Alfred The Great

   The King Alfred (849- 899), called Alfred the Great, the King of Essex, united sizeable part Of England (Alfred called himself "Rex Saxonium" - the King of saxons ). By this unity he made the most important step towards the England State formation. Alfred is a hero of popular legends and myths. That is why many facts of his biography are mixed up with the fancies. Alfred was the youngest son of the King of Essex - Aethelwolfe. Twice in his childhood he visited Rome and during the first coming the Pope performed the ceremony of confirmation and consecrating young Alfred into consuls. Rumours about this action of anointing quickly spread around but it was difficult to believe that Alfred could become the king as he had some 3 elder brothers. Under the governing of them more and more often Normans and Danes invaded the country until Anglo-Saxons conquered them under Alfred's command. Soon after this battle the last brother died and Alfred took the throne. After a year of fights he managed to achieve the peace. But in the year 876 Danes invaded the country again and devastated it. Alfred had to flee from the country , however soon he gathered his dispersed followers and beat the Danes. According to the terms o new peace contract, the Dane leader adopted Christianity, and all Danes were to leave the country.
   In the year 886 Alfred captured London which was under the control of Danes. Since that all regions of England, which resisted the pressure of the Danes, admitted Alfred to be the King and later on it helped his son Edward to drive away completely all Danes from the country. The king Alfred did his best to restore the culture and sciences in Essex, which suffered a lot during the wars. For it he invited many scientists from other sides of Britain and continent. At the same time Alfred was putting in order the legislation and ruling, and built several ships to fight with pirates. We can suppose that it was the King Alfred who initiated the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronics and the Hagiography. The King Alfred wrote also the introduction to the statute book. Moreover, he knew very well that many clergies could not read books in Latin, so he wrote the Foreword to translation of The Dialogs of Gregory the Great. Many researchers think that the King Alfred translated about 5 most important books of these works, and did it in the magnificent Old English Prose style. The first of them was the book "Rules of a clergy's life". In the foreword to this book Alfred stated his programme of education and asked the bishops about support. "The Universal History" by Orozy was freely translated by Alfred with abbreviations and interesting additions. The text of "The History of Church" by Baeda Venerabilis he followed more exactly the original. The exact datum of his death left unknown, it is supposedly 26 of October, 899.