The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum is a 9th-century peace agreement between

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

and

Guthrum Guthrum ( ang, Guðrum, c. 835 – c. 890) was King of East Anglia in the late 9th century. Originally a native of what is now Denmark, he was one of the leaders of the "Great Summer Army" that arrived in Reading, Berkshire, Reading during April ...

, the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

ruler of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. It sets out the boundaries between Alfred and Guthrum's territories as well as agreements on peaceful trade, and the ''

weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price (blood money), was a precept in some archaic legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to b ...

'' value of its people.

Background

In 866 the

Great Heathen Army The Great Heathen Army,; da, Store Hedenske Hær also known as the Viking Great Army,Hadley. "The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire", ''Antiquaries Journal''. 96, pp. 23–67 was a coalition of Scandin ...

landed in East Anglia with the intention of conquering all the English kingdoms. During their campaign, the Viking army conquered the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria and although initially, they overran the kingdom of Wessex, the Danish king Guthrum was defeated by Alfred's army at the

Battle of Edington At the Battle of Edington, an army of the kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum on a date between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Primary ...

in 878. Under the terms of his surrender, shortly after, Guthrum was obliged to be

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

(to endorse the agreement, plus allow him to rule more legitimately over his Christian vassals, while remaining pagan to his pagan vassals) and then with his army leave Wessex. The agreement whereby Guthrum surrendered, was baptised and agreed to leave Wessex is known as the

Treaty of Wedmore The Treaty of Wedmore is a 9th-century accord between Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king Guthrum the Old. The only contemporary reference to this treaty, is that of a Welsh monk Asser in his biography of Alfred, (known as Asser#The Li ...

. Sometime after Wedmore a treaty was agreed that set out the lasting peace terms between the two kings, this is known as the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. The treaty is one of the few existing documents of Alfred's reign; it survives in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

Manuscript 383, and in a Latin compilation known as ''

Quadripartitus The title ''Quadripartitus'' refers to an extensive legal collection compiled during the reign of Henry I, king of England (1100–1135).Wormald, ''Making of English law'', p. 236 The work consists of Anglo-Saxon legal materials in Latin transl ...

''. The date when the treaty was created is not known for sure, but is believed to have been between 878 and Guthrum's death in 890. The prologue to the treaty was a legitimization of the territory held by both parties. It legitimized Guthrum's landholdings in East Anglia and Alfred's in Mercia. Clause 2 and 3 specify the

blood money Blood money may refer to: * Blood money (restitution), money paid to the family of a murder victim Films * Blood Money (1917 film), ''Blood Money'' (1917 film), a film starring Harry Carey * Blood Money (1921 film), ''Blood Money'' (1921 film ...

(or weregild), that is the value of men based on their status. The other clauses are concerned with the purchase of men, horses and oxen. There is also provision for hostages as a guarantee of good faith for one side trading with the other.

The treaty

The Laws of King Alfred

There is more than one version of the treaty recorded. The original documents were written in

. This version was translated by

Frederick Attenborough Frederick Levi Attenborough (4 April 1887 – 20 March 1973) was a British academic and principal of University College, Leicester. Biography He was the son of Mary (née Saxton) and Frederick August Attenborough of Stapleford, Nottinghamshir ...

Notes

Citations

Bibliography