Asser the Monk

"It is in my high office as Bishop of Sherborne, that Alfred my King invited me to join his court. I have done very well for a Welshman, coming from my homeland of St David's in the Kingdom of Dyfed.

My father named me Asser, who was the eighth son of Jacob in the bible. As teacher and friend to the King during my bishopric I helped Alfred to translate many Latin Church texts. In my position at the King's court I have been able to see and hear all the triumphs and troubles that the King has had to endure during his reign. It is my intention to put all these great happenings into an account that I shall call 'The Life of Alfred'.

I have written down the terrible events that took place at the King's Royal Manor of Chippenham. Early in the year of Our Lord 878 as we were celebrating Twelfth Night, the Danes, under their leader, Guthrum, carried out a surprise attack on us at Chippenham. My lord the King and some of his followers escaped from Chippenham and moved under the most difficult conditions through Selwood Forest and gathered themselves with a small company of supporters at Athelney.

The Easter celebrations came upon us in 878 and King Alfred and his supporters moved to the east, reaching the Deverill Valley, and at Egbertstone further troops joined the King's army. The army marched to the north and set up their positions upon Edington Hill. The Danes came upon us, and after much heavy fighting the King was victorious. The Danes were followed back to Chippenham and after two weeks they surrendered to the King. Not long after, Guthrum signed a peace treaty and he had himself baptised into the Christian faith.

We are now at peace. And if I were asked to say what great deeds the King had done for us, I would offer the following. He established a naval force and an army; he created juries, and established a fair monarchy with liberty for his people. He is surely the father of his people, a good Christian, and a King of what I believe will be called a golden age.

Using my accounts and my memory I will take you around the Saxon Royal settlement of Chippenham, which in 878 was the centre of all the troubles in the Kingdom of Wessex."

Key Points

• Amid a concerted effort by the Danes to enter Wessex, King Aethelred of the Saxons was slain in battle. His brother Alfred acceded to the throne. In late summer a substantial army of Danes crushed Alfred's army at Wilton. Exhausted by warfare that had robbed them of a king, nine dukes and thousands of soldiers, the Saxons sued for peace with the invaders on the understanding that they would leave Wessex.
• A Danish force invaded Wessex, the only Saxon kingdom not have been overrun by the Danes. The invading army overwintered at Chippenham. Meanwhile, King Alfred was living rough in the marshes around Athelney in Somerset with a small band of supporters. Gradually Alfred drew supporters to his cause and by Easter was ready to mount an attack to repel the Danish invaders. Alfred's army moved north east to Edington where they met with and defeated the Danish army led by Guthrum. Guthrum was baptised into the Christian faith as part the terms of the Saxon victory.

• Following the departure of the Danes from Chippenham, Asser recounts how Alfred spent the next eight years pushing the Danes from southern England and consolidating his kingdom.
• Asser's chronicle ends.
• Alfred is thought to have died in 899. Alfred is credited with being the father of the modern nation of England.

Asser the monk - Bishop of Sherborne

Nothing is known of the life of Asser before his rise to a position of influence in the court of King Alfred beyond that he was Welsh by birth and began his career as a monk at St David's during the middle years of the ninth century. Although he held high office as Royal Chaplain and Bishop of Sherborne, he is best known to history as the biographer of King Alfred.

In his biography he tells of momentous events in the origins of England, some of which occurred in Wiltshire and around the town of Chippenham, site one of Alfred's royal palaces.

Who burnt the cakes?

Most people in England have been told the story of Alfred and the burning of the cakes. This tale can be found in the Chronicle of St Neot. It has been wrongly included in some modern editions of Asser's 'Life of King Alfred' but cannot be found in earlier versions of the text.

It is said that while King Alfred was in hiding as the Danes overran the west country, he took shelter with a cowherd and his wife, not revealing his identity. While the cowherd was away with his cattle, and the wife was about her business, Alfred alone, remained in the cottage. Alfred, sat, contemplating his desperate situation, not noticing the bread left by the wife catching light on the hearth. The wife, unaware of who her guest was, roundly scolded Alfred who submitted to her words and assisted attentively to the remaining tasks of the baking.

The Burghal Hidage - The key to the Alfred's success against the Danes?

At the time Alfred came to the throne, England as we know it today did not exist; rather, a series of Saxon kingdoms had grown up in the centuries since the end of the Roman era.

By 878, the seventh year of Alfred's reign, invaders from Scandinavia, loosely referred to as 'Danes', had invaded and settled in every kingdom except Wessex. It has been suggested that the ability of Wessex to resist the Danes stemmed from Alfred's measures to defend the major towns in his kingdom. The building of town walls, enclosing many 'burhs' or towns, was based upon the capability of these towns to provide a garrison. Chippenham is not included in the record of Alfred's defensive building programme, the 'Burghal Hidage' which is usually dated to the reign of Alfred's son, Edward.

Little archaeological evidence for Saxon Chippenham has been found, except for 3 sherds of Saxon pottery found in an excavation to the rear of the Cellar Gallery in the Causeway. These are now housed in the Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre. A tantalising glimpse at what may have been defensive structures was provided by the discovery of a clay bank of probable Saxon date during the work to build the Emerygate Shopping Centre. That Asser's account of events places the Danes at Chippenham in the winter of 878, may indicate that any settlement on the site of modern Chippenham was less well defended than others in Wessex.