Albion Flux


 * Albion Flux
 * by Dan McCollum
 * 9 June 2002

Excerpt from "Alfred the Mad: The Deputy and His Times" by Gudrid Derricksdotter

The Deputate of England had changed greatly from the time when Aethelred the Magnificent had ruled. At home the great lords and nobles had eroded most of the Deputy's reforms, and a series of weak deputies had allowed the nobles to gain even more power. At the same time, a radical religious sect known as the Wyrdians were beginning to grow in power and influence despite years of persecution.

Elsewhere in Europe the situation was beginning to change as well, as the Submissive Reformation began to take its first frightful steps into the pages of history, and the Submissive Kingdoms of Europe fought each other with almost as great passion as they did their Christian enemies. The Submissive Kingdom of Dublin had collapsed and been replaced by the Christian Kingdom of Ireland, the Kievan Rus were being torn asunder by the Spectral heresy. It was a chaotic time of death and rebirth.

Into the maelstrom came Deputy Alfred II of England, son of the bland and uninspiring Alfred I, who had been elected only to deny the election of the strong Yarl Derrick of York. Alfred II was a very different figure, and it would do any student of English history good to look at the man, before diving into the effects of his reign.

Alfred II, unlike his father, was a man of brilliance and drive, but who suffered from a form of romanticism which caused him more troubles as his life went on. At his best, the Deputy was a caring individual who tried to live out his life according to the strictest interpretation of the Teachings of Ragnar the Prophet; at his worst he remained a deluded man who was so caught up in his own visions of the world that he would be unable to function in the real one.

Alfred was born in SE 401 [1173 CE] in the Earldom of Wessex. From an early age he showed a great love of religion as well as the written word. During his reign from SE 435-453 [1207-25 CE] he would compile many texts, most of which were based upon religious themes. During his teen years, before and just after his father had been elected Deputy, Alfred II seems to have considered entering the Judiciary. This decision caused a falling-out with his father who feared that his only son's vocation would leave him with no heir and bring the dynasty to an end. Eventually Alfred II gave in to his father’s wishes, and began to learn the arts of governing. Privately he vowed to never give in to outside pressures again, a promise he would be unable to keep.

Now resigned to taking his father's place as the head of the dynasty and also perhaps assuming the throne of England, Alfred began to immerse himself into studies of history, statecraft and past Deputies. All the while his infatuation with religion remained unabated. Letters from this time, as well as court historians, record his belief as being, "If I cannot preach for the Valhalla Etenral, I shall create Valhalla upon this Earth!"

It was this belief, assisted by -- or perhaps born of -- an equally strong conviction that the English had been chosen by the Allfather to be the true followers of the word of the Prophet, and that all other Deputyships and Kingdoms could not possible compete in holiness and glory, that would mar his reign. His 18 years on the throne would see crushing taxes, religious persecution, and the botched and disastrous invasion of the Holy Lands, culminating in his humiliation and signing of the Great Charter.

From "The English Deputies of the Middle Ages" by Andrew Snorrison

Alfred II (reigned 435-453)

...any student of Medieval English history must conclude that, despite the great potential, the reign of Alfred II was a complete and total disaster both for himself and for the Deputate. His death in SE 453 [1225 CE], marked the end to a tragedy so grand, that even the great English playwright, Derrick Carpenter, had trouble embellishing when we put the sordid tale to the page.

... Alfred II gained the throne following the death of his father in 435 [1207 CE]. A man of deeply religious conviction, Alfred had at one time wished to become a Judge, but resigned himself to the throne after a bitter struggle with his own father. This struggle left a deep impression on the young man, whose reign seems to have been motivated both by his love for Submission, as well as by a drive to outdo his father, Alfred I.

Unfortunately for the younger Alfred, a strong Deputy was the last thing on the minds of most of the nobility when he was elected to the Deputyship. In fact, most of the nobles, still brooding over the reforms of Aethelred II nearly three decades earlier, chose him hoping to placate his father, as well as installing a weak ruler. They seem to have felt that he would be so dedicated to religious studies that the day-to-day rule of the Deputyship would be left to them. They could not possibly have been more mistaken.

Alfred wished for nothing less than to create a "Valhalla upon Earth" and would stop at nothing until this goal was met. The Deputy began to work closely with the English Holy Thing, who elected Frederick of Northumbria to be their Speaker. FN1 Alfred saw in Frederick a great ally who would help him with his quest. In Alfred, Frederick saw a useful pawn to be manipulated to the greater gain of the Holy Thing.

In 437 [1209 CE] the first of several joint edicts were issued which slowly abolished the Aethelredian Code and replaced it with one that was based heavily upon the Teachings of Ragnar the Prophet. During the next ten years a deep streak of Literalist Submissive law began to infect the English body politic.

...In 442, bowing to his innate urges, as well as the pestering of the Conservatives within the English Holy Thing, the Edict of Toleration of the Successor Erik III was repealed. In 443, the "Year of Blood" as many European Christians remember it, violent and bloody pogroms flared up in every major English city. Alfred himself turned a blind eye to the carnage and, according to some accounts, actually sent his own soldiers in to hunt out enclaves of Christians who had escaped the ghettos. FN2

In 445 Alfred turned his attention away from the now-dwindling Christian minority in the realm, and directed his attentions towards destroying heresy where ever it could be found. With the blessing of Alfred, English armies were put under the command of Speaker Frederick and the Holy Thing. During the "Holy Inquisition", suspected heretics and enemies of the English Thing were rounded up, tortured and executed. During this time many of the Speaker's own enemies disappeared, and Julius Brown was martyred.

From "The Quest of Julius Brown" by David Stamos

... When word reached the Deputy that Julius Brown had been named a traitor and Wyrdian by the Holy Thing, Alfred had the nobleman summoned to York.

Brown had long been a supporter of Alfred's quest to impose a Literalist law code in England, and was one of the few nobles who supported the notion of a strong Deputy and government. However, following the death of his son several years earlier, Brown had sunk into a deep grief. It was during this time that he converted to the beliefs of the Wyrdians, a doctrine that seemed to make sense of his tragedy.

When Brown arrived at the Palace, he was met by several armed guards who seized the suspected heretic and had him dragged before the Deputy. There Alfred, voice shaking, asked his former ally, "And are the rumors I hear true?", to which Brown replied, "I shall not lie, for I have placed my life in the hands of Fate." Alfred pleaded with his friend to recant his heresy, but Brown calmly refused. The Deputy then, openly sobbing, condemned him to death by fire.

One week later, on October 31st, 445, Julius Brown, Thane of Essex, was burned alive in the center of York. He is said to have met his death with a serene smile upon his face. So died one of the greatest martyrs to the Wyrdian way.

From "The Unholy Crusade" by Harold Haroldson

...in the years before 450 there had been growing tension between the Great Holy Thing in Trondheim, and the many lesser Things which made up the religious body of Submission. Other Holy Things, such as those of Elbing and, most notably, York grew in prestige and began exerting their newly found power. By the mid-450s a crisis was brewing.

Speaker Frederick was, by far, one of the most energetic and competent leaders that the English Holy Thing had ever possessed. As the highest religious authority in England, he believed it was his God-given duty to shatter the power of the Great Holy Thing once and for all. In many ways, Deputy Alfred II walked right into his hands. Alfred II was a deeply religious man who sought to bring paradise to the realm he ruled. His deep devotion had caused him to outlaw Christianity, to crush the power of the heretics in England, and generally do what religious fanatics had done throughout history.

...The Speaker's argument was simple: the Great Holy Thing in Trondheim had grown corrupt, and the Successors were no longer men of rectitude, valor and glory, but decadent politicians who twisted the words of Ragnar to suit their whims. It was an argument that rang true, for the Successors had grown more and more corrupt, and the Great Holy Thing was no longer the instrument of the Allfather it once had been. The solution, it seemed to Frederick, was just as simple: to declare a Holy War to liberate Trondheim and decimate the lands of the Successor.

...For years Speaker Frederick and Deputy Alfred planned their holy war. Taxes were raised, nobles conscripted, and diplomats were sent far and wide to gain allies to his cause, of which there where several, most notably King Ladislav II of Vistulis, and several lesser German sovereigns. ...The war was, of course, an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. In SE 450 [1222 CE] the armies of England sailed out from their island. Rather than make straight for Trondeleg, Alfred proposed to land in southern Norway and march north, laying waste to the countryside as he went. Meanwhile the other armies of the alliance were meant to cross into the Kingdom of the Lower Rhine and distract the Successor and his armies so that they would be unable to come to the defense of the Great Holy Thing.

In the Summer of that year, after a brief naval battle with the longships of the Earl of Denmark, Alfred’s army made landfall in the Vestfold, took and sacked Oslo, and began their march north. Meanwhile Alfred’s allies launched their attack on the Successor. However. Lacking trust in one another, they failed to act in unison. The kings and earls of the High Kingdom entered the Rhenish lands separately, and were crushed in detail by the Successor’s army. King Ladislav was bought off with some small territorial and trade acquisitions. This left Alfred to fend for himself in Norway.

And yet, from the English point of view, things were still going according to plan. The Alfred and his men marched northwards, meeting only token resistance, and placed Trondheim under siege. Four months later, as the cold and harsh Nordic Winter began to set in, the walls were breached and the English poured into the most holy city in the House of Submission, and brutally sacked it.

Alfred, now, had a problem. Winter was setting in, and the siege of Trondheim had taken much longer than he had anticipated. The sack of Trondheim had destroyed much of the city’s stocks of food, and his own army’s supplies were dwindling. There seemed no choice but to winter in the city which they had just sacked. It was an unpleasant prospect, but a necessary one.

The winter of 450-51 was Hell on Earth for Alfred’s army. As the siege had dragged on, word of Alfred’s invasion of Norway had reached the Successor Svein VIII, and his army, fresh from its victories over Alfred’s German allies, set sail. In January of 451 Alfred’s army found itself cut off from England by Svein’s fleet, and the besiegers found themselves become the besieged. Hunger and disease stalked the English troops, and they found themselves subjected to endless raids by Svein’s army and by the surviving inhabitants of Trondheim.

Back home, in England, the situation was growing even worse. The nobles were becoming fed up with the heavy taxes and the growing lawlessness of the Holy Inquisition, as well as the Deputy's seeming inability to deal with the constant threat of Irish raids. Peasants and nobles found themselves united by their hatred of Alfred’s rule. England was ripe for rebellion.

As spring came to Trondheim the remaining English took what holy treasures and loot they could find, fought their way past Svein’s encircling army, and began the march back south. As the weary English marched south they were pursued by Svein’s army. Alfred was finally forced to turn and face Svein on May 7th at The Battle of the Nine Hills. As the English fought Svein’s men, Alfred and his mounted household troops slipped away to the Vestfold. FN3 On May 26th, almost exactly a year after they first arrived, Alfred and his surviving men boarded the ships and sailed for home. Out of an initial force of over 50,000 men, only 5,000 made it back to England. Alfred was in no condition to deal with the rebellion at home.

From "The Signing of the Great Charter" by Ulric Erikson

The rebellion of the nobility which so dramatically ended the "English Crusade" was not a forgone conclusion. Had Alfred listened to his advisors, or attempted to act more moderately, the signing of the Great Charter and the near destruction of the English Monarchy might never have occurred. As it was, however, years of heavy taxes and unpopular rule had pushed the nobles as far as they were willing to go. By the time Alfred II returned to England, the situation had grown completely out of control.

Many works have been written over the years, detailing the dramatic scene when Alfred was arrested upon returning to his Palace in York and dragged before a court of nobles who demanded he sign the Great Charter, the most important document in English history.

The Great Charter was, in fact, a very simple document which established that the Deputy was not above the law, stripped the position of any real power, and gave the nobility the "God-given right” to appoint and depose Deputies as they saw fit.

With a knife literally at his throat, the sobbing Alfred was forced to sign the document which destroyed any power he had. A year later he would die of a broken spirit and the nobles would elect his son, Alfred III as Deputy. By that point the Deputy was irrelevant and England had effectively dissolved into a collection of small statelets that would not be reunited until the coming of the Empire in the early thirteenth century.

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