Alfred The Great c. 849 – 899

Great and Famous English People

 Alfred The Great c. 849 – 899 (AElfred)

Alfred was the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex. Famous for ‘burning the cakes’ when seeking refuge from the Vikings in Somerset. By 878 England was divided between the Danish Vikings and the Saxons who held the South West of England. Wessex. But after a long struggle in 896 the Danes submitted to the Saxons and Alfred effectively became the first English King. He set about reorganising the army known as the Fyrd and the Navy. Both the Royal Navy and the US Navy claim him as their founder. He married the Grand Daughter of the King of Mercia (central England,) and had as many as six children, one of whom was Princess Ethelfleda, a true English warrior Princess, who herself became a Queen. Her nephew and Alfreds grandson, King Athelstan of Wessex was another great Anglo-Saxon warrior who finally defeated the last Romano British at the bloody Battle of Brunanburgh giving all England to the Anglo-Saxons in 937. Thus England was born from these two great warriors.
Defender of England over many battles with the Vikings. King of the West Saxons, and King of all the Anglo-Saxons, Alfred is the only English monarch to be called ‘the Great.’

King Harold II 1022 – 14 October 1066

After his fathers death in 1053 Harold Godwinson became the Earl of Wessex and was a powerful nobleman in his own right. He became a respected and skilled warrior and leader. One description reads, ‘this Englishman was very tall and handsome, remarkable for his physical strength, his courage and eloquence, his ready jests and acts of valour.’

He had several children and one daughter Gytha, later became the wife of the Russian prince Vladimir Monomachus. Because of this Harolds blood runs in later generations of English Kings. The present Royal Family has such connections.

He died at the Battle of Hastings on Senlac Hill in Sussex (land of the South Saxons.) Trying to resist the invasion of French and Normans (or ‘Norsemen’ as they were of Viking origin.) Struck by an arrow in the eye and subsequently hacked down.

His personal bodyguard of Saxon Huscarles followed the tradition of the Saxon fighting ethos and died around him. The White Dragon standard of Wessex (West Saxons,) and his personal standard of the ‘Fighting Man’ lay with him.

His body was badly mutilated, and it is said that it was the tattoos on his chest that identified him. One was the word ‘England’

Now many regard him as a true English hero. Fighting and dying for England.