Title

King Alfred burning the cakes, (c1900). Artist: Trelleek

Caption

King Alfred burning the cakes, c1900. Legend has it that Alfred (849-899), offered shelter from the Danes by a woman at Athelney in the Somerset marshes, allowed her cakes burn because he became distracted while stringing his bow. On her return to the cottage, the angry woman scolded the king for his carelessness. Much of Alfred's reign was taken up with the struggle against the Danish invaders. After Alfred defeated them at Edington, Wiltshire, in 878, England was divided in half, with the south-western part in the hands of the Saxons, and the north-eastern portion, the Danelaw, administered by the Danes. War broke out again in the 890s, but by 897 the Danes had been defeated. From Peeps into the Past, published c1900.
Historica Graphica Collection

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/Historica Graphica Collection

Reference

HRM19D58_138

Model release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

50,0Mb (4,5Mb) / 13,3in x 14,7in / 3977 x 4395 (300dpi)

Keywords

building buildings Trelleek Alfred I England food female women woman people male interior indoors man men home sitting country monarch guy burning British English angry color colour anger king county royal refuge cottage chair location century Britain inside cake fireplace furniture royalty lady concept rage embarrassment legend Somerset fury embarrassed scolding humiliation distracted fugitive refugee humiliated hearth 19th century legendary nineteenth century refugees 9th century Anglo Saxon Anglo-Saxon Athelney sovereign TGN Wessex King Alfred the Great alfred the great lithograph King Alfred King of Wessex Aelfred Historica Graphica Collection lithograph