Alfred becomes king of Wessex

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Domains

  • Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

  • Date of occurrence 871-04-23-899-10-26

Places

  • England (Location)

King Ethelred I dies in a battle with the Danes, and Alfred, his brother, succeeds him. Alfred is noted for his defence of the kingdom against the Danish Vikings, becoming the only English king to be awarded the epithet “the Great”. He was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself “King of the Anglo-Saxons”, and in the course of his reign he reorganized the English kingdom, strengthened the navy, encouraged learning and put the basis of a legal system. His most enduring work was his legal code, called Deemings, or Book of Dooms (Book of Laws).

99 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Alfred becomes king of Wessex". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 May 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=6980, accessed 23 November 2024.]

6980 Alfred becomes king of Wessex 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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