Alfred (Old English: Ælfred) (c.849 – 26 October 899) was king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is famous for his defence of the kingdom against the Danes (Vikings), becoming as a result the only English monarch to be awarded the epithet "the Great" by his people. Alfred was the first King of Wessex to style himself "King of England". Details of his life are known as a result of a work by the Welsh scholar, Asser. A learned man, Alfred encouraged education and improved the kingdom's law system (Doom book).

Although Alfred's four siblings all had names that started with "Ethel-", which in Saxon means "of high birth," Alfred's name means something totally different -- elf counsel. Some historians speculate that Alfred was thus named by his mother, Osburga, whose name refers to nature pixies.

Alfred's father King Ethelwulf sent him on a pilgrimage to Rome when the boy was just four. Ethelwulf had vowed to make the trip himself a decade before, and historians surmise that Alfred, as the youngest son, could be spared most readily. He travelled to Rome with a large retinue and was received by Pope Leo IV. Although some sources, including the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, say that Alfred was crowned, it is more probable that Leo confirmed him. Several years later, after Alfred's mother Osburga died, Ethelwulf finally made the pilgrimage himself, and took Alfred with him. They stayed in Rome for more than a year.

According to his early biographer Asser, Alfred suffered the first bout of an unknown illness at his wedding. This illness brought him great pain and would plague him for another 20 years. Asser tells us that Alfred often prayed to rid himself of the mysterious ailment, and would give thanks that the sickness was not leprosy, which he feared.

After he taught himself Latin at age 38, Alfred translated a work of Pope Gregory and sent a copy to each of his bishops.