Alfred In Beowulf

Alfred the great was the most famous ruler of all the Anglo-Saxons. He was the tenacious ruler of the West Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons were fighting the Vikings. Alfreds four brothers sadly died so the crown was passed to him. Legend tells us, when he was fleeing from the Vikings he found a village and a woman asked him to watch her cakes while she rushed to feed her animals. He was so consentrated on planning an attack on the Vikings that the cakes burned. Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings and made peace with them which caused the Viking king to convert to Christianity. He established schools to educate his people. Alfred was a really prominent ruler.

Hrothgar, the king of the Danes is faced with the issue of a horrible monster, Grendel tearing apart his soldiers and causing bloodshed. This is where Beowulf comes along, he is prepared with his men to defeat this monster and when the time comes Beowulf is more than ready to face him. Beowulf

The Anglo-Saxons’ cultures and traditions are rooted in their beliefs of the perfect hero. Their ideal hero has many key characteristics influenced by their culture including courage, strength, bravery, thick skin, loyalty, humbleness, and the ability to create strong trustworthy friendships. Beowulf is an epic poem that exhibits the ideal Anglo-Saxon hero. The Anglo-Saxon traditions illustrated in Beowulf accurately represent the Anglo-Saxon traditions of the time period. This is accomplished through the distinct correlation of heroic characteristics between Beowulf and the culture’s traditional depiction of an Anglo-Saxon hero.

In order for Alfred to keep peace and defeat the Danes, he had to win many major battles. On Easter Sunday 878, when King Alfred withdrew into the Isle of Athelney, there was every likelihood that before the end of the year Wessex would have been divided out among the members of the Danish army. King Alfred made sure that Wessex would escape that fate. Although Alfred did lose a major battle against the Danes only four years ago, he overcame them in 878 when he won the Battle of Edington. Alfred showed strong resistance by constantly engaging Danish raiding parties from his base in Athelney. After nearly seven weeks of strong battles, Alfred was able to begin defeating the Danes (Stenton 253). Along with Alfred's idea of coercing a recalcitrant peasantry, he had other ways of defeating the Danes as well. Alfred began building warships in order to develop a navy. The ships in which Alfred built were twice as long as those which they were intended to meet (Stenton 253). These

Beowulf; a man whose greatness begun when he saved an entire kingdom from the clutches of the vile monster Grendel. Beowulf was known for countlessly putting his body and his life on the line to save his people. His courage and determination is what kept his legacy alive for all of these years. Not only that, but the respect he had for the people around him made him a remembered warrior as well. That’s what I think makes a hero. Being determined to get a job done, having the courage to step in and complete that job, and having enough respect for your people to still obey their wishes despite your apparent fame. The hero I will be writing about is the fictional Marvel Comics character known as the Black Panther (real name T’Challa). He and Beowulf

Asser looked up to Einhard and had a copy of Einhard’s, The Life of Charlemagne. He used it to help inspire him on how to be successful in writing The Life of King Alfred. Opposed to Einhard, Asser wrote his book about Alfred when Alfred was alive. Alfred was King of Wessex reigning from 871-899. Alfred endured many obstacles dealing with the war, however, he never gave up. Alfred became King in the middle of war. He defeated the Vikings in April of 878. Vikings were Scandinavian people who left homes to raid, pillage, trade, settle or all of the above. Many nations were paying tribute to the Vikings so that they could stop their attacks. Gunthrum, in charge of half of the Great Army led a surprise attack on Wessex, Alfred’s men were repulsed. Alfred secured his loyalty of his men by defeating the Vikings. Alfred was also a religious King, he prayed every night; certain psalms; and he learnt the daily course. He was not wasteful in which he gave money to the church. Unlike Charlemagne, Alfred the Great was a very literate person. He was big on education. He created education reforms, educated his sons and his royal court, tried to learn how to translate Latin into old English was always wanting to learn more. Alfred was deemed pious because he took care of the poor. Alfred was an active

Beowulf, an epic hero who defeated monsters that plagued the land. He never shied away from a fight and always fought with honor and pride. For over 50 years he ruled facing any challenge that came his way. Beowulf's final obstacle would cause his demise. Beowulf certainly faced many challenges but his battle between the dragon, no doubt was his hardest.

King Alfred was known as the best Anglo-Saxon rulers. "Alfred was someone who has had greatness thrust upon him." Alfred was the only surviving Anglo-Saxon province. Almost being apart of the Vikings, he had stayed strong and won a decisive victory in The Battle of Edington. "Alfred promoted himself as the defender of all Christian Anglo-Saxons against the pagan Viking threats. "As his reputation "as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and levelheaded nature who encouraged education and improved his kingdom's legal systems, military structure and his people's quality of life" he was known as the greatest Anglo-Saxons to ever

Together with her husband, they took land from the Danes (Johnson, Web). They also destroyed the Norse army which attempted to take the city of Chester in 905 (East of England Broadband Network, Web). After her husband fell ill and died in 911, she formed an alliance with her brother, King Edward the Elder (Sawyer 69). The siblings worked together and were said to be of equal status (Malsmebury 123). Thereafter, she raided Danish East Angelia and brought back the body of St. Oswald (East of England Broadband Network, Web). Over the following years, the alliance between the brother and sister continued to drive the Danes out of central and southern England. She engaged them in Wales in 916 and 917, after the murder of an Abbot and his companions. Then, she moved north to Derby and Leicester, successfully sieging the towns. By late 918, Aethelflaed had reached the River Humber, and had managed to persuade the city of York to form an alliance with her (Johnson,

Although with the treaty in place between King Alfred of Wessex and King Guthrum of the Danelaw, Alfred was saved any major conflicts but still had to deal with the occasional Viking raid here and there upon his kingdom. Alfred had reorganized his army, rebuilt and built new defenses around the countryside and a navy.

Alfred the Great was born in Wantage, United Kingdom sometime in 849 AD. As the 4th and youngest son of his father, Æthelwulf of Wessex, Alfred was never expected to succeed to the throne of Wessex, but after his brother Aethelred’s death in 871 he became King of Wessex. As king he united seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and began his military campaign against the ever closing threat, the Vikings. One of Alfred’s greatest accomplishments was his ability to lead his military into battle and protect his people by repelling Viking raids on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Alfred accomplished this by the formation of a standing army whose main purpose was to “provide Wessex with a military group that was mobile enough to quickly intercept Viking raiders and prevent raids from threatening Wessex civilians” (Reuter 220). Although these small military groups may not have been as robust as a regular army, they were instrumental in the

Originating in the Anglo-Saxon period, the epic poem Beowulf portrays a legendary hero. Beowulf established the earlier form of heroism, and was then later introduced in to the English culture. Praised and admired by many people, Beowulf possesses several distinct traits that allow him to be defined perfectly as an ideal Anglo-Saxon hero; his eagerness to seek glory and fame, rather than richness and treasures, his loyalty and graceful attitude not only to his rulers but also to his followers, and his contradictory beliefs of faith and fate

What defines a hero? Is it their physical or mental strength, is it their ability to influence, or is it their willingness to help others? In the epic poem "Beowulf" the definition of what a hero in Anglo Saxon culture is found throughout the poem in many places. The hero in "Beowulf", Beowulf demonstrates exactly what it takes to be a great hero in Anglo Saxon culture through his 3 battles in the poem. The battles that Beowulf goes through shows all the traits that are important to be a hero in Anglo Saxon culture.

            After his oldest brothers’ death shortly after the battle of Merton, Alfred became the king of the Anglo-Saxons.  He made a peace treaty with the Danish Vikings called a Holy Ring due to their worship of Thor, but then they broke their word and attacked their hostages.  Alfred went into hiding for a time and it was during this time that it is said he met the woodcutters’ wife due to the folktale legend. Eventually, during a stormy night, the Danish were blockaded

Literary epics tend to follow the basic path in their plotlines of a hero who undergoes a quest, and Beowulf is no different. Beowulf is unique in that his tale is split into two stories taking place decades apart, one when he is a young warrior and the other when he is an old and wise king. Both stories follow the basic structure for a literary epic, a talented hero is charged with a quest, proves himself with a smaller feat, is aided by supplementary characters, enters a foreign and often supernatural environment, faces near-defeat, recovers and triumphs, and then reaps the rewards of his endeavor. Another example of an epic with this structure is Homer’s Odyssey, which blatantly follows the established sequence of events in a hero 's journey.