King Alfred The Great

Why was he given the title 'The Great'? What makes him stand out among English kings?

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Finally got a hold on the viking invasions after decades of failures, out of it you could argue came the first sense of a truly unified England.

By the way who decides who gets titles like 'The Great'? Some 'Greats' seem to have accomplished alot more than others

It's just a name that sticks, nothing more.

He was the first one

Didn't Arthur also rule all of England though?

Ironically in the same time period he was given the title his grave was dug up and desecrated by the people who favored giving him the title.

He kicked danish ass.

it was dug up and desecrated because the Anglicans were separating from the Catholics or rather the Papacy and they were removing Catholic churches to replace them with Anglican ones, they happened to do this to Alfred's burial church.

In addition to being a strong war king, Alfred was also a generous patron to the church and promoted English learning as well. He was one of the few Anglo-Saxon monarchs who was literate and he could even read Latin which made him unique among his peers. Alfred’s habit of always keeping a small prayer book with him was the basis for Anglicans adopting the Book of Common Prayer. In short, he was great because beyond saving his civilization from extinction at the hands of the Great Heathen Army he also elevated English culture in the area of education especially.

Alfred was also responsible for translating some Latin classics into Old English thus making them available to his people for the first time and his literary output had a significant influence in the development of written English which is another thing that set him apart.

How did he compare to contemporary continental monarchs?

Charlemagne himself was illiterate as were most medieval kings so the fact Alfred was not only literate but literate in two languages made him exceptional.

Alfred was the only monarch who wasn't a brainlet

Alfred The Great may be the greatest monarch that England has ever had. The worst? Richard the Goat-Fucker.

I presume you mean Richard I? Why was he the worst? He was one of few English kings who actually ruled parts of the continent?

youtu.be/q0dDWJOUeIA?t=8m28s

huh, that statue's in my hometown. It's usually got a homeless bloke under it

The pattern seems to be that the kings titled "the great" are people that conquered territory.

Of England's monarchs the only one that seemed to have conquered and held on to their territory was Alfred (taking over their viking occupied neighbors) and William (who conquered England) which the latter already has a title. England took over a lot of shit but most of it was through marriage and joint-stock companies. There's the territory taken in the 100 year war but they lost all of it in the war and it seems to never count when that happens (see Nappy, Hannibal, Hitler, etc.)

Edward the Confessor Did Nothing Wrong

Adam, pls go

King Arthur would have ruled parts of Britannia, at most, in parts of what comprises England in today's terms. Keep in mind that the original English, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisia's from Germania, were invaders to the majority Celtic Britons living there originally.

Then what did he confess to?

Didn't Athelstan conquer more land, and was first the king of all England. He didn't get a title

Winchester is a pretty nice place

Nice to see another fellow user from Winchester

Didn't think we were that big of a town

He pushed the norse as a military power into the sea and united england.

Arthur probably rule dumnonia every story of his says so.

was the size of his d*ck

Historians and propagandists, mostly.

As other Anons have said, he repelled the Vikings and actually united England. He also encouraged spreading knowledge, and many of the people who were in charge of doing just that showered heaps of praise on him. He was "Great" compared to what came before. And honestly, a hell of a lot better than many of the monarchs that came after him.

Napoleon and Caesar aren't known as the Great either, even though they did much more than Alfred or Frederick, and arguably even Alexander.

>Charlemagne himself was illiterate
That's BS

Nicknames mean shit

This nigga is known as Philip the Great in our country, and the only remarkable thing he did was letting Olivares opress us to the point of losing us forever

Everywhere i look it states that he was Illiterate, although he did revolutionise the education system to make others more literate

he was shit. he utterly failed to secure the succession for Edgar Aetheling and spent his reign cucked by one powerful noble, Harold Godwine. EMBARRASSING

went to uni there, can I get in on this?

clearing? dont mean to be rude but literally everyone I know who went there went through clearing, unless doing arty shit or divinity

That's no way to speak about a saint

It's not Russell group tho

he knew French, German, and Latin

Universally liked among his people.
Fucked up the vikings.
United kingdoms.
Taught him self to read and write. Taught himself to read and write latin.
Translated latin texts into common tongue in his spare time.
a nice bloke by all accounts.

You can speak different languages without learning how to read.

'Great' has never meant 'very good', like it does now; it always meant 'big'.

> Alfredus Magnus
> Alfred the Big

Either due to his physical, size, prowess, or how much land he conquered, or glory he gained in battle.

PS. It's the same with 'Great Britain'. It's not 'very good Britain', but 'big Britain'.

What on earth gave you the idea OP or anyone didn't know this already?

It's a common misconception.

And you can be able to read without being able to write.

Definitely not the same with Great Britain

i dont think that qualifies as being literate though

Well, it´s a blur area.

fair enough

well he wasn't fucking great at baking that's for sure

I didn't burn them! It's just propaganda!

The point of the story is that Alfred burned the cakes because he was lost in thought about how to turn the war around but had the humility to endure the woman's scolding without pulling rank on her.

I thought he was in hiding from the Vikings.

nice 'the winter king' reference senpai

He was. The story goes that after being routed by Guthrum early in the war, Alfred fled into the wilderness where he took shelter in a small cabin. The woman who lived in the cabin allowed Alfred to stay there on the condition he would keep watch on the cakes she was baking and not allow them to burn. He agreed but was soon preoccupied with thoughts of the war and stopped minding the cakes. The cakes were burnt and the woman began to furiously berate Alfred for what she believed was his dull absentmindedness. Rather than explain the dire circumstances that had called his attention away from her baking, Alfred quietly received the woman's browbeating and apologized for allowing the cakes to burn.

So what changed that turned the tide of the war in Alfred's favour?

He's the only English one

he didn't exist

Oh boy...
He has been well documented by contemporaries and monks for centuries after for example the works of Gildas, Bede, Nennius etc.
Furthermore he appears in Geoffery of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae. He has been acknowledged by nearly all English monarchs since with many paying tribute such as Edward I having his remains moved Glastonbury Abbey to recieve proper burial.

The story for that is Alfred had a vision of St. Cuthbert on the eve of the Battle of Edington and was so inspired by this heavenly visitation that he lead his men into battle with supernatural fervor and broke the back of the Great Heathen Army.

lmao that's not a university

That's St Cross Hospital. We always used to sing hymns and stuff back when I was in primary school

The main Winchester private school your thinking about is Winchester College, but no I didn't go there cause I'm not a posh twat