's a big spread. He is closest to his next upbrother. Aethelred, I think, is the fourth son, who, at the point where the Vikings are massing on the borders, is king and he's ruling and Alfred fights battles together with Athelred. But certainly you get the. I mean, it's possible even maybe Alfred, it's been suggested, was more likely thought that he would go into the church or something. He's the youngest brother, he's very devout. He goes off to Rome when he's, I think, four, and then again a couple of years later. So there's not a sense from the start that Alfred is destined for kingship or greatness.
- [35:19]
Podcast Host James Osborne
You mentioned Rome, religion and learning, education. These are really, from what we can tell, these are really big parts of Alfred's life, aren't they? And possibly that is because he didn't think he was ever going to become king. So the military side of that role was perhaps less emphasized and he was focusing on religion and learning.
- [35:37]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah, it's a really interesting one there. And part of the reason it's interesting is because, again, we talked about our source material and we really have to think about that because, of course, Asser writing after the event, when Alfred, I think he's sort of 45th year or something, he dies age 50. So, you know, he's. It's. After all this has happened, Assa is writing about Alfred's childhood almost as though this was always going to be the case. So, for example, when he describes Alfred going off to Rome as a child, he gets the blessing of the Pope, but there's the sense that he is getting the blessing of the Pope because the Pope recognizes a future great king. Whereas actually, it's just as likely he's getting the blessing of the Pope because the Pope is recognizing a future great archbishop or whatever it might be, you know, learning. Yes, Again, Assa. The very famous story that Alfred's mother has this beautifully. You know, one of these illuminated manuscripts. I think it's a book of poetry. And she says, I'll give this to whichever of my children can learn to read it. And so Alfred goes off and gets someone to basically teach it to him, it looks like, by rote. And so he's able to do that. He gets the book, having said that, later on. And maybe this is something we'll come back to after, because, you know, this is a part of the story that then comes after all the battles. We've got to get through the battles. Alfred's program of learning is absolutely fundamental to the reason. He really does seem to be quite an extraordinary monarch. And we should say as well, you know, I mentioned his brother Aethelred. Aethelred and Alfred fight battles against the Vikings together. And Alfred is described as sort of charging up the hill in one battle like a boar. In fact, he leaves his brother praying like they've both done the prey bit they need to do, but Aethelred's still there praying, and Alfred's like, right, let's go get them. And so there is very much the sense that he is militarily very accomplished as well, which is really important. You know, he's not just sitting around weedily at home praying with a nice book. You know, he's a battle leader. He's a warrior.
- [37:44]
Podcast Host James Osborne
He's intelligent and strong.
- [37:46]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
He's the full package.
- [37:47]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Probably handsome as well.
- [37:49]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
I don't. Well, this is the really interesting thing about him, that obviously, the other thing that we know about Alfred through Asset is that he is physically, he's not very healthy. And there's been lots of debates. Did he have piles? Did he have Crohn's disease? What might he have had? But this sense of sort of constant physical torments becomes quite an important part of mythologizing, maybe is too strong a word, but certainly bigging up Alfred because it's this sense that he's not perfect and he does suffer, and yet he manages to accomplish so many incredible things.
- [38:28]
Podcast Host James Osborne
So how does Alfred become king? Cause he didn't expect to be king, but suddenly Wessex falls into his hands.
- [38:36]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah. So there's a point where. So Aethelred, I think two young children, but there's a point where Aethelred is king. And obviously, politically speaking, the whole situation is not good. Vikings attacks, a lot of general nastiness, and Athelred's children are clearly too young to assume the throne in any capacity. So there is the suggestion that Alfred is going to inherit it. Aethelred dies. Although it is a period of battles, he. He doesn't die in battle. We don't know what he dies of. It's. I think it's 871. He appears to just get worn out. You know, the way it's described. It's like he struggled valiantly for years against the Vikings and then he was. He just. Basically, that was it. And he died. And so suddenly Alfred is there. I think by the time Alfred becomes king, it's not a horrible shock that he's becoming king. I think the writing was on the wall by this point. And certainly, you know, you see them fighting these battles. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. There is this sense that they're fighting them together. Al, at this point at least, seems to be the natural successor to his brother.
- [39:43]
Podcast Host James Osborne
And I guess the next really major moment is probably Chippenham. However, there are a few battles. Can we talk about those?
- [39:53]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Yeah. So many battles, many dates. Reading is quite an interesting one. Cause this is the point where really they've reached that boundary of Wessex and the great army. It's sort of, you see typical great army tactics in play here. They build a rampart between the two rivers, the Thames and the Kennet. And then it's this sense once again of really hurting the local community, essentially. Because what we're told is two jarls, like Scandinavian Viking jarls, ride out basically to pillage to get local supplies. At this point, they run into one of the Anglo Saxon ealdormen, one of these sort of the king men, advisers, Athelwulf, and he and his band kill one of the jarls. And then the whole thing escalates, basically. And Aethelred and his brother Alfred, at this point not yet king, they get to the fortress with the reinforcements, the Vikings pour out like wolves. We're told there's a great slaughter. Eventually, we're told the Christians basically turn their backs, they run away, and the vikings are successful four days later. And we're talking January 871, at this point we have the famous Battle of Ashdown. And this is the one where Alfred is said to sort of run up the hill like a wild boar, where his brother is still praying and all the rest of it. But there's more defeats to come, so they're successful that time, but then there are defeats at Basing and Mehratun and all the rest of it. So it's just this series of really nasty skirmishes. And really there's like. Now read on, basically, because the big event that we need to get to where where everything kicks off is Chippenham. And for that we're coming forward in time. The Viking army has sort of been and gone. It looks like, you know, Alfred has tried to make peace with them again. He's tried these tactics. They've gone off to Exeter and not sort of kept their part of the bargain. Burgred, meanwhile, has sort of gone off on his holidays to Rome and everything. And we reach Chippenham and possibly Twelfth Night in January 878. And once again, it's this idea of the Viking army being heathens, not playing by the rules because they are attacking at the time of a very holy Christian holiday, you know, just after Christmas, Twelfth Night.
- [42:09]
Podcast Host James Osborne
And of course, Alfred's very religious, so this would have been important to him.
- [42:11]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
Exactly, exactly, yeah. And they're also attacking just in winter, which is again, not. You don't attack in winter. That's to no one's advantage, except apparently if you're the Vikings, because this does seem to be playing off at Chippenham. It's this royal estate. Alfred and his war band manage to escape. They're surprised, they manage to get out. And then according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the Anglo Saxons, who can get out, the Wessex men sort of are driven across the sea. We don't know is that the Bristol Channel, are they in Wales or if they actually crossed the Channel, who knows what's going on. But the important bit is that Alfred and his war band, we're told he journeyed in difficulties through the woods and fen fastness with a small force. And basically they are heading for the marshes and for the forests as it becomes on Athelney, Somerset Marshes, very boggy, very hard to penetrate and get into. And there he hides.
- [43:08]
Podcast Host James Osborne
And this is the year 878. So this is 13 years after the arrival of the great phenomenon.
- [43:14]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
It's good math. I would have taken longer to work that out.
- [43:17]
Podcast Host James Osborne
And the leader of this attack at Chippenham is our old friend who we mentioned in episode one, Guthrum. He is now the central figure from the Viking perspective of this story against Alfred as exactly.
- [43:29]
Historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough
And again, we don't know that much about his history. Or, you know, these figures sort of have a tendency to crop up a little bit and then historians then have their tendency to try and sort of trace them and try and work out where they go. And is that the same person that we see under this slightly different name over, say, an island, for example, or whatever? But Guthrim at this point, we know, becomes absolutely crucial to what happens to how this plays out. And how this plays out not just immediately in terms of the battles that are going to happen, but in the long term history and legacy of what the Great Heathen army means to Anglo
- [44:06]
Podcast Host James Osborne
Saxon England thank you for listening to the second episode of our four part series on Alfred versus the Vikings. In the next episode we'll follow Alfred's flight into the marshes and the last stand of Anglo Saxon resistance at the battle Battle of Eddington. If you enjoyed this episode and want to go beyond the podcast, you can visit the History Extra app, where I've curated a list of wider content that explores the intersection of the Viking age with the world of the Anglo Saxons, including More from Dr. Eleanor Barrocliffe. You can find a link to that in the episode description.