n History, the guy fought in over 50 battles. some with his brother and some when he was King, as well as an experienced hunter
Why does Bernard Cornwell make him out to be a weakling who can't fight or even make a choice without the fictional Uthred? Or is this just on the show?
The show captures the spirit of the real Alfred very well, in my opinion. Even if the details aren't particularly accurate.
Alfred was always known to be a "bookish" man. One of the stories about him was that as a child his mother had a book of poetry. She told all of her children that the one who could come to her and recite the poems would win the book. The idea of owning a book excited young Alfred so much that even though he was much younger than his siblings he became the strongest reader and won the book.
He also was the first person to translated Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy himself from Latin into English (Queen Elizabeth later translated an updated version). That's the sort of thing he did in his spare time.
He also began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.
So, the fact that he's less into battle and fighting as a main hobby than other men has a basis in fact.
And, yes, had serious stomach problems and he credited his stomach issues for why he didn't give into temptation and lust. He was often very sick because of it.
He was very, very devout.
If you look at the stories surrounding Alfred they weren't all about him being a great warrior. They are about his loving books. Or his burning the cakes from being too deep in thought and accepting scolding.
And, yes, the Anglo-Saxon kings actually did listen to their leading men very much. That's why the name Æthelred was so popular. Æthelred means "wise counsel" or "noble counsel". The famously bad king Æthelred the Unready was actually called Æthelred Unræd. Unræd means "evil counsel" (so his name was Noble Counsel Bad Counsel). One of the worst things you could say about a king with the Saxons was that they didn't follow good advice. The fact That Alfred relies heavily on counsel would not be seen as unkingly, at all. It's wise.
Alfred was a great military leader but he was "the Great" because he gave the English a sense of themselves separate from the Danes (when really they weren't so very different). They gave them a sense of a leader who isn't just the strongest fighter but is an intellectual. Who does things like create laws and divide the country into administrative boroughs. All of that means civilization.
If you strip a lot of the glamour away and look at all of those facts with a more cold eye you can absolutely see a more opportunistic man just doing whatever he had to to keep the throne and build his kingdom out.
The real Alfred was a great king not because he "beat" the Danes (which he did but not entirely and he made the very practical move of splitting territory with them) but because he was a bureaucrat. And he left behind a well-run, well-organized, well-taxed kingdom.
The one thing I can't beat... Competition.
This is absolutely perfectly said.
In regards to Alfred, the clue's in the name - Alfred, Wise Elf.
His greatness was not in battle, but his love for learning, his insistence on making good laws. He was not some lofty modern King who lived in a golden palace and was removed from his people. The common English folk could go to him and get his ruling on their disputes.
In one such case, two farmers came to Alfred as the poor man was in the bath! But he still heard them and gave his judgement on their dispute.
I think Dawson's version of Alfred gets this down very well. He's cold and calculating, but every so often we see the hints of a smile, and a slight gentling of his condition. His status as a warrior isn't as important as his love for reading and championing of education.
And hey, if you want chivalrous warrior Kings? England has those in droves. But Alfred wasn't really one of them.
And note that "the Great" was not even used until Victorian times. Not exactly contemporary.
shareAlfred was a slightly built person who suffered from a debilitating and painful digestive disorder, probably Crohn's Disease.
The brains behind his army.