Spying Through History. #1. Alfred the Great.

Alfred the Great (849-899) and King of Wessex (871-899), in 878 the Danes had invaded England and defeated Alfred’s armies several times, Guthrum leader of the Danes only needed to defeat Alfred for control of England.

The final battle would take place on the Island of Altheney in Somerset where Alfred and his army of just fifty knights waited for the inevitable defeat and death.

However as winter set in the Danes failed to capitalise on the situation and instead of moving in for the kill, they decided to plunder the villages and towns, drinking and gorging throughout the winter.

As spring began the plundering had to stop and Guthrum brought his commanders together to plan the final push into the West Country where they could defeat the King of Wessex and his weak army. The Council of War met in a large tent, where they would argue about who would do what and when it would happen, these meetings were long and rowdy, they would only come to an end when the last commander had had his fill of wine and food.

For days these meeting started and ended the same way, a Saxon minstrel would play the harp and sing love songs outside the entrance of the tent, while inside the raging Danes would argue as they planned the battle ahead. As they left the tent Guthrum and his Commanders tossed scraps of meat and bread into the minstrels pouch, who quickly gathered up all his belongings and ran off into the forest to feed his starving family with the scraps that the Danes had given him in return for his musical talent.

With the plans made, Guthrum and his army prepared to break camp and head towards the West Country and the waiting Alfred and his small army of fifty knights, the battle would be swift and decisive, for the Danes it would be just another days work, but things began to go wrong for them, almost from the start problems began to occur, small problems but when added together became a major headache for Guthrum and his commanders for when they reached Edington in Wiltshire, Guthrum’s army was completely destroyed, taken by surprise by an army of limited manpower, the Danes invasion of England was over.

Guthrum and some of his Commanders were captured and taken to Alfred’s camp, when they entered the tent they noticed that he had in his hand a harp, smiling and demonstrating his rich voice Alfred himself was the minstrel who played the harp and sang loves songs outside Guthrum’s tent while he planned his attack, Alfred was the poor minstrel who Guthrum and his Commanders tossed scraps of meat and bread so he could take it back to his starving family.

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