Alfred the Great: The Man Who Made England

The Only King Called “Great”

Alfred is the only English king ever to be called ‘the Great’. It was not a title given by political supporters, nor the sycophantic gift of an official biographer, nor a self-styled honour. It was the gift of history. Justin Pollard's biography sets out to show why the ninth-century king of Wessex earned it.

From Fugitive to Founder

In the winter of 878 Alfred's kingdom had been reduced to a few square miles of Somerset marsh, its king a fugitive at Athelney. From that low point Pollard traces the counterattack at Edington, the taming of the Danes, and the rebuilding that followed: the network of fortified burhs, the reorganised army, the first English navy, the law code, and the court of scholars through which Alfred set out to educate a broken people. It was Alfred who first imagined a single realm of the English — the idea his children and grandchildren would make real.

Pollard’s Account

Pollard writes an enthralling, authoritative life that keeps the man visible inside the legend — the chronic illness, the burnt-cakes folklore, the restless intelligence. “A delicious historical treat,” in Stephen Fry's verdict.

About This Edition

Author: Justin Pollard
Publisher: John Murray Publishers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780719566660