voorouders van der Ploeg-Mosterman » Ælfred van Wessex (848-899)

Personal data Ælfred van Wessex 


Household of Ælfred van Wessex

He is married to Ealshwith van de Gaini.

They got married in the year 868, he was 20 years old.Source 5


Child(ren):

  1. Æthelflæd van Wessex  ± 869-918 


Notes about Ælfred van Wessex

Alfred, Ælfrēd, Ælfrǣd
---
"The Danes in Dark Ages Britain"
https://www.britainexpress.com/History/Danes.htm

"Viking 'kingship'
The Vikings, as they were called, which probably means "warriors", were at first merely bands of adventurers following the banner of some famous warrior or high-born leader, and their object was simply plunder. Worshippers of the old gods, they had no touch of Christianity. When we hear of the "kings" who led them when they came, not in small companies but in great fleets, we must recognise that the king was simply a war-lord; not the king over a territory, but only over the warriors who followed his banner.

In 834 a fleet of the Northmen attacked the Rhine mouth, and a detachment of them ravaged the island of Sheppey. Two or three years later the operation was repeated, and this time a detachment landed at Charmouth, Dorsetshire, where, after a stubborn fight with Ecgbert, they remained actually masters of the field, but had been too roughly handled to attempt to hold their position. In 838 they came to Cornwall, and, in alliance with the Cornishmen, moved upon Wessex, but were put to utter route by Ecgbert at Hengston Down.

AEthelwulf of Wessex
Next year Ecgbert died. His eldest son AEthelwulf succeeded him as suzerain of England and king of Wessex, a younger son, AEthelstan, being made sub-king of Essex and Kent and Sussex. During the next few years the Danes made perpetual invasions in force on the east coast and the south coast, and also on the Frankish dominion beyond the English Channel, passing round Finisterre, and in 848 capturing and sacking Bordeaux.

Sometimes they were beaten off; but usually they routed the levies brought against them, and only retired when they had obtained a satisfactory amount of plunder. By this time they were habitually working not in small detachments but in great combined fleets, numbering sometimes as many as six. hundred vessels.

Battle of Aclea
In 851, however, they met with an overwhelming repulse at the hands of AEthehvulf and his son AEthelbald at Aclea, either Ockley in Surrey or Oakley near Basingstoke. Probably it was not till 855 that the Danes for the first time wintered in England, the first step to a Danish settlement; the Chronicle refers this event both to 851 and 855, but the defeat at Aclea makes the earlier date improbable.

Two years later AEthelwulf died and was followed on the throne by four of his sons in succession - AEthelbald, who reigned till 860; AEthelbert, who reigned for the next six years; AEthelred (866-871), and, finally, Alfred the Great.

The Danish invasions slackened, and we only hear of them once between 856 and 865, when they again wintered in Thanet. On this one occasion they met with a sharp reverse. But 865 was the opening year of continuous onslaught. In 866 they ravaged East Anglia, and in 867 fell on Northumbria, where they remained permanently and before long indisputable masters of the country. In 868 they struck into Mercia though they made terms and retired again; and in 870 they overwhelmed East Anglia and killed its last king, St. Edmund.

Attack on Wessex
Then in 871 opened the great attack upon Wessex, led by two kings, Halfdan and Bagsceg, and five jarls or nobles. Against them marched AEthelred and his younger brother Alfred. The spring and summer witnessed a series of desperate battles Danes and Saxons alternately getting the better in combats which were indecisive. Even the great Saxon victory of Ashdown only meant that the Danes were forced back into their fortified camp at Reading whence, in spite of the fact that one of the kings and all the five jarls had been slain they were strong enough to issue again a fortnight later and defeat AEthelred at Basing.

This success was repeated two months later, and was followed immediately by the death of AEthelred and the election by the Witan of Alfred in preference to the very youthful son of the dead king."

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Timeline Ælfred van Wessex

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Ancestors (and descendant) of Ælfred van Wessex


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Sources

  1. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_de_Grote
  2. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_de_Oudere
  3. https://screenrant.com/assassins-creed-valhalla-real-historical-figures-history-cameo/
  4. https://vikings.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred#Trivia
  5. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealhswith

About the surname Van Wessex


When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
Daniel van der Ploeg, "voorouders van der Ploeg-Mosterman", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/genealogie-van-der-ploeg-mosterman/I9868.php : accessed June 4, 2024), "Ælfred van Wessex (848-899)".