Ethelred the Pious

One morning in Berkshire...
The urgent hoofbeats broke the mid-morning quiet of the little village. As they passed, the housewives and shopkeepers saw the backs of three great war-horses. Riding the middle one had to be the prince-- brother of their king, who had ridden into town just after dawn. He rode with a desperate speed matched by the warriors on his left and right.

The prince reared to a halt in front of the little church. Without waiting for his companions, he jumped to the ground, his mail and his spurs jingling as he lightly ran to the door and threw it open.

"Ethelred!"

The priest stood at the front, his face a mixture of confusion and surprise. But the kneeling figure at his feet looked over his shoulder and gave his brother a look of pure irritation.

"Alfred! How dare you disturb us during the Sacrament?"

"Ethelred-- brother-- my lord," Alfred allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. "The Danes have positioned themselves on the higher downs. We cannot let them also seize the initiative.  If we wait any longer we will have to withdraw.  We'll lose the whole shire."

"Alfred, why in God's name do you think I am here? Do you really expect to hold the field without God's blessing?  Get back to the men and keep them in order until I arrive."

Alfred strode across the nave, his youth and adrenaline causing him not to notice his own impertinence. "But they also see that the battle must soon be joined. And they need their king to lead them."

Ethelred now stood, his own impatience rising to the level of his brother's. "God comes first!" he declared. "When I meet the heathens in combat, I shall face them with a clean conscience. Now you are destroying the reverence of this sacred place.  Either get yourself to the men, or else join me in confession.  I daresay you could stand to be shriven as well as I, Alfred."

"At last Alfred, seeing the heathen had come quickly on to the field and were ready for battle... could bear the attacks of the enemy no longer, and he had to choose between withdrawing altogether or beginning battle wihtout waiting for his brother." -- Hodgkin, quoted in Churchill, 105

The Battle of Ashdown
In real life, Alfred made the fateful decision to lead the troops of Wessex into battle himself, even though he was only 21 and untested in war, and his brother the king remained at his devotions. His bold action halted the Viking advance and gave Wessex time to regroup. Alfred spent his life fighting the Danes and is remembered as a hero of the English people. And Ashdown in 871 was where his extraordinary career began.

But what if Alfred had listened to timid common sense and not tried to lead an army without its king, having never fought a battle in his life? In Churchill's words, "If the West Saxons had been beaten all England would have sunk into heathen anarchy. Since they were victorious the hope still burned for a civilized Christian existence in this Island... Alfred had made the Saxons feel confidence in themselves again.  They could hold their pwn in open fight.  The story of this conflict at Ashdown was for generations a treasured memory of the Saxon writers."

Ripple effect
In this timeline, which is very much a work in progress, England will become and remain a part of the emerging Danish kingdom. It will develop as a part of the Nordic orbit, a Scandinavian country cultivated in the Anglo-Saxon soil. I am going to have to do a lot more research, particularly on Scandinavian history. I'll gladly take any recommendations. I'll leave Alfred and Ethelred for now, but expect more soon.