| He won a decisive victory in the in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as the in the North of England | It has been suggested that, like sea battles in late Viking age Scandinavia, these battles may have entailed a ship coming alongside an opposing vessel, lashing the two ships together and then boarding the craft |
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| In 2002, Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBC's list of the following a UK-wide vote | These were 1 the division of the fyrd or national militia into two parts, relieving each other at fixed intervals, so as to ensure continuity in military operations; 2 the establishment of fortified posts burgs and garrisons at certain points; 3 the enforcement of the obligations of thanehood on all owners of five hides of land, thus giving the king a nucleus of highly equipped troops |
The Vikings ravaged the in 835, and the following year they defeated Ecgberht at in , but in 838 he was victorious over an alliance of and Vikings at the , reducing Cornwall to the status of a.
2| This was not, as the Victorians asserted, the birth of the | Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press |
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| A successful skirmish at Englefield, Berks December 31, 870 , was followed by a severe defeat at Reading January 4, 871 , and this, four days later, by the brilliant victory of Ashdown, near Compton Beauchamp in Shrivenham Hundred | For nearly two years Wessex had a respite |
Alfred is noted as carrying around a small book, probably a medieval version of a small pocket notebook, that contained psalms and many prayers that he often collected.