1. Northumbria Mercia Wessex

2. 730-825 Mercia dominant state in England 793 Vikings sack Lindisfarne 825-30 Egbert of Wessex (r. 802-39) defeats Mercians (825), conquers Mercia (829), defeats Welsh (830) v í king 830s Vikings attack England v í kingr 850s Vikings start settling in England

3. 851 Vikings sack London 860s and 870s Vikings receiving tributes from English kingdoms 876 Vikings settle in Northumbria 877 Vikings take eastern Mercia 878 Vikings invade WessexDanelaw Alfred the Great of Wessex (r. 871-99)

4. 878 Alfred defeats Vikings at Edington 885 Alfred and Vikings make peace Alfred: Lands south of Thames, (W. Mercia), Christianisation of Danes Danes:E. Anglia, E. Mercia, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire

5. Alfred ’ s Reconstruction of England System of burhsPeterborough Edinburgh Re-organising army Establishing navy 892-96 Wessex repels Viking attacks

6. Edward the Elder (r. 899-924) Aethelstan (r. 924-39) shires

7. Government of Anglo-Saxon State King: Theoretically elected Holds lands all over England Right to military support Receives judicial fines Represented by shire-reeves/sheriffs Appoints bishops and abbots Witangemot:Assembly of important men Chancery office:Issuing royal letters

8. Local courts: Meet regularly at county courts Each headed by ealdorman, sheriff, bishop Using customs, rites of compurgation and ordeal Monetary penalties, mostly …

9. Social Classes in Anglo-Saxon England Warrior nobility incl. ealdormen Ceorls - free peasants (by 9th c. more semi-free peasants and slaves) Churches as landowners, also expecting tithe and (on royal lands) Peter ’ s Pence/ church-scot

10. Alfred ’ s Intellectual Reforms Encouraging reading, writing, translation Four books “ most necessary for all men to know: ” Gregory I, Pastoral Care Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy Psalms 1-50 Bede, Ecclesiastical History Law Code