Describe the Danish raids of England. The struggle of Alfred the Great and its results.

Anglo-Saxon Britain was not a united country. There were a lot of small kingdoms which constantly waged wars against one another for supreme power. These little king­doms were weak and could not hold out against at­tacks from abroad.

Beginning with the 8^th century, pirates from Scandinavia and Denmark began raiding the eastern shores of Britain. In the 19^th century the country had to struggle with the Danes. At first they acted as pirates attacking the country & robbing it, but later they came in larger numbers conquering one territory after another. They landed their longboats, killed & robbed the population of the towns and villages and sailed away. Gradually they began settling in Britain and seized more and more land. The Anglo-Saxons understood that their small kingdoms must unite in order to struggle against the Danes. In the 9^th century Egbert, the king of Wessex, one of the stronger Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, unit­ed several neighbour­ing kingdoms. The united kingdom got the name of England, and Egbert became the first king of the united country. The kingdom of Wessex alone was left to resist the Danes.

Alfred, the grandson of Egbert, became king in the year 871, when England's danger was greatest. The Danes, who had settled on the eastern shores of Britain, continued robbing and killing the people of England and occupying more and more land. Alfred gathered a big army and gave the Danes a great bat­tle at Maldon in 891. The Danes were defeated in this battle, but still they remained very strong and dangerous, and Alfred hurried to make peace with them. He had to give the Danes the greater portion of England. The kingdom that was left in Alfred's pocession was Wessex. There were some years of piece, and during this time Alfred built the first English navy. He worked out a code of laws. He translated the Church history and parts of the Bible from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. He started the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the first history of England. It was lucky for Wessex to have a very talented king who organized the struggle against the Danes. This was Alfred who ruled from 871 to 901, and who eventually defeated the Danes making them sign a peace agreement. Though the country was divided into two parts - one under the Saxons, and the other under the Danes, peace was won and later the English took over the land occupied by the Danes. Danish influence is still felt in some place-names ending in -by, -toft, such as Appleby or Lowestoft, as well as in the presence of some words in the English language. Alfred was also a great lawgiver and a patron of learning. He is considered to be the founder of the English fleet.

The Anglo-Saxon kings that ruled after Alfred, continued fighting the Danes, until all England was once more ruled by English kings. But 80years after Alfred's death the Danes came again with great armies and occupied much of the territory. Again Britain was divided into two parts: the northern part ruled by the Danes, and Wessex in the south ruled by English kings. The Danes continued their attacks on Wessex and finally occupied the whole the territory. In 1016, the king of Denmark Canute became also, the king of England. Canute was a strong monarch and gave England peace for nearly 20 years. When he died in 103B his two sons ruled England for a short time one after the other. With the death of Canute's second son in 1042, the Danish rule was over. An English king came to the throne.

The results:

Danish way of making a name in English: placenames ending in – by: Derbly, naseby, rugby.

By meaning a farmstead:

-thorpe- denoting a village (Sunthorpe)

-toft (Lavstoft)

-son (Jonson, Wikinson – to the name of the father)

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 2481