The White Horse King

It's time for another Thomas Nelson review! I chose this book because of its historical focus; I've mentioned before that I truly enjoy history and even though I have my favorite eras (American Civil War, World Wars I and II, Roman civilization), I'm usually always interested to learn a little more about different periods of history. The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin Merkle is an excellent biography of the lesser known historical figure of King Alfred. While I remember briefly studying about the Danish, Northmen, and Vikings, I don't remember learning much about Alfred, who as it turns out, played a very integral role in shaping the future of British history. While Alfred was not actually a king of the whole of England (the nation would unite under his grandson), he was the king of Wessex and is to this day the only English king to be known as "the Great."

Though Merkle does discuss Alfred's childhood briefly, the bulk of the book focuses on Alfred's near constant fight to defend his kingdom from the plundering of the Vikings. The Northmen had been pillaging the poorly defended English towns for decades, but the activity rose to a height during Alfred's childhood and into his reign as king of Wessex. Eventually, the vast majority of his resources and attention was focused on determining a feasible way for the citizens of Wessex to effectively defend their homes. He developed a professional standing army, a rather new concept to the people of his kingdom; he took advantage of the Roman roads which still remained so that troops could more quickly travel to the site of a battle; he ordered villages to build defenses around the city limits. Perhaps most importantly was that when the time for battle came, Alfred fought with his people. In a day when we can most easily send our troops to fight battles far away without so much as a second thought, the idea of the king leading his faithful men into battle strikes a chord with me and speaks to the days of chivalry and true nobility. It was through Alfred's efforts and determined leadership that the island nation was eventually able to rid themselves of the invaders from the north in all finality.

Once this feat was accomplished, Alfred turned his attentions to other important needs within his kingdom; his focus became education reform. Though the people spoke in the vernacular of the Anglo-Saxon language, most written work was Latin, and the people, including the nobility, of Alfred's time were unable to read and write in either language. He deemed literacy a requirement for the noblemen to hold their titles and property and mandated education for all free men. Eventually, he translated several works from Latin into the vernacular so that the whole of the nation would be able to read the works- and not just those who had studied enough to understand the Latin language.

It is obvious the author knew his subject material extremely well; I was very impressed with how much information was packed into the short book. Even though I felt the writing was a bit slow at times, I learned several fascinating facts not only about Alfred the Great, but about the Vikings and Romans as well. Perhaps my favorite little tidbit of knowledge came when the author explained the origin of the word berserk. But I won't tell you- you'll just have to read the book to find out.