Post B #3

Dear Bernard Cornwell,

You are my hero. In this post I would like to talk about Alfred. He seems to be a very tricky man. At first glance, he is an overzealous priest-lover that cares more about a priest than he does a village. But, deeper inside of him I believe there is a strategist; a thinker and a very smart man. Alfred does however make some weak decisions. He knows that Uhtred is an amazing commander that is fearless in battle and smart in decision making. But, instead of dethroning Uhtred's cousin Ethelred, he gives him his daughter's hand in marriage. Alfred knows not what he hath done because Ethelred ends up beating her, being extremely jealous, and then making stupid decisions such as allowing her to accompany the fleet during a battle. Because of his idiocy, Ethelred loses his wife and, because Alfred's love for her is so strong, he is willing to give the vikings essentially all of the gold in his kingdom for her ransom. This would lead to the vikings being able to hire an army of over 10,000. An army of that size could have easily taken over Wessex. Alfred's silliness in allowing Ethelred's existence nearly led to the extinction of his kingdom.

Alfred has made wise decisions however. For instance, he made Steapa the captain of his home guard. Steapa is a beastly man, a giant that could defeat Uhtred in battle on a bad day. He was very capable and not especially stupid. These traits made him a good front line commander and a fearful opponent for all across from him in the shield wall. A final smart decision made by Alfred was to make Uhtred takes oaths to him. Uhtred is a man of honor and would hardly think of breaking an oath. For this reason, Alfred gained a magnificent fighter and commander that would be pretty much forced to serve him for life.