The Standard of Alfred the Great
England in the 9th century was a very different place to the England of today. Divided into a number of separate Anglo Saxon kingdoms (see map below) and under the constant threat of Viking invasions, it was an extremely difficult place to live.
Since the 790s, the Danish Vikings had been using fast mobile armies to raid England’s coasts in search of plunder. Destroying and utterly decimating everything that stood in their way, the Vikings became the terror of the countryside. Far and wide they ranged on stolen horses, killing with such terrible ferocity that the people prayed nightly, “From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord, deliver us.”
Eventually the Danish raiders began to settle in the regions they had conquered. This led to the establishment of a Vikings kingdom in the southern part of Northumbria. Using their Northumbrian domains as a base, the Vikings then overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia and Mercia.
It was into this turbulent state of affairs that Alfred was born around 849, the fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the struggling principality of Wessex.
Childhood and Early Life
Wessex was the Island’s centre of learning and culture, thanks to the monks who kept knowledge alive. In those days only the priests were literate, and not even all of them. What books did exist had to be copied out slowly by hand onto thin sheets of parchment, and they were few and far between. Alfred and his brothers were sometimes sent to an abbey where monks taught them to learn parts of the Bible by heart, as well as some prayers and songs, but they were not taught to read. King’s sons were trained to fight, while the work of reading and writing was left in the hands of the clergy.
It seems that King Alfred’s mother, Queen Osberga, did know how to read, and she wanted her boys to also learn this skill. Legend has it that the Queen offered to give a book of Saxon poetry as a prize to whichever of her sons could first learn to read it. Alfred, with the help of monks, at last learned to read and won the coveted volume.
Alfred also became proficient in the art of war, a skill that proved necessary in 870 when the Danes attacked Wessex. When Alfred’s father died, Alfred’s elder brother Aethelbald became king, but he was soon killed in fighting. Then the next eldest brother, Aethelbert, became king. He too was killed by the Vikings. That left only Alfred and his next eldest brother Aethelred. Aethelred became king and Alfred helped lead his brother’s army.
Together the two brothers fought the Vikings in battle after battle, yet progressively the Danes seemed to be winning. After further defeats, Alfred’s brother died, leaving Alfred with the kingdom.
The Exiled King
The kingdom Alfred inherited at the age of 21 was not a very impressive place. Under the leadership of the evil king Guthrum, the Vikings had destroyed crops, leveled churches and burned whole towns to the ground. No sooner had Alfred taken it upon himself to rebuild the country than Guthrum’s forces seized Chippenham in Wiltshire, which they used as a base from which to devastate Wessex. The attack happened so quickly that the people had no time to mount a defense and were forced to seize whatever provisions they could and go into hiding.
The king was also forced to go into hiding, retreating into the Somerset tidal marshes. Many legends exist about Alfred’s time in the marshes, including the famous legend about burning the honey cakes he had been asked to look after.
Alfred would later refer to this period of his life as his ‘exile’ and his “time of Nebuchadnezzar” because it was during this time of isolation and desperation that he realized the claims of Christ on his life. Laid low and humbled, Alfred saw that, in one sense, he had been no better than King Guthrum, and stood in need of God’s grace. The Lord used this period of suffering and soul-searching to define the leader Alfred would ultimately become. When he finally emerged onto the public scene again, he had a new strength about him, but it was a strength coming not from himself but from the power of Christ working through him.
The Victorious King
Gradually, Alfred began to secretly gather an army out of the peasants and farmers he had come to depend upon during his time of exile. Copying Danish tactics, he built a fortified base in the Somerset marshes, which he used as a base for guerrilla warfare. Armed with little more than pitchforks and scythes, Alfred’s ragtag army prepared to meet the Danish force at the battle of Edington in May 878.
As they waited to engage the great barbarian army, Alfred began what became his tradition in war. Gathering his forces about him early in the morning, Alfred would look each man in the eye and recall stories of their home and families. He would call his men to fight, and if necessary to die, with courage and honor. He would then lead his men in a prayer of contrition and repentance before breaking into his great battle anthem:
When the enemy comes in, a roaring like a flood,
Coveting the kingdom, hungering for blood,
The Lord will raise a standard up and lead his people on.
The Lord of hosts will go before, defeating very foe -
Defeating every foe.
For the Lord is our defense.
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense.
Jesu defend.
Some men trust in chariots and some trust in the horse,
But we will depend on the name of Christ our Lord.
The Lord has made my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
The Lord lays low our enemies but he raises us upright -
He raises us upright.
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend.
A thousand fall at my left hand,
Ten thousand to the right,
And yet He will defend us from the arrow in the night.
Protect us from the terrors of the teeth of the devourer;
Imbue us with your spirit Lord,
Encompass us with power -
Encompass us with power.
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend.
Alfred led his men to a stunning victory at Edington. The defeated Guthrum, along with thirty of his nobles, agreed to become Christians and be baptized. Alfred served as Guthrum’s godfather at his baptism. After that the Danes retreated behind the Dane March, and stayed beyond East Anglia.
During the peace that followed, Alfred kept his army constantly alert. He reorganized the army on a rota basis so that his soldiers could maintain their farms as well as serving as part of a ‘rapid reaction force’ capable of quickly responding to sudden raids. He also built a navy so that Southern England could be defended against any further influx of Danish raiders and a well-defended system of settlements across southern England.
ALFRED THE CULTURE BUILDER
England had been completely decimated by Guthrum and the Danes. People had been living like animals, just trying to stay alive. Most of the monasteries, which had been centers of learning, had been destroyed. Very few books were left, let alone people who could read them. Thus, Alfred took upon himself the job of building back up the culture.
Believing that without Christian wisdom there can be neither prosperity nor success in war, Alfred aimed (in his own words) “to set to learning (as long as they are not useful for some other employment) all the free-born young men now in England who have the means to apply themselves to it.” Alfred gathered what few books were still available and began having copies made. But most of these books were written in Latin, and few monks were left who could translate these texts into the vernacular. So Alfred brushed up on his Latin and began translating them himself.
The only English king to have the epithet great attached to his name, Alfred’s achievements go beyond imagining. He brought together and united the various fragmented Saxon kingdoms. He built a fleet to defend the people against further onslaught. He created a written constitution based on the principles of liberty and rule of law. His translations became classics which helped to solidify the English language. In short, Alfred helped to lay the foundation for the nation of England as we know it today and by extension the culture of America that was derived from England.
LEGACY
Alfred’s goal was not just to make England safe for his generation, but to develop a culture that would be a lasting monument for every generation to follow. As he wrote, “My will was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after, my memory in good works.” Alfred’s desire was certainly fulfilled, because when he died in 899 at around the age of 50, he left behind him a tremendous legacy that has remained of lasting impact. Four 
aspects of this legacy stand out as particularly relevant to us at the academy of King Alfred the Great.
First King Alfred understood that the Bible was not simply a devotional manual for our private lives, but a template for bringing all of culture into subjection to Christ. The life of the nation as well as the life of the individual needed to be regulated by Christ’s Lordship. Thus, King Alfred’s vision for England was one in which all aspects of human culture – music, philosophy, art, language, classical education, literature, architecture – were brought together into an integrated Biblical worldview.
Secondly, Alfred believed that the Christian life needed to be both practical and intellectual. It needed to be practical because the effectiveness of Christ’s warriors depended on the gospel flowing out of one’s fingertips, being constantly applied to the material of our daily lives. But a Christian who wanted to serve Christ also needed to grow in wisdom and understanding. As Alfred put it in the preface to his translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care, “Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves did not cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.” At a time when ignorance and illiteracy were accepted as normal, this was a challenging position to take.
Thirdly, Alfred understood that his strength came not from his own natural ability, but from God. In himself, Alfred was not particularly strong or impressive. In fact, it is said that people would travel from far places to see this great king only to be disappointed at his short and unimpressive stature. But even though he did not have great strength in the flesh, he was a great leader because he had learned to depend on Jesus Christ. That was the hard lesson he learnt during his time of humility and weakness in the marshes. Reading over the prayers Alfred wrote, we can see a man acutely conscious of his own weakness and utterly dependent on the Lord for his strength. Here is just one of Alfred’s prayers which bring this out:
Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, I pray Thee for Thy great mercy, and for the token of the holy rood, and for the maidenhood of St. Mary, and for the obedience of St. Michael, and for the love of Thy holy saints and their worthiness, that Thou guide me better than I have done towards Thee.
Guide me to Thy will, to the need of my soul, better than I can myself. Steadfast my mind towards Thy will and to my soul’s need. Strengthen me against the temptations of the devil, and put far from me every unrighteousness. Shield me against my foes, seen and unseen; and teach me to do Thy will, that I may inwardly love Thee before all things with a clean mind and clean body. For Thou art my maker and my redeemer, my help, my comfort, my trust, and my hope. Praise and glory be to Thee now, ever and ever, world without end. Amen.
Fourthly, King Alfred understood the importance of spiritual warfare. With the enemies of God threatening the very fabric of Christian civilization, Alfred knew that God called his children to be warriors, to strive against both the visible and invisible forces of darkness. The same is true today. There are many contemporary equivalents of king Guthrum rampaging about, seeking to constantly undermine what is good, true and beautiful in our Christian heritage. In many respects, the Guthrum’s of today are more dangerous for being more subtle. But the answer remains the same:
When the enemy comes in, a roaring like a flood,
Coveting the kingdom, hungering for blood,
The Lord will raise a standard up and lead his people on.
The Lord of hosts will go before, defeating very foe -
Defeating every foe.
These are some of the many reasons that I chose King Alfred to be the patron saint of this Society. This Alfred the Great Society shares Alfred’s goal for a Christ-centered culture where all aspects of human achievement– music, philosophy, art, language, politics, literature, architecture, etc. – are self-consciously integrated into a coherent Christian worldview and pursued to the glory of God. This society also shares Alfred’s concern to instill this vision into the next generation and to equip young people with the tools needed to contend effectively for the faith. God-willing, we will not be called upon to defend our land against pagan armies, but we do need to defend our society against the influx of pagan ideas which, like Guthrum, are waging a constant on all that is good, true and beautiful in our Christian heritage.
