Only two kings in English history have been called “the Great”.
These are Alfred, King of Wessex and later the Anglo-Saxons, and Cnut, king of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden.
Alfred didn’t have the epithet in his own lifetime. It first emerged in the 16th century, in acknowledgement of his fighting off the Norse.
But was he really Great?
I’d argue, yes, he was.
Medieval kingship was rooted in several facets, namely:
Strong lawmaking
Piety and upholding Christian virtues
Insurmountable in war and battle-hardy
These were the values that medieval peoples across Europe espoused in good kingship, and it made sense in their setting.
The king as the state had to make strong laws.
Moreover, he also, as the state, had to uphold the church and be a model Christian. This also included giving the church gifts and lands, and ensuring it could healthily care for the kingdom’s spiritual wellbeing.
And in any era, a leader must protect his or her people. A king therefore had to be strong in war. This not only meant defeating one’s enemies - it also meant appealing to the noble class as a capable winner of battles. Kings in the feudal era relied on the nobles for their military base, so a competent war leader made the nobles happy.
The greatest medieval European kings all held these facets. Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Charles Martel, Cnut the Great, Otto the Great, etc. were all strong in battle, generous to the church, and insurmountable in battle.
King Alfred definitely fit these points. His defeats of the Norse stand to his battle-hardiness.
He was a strong benefactor of the church, and was noted for his personal piety.
And his laws helped solidify Wessex in the midst of Norse conflicts.
But why is he “the Great”?
Why King Alfred was truly Great:
He saved the Anglo-Saxon essence of Wessex, and ultimately England
Anglo-Saxon culture didn’t die amidst the Norse invasions. In Jorvik, whilst the kings of this independent kingdom were Norsemen by and large, the region saw a general melding of Anglo-Saxon and Norse ways. In some capacities, the Norse who settled there steadily became more Anglo-Saxon in speech and perhaps more strikingly religion. By the time Alfred’s grandson, King Athelstan, conquered Jorvik in 926 AD, many settled Norse would have been Christian or at the least observed Christian ways and norms. This would have been roughly 60 years after the Norse conquered Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and renamed Jorvik from the Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic. So in two generations or so, it stands to reason that much integration would have occurred.
But by defeating the Norse at Edington and ensuring Guthrum couldn’t claim the kingdom, Wessex retained a fully Anglo-Saxon character.
This in turn was translated in Alfred’s dream of a united England under one king, which his children and grandchildren helped usher.
Wessex also wasn’t subject to much Norse settlement, as occurred in the Midlands and Yorkshire. As the Norse directly ruled these areas, it was easier for them to live per their own laws and mannerisms, which would not have been the case in Wessex. The fact that Wessex retained less of the cultural hybridisation that occurred in Jorvik and the East Midlands is down to King Alfred’s successes as king.
Conceived of the notion of an England
Alfred was the first king to have openly called for a kingdom of all English. The Anglo-Saxons all held a similar culture and language, but identified via their localised kingdom or tribe primarily. For instance, a Mercian who lived near the River Thames and River Lea might consider themselves Middle Saxon. Another Mercian in the Forest of Dean might deem themselves of the Hwicce. An East Anglian from Norwich would say they were part of their kingdom’s North Folk, and a Wessex denizen from Cornwall might speak Old English but also Cornish and live a Cornish way of life habitually.
However, Alfred wanted all Anglo-Saxons to live under one umbrella and one king. He didn’t live to see this dream realised - though the conquests of the Danelaw by his son and successor King Edward the Elder, and his daughter Lady Athelflead of the Mercians, were major steps along the way.
King Athelstan, Edward the Elder’s eldest son, became the first king of all England and thus fulfilled Alfred’s desire. Athelstan’s brothers and successors, Kings Edmund and Eadred, completed the project, by regaining the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw and subduing former King of Norway Eric Bloodaxe in his brief rule of Jorvik. From this point forward, England remained whole and under the sole rule of one king.
It was due to Alfred that the notion of a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom came to pass, which his progeny executed to a tee.
Literature
King Alfred secured not only Wessex and a future England, but he promoted literature and learning.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a yearly record of events in Anglo-Saxon England, commenced under his reign. It was written retrospectively back to the times of Hengist and Horsa, though it stood as a contemporaneous record of English life until the mid-12th century. The record is biased, of course, since it was written by Anglo-Saxons on Anglo-Saxons. However, it is one of the very best records we hold from the period, leading to further inquiries and studies into early English life and happenings.
Alfred also promoted learning so that his laws could be better understood, in both secular and religious contexts.
Overcome great physical challenges
His achievements are all the more impressive considering he had a lifelong affliction, possibly Crohn’s Disease. Even today, with far greater medical knowledge than in the early medieval period, this can be debilitating. But in King Alfred’s time, it would have been much harder.
It is believed he ultimately succumbed to his illness, which he cited as divine punishment for sultry acts as a youth. As a younger son to King Aethelwulf of Wessex, he was not expected to be king, and he most likely spent his time with young women in court as much as learning and studying.
To have become one of the most noted sovereigns in British and European history, with this condition, was testament to his strength, perseverance, courage and determination.
The Burh system
After peace had been secured with Guthrum, King Alfred went on to develop a system of national defence, called the Burh system.
This essentially was a series of burhs, or garrisoned towns/locales, which local people could retreat to in times of Norse invasion/incursion. The burhs would be manned at all times, and provide shelter for all within a day’s travel. They also would be centres of trade as much as military holdouts, and would hold food for all people seeking refuge.
The result was that the Norse would not just be raiding undefended towns and villages, but would have to contend with manned and walled strongholds which would require great armies to overcome.
Perhaps the most notable burh was London. The area had been occupied by the Norse, though King Alfred re-took the city, and re-established London within the Roman city walls. It had been largely abandoned since the Roman withdrawal centuries earlier, and various Anglo-Saxon settlements existed in what is now Aldwych, Holborn, and Bloomsbury. The Roman walls were reinforced, and the street plan altered to add new piers and wharves. Alfred essentially founded the City of London in its modern form, and paved the way for London to become not just the capital of England but of what is now the United Kingdom.
Certainly by the time his descendants and Kings of England Athelred the Unready, Edmund Ironside, and St. Edward the Confessor, London’s prominence was established as the de facto capital of the kingdom. This was reinforced and solidified by the Normans and the Plantagenets who succeeded them.
Legacy
Of all kings in English and British history, King Alfred’s legacy stands highly in both achievements and good works. There are few stories of incompetence as with Athelred the Unready, nor barbarity as with William the Conqueror vis a vis the Harrying of the North. This may be due to good PR or spin-doctoring vis a vis Bishop Asser. Though there are no records of gross acts committed by Alfred in his reign.
As the last kingdom to not fall under Norse dominion, he made Wessex withstand them, and eventually for his descendants to go on the offensive and proclaim a kingdom of all the English.
Due to his strong laws, military prowess, and wisdom, he is arguably the finest king in all of Anglo-Saxon history. From the time of Hengist and Horsa in the mid-5th century, right up until 1066 and the Norman Conquest.
King Alfred the Great certainly, in my opinion at the least, fully deserves his epithet.