Editing Alfred the Great (section)

=== Counter-attack and victory ===
[[File:King Alfred's Tower, Stourhead, Somerset.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[King Alfred's Tower]] (1772) in [[Somerset]], on the supposed site of Egbert's Stone, the mustering place before the [[Battle of Edington]]{{Efn|The inscription reads "ALFRED THE GREAT AD 879 on this Summit Erected his Standard Against Danish Invaders To him We owe The Origin of Juries The Establishment of a Militia The Creation of a Naval Force ALFRED The Light of a Benighted Age Was a Philosopher and a Christian The Father of his People The Founder of the English MONARCHY and LIBERTY".{{Sfn|Horspool|2006|p=73}} }} ]]

In the seventh week after Easter (4–10 May 878), around [[Whitsuntide]], Alfred rode to [[Egbert's Stone]] east of [[Selwood, Somerset|Selwood]] where he was met by "all the people of Somerset and of [[Wiltshire]] and of that part of [[Hampshire]] which is on this side of the sea (that is, west of [[Southampton Water]]), and they rejoiced to see him".{{Sfn|Giles|Ingram|1996|loc=Year 878}} Alfred's emergence from his marshland stronghold was part of a carefully planned offensive that entailed raising the [[fyrd]]s of three [[shire]]s. This meant not only that the king had retained the loyalty of [[ealdormen]], royal [[High-reeve|reeves]] and king's [[thegn]]s, who were charged with levying and leading these forces, but that they had maintained their positions of authority in these localities well enough to answer his summons to war. Alfred's actions also suggest a system of scouts and messengers.{{Sfn|Lavelle|2010|pages=187–191}}

Alfred won a decisive victory in the ensuing [[Battle of Edington]] which may have been fought near [[Westbury, Wiltshire]]. He then pursued the Danes to their stronghold at [[Chippenham]] and starved them into submission. One of the terms of the surrender was that Guthrum convert to Christianity. Three weeks later, the Danish king and 29 of his chief men were baptised at Alfred's court at Aller, near Athelney, with Alfred receiving Guthrum as his spiritual son.{{Sfn|Plummer|1911|pp=582–584}}

According to Asser,
{{Blockquote|The unbinding of the [[chrisom]]{{Efn| A chrisom was the face-cloth or piece of linen laid over a child's head when he or she was baptised or christened. Originally the purpose of the chrisom-cloth was to keep the [[chrism]], a consecrated oil, from accidentally rubbing off.{{Sfn|Nares|1859|p=160}}}} on the eighth day took place at a royal estate called [[Wedmore]].|source={{Harvnb|Keynes|Lapidge|1983|loc=Ch. 56}}}}

At Wedmore, Alfred and Guthrum negotiated what some historians have called the [[Treaty of Wedmore]], but it was to be some years after the cessation of hostilities that a formal treaty was signed.{{Sfn|Horspool|2006|pages=123–124}} Under the terms of the so-called Treaty of Wedmore, the converted Guthrum was required to leave Wessex and return to East Anglia. Consequently, in 879 the Viking army left Chippenham and made its way to Cirencester.{{Sfn|Keynes|Lapidge|1983|loc=Ch. 60}} The formal [[Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum]], preserved in [[Old English]] in [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] (Manuscript 383), and in a [[Latin]] compilation known as ''[[Quadripartitus]]'', was negotiated later, perhaps in 879 or 880, when King [[Ceolwulf II of Mercia]] was deposed.{{Sfn|Abels|1998|p=163}}

That treaty divided up the kingdom of Mercia. By its terms, the boundary between Alfred's and Guthrum's kingdoms was to run up the [[River Thames]] to the [[River Lea]], follow the Lea to its source (near [[Luton]]), from there extend in a straight line to [[Bedford]], and from Bedford follow the [[River Great Ouse|River Ouse]] to [[Watling Street]].{{Sfn|Attenborough|1922|pp=98–101|loc= [https://archive.org/stream/lawsofearliesten00grea#page/98/mode/2up Treaty of Alfred and Gunthrum]}}

Alfred succeeded to Ceolwulf's kingdom consisting of western Mercia, and Guthrum incorporated the eastern part of Mercia into an enlarged [[Kingdom of East Anglia]] (henceforward known as the [[Danelaw]]). By terms of the treaty, moreover, Alfred was to have control over the Mercian city of London and its mints—at least for the time being.{{Sfn|Blackburn|1998|pp=105–124}} In 825, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' had recorded that the people of Essex, Sussex, Kent and Surrey surrendered to [[Egbert of Wessex|Egbert]], Alfred's grandfather. From then until the arrival of the [[Great Heathen Army]], Essex had formed part of Wessex. After the foundation of Danelaw, it appears that some of Essex would have been ceded to the Danes, but how much is not clear.{{Sfn|Smyth|1995|pp=303–304}}