Question 1
1 ‘The Vikings were a serious threat to Alfred’s power.’
Use the four sources in their historical context to assess how far they support this view.
© translated by Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, Alfred the Great, page 83, Penguin, 1984. From first line " The Viking army left Exeter and went to Chippenham" to last line " He had nothing to live on except what he could forage." Item removed due to third party copyright restrictions.Source A: Alfred’s biographer outlines the situation in 878.
Source B: A chronicler gives an account of the Viking attacks in 885.
The Viking army landed in Kent and laid siege to Rochester. They ran up a strong fort before the city gate, but were unable to storm the place as the citizens made a stout resistance until King Alfred came to their relief with a powerful force. On the king’s sudden arrival, the Vikings abandoned their fort, leaving behind them all the horses they had brought with them from France. They released all their prisoners and fled to their ships. The same year Alfred sailed with a fleet from Kent to East Anglia. They fell in with sixteen Viking ships. A naval engagement ensued and after desperate fighting on both sides, the Vikings were all slain. But, while the royal fleet was retiring in triumph, the Vikings who lived in the Eastern part of England, collected ships from all quarters and met the royal fleet at sea and after a naval battle gained the victory.
Florence of Worcester, Chronicle, written before 1118.
Source C: A chronicler describes how warfare broke out again in 893.
After England had rejoiced for thirteen years in the tranquility of peace and in the fertility of her soil, the northern pest of barbarians returned again. With them returned war and slaughter. There arose again conspiracies in East Anglia and Northumberland, but neither the invaders nor defenders experienced the same outcome as in former years. The Vikings, reduced in numbers by fighting in other parts, were less strong in their invasions, while the defenders now experienced in war and encouraged by the king were not only more ready to resist, but also to attack. The king himself was, with his usual activity, present in every action and, at the same time, inspiring his subjects with the display of his courage.
William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England, written before 1143.
Source D: An English chronicle outlines events in 894.
While Alfred was busy in the west, the Vikings gathered their forces together in Essex. They went up the Thames and a great number joined them, both from East Anglia and Northumbria. They advanced up the Thames until they reached the Severn. Meanwhile, the aldermen and the king’s thegns assembled from all parts and overtook the rear of the enemy on the banks of the Severn and there besieged them with a fortress on both sides of the river. They sat there for many weeks on both sides of the water. Then the enemy were weighed down with famine. They devoured the greater part of their horses and the rest perished with hunger.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 894.
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