Spoke 9: The Biblewheel and The 9th Century - Alfred The Great the Man of Prayer

Spoke 9: The Biblewheel and The 9th Century
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Alfred the Great the Man of Prayer


Alfred, like David was persecuted by the Vikings. The 9th Century reflects the 9th book 1Samuel. He was a man of prayer and psalmist. He eventually saw the conversion of the leader of the vikings:

Alfred the Great

"Alfred I" and "King Alfred" redirect here. For the Bohemian nobleman, see Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz. For other uses, see Alfred the Great (disambiguation) and King Alfred (disambiguation).

Alfred the Great
Statue of Alfred the Great by Hamo Thornycroft in Winchester, unveiled during the millenary commemoration of Alfred's death.
King of the Anglo-Saxons
Reign	23 April 871 – 26 October 899
Predecessor	Æthelred
Successor	Edward the Elder
Born	849 Wantage, Berkshire
Died	26 October 899 (around age 50) Winchester
Burial	c. 1100 Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire, now lost
Spouse	Ealhswith
Issue	Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians Edward, King of Wessex Æthelgifu, abbess of Shaftesbury Æthelweard of Wessex Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders
Full name Ælfred of Wessex
House	Wessex
Father	Æthelwulf, King of Wessex
Mother	Osburh
Religion	Christianity

Alfred the Great (Old English: Ælfrēd,^[a] Ælfrǣd^[b], "elf counsel" or "wise elf"; 849 – 26 October 899) was King of Wessexfrom 871 to 899.

Alfred was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. His father died when he was young and three of Alfred's brothers reigned in turn. Taking the throne after the death of his brother Æthelred, Alfred spent several years dealing with Viking invasions. After a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 Alfred made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as Danelaw in the North of England. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of the Viking leader, Guthrum.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England.^[1] He is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet "the Great", the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". Details of Alfred's life are described in a work by the 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser.

Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in English rather than Latin, and improved his kingdom's legal system, militarystructure, and his people's quality of life. In 2002 Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

...

Appearance and character

No known portrait of Alfred the Great exists from life. A likeness by artist and historian George S. Stuart created from his physical description mentioned in historical records.

Asser wrote of Alfred in his Life of King Alfred:

Now, he was greatly loved, more than all his brothers, by his father and mother—indeed, by everybody—with a universal and profound love, and he was always brought up in the royal court and nowhere else. ... [He] was seen to be more comely in appearance than his other brothers, and more pleasing in manner, speech and behaviour ... [and] in spite of all the demands of the present life, it has been the desire for wisdom, more than anything else, together with the nobility of his birth, which have characterized the nature of his noble mind.^[125]

It is also written by Asser that Alfred did not learn to read until he was twelve years old or later, which is described as "shameful negligence" of his parents and tutors. Alfred was an excellent listener and had an incredible memory and he retained poetry and psalms very well. A story is told by Asser about how his mother held up a book of Saxon poetry to him and his brothers, and said; "I shall give this book to whichever one of you can learn it the fastest." After excitedly asking, "Will you really give this book to the one of us who can understand it the soonest and recite it to you?" Alfred then took it to his teacher, learned it, and recited it back to his mother.^[126]

Alfred is also noted as carrying around a small book, probably a medieval version of a small pocket notebook, which contained psalms and many prayers that he often collected. Asser writes: these "he collected in a single book, as I have seen for myself; amid all the affairs of the present life he took it around with him everywhere for the sake of prayer, and was inseparable from it."^[126]

An excellent hunter in every branch of the sport, Alfred is remembered as an enthusiastic huntsman against whom nobody’s skills could compare.^[126]

Although he was the youngest of his brothers, he was probably the most open-minded. He was an early advocate for education. His desire for learning could have come from his early love of English poetry and inability to read or physically record it until later in life. Asser writes that Alfred "could not satisfy his craving for what he desired the most, namely the liberal arts; for, as he used to say, there were no good scholars in the entire kingdom of the West Saxons at that time".^[126]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great


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And in this case, so far, the 9th century is associated to 1Samuel the 9th book and 2Thessalonians the 9th Epistle because both those texts show persecution. This is just a gathering the information and needs to be more searched out and detailed.

So king Alfred's life in the 9th century (being chased by the Vikings) reflects the life of David under the persecution of Saul in the 9th book, running from city to city, giving himself to prayer and singing psalms.

And here is what the 9th Epistle 2Thessalonians says concerning those who persecute Christians:

Comparing 2Thessalonians the 9th Book of the 3rd Cycle  to the 9th Century

2Thessalonians 1 - Listen 3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; 4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: 5 [Which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 Seeing [it is] a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed ) in that day.