Do you know which country realized the largest territory in the history of the world?
The correct answer is the British Empire.
We learned English, which was a common language of the British Empire, through compulsory education and adopted the British parliamentary system.
However, pre-medieval British history is rarely learned.
It wasn't until Norman Conquest in 1066 that British history began to take a big step in Japanese world history textbooks, but this time I would like to take up Alfred the Great, an adult before that.
Anglo-Saxon Seven Kingdoms
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe became a Germanic nation. It eventually spread to the world, and it can be said that the Germanic people are in control of the world as of the 21st century.
From the first half of the 5th century, the Roman Empire abandoned British sovereignty.
Until then, Britain was a land where many Celts lived, but after the withdrawal of Rome, the conflict between Celts and Germans continued.
The legend of King Arthur, famous for his names Excalibur and Avalon, is said to depict the battle between the Celts and the Germanic people.
As a result, the Germanic people won an overwhelming victory. The Celts were driven westward and were called "Werewolf" in Anglo-Saxon language, eventually becoming the Welsh language.
The name England means the land of the Anglo tribe, and it can be said that Britain is also a nation with complicated ethnic problems. It can be said that there is.
However, the Germanic people are not monoliths either. The Germanic people who have driven out Rome will fight each other fiercely.
In the land of England, seven kingdoms were rife and had the appearance of the Warring States period for a long time.
The first of the seven kingdoms to escape was Offa, the king of Mercia, who destroyed both the Essex and Sussex kingdoms, compiled a full-fledged code, and took wealthy tactics such as the coining of penny silver coins, and King Charlemagne of the Frankish kingdom. Succeeded in establishing an equal relationship with (Charlemagne).
However, the Kingdom of Mercia suddenly lost its power when Offa died, and Alfred of the Kingdom of Wessex began to emerge instead.
Danish invasion
The history of England is closely related to the history of Scandinavia. If Japan is in the Far East, Britain is a nation in the Far West and can be said to be the end point of some ethnic groups.
The Germans had driven out the Celts, but this time they were plagued by the invasion of the northern Danes.
As the name implies, the Danes are the people who founded Denmark and are also famous for the Vikings.
It seems to be on a ship, but it was a horse race, agile on land and in the sea, and quite strong. Shortly before Alfred the Great, or after Charlemagne, the Danes attacked Paris, the capital of the Frankish kingdom, and succeeded in earning a large sum of money from the Frankish kingdom.
Perhaps it was the taste of this, and this time it launched a large-scale invasion of the Anglo-Saxon crowd of England.
On the other hand, the Germanic people had no way to do it, and the Kingdom of East Anglia and the Kingdom of Northern Bria were quickly suppressed, and the Kingdom of Wessex was also half occupied.
That was exactly when Alfred became King of Wessex.
When the Danes invaded, King Wessex was named Ezelred, and Alfred and Ezelred jointly opposed the Danes and won the Battle of Ashdown, but King Ezelred suffered damage at that time. Alfred, who died and was King Ezelred's son-in-law (Alfred's daughter is Ezelred's princess), took the throne.
Suddenly he was in a pinch, but Alfred decided to temporarily drive out the Danes by paying for the time being.
However, in 875, the Danes attacked again and a fierce battle began.
Both sides continued to fight back and forth, and in 876 they won a big victory in sinking 120 Danish ships in Suonige, and in 876, on the contrary, they occupied Chipnam, which is a key point, and it was difficult to settle.
However, at the Battle of Edington, Alfred won a decisive victory over the Danes, and Wedmore's peace treaty was signed that Slan, the King of Dane, would be adopted by Alfred.
Alfred, who won the battle against the Danes, was to be called "Alfred the Grade".
Toward the compilation of the Code and the unification of England
After expelling the Danes, Alfred took over the code left by Ofa and compiled and promulgated a new code. This set a precedent for deciding the law at the discretion of King Wessex, and it can be said that it led to the subsequent strengthening of the kingship.
England at that time changed from 7 kingdoms to 4 kingdoms, and the kingdoms other than Wessex were devastated by the Danish invasion. For this reconstruction, Alfred ceded land to princes and royalty around the world and issued a "Certificate of Territory", which was held by the Wessex royal family, and the power of the Wessex Kingdom in England has increased dramatically. It was.
In parallel with this strengthening of the Wessex kingship, Alfred the Great is also known as the person who promoted cultural promotion, and he himself is familiar with not only the English language but also the Latin language used in the Roman Empire. , His own work was highly evaluated, and many literary works were born in this era.
He also founded a court school, where the children of aristocrats and princes from all over the world learned. In conjunction with this, the aristocratic system is being reorganized, and after dispatching deputies to the royal territories scattered around the country apart from the traditional Anglo-Saxon Elderman, Shire (state), England's " Build the foundation of the "state system".
In 899, the Great King, who had accomplished so many businesses in the domestic affairs in battle, fell asleep for a long time.
England was not unified in his time, but the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of his grandson Azerstan were unified.
This Azerstan was the first to use the title "King of England".
Personal evaluation of Alfred the Great
Without Alfred the Great, the history of England would have changed significantly. It's not a butterfly effect, but without him the Danes would have ruled Britain, and history has changed so much that America and others may have become colonies of nations other than Britain. English, the Anglo-Saxon language, did not rule the world, and we would not have learned English.
The English that has plagued me for many years might not have been necessary to learn without this person ...
Aside from that, it can be said that the repulsion of the Danes and the strengthening of England's royal power laid the foundation for later England, and Weston Churchill left behind the words, "History of the British Empire begins with the landing of Caesar." However, it can be said that the true history of England began in the time of Alfred the Great.
In that sense, it can be said that he is one of the top historical figures in Western history.