878-954: The Birth of England

 You may wonder the significance of the numbers in the title. They are, in fact, the most important years in English history. At Edington, fought on 6th May 878, the  throne of Wessex, held by a certain king Alfred, was vulnerable as the Vikings threatened to overrun Wessex as they had done other parts of England. Alfred, suffering from chronic illness, had been forced to flee through swamps and woods to seek refuge with a simple family where, legend has it, he failed to prevent the burning of the cakes, earning him the wrath of the housewife. Alfred would rally himself, gathered his army together once more and trounce the Danes at Edington, Wiltshire, forcing them into retreat. 

Alfred had preserved his kingdom and, over the coming decades, he, his son Edward The Elder and daughter Aethelflaed, gradually turned Wessex into a united England. In the face of Viking hostility and generations of English divisions, it was a staggering achievement. It would be left up to Alfred's grandsons, Aethelstan, Edmund I and Eadred to complete the job. Aethelstan, assisted by his half brother Edmund I, went a long way to securing England's future by destroying its Danish and Scottish enemies at Brunanburh; such was the rout that it was said that no greater slaughter had been seen.

Brunanburh was a hugely important victory in the early history of England but not quite decisive. Aethelstan died two years later and Edmund I succeeded to the English throne. The Danes returned and seized control of not only the north but began to swarm over Mercia as well. It was a critical moment that threatened to undo all the work of Edmund's predecessors but the king held his nerve and manfully overturned most of initial losses. Northumbria would remain problematic into the reign of Edmund's brother, Eadred, but it was brought under the crown's control in 954 and, after generations of trouble, it would remain English for good.