When the Gospel was first preached in Britain, the island was inhabited
by Celtic peoples. In the 400's, pagan Germanic tribes, the Angles,
Saxons, and Jutes, invaded Britain and drove the Christian Celts out of
what is now England into Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The new arrivals
(called collectively the Anglo-Saxons) were then converted by Celtic
missionaries moving in from the one side and Roman missionaries moving
in from the other. (They then sent missionaries of their own, such as
Boniface, to their pagan relatives on the Continent.)
In the 800's the cycle partly repeated itself, as the Christian
Anglo-Saxons were invaded by the Danes, pagan raiders, who rapidly
conquered the northeast portion of England. They seemed about to conquer
the entire country and eliminate all resistance when they were turned
back by Alfred, King of the West Saxons.
Alfred was born in 849 at Wantage, Berkshire, youngest of five sons of
King Aethelwulf. He wished to become a monk, but after the deaths (all
in battle, I think) of his father and his four older brothers, he was
made king in 871. He proved to be skilled at military tactics, and
devised a defensive formation which the Danish charge was unable to
break. After a decisive victory at Edington in 878, he reached an
agreement with the Danish leader Guthrum, by which the Danes would
retain a portion of northeastern England and be given other concessions
in return for their agreement to accept baptism and Christian
instruction. From a later point of view, it seems obvious that such a
promise could not involve a genuine change of heart, and was therefore
meaningless (and indeed, one Dane complained that the white robe that he
was given after his baptism was not nearly so fine as the two that he
had received after the two previous times that he had been defeated and
baptized). However, Alfred's judgement proved sound. Guthrum, from his
point of view, agreed to become a vassal of Christ. His nobles and chief
warriors, being his vassals, were thereby obligated to give their feudal
allegiance to Christ as well. They accepted baptism and the presence
among them of Christian priests and missionaries to instruct them. The
door was opened
for conversions on a more personal level in that and succeeding
generations.
In his later years, having secured a large degree of military security
for his people, Alfred devoted his energies to repairing the damage that
war had done to the cultural life of his people. He translated Boethius'
"Consolations of Philosophy" into Old English, and brought in scholars
from Wales and the Continent with whose help various writings of Bede,
Augustine of Canterbury, and Gregory the Great were likewise translated.
He was much impressed by the provisions in the Law of Moses for the
protection of the rights of ordinary citizens, and gave order that
similar provisions should be made part of English law. He promoted the
education of the parish clergy. In one of his treatises, he wrote:
"He seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not
increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and
long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear."
He died on 26 October 899, and was buried in the Old Minster at
Winchester. Alone among English monarchs, he is known as "the Great."
The writer G K Chesterton has written a long narrative poem about
Alfred, called, "The Ballad of the White Horse." In my view, it would be
improved by abridgement (I would, for example, terminate the prologue
after the line "And laid peace on the sea"), but I think it well worth
reading as it stands, both for the history and for the theology.
http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dcs6mpw/gkc/books/white-horse2.html
A very nice statue of King and Saint Alfred
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/maps/towns/images/wntgsq.jpg
The statue, commissioned by Lord Wantage, and designed and carved in
1877 by Count Gleichen, (a cousin of Queen Victoria), stands the town
centre of Wantage. On the base of the statue the following words are
found:
"Alfred found learning dead and he restored it
Education neglected and he revived it
The laws powerless and he gave them force
The church debased and he raised it
The land ravaged by a fearful enemy from which he delivered it
Alfred's name will live as long as mankind shall respect the past."
Winston Churchill, not usually reputed for his modesty, when being told
that he must be the greatest Englishman that ever lived is supposed to
have replied "No ! The greatest Englishman that ever lived was King
Alfred".
PRAYER:
O Sovereign Lord, who didst bring thy servant Alfred to a
troubled throne that he might establish peace in a ravaged land
and revive learning and the arts among the people: Awake in us
also, we beseech thee, a keen desire to increase our
understanding while we are in this world, and an eager longing
to reach that endless life where all will be made clear;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
