Who saved Alfred the Great?

Next week on BBC Radio 4 historian Michael Wood is running a series of programmes about Alfred the Great, a subject dear to my heart as I have written a play Isle of Princes about his comeback after he was ousted in the Christmas coup.  This has, alas, so far failed to make it to the stage partly I fear that my theory that Alfred had assistance from his Frankish sister-in-law, Judith, thus denting the idea that he did it all by himself. Judith was the Duchess of Ghent but also technically still Queen of Wessex as she was the only early Anglo-Saxon queen to be crowned and anointed.  Anglo-Saxon queens of the period were generally regarded simply as 'the King's wife' but Judith was especially well-connected, her father being not only the French King but Holy Roman Emperor.

The section of Asser's life of Alfred, our principal source, which would relate to how Judith assisted Alfred has mysteriously been expunged.  It may have been damaged in the Cotton library fire but more likely male historians did not care to acknowledge that the paragon of English Kingship had to be rescued by a woman but if we look at what Alfred did after his restoration we have a couple of important clues as to who helped him get back his throne.

He founded two monasteries, one at Shaftesbury which I believe to be the site of 'Egbert's stone - the traditional siting to the far west makes no strategic sense - where his troops rallied prior to the march north to face Guthrum's army at Bratton Camp, and the other at Athelney, the Isle of Princes, where he found refuge after the coup.  What is interesting about the foundation at Athelney is that it was not for English scholars as you might expect but to provide a refuge for Flemish scholars fleeing Viking raids and seeking safety on this side of the channel, a thank-you to Flanders for the help given to him during his fight back.  The other significant act he performed immediately after his restoration was the betrothal of his new-born daughter to Judith's infant son, cementing the alliance between the two countries.  Alfred is given credit for founding the 'British Navy' but his purpose in doing so was not to defend Wessex but to protect the Scheldt estuary which was being harried by Viking fleets based in East Anglia.  The strong connection between Alfred and his sister-in-law are quite clear but in most histories poor Judith barely gets a mention.  Her erratic love-life (and her independence) was so disapproved of that she was almost completely excised from history.  We don't even know when she died but the 'English-speaking peoples' that Alfred rallied against the Vikings have good reason to be grateful to her. As am I, as she provides me with a great part for a leading actress in what would otherwise be a distinctly male-dominated play.