Jag började tidigt på morgonen och begav mig ut på en BAS-runda.
Efter den rundan fick jag ett nytt vykort från min Vikings utmaning.
In the years after Edington, the Vikings and Saxons hammered out the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. The treaty divided England into two zones. Alfred gained most of the west and south, including Wessex, western Mercia, Kent, Sussex, Essex, and the city of London, which had been depopulated after Viking attacks. The Vikings received most of Northumbria, East Anglia and parts of Mercia, forming a region which came to be known as the Danelaw. The northernmost portion of Northumbria, centred around Bamburgh, became an independent Saxon kingdom. After resettling London, Alfred took a new title: King of the Anglo-Saxons. For the first time in history, a king had claimed dominion over all the Saxons. One king, one people.
Or should that be two people? After the treaty with Guthrum, the Saxon lands would become multicultural; some Norse would recognise Saxon overlords, and some Saxons would find themselves under Viking kings. In both Wessex and the Danelaw, laws were passed that protected the rights of their Saxon or Norse minority. These treaties were firm in the equal application of justice and the equal value of life regardless of cultural background. In the Wergild laws, a system of compensation for murders between Norse and Saxon was formalised, which aimed to prevent blood feuds, hopefully quelling the endless cycles of killings and revenge that had so often brought war between the two peoples.
In previous years, the Saxons had warred with each other just as much as with the Norse. Alfred, therefore, needed a stable settlement to keep his new Anglo-Saxon realm together. The large and powerful Mercia was the greatest threat to the supremacy of the House of Wessex. In response, Alfred installed his son-in-law Aethelred as its earl, who was loyal to Wessex but also, as a Mercian himself, backed by the local people.
Aethelred died in 911 and was replaced as ruler by his wife (and Alfred’s daughter) Aethelflaed. As the decades wore on, Alfred and Guthrum’s peace had faltered, and Aethelflaed was forced to deal with Viking incursions into Mercia. She quickly proved a talented leader, driving the Vikings back and capturing the midland towns of Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester. Then, after Alfred’s death, his son Edward the Elder succeeded him as king and conquered East Anglia. Wessex and the Saxons now held the balance of power in the country, but a strong Viking rule persisted in Northumbria.
Alfred went some way toward addressing possible resentment to Wessex’s rule. Instead of imposing the laws of his home kingdom, he made sure to incorporate the legal traditions of the other Saxon kingdoms into his new law book. He also worked to improve local governance, attempting to ensure that officials were literate and had knowledge of the law, and creating a royal school to educate and train the elites who would help run the kingdom.
He legitimised his kingship by presenting himself as a guarantor of justice, and issued written royal charters awarding property rights to his elite allies. These charters granted ownership of land and served as a promise that disputes would be settled judiciously. This tied powerful families across the realm to the House of Wessex by right to their fiefs. It also gave them security, as they now knew the king would back them up if someone attempted to deprive them of their property.
Alfred possessed a refined education and a keen interest in philosophy and Christian thought. Later in his reign, he began searching the British Isles for learned men who would work under his patronage; copying manuscripts, debating the finer points of theology, and recording the events of his life and times. Asser, our main source for Alfred, was part of this small literary renaissance surrounding Alfred’s court, writing his account of his patron’s reign in 893. He is extremely positive towards his employer, presenting him as a kind of saviour figure who derived his right to kingship from defeating the Vikings and maintained it through just and prudent rule.
Alfred’s interest and encouragement of scholarly pursuits helped the Saxons define themselves against the Viking invaders. It was a game of contrasts; the Vikings were illiterate, heathen barbarians, totally ignorant of the word of Jesus Christ. The Saxons were literate, learned and Christian. As they clashed with the Vikings, the Saxons began to develop a sense of themselves as a distinct people, unified by a shared literature, culture and faith.
Though most historians baulk today at calling Alfred the first king of England, his reign laid much of the groundwork that the later idea of an English nation was built upon. This Englishness was contested, especially in the Danelaw. Here, a culture with its own laws, customs, worldview, and even gods developed, mixing Norse and Saxon influences, and producing a distinct northern identity that exists to this day.
Gabriel begav sig ut på sin runda när han kommit hem från skolan.