Hello and welcome to the history of England, Episode 8 Reconstruction and Defence.

I am pretty sure that as Alfred watched the defeated Viking Horde lumbering off to East

Anglia in 878, he'd have had mixed feelings. Okay, glad to see the back of them, but on the other

hand, pretty confident that sooner or later they'd be back. This time, unlike their departure in 871,

Alfred was going to make darn sure that their next visit was a good deal less comfortable.

Broadly speaking, and with 2020 hindsight, the next 14 years or so are about Reconstruction,

but not just Reconstruction, reform. In his work over these years, Alfred

established a template that his successors would build on. And it's worth noting that these

are carried out against a background of renewed Viking attack, which makes their achievement even

more impressive. It's over these years that Alfred really earns his title of great. As he put it,

in a place of military cultural and economic revolution that would strengthen his country when

the Vikings came back for another bite. But also, form the basis of the success of the people who

followed him. And for good measure, he would take steps to secure his historical reputation

through some fancy bits of propaganda, though probably a bit harsh to think of it in that way.

Let's start with the cultural stuff first, since I think this is probably closest to Alfred's

heart, and we can let Alfred speak for himself on the problem he felt he had to solve.

In the preface he wrote, Pope Gregory's bestseller Pastoral Care, does sound like a humdinger,

he wrote, learning had declined so thoroughly. Who could understand their divine services in Latin,

or translate a single letter from Latin into English?

I recollected how before everything was ransacked and burned, the churches throughout England

stood filled with treasures and books. This upset Alfred very much, and I guess we should ask

why, and why he felt this to be so important. Not to overcomplicate things, I think that Alfred

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