TRUE COLOURS Alfred immortalised in a stained-glass window at Winchester Cathedral. Winchester was both the capital of Wessex and where Alfred died in 889
A ll heroic figures have to have nadirs to fight back from, adversity to overcome – and there’s a reason that the Saxon King Alfred is the only English ruler ever to be popularly known as ‘Te Great’. Te one thing that most people think of when his name is mentioned is the burning of the cake. True or not, it comes from Alfred’s time of greatest struggle – as a battle-beaten guerilla hiding out in the marshlands of the Somerset Levels, with any hope of victory over the usurping Danes seemingly lost.
Overturning this desperate state, and forging some kind of peace with the Danes, must surely be Alfred’s greatest achievement. But there was one greater masterstroke in Alfred’s reign, the main reason we still celebrate his successes over 1,100 years later. He was the first of our rulers to commission his own biography, written during his lifetime by the Welsh bishop Asser. Understanding the value of good propaganda was just one of Alfred’s many smart moves in his 28 tumultuous years as leader of Wessex.