The story may have some truth and Alfred and his family may well have been taken in by a peasant family who had no idea who he was. She asked him to watch some cakes for her, but he was so taken up with his thoughts about how to defeat the Vikings that the cakes were burnt. Alfred was taken in and given shelter by a peasant woman who did not know he was the king. The ‘Alfred and the Burnt Cakes’ legend stems from this period. After the Viking force devastated Chippenham, Alfred lost the support of the Witan and fled to the Somerset marshes. In 877, the Archbishop of Canterbury complained that Alfred was using church money to pay off the Vikings. In 872 Alfred paid them off but they soon returned and demanded further payments. Wessex continued to be repeatedly attacked by the Vikings. Alfred had two children, Aethelhelm and Aethelwold but they were considered too young to take the throne and the crown passed to Alfred. In 871 King Aethelred was badly injured at the Battle of Meretum and died of his injuries on 15th April 871. This began a period of continual battles between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons. In 866 the Great Heathen Army invaded Britain. He was followed by the next brother, Aethelred. Aethelbald had no children so his unmarried brother Aethelberht succeeded. Succession of Alfred’s BrothersĪlfred’s eldest brother, Aethelstan, had died in 852, so when King Aethelwulf died, Alfred’s brother, Aethelbald became King. He made a second trip to Rome two years later with his father. In 853 he was taken to Rome to be confirmed by the Pope and it is likely that he was being prepared for a life in the Church. Alfred was not expected to become King since he had four elder brothers. King Alfred the Great was born in 849, the 5th son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex and Osburh at Wantage, Berkshire.
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