BRITISH MONARCHY AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

BRITISH MONARCHY AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

The Institute of Ecology, Linguistics and Low

Degree work

«BRITISH MONARCHY

AND ITS INFLUENCE

UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS»

Dunaeva Nina

Moscow, 2003

Contents

Part One

INTRODUCTION

The United kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland 4

Direct meaning of the word «monarchy» 6

The British constitutional monarchy 7

Part Two

HISTORY OF THE MONARCHY

Kings and Queens of England 9

The Anglo-Saxon Kings 9

The Normans 23

The Angevins 30

The Plantagenets 33

The Lancastrians 42

The Yorkists 46

The Tudors 48

The Stuarts 58

The Commonwealth Interregnum 63

The Hanoverians 75

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 85

The House of Windsor 87

Part Three

THE MONARCHY TODAY

The Queen’s role 91

Queen’s role in the modern State 91

Queen and Commonwealth 91

Royal visits 92

The Queen’s working day 92

Ceremonies and pageantry 92

The Queen’s ceremonial duties 93

Royal pageantry and traditions 93

Royal succession 93

The Royal Household 93

Royal Household departments 94

Recruitment 94

Anniversaries 95

Royal finances 95

Head of State expenditure 2000-01 95

Sources of funding 96

Financial arrangements of The Prince of Wales 96

Finances of the other members of the Royal Family 96

Taxation 97

Royal assets 97

Symbols 98

National anthem 98

Royal Warrants 99

Bank notes and coinage 100

Stamps 102

Coats of Arms 103

Great Seal 104

Flags 105

Crowns and jewels 105

Transport 105

Cars 106

Carriages 107

The Royal Train 108

Royal air travel 109

Part Four

THE ROYAL FAMILY

Members of the Royal Family 111

HM The Queen 111

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 111

HRH The Prince of Wales and family 112

HRH The Duke of York 112

TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex 112

HRH Princess Royal 112

HRH Princess Alice 113

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester 113

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent 113

TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent 114

HRH Princess Alexandra 114

Memorial Plaque

HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 115

HRH The Princess Margaret 115

Diana, Princess of Wales 115

Part Five

ART AND RESIDENCES

The Royal Collection 116

About the Royal Collection 116

The Royal Collection Trust 117

Royal Collection Enterprises 117

Publishing 118

Royal Residences 118

Royal Collection Galleries 118

Loans 119

The Royal Residences 119

About the Royal Residences 119

Buckingham Palace 120

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace 120

The Royal Mews 121

Windsor Castle 121

Frogmore 122

The Palace of Holyroodhouse 122

Balmoral Castle 123

Sandringham House 123

St James’s Palace 124

Kensington Palace 124

Historic residences 124

Bibliography 126

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

[pic]

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Government: The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and

parliamentary democracy, with a queen and a Parliament that has two houses:

the House of Lords, with 574 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, 26 bishops,

and the House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Supreme

legislative power is vested in Parliament, which sits for five years unless

sooner dissolved. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in

1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. In Nov. 1999

hundreds of hereditary peers were expelled in an effort to make the body

more democratic. The executive power of the Crown is exercised by the

cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

Prime Minister: Tony Blair (1997)

Area: 94,525 sq mi (244,820 sq km)

Population (2003 est.): 60,094,648 (growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate:

11.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.3/1000; density per sq mi: 636

Capital and largest city (2000 est.): London, 11,800,000 (metro. area)

Other large cities: Birmingham, 1,009,100; Leeds, 721,800; Glasgow,

681,470; Liverpool, 479,000; Bradford, 477,500; Edinburgh, 441,620;

Manchester, 434,600; Bristol, 396,600

Monetary unit: Pound sterling (Ј)

Languages: English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic

Ethnicity/race: English 81.5%; Scottish 9.6%; Irish 2.4%; Welsh 1.9%;

Ulster 1.8%; West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Church of England (established church), Church of Wales

(disestablished), Church of Scotland (established church—Presbyterian),

Church of Ireland (disestablished), Roman Catholic, Methodist,

Congregational, Baptist, Jewish

Literacy rate: 99% (1978)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2000 est.): $1.36 trillion; per capita $22,800.

Real growth rate: 3%. Inflation: 2.4%. Unemployment: 5.5%. Arable land:

25%. Agriculture: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep,

poultry; fish. Labor force: 29.2 million (1999); agriculture 1%, industry

19%, services 80% (1996 est.). Industries: machine tools, electric power

equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding,

aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications

equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products,

food processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods. Natural

resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt,

clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land. Exports: $282 billion

(f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages,

tobacco. Imports: $324 billion (f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods,

machinery, fuels; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: EU, U.S., Japan.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 34.878 million (1997);

mobile cellular: 13 million (yearend 1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM

219, FM 431, shortwave 3 (1998). Radios: 84.5 million (1997). Television

broadcast stations: 228 (plus 3,523 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 30.5

million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 245 (2000). Internet

users: 19.47 million (2000).

Transportation: Railways: total: 16,878 km (1996). Highways: total: 371,603

km; paved: 371,603 km (including 3,303 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km

(1998 est.). Waterways: 3,200 km. Ports and harbors: Aberdeen, Belfast,

Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull,

Leith, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth,

Scapa Flow, Southampton, Sullom Voe, Tees, Tyne. Airports: 489 (2000 est.).

International disputes: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland (historic peace

agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue with Spain; Argentina

claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); Argentina claims South Georgia

and the South Sandwich Islands; Mauritius and the Seychelles claim Chagos

Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory); Rockall

continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial claim

in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and

partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland, Denmark, and

Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM.

DIRECT MEANING OF THE WORD «MONARCHY»

Monarchy, form of government in which sovereignty is vested in a single

person whose right to rule is generally hereditary and who is empowered to

remain in office for life. The power of this sovereign may vary from the

absolute to that strongly limited by custom or constitution. Monarchy has

existed since the earliest history of humankind and was often established

during periods of external threat or internal crisis because it provided a

more efficient focus of power than aristocracy or democracy, which tended

to diffuse power. Most monarchies appear to have been elective originally,

but dynasties early became customary. In primitive times, divine descent of

the monarch was often claimed. Deification was general in ancient Egypt,

the Middle East, and Asia, and it was also practiced during certain periods

in ancient Greece and Rome. A more moderate belief arose in Christian

Europe in the Middle Ages; it stated that the monarch was the appointed

agent of divine will. This was symbolized by the coronation of the king by

a bishop or the pope, as in the Holy Roman Empire. Although theoretically

at the apex of feudal power, the medieval monarchs were in fact weak and

dependent upon the nobility for much of their power. During the Renaissance

and after, there emerged “new monarchs” who broke the power of the nobility

and centralized the state under their own rigid rule. Notable examples are

Henry VII and Henry VIII of England and Louis XIV of France. The 16th and

17th cent. mark the height of absolute monarchy, which found its

theoretical justification in the doctrine of divine right. However, even

the powerful monarchs of the 17th cent. were somewhat limited by custom and

constitution as well as by the delegation of powers to strong

bureaucracies. Such limitations were also felt by the “benevolent despots”

of the 18th cent. Changes in intellectual climate, in the demands made upon

government in a secular and commercially expanding society, and in the

social structure, as the bourgeoisie became increasingly powerful,

eventually weakened the institution of monarchy in Europe. The Glorious

Revolution in England (1688) and the French Revolution (1789) were

important landmarks in the decline and limitation of monarchical power.

Throughout the 19th cent. Royal power was increasingly reduced by

constitutional provisions and parliamentary incursions. In the 20th cent.,

monarchs have generally become symbols of national unity, while real power

has been transferred to constitutional assemblies. Over the past 200 years

democratic self-government has been established and extended to such an

extent that a true functioning monarchy is a rare occurrence in both East

and West. Among the few remaining are Brunei, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.

Notable constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain,

Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Thailand.

Constitutional monarchy: System of government in which a monarch has

agreed to share power with a constitutionally organized government. The

monarch may remain the de facto head of state or may be a purely ceremonial

head. The constitution allocates the rest of the government's power to the

legislature and judiciary. Britain became a constitutional monarchy under

the Whigs; other constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Cambodia,

Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand.

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

"The British Constitutional Monarchy was the consequence of the Glorious

Revolution of 1688, and was enshrined in the Bill of Rights of 1689.

Whereby William and Mary in accepting the throne, had to consent to govern

'according to the statutes in parliament on."

A monarch does not have to curry favour for votes from any section of

the community.

A monarch is almost invariably more popular than an Executive President,

who can be elected by less than 50% of the electorate and may therefore

represent less than half the people. In the 1995 French presidential

election the future President Chirac was not the nation's choice in the

first round of voting. In Britain, governments are formed on the basis of

parliamentary seats won. In the 1992 General Election the Conservative

Prime Minister took the office with only 43% of votes cast in England,

Scotland and Wales. The Queen however, as hereditary Head of State, remains

the representative of the whole nation.

Elected presidents are concerned more with their own political futures

and power, and as we have seen (in Brazil for example), may use their

temporary tenure to enrich themselves. Monarchs are not subject to the

influences which corrupt short-term presidents. A monarch looks back on

centuries of history and forward to the well being of the entire nation

under his/her heir. Elected presidents in their nature devote much energy

to undoing the achievements of their forebears in order to strengthen the

position of their successors.

A long reigning monarch can put enormous experience at the disposal of

transient political leaders. Since succeeding her father in 1952 Queen

Elizabeth has had a number of Prime Ministers, the latest of whom were not

even in Parliament at the time of her accession. An experienced monarch can

act as a brake on over ambitious or misguided politicians, and encorage

others who are less confident. The reality is often the converse of the

theory: the monarch is frequently the Prime Minister's best adviser.

Monarchs, particularly those in Europe are part of an extended Royal

Family, facilitating links between their nations. As Burke observed,

nations touch at their summits. A recent example of this was the attendance

of so many members of Royal Families at the 50th birthday celebrations for

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustav. Swedish newspapers reported that this this

was a much better indication of their closeness to the rest of Europe than

any number of treaties, protocols or directives from the European Union.

A monarch is trained from Birth for the position of Head of State and

even where, as after the abdication of Edward VIII, a younger brother

succeeds, he too has enormous experience of his country, its people and its

government. The people know who will succeed, and this certainly gives a

nation invaluable continuity and stability. This also explains why it is

rare for an unsuitable person to become King. There are no expensive

elections as in the US where, as one pro-Monarchist American says, "we have

to elect a new ' Royal Family' every four years." In the French system the

President may be a member of one party, while the Prime Minister is from

another, which only leads to confused governement. In a monarchy there is

no such confusion, for the monarch does not rule in conflict with

government but reigns over the whole nation.

In ceremonial presidencies the Head of State is often a former politician

tainted by, and still in thrall to, his former political life and

loyalties, or an academic or retired diplomat who can never have the same

prestige as a monarch, and who is frequently little known inside the

country, and almost totally unknown outside it. For example, ask a German

why is Britain's Head of State and a high proportion will know it is Queen

Elizabeth II. Ask a Briton, or any Non- German, who is Head of State of

Germany? , and very few will be able to answer correctly.

Aided by his immediate family, a monarch can carry out a range of duties

and public engagements - ceremonial, charitable, environmental etc. which

an Executive President would never have time to do, and to which a

ceremonial President would not add lustre.

A monarch and members of a Royal Family can become involved in a wide

range of issues which are forbidden to politicians. All parties have vested

interests which they cannot ignore. Vernon Bogdanor says in ' The Monarchy

and the Constitution' - «A politician must inevitably be a spokesperson for

only part of the nation, not the whole. A politician's motives will always

be suspected. Members of the Royal Family, by contrast, because of their

symbolic position, are able to speak to a much wider constituency than can

be commanded by even the most popular political leader." In a Republic,

then, who is there to speak out on issues where the 'here today, gone

tomorrow' government is constrained from criticising its backers, even

though such criticism is in the national interest.

All nations are made up of families, and it's natural that a family

should be at a nation's head.

While the question of Divine Right is now obsolescent, the fact that

"there's such divinity doth hedge a King" remains true, and it is

interesting to note that even today Kings are able to play a role in the

spiritual life of a nation which presidents seem unable to fulfil.

It has been demonstrated that, even ignoring the enormous cost of

presidential elections, a monarch as head of state is no more expensive

than a president. In Britain many costs, such as the upkeep of the Royal

residencies, are erroneosly thought to be uniquely attributable to the

monarchy, even though the preservation of our heritage would still be

undertaken if the county were a republic! The US government has criticised

the cost to the Brazilian people of maintaining their president.

Even Royal Families which are not reigning are dedicated to the service

of their people, and continue to be regarded as the symbol of the nation's

continuity. Prominent examples are H.R.H. the Duke of Braganza in Portugal

and H.R.H. the County of Paris in France. Royal Families forced to live in

exile, such as the Yugoslav and Romanian, are often promoters of charities

formed to help their countries.

KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND

The history of the English Crown up to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 is

long and varied. The concept of a single ruler unifying different tribes

based in England developed in the eighth and ninth centuries in figures

such as Offa and Alfred the Great, who began to create centralised systems

of government. Following the Norman Conquest, the machinery of government

developed further, producing long-lived national institutions including

Parliament.

The Middle Ages saw several fierce contests for the Crown, culminating in

the Wars of the Roses, which lasted for nearly a century. The conflict was

finally ended with the advent of the Tudors, the dynasty which produced

some of England's most successful rulers and a flourishing cultural

Renaissance. The end of the Tudor line with the death of the 'Virgin Queen'

in 1603 brought about the Union of the Crowns with Scotland.

THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS

In the Dark Ages during the fifth and sixth centuries, communities of

peoples in Britain inhabited homelands with ill-defined borders. Such

communities were organised and led by chieftains or kings. Following the

final withdrawal of the Roman legions from the provinces of Britannia in

around 408 AD these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own order

and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the Picts

from beyond Hadrian's Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic tribes from

the continent. (King Arthur, a larger-than-life figure, has often been

cited as a leader of one or more of these kingdoms during this period,

although his name now tends to be used as a symbol of British resistance

against invasion.)

The invading communities overwhelmed or adapted existing kingdoms and

created new ones - for example, the Angles in Mercia and Northumbria. Some

British kingdoms initially survived the onslaught, such as Strathclyde,

which was wedged in the north between Pictland and the new Anglo-Saxon

kingdom of Northumbria.

By 650 AD, the British Isles were a patchwork of many kingdoms founded

from native or immigrant communities and led by powerful chieftains or

kings. In their personal feuds and struggles between communities for

control and supremacy, a small number of kingdoms became dominant: Bernicia

and Deira (which merged to form Northumbria in 651 AD), Lindsey, East

Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and Kent. Until the late seventh century, a series

of warrior-kings in turn established their own personal authority over

other kings, usually won by force or through alliances and often cemented

by dynastic marriages.

According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings

was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha, the

Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English

king to be converted to Christianity (St Augustine's mission from the Pope

to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht's reign prompted thousands of such

conversions). Ethelberht's law code was the first to be written in any

Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north

and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons

and his daughter married king Edwin of Northumbria (died 633).

In the eighth century, smaller kingdoms in the British Isles continued to

fall to more powerful kingdoms, which claimed rights over whole areas and

established temporary primacies: Dalriada in Scotland, Munster and Ulster

in Ireland. In England, Mercia and later Wessex came to dominate, giving

rise to the start of the monarchy.

Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the succession was frequently

contested, by both the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and leaders of the settling

Scandinavian communities. The Scandinavian influence was to prove strong in

the early years. It was the threat of invading Vikings which galvanised

English leaders into unifying their forces, and, centuries later, the

Normans who successfully invaded in 1066 were themselves the descendants of

Scandinavian 'Northmen'.

HOUSE OF WESSEX AND ENGLAND

802 – 1066

EGBERT = Redburga

(802–839)

ETHELWULF = Osburga dau. of Oslac of Isle of

Wight

(839–855)

ETHELBERHT ALFRED

the Great = Ealhswith

ETHELBALD (860–866)

ETHELRED (871–899)

(855–860)

(866–871)

Ecgwyn =

EDWARD THE ELDER= Edgiva

(899–924)

ATHELSTAN

(924–939)

Elgiva = EDMUND I

EDRED

(939–946)

(946–955)

EDWY Ethelfleda = EDGAR = Elfrida,

dau. of Ordgar, Ealdorman of East Anglia

(955–959) dau. of (959–975)

Ealdorman

Ordmaer

EDWARD THE MARTYR

(975–979)

Elfgifu = ETHELRED II THE

UNREADY = Emma

(979–1016)

(later

(deposed 1013/14)

married

CANUTE)

EDMUND II IRONSIDE

(Apr.–Nov.1016)

Godwin = Gytha

EDWARD THE = Eadgyth

HAROLD II

CONFESSOR (Edith)

(Jan.–Oct.1066)

(1042–1066)

EGBERT (802-39 AD)

[pic]

Known as the first King of All England, he was forced into exile at the

court of Charlemagne, by the powerful Offa, King of Mercia. Egbert returned

to England in 802 and was recognized as king of Wessex. He defeated the

rival Mercians at the battle of Ellendun in 825. In 829, the Northumbrians

accepted his overlordship and he was proclaimed "Bretwalda" or sole ruler

of Britain.

ЖTHELWULF (839-55 AD)

[pic]Жthelwulf was the son of Egbert and a sub-king of Kent. He assumed

the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is

characterized by the usual Viking invasions and repulsions common to all

English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim

to fame. Жthelwulf is remembered, however dimly, as a highly religious man

who cared about the establishment and preservation of the church. He was

also a wealthy man and controlled vast resources. Out of these resources,

he gave generously, to Rome and to religious houses that were in need.

He was an only child, but had fathered five sons, by his first wife,

Osburga. He recognized that there could be difficulties with contention

over the succession. He devised a scheme which would guarantee (insofar as

it was possible to do so) that each child would have his turn on the throne

without having to worry about rival claims from his siblings. Жthelwulf

provided that the oldest living child would succeed to the throne and would

control all the resources of the crown, without having them divided among

the others, so that he would have adequate resources to rule. That he was

able to provide for the continuation of his dynasty is a matter of record,

but he was not able to guarantee familial harmony with his plan. This is

proved by what we know of the foul plottings of his son, Жthelbald, while

Жthelwulf was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855.

Жthelwulf was a wise and capable ruler, whose vision made possible the

beneficial reign of his youngest son, Alfred the Great.

ЖTHELBALD (855-8 (subking), 858-60)

While his father, Жthelwulf, was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, Жthelbald

plotted with the Bishop of Sherbourne and the ealdorman of Somerset against

him. The specific details of the plot are unknown, but upon his return from

Rome, Жthelwulf found his direct authority limited to the sub-kingdom of

Kent, while Жthelbald controlled Wessex.

Жthelwulf died in 858, and full control passed to Жthelbald. Perhaps

Жthelbald's premature power grab was occasioned by impatience, or greed, or

lack of confidence in his father's succession plans. Whatever the case, he

did not live long to enjoy it. He died in 860, passing the throne to his

brother, Жthelbert, just as Жthelwulf had planned.

ЖTHELBERT (860-66 AD)

[pic]Very little is known about Жthelbert, who took his rightful place in

the line of succession to the throne of Wessex at around 30 years of age.

Like all other rulers of his day, he had to contend with Viking raids on

his territories and even had to battle them in his capital city of

Winchester. Apparently, his military leadership was adequate, since, on

this occasion, the Vikings were cut off on their retreat to the coast and

were slaughtered, according to a contemporary source, in a "bloody battle."

ЖTHELRED I (866-71 AD)

Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, and son of King Жthelwulf, who ruled England

during a time of great pressure from the invading Danes. He was an affable

man, a devoutly religious man and the older brother of Alfred the Great,

his second-in-command in the resistance against the invaders. Together,

they defeated the Danish kings Bagseg and Halfdan at the battle of Ashdown

in 870.

ALFRED «THE GREAT» (871-899)

Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of

Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. At their father's behest and by mutual

agreement, Alfred's elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn,

rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a

time when the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from

Denmark.

Since the 790s, the Vikings had been using fast mobile armies, numbering

thousands of men embarked in shallow-draught longships, to raid the coasts

and inland waters of England for plunder. Such raids were evolving into

permanent Danish settlements; in 867, the Vikings seized York and

established their own kingdom in the southern part of Northumbria. The

Vikings overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia and

Mercia, and their kings were either tortured to death or fled. Finally, in

870 the Danes attacked the only remaining independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom,

Wessex, whose forces were commanded by King Aethelred and his younger

brother Alfred. At the battle of Ashdown in 871, Alfred routed the Viking

army in a fiercely fought uphill assault. However, further defeats followed

for Wessex and Alfred's brother died.

As king of Wessex at the age of 21, Alfred (reigned 871-99) was a

strongminded but highly strung battle veteran at the head of remaining

resistance to the Vikings in southern England. In early 878, the Danes led

by King Guthrum seized Chippenham in Wiltshire in a lightning strike and

used it as a secure base from which to devastate Wessex. Local people

either surrendered or escaped (Hampshire people fled to the Isle of Wight),

and the West Saxons were reduced to hit and run attacks seizing provisions

when they could. With only his royal bodyguard, a small army of thegns (the

king's followers) and Aethelnoth ealdorman of Somerset as his ally, Alfred

withdrew to the Somerset tidal marshes in which he had probably hunted as a

youth. (It was during this time that Alfred, in his preoccupation with the

defence of his kingdom, allegedly burned some cakes which he had been asked

to look after; the incident was a legend dating from early twelfth century

chroniclers.)

A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted the

Danes' tactics by building a fortified base at Athelney in the Somerset

marshes and summoning a mobile army of men from Wiltshire, Somerset and

part of Hampshire to pursue guerrilla warfare against the Danes. In May

878, Alfred's army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington. According

to his contemporary biographer Bishop Asser, 'Alfred attacked the whole

pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and by divine will

eventually won the victory, made great slaughter among them, and pursued

them to their fortress (Chippenham) ... After fourteen days the pagans were

brought to the extreme depths of despair by hunger, cold and fear, and they

sought peace'. This unexpected victory proved to be the turning point in

Wessex's battle for survival.

Realising that he could not drive the Danes out of the rest of England,

Alfred concluded peace with them in the treaty of Wedmore. King Guthrum was

converted to Christianity with Alfred as godfather and many of the Danes

returned to East Anglia where they settled as farmers. In 886, Alfred

negotiated a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontier was

demarcated along the Roman Watling Street and northern and eastern England

came under the jurisdiction of the Danes - an area known as 'Danelaw'.

Alfred therefore gained control of areas of West Mercia and Kent which had

been beyond the boundaries of Wessex. To consolidate alliances against the

Danes, Alfred married one of his daughters, Aethelflaed, to the ealdorman

of Mercia -Alfred himself had married Eahlswith, a Mercian noblewoman - and

another daughter, Aelfthryth, to the count of Flanders, a strong naval

power at a time when the Vikings were settling in eastern England.

The Danish threat remained, and Alfred reorganised the Wessex defences in

recognition that efficient defence and economic prosperity were

interdependent. First, he organised his army (the thegns, and the existing

militia known as the fyrd) on a rota basis, so he could raise a 'rapid

reaction force' to deal with raiders whilst still enabling his thegns and

peasants to tend their farms.

Second, Alfred started a building programme of well-defended settlements

across southern England. These were fortified market places ('borough'

comes from the Old English burh, meaning fortress); by deliberate royal

planning, settlers received plots and in return manned the defences in

times of war. (Such plots in London under Alfred's rule in the 880s shaped

the streetplan which still exists today between Cheapside and the Thames.)

This obligation required careful recording in what became known as 'the

Burghal Hidage', which gave details of the building and manning of Wessex

and Mercian burhs according to their size, the length of their ramparts and

the number of men needed to garrison them. Centred round Alfred's royal

palace in Winchester, this network of burhs with strongpoints on the main

river routes was such that no part of Wessex was more than 20 miles from

the refuge of one of these settlements. Together with a navy of new fast

ships built on Alfred's orders, southern England now had a defence in depth

against Danish raiders.

Alfred's concept of kingship extended beyond the administration of the

tribal kingdom of Wessex into a broader context. A religiously devout and

pragmatic man who learnt Latin in his late thirties, he recognised that the

general deterioration in learning and religion caused by the Vikings'

destruction of monasteries (the centres of the rudimentary education

network) had serious implications for rulership. For example, the poor

standards in Latin had led to a decline in the use of the charter as an

instrument of royal government to disseminate the king's instructions and

legislation. In one of his prefaces, Alfred wrote 'so general was its

[Latin] decay in England that there were very few on this side of the

Humber who could understand their rituals in English or translate a letter

from Latin into English ... so few that I cannot remember a single one

south of the Thames when I came to the throne.'

To improve literacy, Alfred arranged, and took part in, the translation

(by scholars from Mercia) from Latin into Anglo-Saxon of a handful of books

he thought it 'most needful for men to know, and to bring it to pass ... if

we have the peace, that all the youth now in England ... may be devoted to

learning'. These books covered history, philosophy and Gregory the Great's

'Pastoral Care' (a handbook for bishops), and copies of these books were

sent to all the bishops of the kingdom. Alfred was patron of the Anglo-

Saxon Chronicle (which was copied and supplemented up to 1154), a patriotic

history of the English from the Wessex viewpoint designed to inspire its

readers and celebrate Alfred and his monarchy.

Like other West Saxon kings, Alfred established a legal code; he

assembled the laws of Offa and other predecessors, and of the kingdoms of

Mercia and Kent, adding his own administrative regulations to form a

definitive body of Anglo-Saxon law. 'I ... collected these together and

ordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, those

which I liked; and many of those which I did not like I rejected with the

advice of my councillors ... For I dared not presume to set in writing at

all many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please those

who should come after us ... Then I ... showed those to all my councillors,

and they then said that they were all pleased to observe them' (Laws of

Alfred, c.885-99).

By the 890s, Alfred's charters and coinage (which he had also reformed,

extending its minting to the burhs he had founded) referred to him as 'king

of the English', and Welsh kings sought alliances with him. Alfred died in

899, aged 50, and was buried in Winchester, the burial place of the West

Saxon royal family.

By stopping the Viking advance and consolidating his territorial gains,

Alfred had started the process by which his successors eventually extended

their power over the other Anglo-Saxon kings; the ultimate unification of

Anglo-Saxon England was to be led by Wessex. It is for his valiant defence

of his kingdom against a stronger enemy, for securing peace with the

Vikings and for his farsighted reforms in the reconstruction of Wessex and

beyond, that Alfred - alone of all the English kings and queens - is known

as 'the Great'.

EDWARD «THE ELDER» (899-924)

Well-trained by Alfred, his son Edward 'the Elder' (reigned 899-924) was

a bold soldier who defeated the Danes in Northumbria at Tettenhall in 910

and was acknowledged by the Viking kingdom of York. The kings of

Strathclyde and the Scots submitted to Edward in 921. By military success

and patient planning, Edward spread English influence and control. Much of

this was due to his alliance with his formidable sister Aethelflaed, who

was married to the ruler of Mercia and seems to have governed that kingdom

after her husband's death.

Edward was able to establish an administration for the kingdom of

England, whilst obtaining the allegiance of Danes, Scots and Britons.

Edward died in 924, and he was buried in the New Minster which he had had

completed at Winchester. Edward was twice married, but it is possible that

his eldest son Athelstan was the son of a mistress.

ATHELSTAN (924-939)

Edward's heir Athelstan (reigned 925-39) was also a distinguished and

audacious soldier who pushed the boundaries of the kingdom to their

furthest extent yet. In 927-8, Athelstan took York from the Danes; he

forced the submission of king Constantine of Scotland and of the northern

kings; all five Welsh kings agreed to pay a huge annual tribute (reportedly

including 25,000 oxen), and Athelstan eliminated opposition in Cornwall.

The battle of Brunanburh in 937, in which Athelstan led a force drawn

from Britain and defeated an invasion by the king of Scotland in alliance

with the Welsh and Danes from Dublin, earned him recognition by lesser

kings in Britain.

Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom;

currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise

fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burghs,

encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns

were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by

marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in Western Europe.

He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic

and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave

away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in

order to retain their support.

Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a

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