0:00:08 > 0:00:11In the winter of 877,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15the fate of England rested on the shoulders of one man...
0:00:20 > 0:00:23MAN SPEAKS IN OLD ENGLISH
0:00:30 > 0:00:33..that time the King wandered in great hardship
0:00:33 > 0:00:36through the woods and fen fastnesses.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39MAN CONTINUES IN OLD ENGLISH
0:00:41 > 0:00:44There was no food except what they could find.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46MAN CONTINUES IN OLD ENGLISH
0:00:48 > 0:00:51All the King had left were his closest retainers,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55for most of the English people had submitted to the Vikings.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06The old Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and the East Angles had been destroyed,
0:01:08 > 0:01:14Mercia overrun, the monasteries plundered. The people lived in fear.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21And that winter, a Viking army attacked the last English kingdom,
0:01:21 > 0:01:22Wessex,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and the young King Alfred was forced to take refuge
0:01:25 > 0:01:28here in the swamps of Somerset.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31All he ruled now, a few acres of marsh.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41But this is the moment out of which the chain of events will come
0:01:41 > 0:01:45which will lead to the creation of the Kingdom of England.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49The process will go through Alfred, his daughter Aethelflaed,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52his son Edward and his grandson Athelstan.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59They are among the most gifted of all the rulers in British history.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04They will shape what we might almost call the deep bone structure
0:02:04 > 0:02:09of England, the English state and Englishness itself.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17Towns, shires, the monarchy, English law,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21the origins of Parliament, English literature.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24What an impact they will have on the future
0:02:24 > 0:02:28history of the British Isles and of the world.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32In their words and in the words of their contemporaries,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34this is their story.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27The tale of Alfred's wars with the Vikings
0:03:27 > 0:03:30and the creation of the Kingdom of England by his children
0:03:30 > 0:03:34and grandchildren is one of the great stories of British history.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40But it is also a detective story,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45for much of the evidence has been destroyed by time and war.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54In telling the tale, we will be helped by experts from the world's
0:03:54 > 0:03:57greatest Anglo-Saxon archive, the British Library.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Here is Alfred's will, his writings,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06his thoughts on life and kingship.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Some of his works are only now being restored by cutting-edge science.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18This is what a manuscript looks like when it's...
0:04:18 > 0:04:20When it's been through the fire.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23It looks like skin that has shrunk up together.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26They were kind of in balls because of the fire,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28because they had contracted.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Others are totally lost or known only through later copies.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34My heart sinks each time you turn a page.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Alfred's biography, written by the Welsh bishop Asser, was destroyed
0:04:38 > 0:04:44by fire in the 18th century and only survives in Tudor transcripts.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50So here is a copy of Asser's chronicle.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So to piece Alfred's story together,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57we will also need to explore burned fragments and later notebooks.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03The precious clues out of which a tale emerges not
0:05:03 > 0:05:10just of violence and war, but of vision and creativity in dark times.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14It faithfully reproduces the original Anglo-Saxon manuscript.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20And the first key story in Alfred's life, Asser says, took place
0:05:20 > 0:05:23not in England at all but in Rome.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30In 853, when Alfred was about five,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34his father, King Aethelwulf of Wessex, sent him to Rome.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37IN OLD ENGLISH:
0:05:49 > 0:05:52It was to be an inciting incident in his life.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Rome, for Alfred, was more than a pilgrimage.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09You feel that it somehow gave him a map for his life.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13As a man, he would lay the foundations of the English state,
0:06:13 > 0:06:17but the England that Alfred dreamed was not insular.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21It was tied to Europe and, above all, inspired by Rome.
0:06:28 > 0:06:35By Roman civilisation, Roman Christianity and Latin culture.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42In the old English quarter, close to the Vatican,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46today's street names hark back to Alfred's day.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Sassia - the Saxons.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Borgo - the burh, the English word for town.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58For 500 years, this is where English pilgrims stayed
0:06:58 > 0:07:01and it is where Alfred came as a boy.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The highlight of his trip was an audience with the Pope.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Alfred must have walked open-mouthed.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21And if you want to get a sense of the splendour that he
0:07:21 > 0:07:24actually saw, just come and look inside.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45The old Vatican was swept away in the age of Michelangelo,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48but this is what it looked like,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51the 5th-century church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Here, in this glittering late-Roman basilica, you can imagine
0:07:59 > 0:08:02the pilgrims from faraway Wessex.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Pope Leo blessed Alfred and gave the inquisitive
0:08:08 > 0:08:12and impressionable boy the insignia of a Roman consul.
0:08:21 > 0:08:27You can imagine the Pope embracing the little boy Alfred,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31investing him with the belt of a Roman consul and adopting him
0:08:31 > 0:08:33as his spiritual son.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36For Alfred, it was an unforgettable moment.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Alfred later claimed the Pope had hallowed him as king.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48That was just hindsight...
0:08:48 > 0:08:51but he came to see it as a mark of destiny.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Alfred's personality, like all personalities,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59it was formed in his childhood.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02And I think there are two things that I would stress
0:09:02 > 0:09:04particularly about his childhood
0:09:04 > 0:09:06which I think were formative.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10One was... Not just one, but two visits to Rome,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13which he made with his father.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17The other was on his way back from Rome.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22His father remarried,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24a Frankish princess, a Carolingian princess.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Alfred at this point was eight, and she was 12.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36The relationship between those two,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39although it only lasted for four or five years,
0:09:39 > 0:09:40must have been a close one...
0:09:42 > 0:09:46..because they were at the court and they both had a very strong
0:09:46 > 0:09:51sense of belonging to a dynasty, of embodying a dynasty.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55She was the great granddaughter of Charlemagne, and he was
0:09:55 > 0:10:00the youngest son of a king whose dynasty went back far beyond that
0:10:00 > 0:10:02of the Carolingians.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10The young boy grew up in a world torn by war.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The old patchwork of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the Northumbrians
0:10:15 > 0:10:17and Mercians, West Saxons
0:10:17 > 0:10:21and East Angles had already been shaken by Viking attacks
0:10:21 > 0:10:25and in Alfred's youth, the map of England began to change for ever.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The story of the Viking wars is told in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40There are several different versions, but the key one
0:10:40 > 0:10:44was written in Alfred's reign and maybe under his direction.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49It is now in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51after the British Library,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54the greatest collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Here, saved from the vandalism of the Reformation, are the records
0:10:59 > 0:11:05of our medieval ancestors' efforts to make a Christian civilisation
0:11:05 > 0:11:06in savage times.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12And among them is the single most important source
0:11:12 > 0:11:15for English history.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Compiled in the 890s, early 890s,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22probably in the court of Alfred the Great,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24and it takes us through
0:11:24 > 0:11:28English history, the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England,
0:11:28 > 0:11:34at first in quite short notes and then much more detailed accounts,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37coming into the present day and the Viking wars.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43This fateful sense of the momentum of events.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Take this, 855...
0:11:45 > 0:11:47HE SPEAKS IN OLD ENGLISH
0:11:51 > 0:11:54The first time that the heathens, the Viking armies,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57actually spent the whole winter in England -
0:11:57 > 0:11:58that's a landmark -
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and very soon, of course, those ancient kingdoms - the Northumbrians
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and the East Angles - would be destroyed,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06their royal families exterminated.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Mercia would be dismembered.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Wessex very soon would stand alone.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13And that is the theme of the narrative, really.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It's almost as if the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20this version of it, has been produced to be disseminated to show
0:12:20 > 0:12:23the pupils of England that they have
0:12:23 > 0:12:25a common history and a common destiny,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and that resistance against the Vikings is the way forward.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37And, of course, that the West Saxon kings, Alfred and his line,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40will be the true inheritors of that history.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Late in 870, the King of the East Angles was defeated
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and killed by the Danes.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55The scene was set for a full-scale attack on Wessex.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15The date the Vikings chose was the middle of the Christmas holidays.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19The Vikings studied the Christian calendar.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23They often make their big attacks on church festivals,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25and Christmas was a favourite.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30They came here late December to construct a typical Viking base
0:13:30 > 0:13:34between the two rivers, protected on all sides.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Reading will be the centre for their attack on Wessex itself.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45It was the beginning of a deadly game of cat and mouse.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49On January 1st, the English defeated a Viking probe west of Reading.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53On January 4th, King Aethelred and his brother Alfred launched
0:13:53 > 0:13:57a frontal attack on the Reading defences, but were defeated.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03Driven across the Thames at Twyford, they regrouped to the west.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05And there on January 8th,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07the Viking army attacked them,
0:14:07 > 0:14:09on Ashdown.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15The site of the Battle of Ashdown has never been found, but it
0:14:15 > 0:14:19must have been on the main east-west route, the Great Ridgeway.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21According to Bishop Asser,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25the heaviest fighting was around a single thorn tree
0:14:25 > 0:14:30and that must be the local meeting place known later
0:14:30 > 0:14:31as the Naked Thorn.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40Up on the Ridgeway where five tracks met,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Alfred himself later told the tale to Bishop Asser
0:14:44 > 0:14:47with a vivid insight into his character.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53So the English army would have camped in front of us
0:14:53 > 0:14:56the previous night on these fields.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00And early in the morning, the Danish army comes on that ridge,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03over the horizon in full battle array, in two great divisions.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08But at this moment, Aethelred is still in his tent
0:15:08 > 0:15:11performing the morning Mass with his priests
0:15:11 > 0:15:15and he refuses to come out until the rituals are complete.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19For Alfred, though, this is a critical moment.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23"We either retreat or we go forward," and Asser says,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25"Then, without any hesitation,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28"Alfred gave the order for the attack."
0:15:29 > 0:15:32And he went for the Viking army like a wild boar.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Eventually, the Viking line was broken.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02"Their bodies were strewn all over the breadth of Ashdown,"
0:16:02 > 0:16:05says the Chronicle, "and we chased them back to Reading."
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Alfred would remember the dramatic events of this year
0:16:12 > 0:16:14as his year of battles.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Nine major battles, countless forays
0:16:17 > 0:16:22and expeditions, he remembered later, through which the untested
0:16:22 > 0:16:28young warrior would emerge not only as King but as a born leader.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34That April, King Aethelred died.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43All four of Alfred's brothers were gone and at 22, he became King.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51There will more battles that year.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54The people were worn out by the constant fighting.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Wracked by ill-health, it was long odds on Alfred even staying alive.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02He could only pay the Vikings off and buy time.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20But in Northumbria and the East Midlands, Alfred's world
0:17:20 > 0:17:22was about to change dramatically.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27The Great Heathen Army had divided into three
0:17:27 > 0:17:31and the main force moved to Repton in Derbyshire.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Great view from up here of the landscape of Repton.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41You can see the River Trent over there in the middle distance
0:17:41 > 0:17:46and the old track of the Trent right down there behind the trees.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50It was here that the Viking great army - the mycel here,
0:17:50 > 0:17:55as the Anglo-Saxons called it - came in the winter of 873 to 874.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59And they dug a great defensive earthwork round their camp here,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02anchored on the river at both ends, with the church here
0:18:02 > 0:18:04in the middle of the defences.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Then the Chronicle says they shared out the land
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and began to plough and make a living.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28And still today, their names - Sloegr the Sly, Blood the Blade -
0:18:28 > 0:18:30can be read on our village signs.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Vikings putting down roots,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37staking their claim to their part of England.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43The news of those developments in the Midlands and East Anglia
0:18:43 > 0:18:47and Northumbria, the idea that the Great Heathen Army were actually
0:18:47 > 0:18:51taking the land, settling, beginning to plough,
0:18:51 > 0:18:56forming there own kingdoms, must have been deeply disturbing.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59The whole geopolitical map, if I can put it that way,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03of Anglo-Saxon England was shifting, maybe permanently,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05before their eyes.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10Then the remaining section of The Great Army turned on Wessex.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Caught off guard, Alfred fled into the marshes of Somerset.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04There, in the freezing New Year of 878,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07he survived by hit-and-run raids,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10always moving from place to place in a landscape
0:20:10 > 0:20:12he'd known from his youth.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Here, at least, he would be safe.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Our most famous story about him comes from this time,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37how he stayed with a peasant woman and burned the bread in her oven,
0:20:37 > 0:20:38her cakes.
0:20:40 > 0:20:47It's a fable, perhaps, but easy to imagine in a guerrilla war,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50when the resistance depended for food on the local people.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57People used to eat all the birds - the ducks, the swans.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02So those stories that they didn't have much to eat are probably true?
0:21:02 > 0:21:06If you caught a duck, you would be well fed, yes. Yes.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08It's catching it as well, really!
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Cos they can fly a lot faster than you can walk through this.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Be a harsh life to live out here, I think,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- if you didn't have a home to go to. - Yeah.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23And the water supply? What would the water be like here?
0:21:23 > 0:21:28It's not pleasant. It's black most of the time.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29You'd probably boil it to drink it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Yes, you don't want to be falling in it, either,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35because it's wet and sticky and muddy and deep.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But there is one story about that time that emerged
0:21:44 > 0:21:46within living memory.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51One day, Alfred, here in the woods, met a wandering hermit,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54a poor pilgrim, and Alfred shared with him
0:21:54 > 0:21:56the tiny amount of food that he'd got left.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01And the pilgrim blessed him and then went on his way.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03And that afternoon,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Alfred and his men made an almost miraculous catch of fish
0:22:06 > 0:22:11in one of the lakes here, so for the first time in days, they ate well.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15# If maidens could sing
0:22:15 > 0:22:17# Like lark birds...#
0:22:17 > 0:22:21That night, the pilgrim appeared to Alfred in his dreams.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29It's St Cuthbert himself. He told Alfred, "Don't lose courage.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31"You will triumph in the end,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34"and your descendants will be rulers of all England."
0:22:35 > 0:22:40# ..Would hide in the bushes...#
0:22:40 > 0:22:46In such divinely-sent dreams, medieval people saw the future.
0:22:49 > 0:22:55And from that moment, Alfred began to create his own myth of destiny.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16In the spring, Alfred's fight back began.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Around Easter, 23rd of March,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21they built a fort on an island in the marshes,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23a place called Athelney.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25From up here on Lyng church, you can
0:23:25 > 0:23:30really get an idea of the layout of the land in 878.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Surrounded by marshes, of course, and the burh itself,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37the fortress over here.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43You're looking down on the Alfredian burh of Lyng.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46If you just look to the end of the village there, you can see
0:23:46 > 0:23:49the causeway snaking out past that last house.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53That's where Alfred's fortress of Athelney was,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57joined to the fortress of Lyng by a causeway or a bridge.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03This is the place from where Alfred launched the salvation of Wessex
0:24:03 > 0:24:07and, if it's not too dramatic to say so, of England.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16According to Asser, Athelney was surrounded by swamp on every side.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18"You can't reach it," he said,
0:24:18 > 0:24:23"except by punts, or along the causeway from Lyng."
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Do you see Lyng church over there?
0:24:26 > 0:24:30A small hill, Athelney, maybe four or 500 yards long.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Alfred's fort, probably, at that end,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38where there were the remains of Iron-Age defences - ditches, mounds
0:24:38 > 0:24:39and the monastery he built
0:24:39 > 0:24:43in thanksgiving for his victory on this spot,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45where they built the monument a couple of hundred years ago.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50But it was from here that Bishop Asser says Alfred was able then,
0:24:50 > 0:24:55after Easter, to mount his attacks against the pagan army.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Archaeology here has turned up a few details of what was happening then,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03especially slag from furnaces.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Alfred and his warriors were, perhaps,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11day and night forging weapons, ready for the coming climax to the war.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19A Saxon sword would have three-twist left hand,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and three-twist right hand.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Sword blades, spears, chain mail.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33War gear good enough to take on battle-hardened Vikings.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56- Come on!- Good boy!
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Oh, it's rather magical, isn't it?
0:26:01 > 0:26:04' "It was as if he'd risen from the dead," said Asser. '
0:26:06 > 0:26:09This is the main track, which we're about to start...
0:26:09 > 0:26:12'They made their last camp at Iley Oak near Warminster,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14'protected by an old earthwork.'
0:26:14 > 0:26:18According to the map, my guess is it's not that much further,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21- is that right?- No, next turn. - Next turn left.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25'Jenny and Mike Dunford know the site.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27'And here it is...'
0:26:29 > 0:26:32It's so unexpected, isn't it? Really weird.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36'..hidden in a plantation of monkey puzzle trees.'
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- Oh, look. There's a ditch here. - This is what we were referring to.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45- Just look at this.- Is this the mound that you were talking...?
0:26:45 > 0:26:48It is, exactly, yes. A circular earthwork. Can you see it?
0:26:48 > 0:26:50It curves round there.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53This is exactly where the famous oak tree was.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58'Here they prepared themselves for battle...'
0:26:58 > 0:27:00That's great.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05- The last survivor of the oaks... - Looks like it.- ..of Iley Wood.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09'..confessing their sins, praying before the holy relics
0:27:09 > 0:27:11'carried by Alfred's Mass priests.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Runs all the way round.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'And then they took their last instructions from the King
0:27:17 > 0:27:20'and his marshal, Edgewolf.'
0:27:20 > 0:27:21That's brilliant, yeah.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24- Excellent.- The highest point looks over here.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28It always pays to go on the ground, doesn't it?
0:27:28 > 0:27:32'Perhaps they stood to arms all night, ready to move before dawn.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35'Maybe 3,000 or 4,000 men with their horses.'
0:27:38 > 0:27:42The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser both say this was
0:27:42 > 0:27:45the place that they spent that last night,
0:27:45 > 0:27:52and then at dawn, they rose and they went to a place called Edington.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54HORSES GALLOP AND WHINNY
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Alfred's scouts had reported that the main Viking army
0:28:08 > 0:28:14under King Guthrum had moved to Edington, under Salisbury Plain.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And there, at first light, he attacked them.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22There was a royal estate down there,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26an Anglo-Saxon royal estate, with a great wooden hall, stables,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30barns, outbuildings, maybe even flocks of sheep, as there still are.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35That's why Guthrum and the Danes had made this their
0:28:35 > 0:28:37forward base in the campaign.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43Alfred brings his forces under the escarpment of the plain there
0:28:43 > 0:28:45and makes his attack across these fields,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49along the line of those telegraph poles running out into the field.
0:28:54 > 0:29:00Asser says Alfred fought the battle atrociously, ferociously.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Nothing romantic about these Viking Age battles.
0:29:03 > 0:29:09It was brutal stuff - toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11stabbing and slashing.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15And Asser says Alfred had to hang in there tenaciously,
0:29:15 > 0:29:20persevering for a long time before, with God's will, he won the victory,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25and there destroyed the pagan army with great slaughter.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41Alfred pursued the survivors back to Chippenham.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45And two weeks later, they surrendered.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59And then Alfred started what can only be called the peace process.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05About 15th June, King Guthrum and 30 of the best men of his army
0:30:05 > 0:30:09came here to meet King Alfred at Aller,
0:30:09 > 0:30:12and received Christian baptism.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Asser says something very interesting about this.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21He says that King Alfred had been moved by fellow feeling,
0:30:21 > 0:30:26by compassion for his enemies, as he always was.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31Guthrum was received from the font by Alfred as his foster son
0:30:31 > 0:30:35and, with that moment, the relations between the Vikings
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and the English took a whole new path.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46What, to me, is interesting about the Vikings,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50as they're usually called, is that they're so often portrayed
0:30:50 > 0:30:52as violent and aggressive and destructive.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56All those aspects were true, which isn't to say
0:30:56 > 0:30:59that the West Saxons themselves weren't pretty violent
0:30:59 > 0:31:02and destructive on occasion,
0:31:02 > 0:31:08but what the Scandinavians wanted was to buy into European culture.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Very soon, they began to settle, and they needed to integrate.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26The best way was conversion,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30adopting all the characteristics of Christian culture,
0:31:30 > 0:31:32which is really about organising your life -
0:31:32 > 0:31:35your personal life and your social life -
0:31:35 > 0:31:38about the rules that Christianity preached.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Alfred honours Guthrum.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56That's laying a template for how he thinks relations with
0:31:56 > 0:31:59- the Vikings would go?- Yes.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03The baptism literally integrated the Danish warlord chief
0:32:03 > 0:32:08Guthrum into the family of Alfred, because Alfred was his godfather.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22For 12 nights, the Chronicle says,
0:32:22 > 0:32:28the King feasted Guthrum and his 30 worthiest men,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and he greatly honoured them and gave them rich gifts.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38It's an extraordinary way to end what had been a savagely fought war
0:32:38 > 0:32:42in which the very existence of the Kingdom of Wessex
0:32:42 > 0:32:44had hung in the balance,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49but it's going to be typical of the way Alfred operates.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54It's his idea of politics, of peacemaking with this enemy,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57who he knows by now will not go away in English history.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03And in 886, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:33:03 > 0:33:09amid all the detail of the campaigns, has a line that it would
0:33:09 > 0:33:14be very easy to miss, but which is very significant in the story.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15And it's this.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18"Eal Angelcynn" -
0:33:18 > 0:33:23all the English people acknowledged Alfred as their king,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27except those who were still under the rule of the Danes
0:33:27 > 0:33:29in the north and the east.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Angelcynn - the English kin.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42Long ago, Bede had given the Anglo-Saxons this idea
0:33:42 > 0:33:45that there was one English people, one "gens Anglorum".
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Here, Alfred is claiming to speak for them.
0:33:54 > 0:34:00This alone would make him one of our most remarkable rulers,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05but it's what follows that raises him to the ranks of true greatness.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12First, Alfred secured his kingdom with a network of forts - "burhs".
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It's the beginning of English towns.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19They were much, much more than merely forts, which is what
0:34:19 > 0:34:22the written sources would give us to believe.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26They were really designed to develop, and, within them,
0:34:26 > 0:34:29people were doing all sorts of things.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32There were merchants, traders, craftspeople.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36So they were really complicated places.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39So Alfred is setting out to transform society?
0:34:39 > 0:34:41It's hard to believe that he didn't have
0:34:41 > 0:34:43some vision to that effect,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46that when he established these places, they were not urban,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49they wouldn't have looked particularly urban.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It took a long time.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53That was part of his vision,
0:34:53 > 0:34:58to establish a framework within which urbanisation could develop.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Of course, these places were fortified places, but it also
0:35:01 > 0:35:05meant that they were safe places within which to transact business.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10And, of course, you can see that not only within the burhs themselves,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14but in the way in which the countryside around the burhs
0:35:14 > 0:35:16is being exploited and organised.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20Burhs must have depended on the countryside.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25They had to be supported in some way.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31And the whole burghal system, I think, depended on food producers
0:35:31 > 0:35:35from outside the burhs sustaining and supporting life in those towns.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40That does imply some sort of major reorganisation.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44How you plough your fields, how you manure your fields,
0:35:44 > 0:35:45all this sort of stuff.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47It suggests intensification.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52I don't think we can understand the burhs and what made them work,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55what made them tick, without thinking about the rural hinterland,
0:35:55 > 0:36:01and without thinking about the vision that enabled surplus production
0:36:01 > 0:36:04in the countryside to sustain the burhs.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12So when Asser says a lot of people didn't like what Alfred was doing,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16they resisted these military burdens?
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Well, they are military burdens but, clearly,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22the implication is also other sorts of burdens.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27If you're going to sustain permanent garrisons -
0:36:27 > 0:36:29men, fighting men, who are not going to be farmers,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31who are not going to be producing food -
0:36:31 > 0:36:33you need to organise the countryside
0:36:33 > 0:36:36in a new way in order to make that work.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38A very demanding boss, I would imagine!
0:36:38 > 0:36:41A bit of a control freak, perhaps, and wanting to make sure
0:36:41 > 0:36:45that he's everywhere at once and able to oversee what's going on.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48A very smart guy, a guy with a vision.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55But Alfred's ambitions went beyond Wessex.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59His 16-year-old daughter Aethelflaed had married Aethelred,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01the Lord of Murcia,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04and Alfred was accepted as ruler of both kingdoms -
0:37:04 > 0:37:06King of the Anglo-Saxons.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08And in 886, with his son-in-law,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12he embarked on his biggest urban project -
0:37:12 > 0:37:17the restoration of the Mercian city of Lundenburh.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Alfred occupied,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37laid out,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40refounded - a difficult word to translate -
0:37:40 > 0:37:42London.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47It's a key moment in the story of the city.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51It's destined to be the richest city in Britain,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53even by the end of the 10th century.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02And the amazing thing is, what Alfred actually did on the ground
0:38:02 > 0:38:07can still be seen if you go down to the London waterfront today.
0:38:14 > 0:38:15There, look at that!
0:38:17 > 0:38:22This 18th-century map here gives you a fantastic idea, much better than
0:38:22 > 0:38:25the modern A to Z, of the Anglo-Saxon layout,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27the replanning of the city.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34This is where the Anglo-Saxons created the, well,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36the original wharves of London that we know today.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Billingsgate, there, the old fish market.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45"Billing" is an Anglo-Saxon name. Who Billing was, we don't know.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Maybe a 9th-century mover and shaker.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53You can see the line of the Anglo-Saxon lanes coming down,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56the names of Anglo-Saxon city churches, there,
0:38:56 > 0:38:58and the Great Fire Monument.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02The jetties coming out into the river,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05and a host of ships in the Middle Ages,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09little wooden ships ferrying produce across from the Continent and back.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16All these little lanes coming down to the wharves.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20All Hallows, Steel Yard, Dowgate, it's Anglo-Saxon.
0:39:22 > 0:39:23And Queen Hith -
0:39:23 > 0:39:28the one wharf of the medieval world that still survives.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Can you see the shingly beach running up to the modern buildings?
0:39:53 > 0:39:56There's Queen Hith from the landward side,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00the last Anglo-Saxon wharf of London.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04In the 880s, when Alfred replanned the city,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06as we saw in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08it was called Aethelred's Hith,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11presumably Alfred's son-in-law, the Earl of Mercia.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14And, er, it's a great place
0:40:14 > 0:40:16to actually see what that replanning meant.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25To build up the trading shore - ripa emptoralis -
0:40:25 > 0:40:28they did what the Victorians and later generations did,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31which is to drive great wooden piles into the beach,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34you can see there, on which they erected the jetties.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37If you want one place which can stand
0:40:37 > 0:40:40for the medieval origins of the city of London,
0:40:40 > 0:40:45and indeed the origins of London's pre-eminence in our national life,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48from then until now,
0:40:48 > 0:40:49it's here.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56But for towns and trade to flourish...
0:40:57 > 0:40:59..people not only need security...
0:41:02 > 0:41:05..they must be able to trust the currency.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11And the Anglo-Saxon coinage had been debased in the Viking wars.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15So Alfred and his advisers not only had to build towns,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17they had to plan the economy.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Around about the middle of the 870s, when things are looking very bleak
0:41:23 > 0:41:26from a military and political point of view,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29he changes the coinage quite dramatically.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33We go from a very debased coinage,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36in which each coin contains only about 10% silver,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40to one in which they are extremely pure.
0:41:40 > 0:41:4390% pure or higher.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45He starts off inheriting this system
0:41:45 > 0:41:49from his brother and the Mercian kings,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52in which Alfred, too, makes lunette pennies
0:41:52 > 0:41:56and these are really a coinage of crisis.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00The quality of the silver has dropped dramatically.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03These coins contain about 10 or 20% silver each,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07so they're trying to eke out a smaller amount of silver
0:42:07 > 0:42:10and make more and more coins, presumably to pay
0:42:10 > 0:42:12more and more men to fight more and more Vikings.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15And what does Alfred do in those first years, then, Rory?
0:42:15 > 0:42:19I mean, does he...? Talk about low silver content.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23Does he work to improve fineness, design, all those sorts of things?
0:42:23 > 0:42:25He most certainly does, yes.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28This is known as the cross-and-lozenge coinage.
0:42:28 > 0:42:29Very pure.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31The design is completely different.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37On the obverse, the bust of the King surrounded by his title Aelfred Rex.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41And then, on the reverse, we have a beautiful cross
0:42:41 > 0:42:44surrounded by the name of the man who made the coin.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46And this was the standard at this time.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Most all of these coins name the man who was responsible for making it.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51METAL TAPS LOUDLY
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Respect of the coinage is respect of the King's authority,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57so there are very strict regulations against forgery,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59against adulteration of the coinage.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04One of the aims of reforming the coinage was to stop that.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Oh, gosh, you can actually see the, um...
0:43:09 > 0:43:12- You can see the silver, almost, in that.- Yes.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16And this is minted in southern England, is it?
0:43:16 > 0:43:18It is, almost certainly in London.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21With a Roman-style monogram that carries London...
0:43:21 > 0:43:23That has letters LONDONIA.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Oh, that is absolutely wonderful, isn't it?
0:43:26 > 0:43:29It reminds me of those late-Roman coins for Constantinople,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31when you've got the C-O-N,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34- and then, this is an L-O-N, isn't it, you know?- Precisely, yes.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39This is entirely intended to show off Alfred's control of London
0:43:39 > 0:43:42and its importance within the kingdom as a whole.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55But Alfred's dream went further still.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Though he'd only learnt to read and write in middle age,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01he hoped to rebuild English culture
0:44:01 > 0:44:05or, as he would say, "restore wisdom".
0:44:05 > 0:44:09- DAME JINTY NELSON:- Alfred combined a deep spirituality
0:44:09 > 0:44:13and a high degree of intellectual curiosity
0:44:13 > 0:44:15with great practical wisdom.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23And designing his own clock was absolutely symptomatic of that.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30He was multitalented and multiskilled, I think so.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34That's why he drew so many different talents to his court.
0:44:34 > 0:44:35It was a court of many talents.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37BIG BEN STRIKES
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Alfred knew that there were scholars on the Continent,
0:44:41 > 0:44:46Carolingian scholars, the world that his stepmother had come from,
0:44:46 > 0:44:51and that they were well-versed in Christian Latin texts.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57And had written commentaries on them to help to explain them
0:44:57 > 0:45:00to new Christians in a different kind of set up.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Alfred embarked on a programme of translations
0:45:05 > 0:45:10and contributed very significantly to them himself.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15His experience of, er, interpolating his own interpretations,
0:45:15 > 0:45:20his own, um, additions to these texts,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22is a way into his mind.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29"I have often thought about what wisdom there was in England,"
0:45:29 > 0:45:33he said, "before everything was ravaged and burnt.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39"When I became King, education had so completely collapsed that
0:45:39 > 0:45:44"very few people could translate a letter from Latin into English.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50"So it seems best to me that we should translate the books
0:45:50 > 0:45:54"which are most needful for all men to know
0:45:54 > 0:45:56"into the language we can all understand.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01"I began to translate those books
0:46:01 > 0:46:06"from Latin into English with the help of my Mass priests
0:46:06 > 0:46:09"and my bishop Asser,
0:46:09 > 0:46:11"sometimes word for word,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14"sometimes sense for sense."
0:46:14 > 0:46:19THE LAST PART OF ALFRED'S QUOTE IS SPOKEN IN LATIN
0:46:22 > 0:46:24There we go.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27There are annotations,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30which were clearly made in south-western England
0:46:30 > 0:46:32or in perhaps in Wales.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36There are three different hands which have been identified,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40which are insular hands, meaning they're, er...
0:46:40 > 0:46:42- I guess you would say British hands.- Yeah.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47But the one which wrote most of the comments of the three insular hands,
0:46:47 > 0:46:52er, clearly belonged to a Welsh scribe,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56late 9th or early 10th century, so again about the time of King Alfred.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02The later scholars specifically says that Asser helped Alfred with
0:47:02 > 0:47:07- his English version of Boethius' Consolation Of Philosophy.- Yes.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11So here, you've got a Welsh hand, and Welsh abbreviations...
0:47:11 > 0:47:14- It's very clearly, yes. - They're Welsh, aren't they?
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Well, palaeography always proceeds by comparing something that you know,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21which is dated and identified clearly,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24with something that you want to, er, place somewhere.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29And in this case, the hand which wrote most of the insular commentary
0:47:29 > 0:47:34has been very closely compared with identified and dated hands
0:47:34 > 0:47:36which we know belonged to Welsh scribes.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44You can wonder what the audience was for such a commentary.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48People who were perhaps learning Latin and who clearly needed
0:47:48 > 0:47:51this kind of guidance in order to understand the text.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57But Boethius is a sort of unusual text perhaps to have chosen.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59It is rather odd, isn't it?
0:47:59 > 0:48:04It's not really an obvious, obviously Christian text for that matter.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08The early Middle Ages are often thought of as bad time, a dark time,
0:48:08 > 0:48:13and it could be that the, er, the sort of dark worldview,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17and the need for consolation that comes out of this, this text
0:48:17 > 0:48:20and the sort of dark circumstances in which Boethius wrote it,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23for personal circumstances,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27have resonated with people in this time,
0:48:27 > 0:48:32er, which was rather difficult and dark, in fact.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39'So here's Asser explaining to Alfred
0:48:39 > 0:48:41'the Greek myth of the Furies.'
0:48:43 > 0:48:45"Fearful goddesses...
0:48:48 > 0:48:54"..and these goddesses had no respect for any man, for any human,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57"but punished each according to their deeds
0:48:57 > 0:49:00"and are said to rule men's fate."
0:49:06 > 0:49:11In Alfred's life, by now, we've gone beyond matters of war and peace
0:49:11 > 0:49:14to the mystery of creative imagination itself.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23Augustine, Gregory the Great, Boethius,
0:49:23 > 0:49:25key texts of the Latin west
0:49:25 > 0:49:29re-imagined by the descendants of the barbarians.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35"How our ancestors loved wisdom," he wrote,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38"and they passed it on to us.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41"Now we can still make out their footprints,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44"but can we follow their track?"
0:49:49 > 0:49:54One of the books most needful for people to know, as Alfred put it.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59And it's a world history, literally a world history.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02I mean, the Persian Empire, the Babylonians,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09But what they add to this account, what you couldn't have got
0:50:09 > 0:50:12from the classical historians and geographers,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14which is an account of the Northern world.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17The Viking world.
0:50:20 > 0:50:25And he gets these from a Norwegian merchant called Ohthere.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29HE BEGINS TO RECITE THE TEXT IN NORWEGIAN
0:50:29 > 0:50:32MALE VOICE CONTINUES
0:50:46 > 0:50:49He deals in skins and hides.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54You can imagine Alfred and his courtiers sitting spellbound
0:50:54 > 0:50:58as they heard this story of the northern lights,
0:50:58 > 0:51:00the world up to the Arctic Circle.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19What Alfred did was to import Continental scholars...
0:51:19 > 0:51:22and from Ireland, also from Wales.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27These people rubbed shoulders at court
0:51:27 > 0:51:33with their secular counterparts from these same places,
0:51:33 > 0:51:38so you can imagine quite significant groups of people,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43in lay life and in religious life, gathered around Alfred.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52From that first visit to Rome,
0:51:52 > 0:51:56he'd always had a vision of a wider world.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01A kind of European culture, which was a Christian culture,
0:52:01 > 0:52:06but also a deeply classical culture, um, was being created.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11Bishops, ealdormen,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14and even people below that level, I think, were being encouraged
0:52:14 > 0:52:19to read or listen to at least works in Old English.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24And with them, Alfred gave other gifts.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Small-scale, but precious as badges,
0:52:28 > 0:52:34signs of a relationship between them and the giver Alfred.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Hi, Pat.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- You've brought the jewel. - I have, indeed.- Great.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Oh, fantastic! Let's just have a look at this.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Tremendous!
0:52:47 > 0:52:49That is gorgeous, isn't it?
0:52:49 > 0:52:53- Gorgeous! It's got this inscription around it, hasn't it?- Yes.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57HE READS THE INSCRIPTION IN OLD ENGLISH
0:52:57 > 0:53:00"Alfred ordered me to be made."
0:53:00 > 0:53:04And found close to Athelney, so this is as personal a piece
0:53:04 > 0:53:07from his time as you could imagine, isn't it?
0:53:07 > 0:53:10And anybody know what the figure is? Do you know?
0:53:10 > 0:53:14- There's lots of speculation.- Really? - Some people say it's Christ.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17Right, yeah. And the figure of wisdom, I've heard,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20which would be quite suitable for Alfred, wouldn't it?
0:53:20 > 0:53:23- Well, yes, he was a scholar. - Do we know what it was used for?
0:53:23 > 0:53:27There's a sort of prongy thing for a fitting here, isn't it?
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Well, I think it was used as a pointer
0:53:30 > 0:53:35and in that it would have either had, um, a pointer of ivory or ebony
0:53:35 > 0:53:40and he would use it to point when he was teaching.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44- Lovely.- But in our window, he's wearing it in his crown.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46That's a bit of artistic licence, I think.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48THEY LAUGH
0:53:48 > 0:53:50So why has the village got this?
0:53:50 > 0:53:53HE LAUGHS Well, it was found in Newton Park.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56The original was given to the Ashmolean, of course, yes.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00- Back then, yeah. But lovely that East Lyng has...- We've got a copy.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04- ..has got that, isn't it? - But we do guard it very jealously.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Look at this lovely...
0:54:08 > 0:54:13- ..floral ornament on the back there. - I think it's wonderful.- Mm-hm.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15We think WE'RE clever. HE LAUGHS
0:54:15 > 0:54:19- Yes, the workmanship's beautiful, isn't it?- Absolutely.- Yeah.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23He's giving these, these books,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27which are of the translations that he does,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29and, of course, there's an immense amount of wealth
0:54:29 > 0:54:32and effort and skill has gone into the making of the books.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35So it's a very, very valuable gift, you know.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38He's giving these to his main monasteries, er,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40and he's giving with them
0:54:40 > 0:54:46- a beautiful jewelled pointer... - Mm-hm.- ..which you'd use
0:54:46 > 0:54:50for following the lines of the manuscript as you were reading it.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Um, with this personal note on saying,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55"Alfred ordered me to be made."
0:54:55 > 0:55:00And this is always a reminder of who gave this book and its pointer
0:55:00 > 0:55:04and surely he would have given one of these -
0:55:04 > 0:55:05and there would've been
0:55:05 > 0:55:08a few of them made by his goldsmiths at court -
0:55:08 > 0:55:11he would have given one of them to Athelney,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14which was the monastery that meant most to him, really,
0:55:14 > 0:55:20- and, by miracle, it was found... - Yes.- ..and has survived.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Alfred had secured the survival of his kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons
0:55:40 > 0:55:45and he'd bequeathed his successors a dream of one England.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49He was still only in his late forties,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51still wracked by illness...
0:55:53 > 0:55:56..and he never stopped fighting.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59In the 890s, he fought his third war.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03Four years of campaigning from Devon to Essex
0:56:03 > 0:56:05and up to the Welsh borders.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09One battle took place under the Heathrow flight path
0:56:09 > 0:56:10at Thorney Island.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16For the English, war had become a way of life.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21"This was the hardest time," says the Chronicle,
0:56:21 > 0:56:24"for we were ravaged, too, by plague
0:56:24 > 0:56:27"and the best of the King's friends died then.
0:56:29 > 0:56:35- MALE VOICE RECITES IN OLD ENGLISH - "..Swithulf, Bishop of Rochester...
0:56:35 > 0:56:39- MALE VOICE CONTINUES - "..Ceolmund, ealdorman in Kent...
0:56:39 > 0:56:43- MALE VOICE CONTINUES - "..and Edgewolf, the King's marshal.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49"And I have only named the most distinguished."
0:56:53 > 0:56:57The loss of the wartime generation must have hit Alfred hard.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00He wasn't 50 yet, but...
0:57:00 > 0:57:05battered, one imagines, by life, war and bad health.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09It must have felt time for the next generation to come on.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12THEY SING
0:57:14 > 0:57:17And at this point, he's still worrying away
0:57:17 > 0:57:20on his translation of The Consolation Of Philosophy.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23It's obviously a text that meant a great deal to him.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25He'd already turned it into prose.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28But now he does a version in verse.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31CHOIR CONTINUES
0:57:31 > 0:57:34'And in working on it, he reflected on his own life.'
0:57:37 > 0:57:39This is what he said.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44"What I set out to do was to virtuously and justly
0:57:44 > 0:57:47"administer the authority given to me
0:57:47 > 0:57:49"and to do it with wisdom.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52"For, without wisdom, nothing is worthwhile.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58"It's always been my desire to live honourably
0:57:58 > 0:58:03"and to leave my descendants my memory in good works.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10"For each man, according to the measure of his intelligence,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13"must speak what he can speak
0:58:13 > 0:58:15"and do what he can do."
0:58:21 > 0:58:25Next in the story, Alfred's son, Edward the Elder,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28and his daughter the Lady of the Mercians.
0:58:41 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd