Alfred the Great 9 June

The 9 June 878 is a day that changed forever the balance of power in England in favour of the Saxon king Alfred the Great. Before you all chime in with a hearty "so what" you will, of course recall that our Royal Navy hold Alfred the Great to be the founder of the naval tradition. Alfred, as everyone knows, had fought a long war with the Vikings, who had settled into eastern England and were moving ever westward into the remaining Saxon territories - most notably Wessex (which is a concatenation of West Saxon). Guthrum, alias Gorm den Gamle was King of the Danish Vikings in East Anglia and Yorkshire and, by 878, he stood on the brink of a final conquest of Wessex but was decisively defeated by Alfred, (who had, you will recall, spent the winter lurking in a swamp and strolling around the place setting fire to old widow’s cakes), at the Battle of Edington, in Wiltshire. Good show Alfred. The really clever bit however was that Alfred, instead of putting all to the sword, as was the custom, persuaded Guthrum, and twenty-nine of his chief men to submit to Christian baptism and on 9 June 878 Alfred became Gorm den Gamle’s godfather. As a result, England became split into two, the south-western half kept by the Saxons and the north-eastern half becoming known as the Danelaw. This is known as the peace of Wedmore. This peace allowed Alfred to turn his attention develop the royal navy to repress the ravages of the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes on the coasts of Wessex and to prevent the landing of fresh hordes. This move more or less maintained the status quo until 1066. Alfred the Great - rotten at cookery but a good egg