251. Alfred the Great: Return of the King

Battling with the expanding power of the Vikings, listen to Tom and Dominic discover how King Alfred the Great earned his name in the second instalment of our two part series on England's Founding Father.
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Dominic's book, 'Adventures in Time: Fury of the Vikings', is available to buy now in all good bookshops.
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[@Sprayber]

My daughter once asked me why I was always interested in English history. I told her that it wasn't just English history, it was American history as well. I've always been fascinated by Alfred. The more you learn about him the more complex he becomes.

[@robinsanders5541]

Makes me proud to be from Winchester! Seeing the great statue of the great man that stands there was always one of my earliest memories.

[@chrispurzer9461]

Kudos from kansas city! Been binge listening to your series at every opportunity. Great content, marvelous dialogue, superlative chemistry!😊

[@heidinayak6317]

My family moved to NZ from England when i was 3. Then when i was 13 i went to evening classes at our local university on Anglo-Saxon history - part of my Tolkien obsession. The professor told us about the walls at Wareham. Then my father took us back to England on holiday for Christmas when i was 14 - the only time ive ever been back to England since we moved in 1995 - and i insisted that we visit 1) Wareham and 2) Tolkiens grave in Oxford. When we duly visited Wareham and walked all the way around the walls, the locals were pretty surprised to hear that this 14yo girl had come all the way from NZ to see the walls at Wareham 😁😆

[@andrewkent2718]

I grew up in Wantage so Alfred has always resonated with me in the same way I think Tom described it. These episodes are particularly riveting for me. Well done.

[@toneydavis9802]

Salivating...waiting to listen to this later without threat of interruption. I really appreciate each of you that make these podcasts possible. 8 hours later. I listened, learned and thoroughly enjoyed!

[@briandonohue3608]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@briandonohue3608]

😊😊😊

[@kambrose1549]

I had no idea there was more to Alfred than burnt cakes. This was a wonderful episode!

[@tommonk7651]

Alfred’s is a great story!

[@jacobhammock3355]

yay

[@kevinmcinerney1959]

I love the legend of Alfred the Great, which I confess I haven't heard since primary school. (So long ago that Alfred was recent history). I do struggle a bit with the idea that the Anglo-Saxons were the natives being oppressed by the Vikings, and later disinherited of their native lands by the Normans, and so on. When they themselves came from parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. I always understood that the native Britons were driven out to the periphery of the Isles, so to Cornwall Wales and Ireland (and I guess even to Brittany). But I don't have any sense of how violent this expulsion was. It seems one of the less addressed areas of British history. Would the Welsh be entitled to tell the Angles to stop whining about Vikings and Normans?

[@LeoneNut]

I find Æthelstan more fascinating when it comes to the Anglo-Saxon kings, but the real genius behind proto England is St. Cuthbert

[@anchorbait6662]

Let them eat burnt cakes

[@TimWynn]

Onh❤puJptsa😊m