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Alfred and the Danes
Alfred and the Danes; Part 4

Alfred and the Danes; Part 4

The line of division settled in the Treaty of Wed more was the Watling Street; but a few years later Alfred got a better frontier. Henceforth the line ran up the estuary of the Thames to the Lea, along that river to Hertford and across to Bedford, then followed the Ouse till it struck the Watling Street, and from there to Chester. Roughly speaking, the north and east lay in Guthrum's hands; the south and west remained to Alfred. He lost in the extent of his territory, but the hold of Wessex over Northumbria and Anglia had not been firm. In the end he was stronger in a more concentrated kingdom, and he retained London and most of the larger towns.

The Treaty of Wedmore freed Alfred from Guthrum, but at any moment a fresh band of marauders might come. To guard against this danger was Alfred's next care. He improved his army by increasing the number of the thegns, making all holders of five hides of land "take up their thegnhood", and even allowing the man with less land to become a thegn, if he had proper arms and mail armour. As the thegn was bound to follow the king for the whole course of the war (As contrasted with the fyrd, whose members were always anxious to return to the duties of their farms), the most effective part of the army was strengthened. Further, Alfred arranged that the fyrd should be divided into three parts, each of which would serve for a month at a time, thus securing a more permanent force from this somewhat disorderly and untrained body. He also created "burhs", or fortified posts, on the Danish frontier for checking raiders. But, best of all, he was the first to see that England's safety lay in a fleet: the best way to meet the Danes was to fight them at sea. He built, as the Chronicle tells us, " long ships that were full nigh twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars (The usual Danish ship had thirty-two oars), some more; they were both swifter and steadier than the others". It is somewhat curious that though the English had themselves in early days been sea rovers, yet they had lost their taste for the sea, and Alfred had at first to employ Frisians to man his ships. Soon, however, the English became good seamen, and the fleet which Alfred created and his descendants enlarged, became England's best safeguard.

Alfred and the Danes; Part 4

Chronology