Shortly before that, my parents walked around the cathedral, where my mother worked as a secretary to the Bishop. At the time, way up above the nave, several ornate caskets were on display. Each, according to tradition, held the remains of an English king from the dark ages, a queen of one of the high officers of state. My parents attempted to choose a name - a middle name - for me from amongst the Kings.
Names like Cynewulf (died 786), Ecbert (d.839) or Æthelwulf (d.858) were on offer. From a practical point of view, as you can imagine, I'm relieved that they chose a rather more normal name instead.
The caskets holding the remains of the Kings were fetched down in 2015 and taken for (lengthy) forensic examination to see what might be learnt from the bones.
The most famous of the Winchester kings was Alfred the Great (849 - 899, reign: 871 - 899). In many ways he was behind the drawing together of the different regional kingdoms to form the country of England. As he worked towards this, Winchester was his capital in the kingdom of Wessex.
Alfred is very convincingly portrayed by David Dawson in the Last Kingdom TV series.
Never been to England but fascinated by its rich history! I do remember Alfred in the TV series the Last Kingdom. I hope the series comes back for another season.
@SW-User I think I've seen 2 of the 3 series that they've made. Had the other one - on dvd - in my hand in the shop but the queue (line) was huge, so I had to leave it. For British viewers, the shop was CEX, in Kingston.
SW-User
I've only seen the first two seasons. Will the third be on Netflix, do you know?@AfternoonWine
@dunpender 1066 and all that is the name of a book. About history in a more informal tone. On the other hand British history started with first tribes there.
