Editing Wessex (section)

=== Last English kingdom ===
[[File:England 878.svg|thumb|right|300px|England in the late 9th century]]

In 865, several of the Danish commanders combined their respective forces into one large army and landed in England. Over the following years, what became known as the [[Great Heathen Army]] overwhelmed the kingdoms of [[Northumbria]] and East Anglia. Then in 871, the [[Great Summer Army]] arrived from [[Scandinavia]], to reinforce the Great Heathen Army. The reinforced army invaded Wessex and, although Æthelred and Alfred won some victories and succeeded in preventing the conquest of their kingdom, a number of defeats and heavy losses of men compelled Alfred to pay the Danes to leave Wessex.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/alfred_the_great.shtml|title=BBC – History – Alfred the Great|publisher=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hooper |first1=Nicholas Hooper |last2=Bennett |first2=Matthew |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: the Middle Ages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |pages=22–23 |isbn=0521440491}}</ref> The Danes spent the next few years subduing [[Mercia]] and some of them settled in Northumbria, but the rest returned to Wessex in 876. Alfred responded effectively and was able with little fighting to bring about their withdrawal in 877. A portion of the Danish army settled in Mercia, but at the beginning of 878 the remaining Danes mounted a winter invasion of Wessex, taking Alfred by surprise and overrunning much of the kingdom. Alfred was reduced to taking refuge with a small band of followers in the marshes of the [[Somerset Levels]], but after a few months he was able to gather an army and defeated the Danes at the [[Battle of Edington]], bringing about their final withdrawal from Wessex to settle in East Anglia. There were simultaneous Danish raids on the north coast of France and [[Brittany]] in the 870s – prior to the establishment of [[Normandy]] in 911 – and recorded Danish alliances with both [[Salomon, King of Brittany|Bretons]] and Cornish may have resulted in the suppression of Cornish autonomy with the death by drowning of King [[Donyarth]] in 875 as recorded by the [[Annales Cambriae]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/BritainDumnonia.htm|title=Celtic Kingdoms of the British Isles: Dumnonii|work=The History Files|access-date=27 December 2015}}</ref> No subsequent 'Kings' of Cornwall are recorded after this time, but [[Asser]] records Cornwall as a separate kingdom from Wessex in the 890s.<ref>Albert S. Cook, Asser's life of King Alfred, 1906</ref>

In 879 a Viking fleet that had assembled in the Thames estuary sailed across the English Channel to start a new campaign on the continent. The rampaging Viking army on the continent encouraged Alfred to protect his Kingdom of Wessex.<ref name=sawyer57>{{Cite book |last=Sawyer |first=Peter |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings |year=2001 |edition=3rd |publisher= OUP |isbn=0192854348| page=57}}</ref> Over the following years Alfred carried out a dramatic reorganisation of the government and defences of Wessex, building warships, organising the army into two shifts which served alternately, and establishing a system of fortified ''[[burh]]s'' across the kingdom. This system is recorded in a 10th-century document known as the [[Burghal Hidage]], which details the location and garrisoning requirements of thirty-three forts, whose positioning ensured that no one in Wessex was more than a long day's ride from a place of safety.<ref>[http://www.ogdoad.force9.co.uk/alfred/alfhidage.htm The Burghal Hidage: Alfred's Towns]</ref> In the 890s these reforms helped him to repel the invasion of another huge Danish army – which was aided by the Danes settled in England – with minimal losses.

In 2015, two individuals found a large hoard near [[Leominster]] consisting primarily of Saxon jewellery and silver ingots but also coins; the latter date to around 879 CE. According to a news report, "experts believe it [the hoard] was buried by a Viking during a series of raids known to have taken place in the area at that time", while Wessex was ruled by Alfred the Great and Mercia by Ceolwulf II. Two imperial coins recovered from the treasure hunters depict the two kings, "indicating an alliance between the two kingdoms—at least, for a time—that was previously unknown to historians", according to the report.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/viking-treasure-rewrite-history-stolen-metal-detectorists-convicted-1473484 |title=MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF VIKING TREASURE THAT COULD REWRITE HISTORY STOLEN, METAL DETECTORISTS CONVICTED |date=22 November 2019 |publisher=Newsweek |access-date=24 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-50461860 |title=Detectorists stole Viking hoard that 'rewrites history' |date=21 November 2019 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=24 November 2019}}</ref> A report by [[The Guardian]] adds that<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/21/detectorists-hid-find-that-rewrites-anglo-saxon-history |title=Detectorists stole Viking hoard that 'rewrites history' |date=21 November 2019 |work=The Guardian |access-date=24 November 2019 }}</ref>

<blockquote>"The presence of both kings on the two emperor coins suggests some sort of pact between the pair. But the rarity of the coins also suggests that Alfred quickly dropped his ally, who was just about written out of history".</blockquote>

Alfred also reformed the administration of justice, issued a new law code and championed a revival of scholarship and education. He gathered scholars from around England and Europe to his court, and with their help translated a range of [[Latin]] texts into English, doing much of the work personally, and orchestrated the composition of the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]. As a result of these literary efforts and the political dominance of Wessex, the [[West Saxon dialect]] of this period became the standard written form of [[Old English]] for the rest of the [[Anglo-Saxon]] period and beyond.

{| border="0" align="center" width="80%"
|-
!width=33% |[[File:Angleterre 871.png|center|310px]]
!width=33% |[[File:Angleterre 886.png|center|310px]]
!width=33% |[[File:Angleterre 897.png|center|310px]]
|-
|{{center|Wessex and areas under its control in 871.}}
|{{center|Wessex and areas under its control in 886.}}
|{{center|Wessex and areas under its control in 897.}}
|}

The Danish conquests had destroyed the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia and divided Mercia in half, with the Danes settling in the north-east while the south-west was left to the English king [[Ceolwulf II of Mercia|Ceolwulf]], allegedly a Danish puppet. When Ceolwulf's rule came to an end he was succeeded as ruler of "English Mercia" not by another king but by a mere [[ealdorman]], [[Earl Aethelred of Mercia|Aethelred]], who acknowledged Alfred's overlordship and married his daughter [[Ethelfleda]]. The process by which this transformation of the status of Mercia took place is unknown, but it left Alfred as the only remaining English king.