Alfred 'The Great' (r. 871-899)

Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that sometime between May 6-12, 878 Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeated the Viking army of Guthrum the Old at the Battle of Edington. Edington is a rural village, situated on the north side of the Polden Hills in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England.
FYI my father spent his youth in Somerset, England.
By the way, the Netflix series The Last Kingdom is historical fiction based on this timeframe and the family of Alfred the Great.

The Search For Alfred The Great | Full Episode | BBC Documentary
Just who was this King? What did he look like? How did he live? And how did he die? We unfold the story of one of England’s greatest kings through the investigation of his 1000 year old remains and the extraordinary world he lived in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZny9k-w3SY

Images:
1. England around 910 AD
2. Alfred the Great. Image in the public domain
3. The Submission of Viking leader Guthrum to King Alfred
4. 'Portrait of King Alfred the great ( 849-899)From ancient coin, engraving and publishing (1800s) in

Biographies
1. ancient.eu/Alfred_the_Great
2. britishheritage.com/history/alfred-great-king-wessex


1. Background from {[https://www.ancient.eu/Alfred_the_Great/]}
"Alfred the Great
by Joshua J. Mark published on 24 April 2018

Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and later successful negotiations with them. He is the best-known Anglo-Saxon king in British history thanks to his biographer Asser (died c. 909 CE) and that work’s impact on later writers.
Alfred’s epithet 'the great' was not given to him in his lifetime but centuries later when Asser’s work became more widely known and the significance of Alfred’s reign was more fully recognized. Even so, in his lifetime, Alfred was respected as a noble king who won the trust of his people for his reforms in education and law, and most notably, his leadership against the Viking threat. Alfred is featured in the TV series Vikings where he is played by Irish actor Ferdia Walsh-Peelo. The character in the show is loosely based on the historical Alfred but significant departures are made, most notably in his parentage.
The Vikings had begun their raids on Britain c. 793 CE and, by Alfred’s time, had established themselves throughout the land from Northumbria through Mercia with increasing incursions into Wessex. Alfred defeated the Viking leader Guthrum (died c. 890 CE) at the Battle of Eddington in 878 CE, after which he was able to deliver terms including the Christianization of Guthrum and his closest advisors, thus bridging the religious gap between the two peoples. Although this victory did not end Viking raids in Britain nor drive the Vikings back to Scandinavia, it allowed for a period of relative peace in which Alfred’s reforms could be implemented and take root.
Alfred’s impressive military and administrative skills stabilized Britain after almost a century of Viking raids and warfare. He established the practice of translating classical works from Latin into English, set up public schools, reformed the military, and revised and expanded the law code. Later historians, especially during the Victorian Age, would consider him the most perfect king of the Middle Ages for his piety, justice, and noble vision of a better future for his people.
Youth & Rise to Power
Alfred was born in 849 CE, the son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex and his wife Osburh. At the age of four, his father sent him to Rome on pilgrimage, where he was confirmed in the faith by the Pope and, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, was anointed as king. Although it is possible this ceremony took place, it seems unlikely as Alfred was the youngest of five children and his older brothers – Aethelbald, Aethelberht, and Aethelred – would have all been in line to succeed to the throne before him.
HE LEARNED POETRY BY HEARING IT RECITED & THEN REPEATING IT BUT COULD NOT READ IT HIMSELF UNTIL SOMETIME IN HIS TEENAGE YEARS.
Whatever effect the trip to Rome may have had on Alfred’s character, it does not seem to be as profound an influence as that of his mother. Osburh is described in Asser’s Life of King Alfred as a religious and intelligent woman who had a significant effect on his life-long interest in learning; a characteristic which chiefly defines Alfred and shaped his later accomplishments.
He learned poetry by hearing it recited and then repeating it but could not read it himself until sometime in his teenage years and even then could not read Latin in which the most important works of his time were written.
The role of his mother in his life, as well as his paternity, are the most significant departures made in Alfred's character arc in the TV series Vikings. In the show, his mother is Judith, Princess of Northumbria (played by English actress Jennie Jacques) who is married to Aethelwulf but becomes pregnant through an affair with the Christian monk-turned-Viking-turned-cleric, Athelstan (played by English actor George Blagden). Although the character of Judith is portrayed as caring and concerned for her son, no mention is made of Alfred's mother's impact on his literacy. His frailty in youth and the trip to Rome are also depicted with more or less accuracy but his brothers and their accomplishments are combined and fictionalized in the character of Aethelred (played by Darren Cahill) and elements of Aethelwulf's reign and personality are also significantly altered.
Alfred’s brothers each ruled in succession following their father’s death until Alfred was officially named successor to his brother Aethelred in c. 865 CE and elevated to the rank of military commander. It may be that Alfred’s family had low expectations of him as a warrior-king as he was more given to books than action and was often ill as a young man (possibly afflicted with Crohn’s disease). If so, they were mistaken as Alfred proved himself a capable leader in battle, between c. 865-871 CE, alongside his brother and on his own after Aethelred died.

The Viking Wars
In 865 CE the Great Army of Vikings led by Halfdane and Ivar the Boneless invaded East Anglia and swiftly defeated any force sent against them. In 866 CE they took the city of York, and in 867 CE they killed the Northumbrian kings Osbert and Aelle and consolidated their control of the region. In 868 CE they made constant raids throughout Mercia and by 869 CE had completely overrun East Anglia. In 870 CE reinforcements for the Great Army arrived from Scandinavia and Halfdane led his forces to take Wallingford, ravage Mercia, and drive on into Wessex the next year.
Aethelred and Alfred mobilized their forces and met the Vikings in battle at Reading but were badly defeated. Asser comments how “the Christians were aroused by the grief and shame of this, and four days later, with all their might and in a determined frame of mind, they advanced against the Viking army at a place called Ashdown” (Asser, 37, Keynes & Lapidge, 78). The Battle of Ashdown in January 871 CE would prove Alfred’s skill in military leadership and his ability to think clearly and act in a crisis.
Although Asser never criticizes Aethelred directly, he makes the point that a strategy had been laid whereby Alfred and Aethelred would command joint forces which would strike at different points of the Viking forces but that Aethelred never appeared to take command of his part of the battle. The Vikings held the high ground and had already fortified their defenses when Alfred arrived on the field and found his brother the king was still at his prayers. Alfred, then, had no choice but to take command of the entire army and lead the attack. It should be noted that Asser’s account of the battle has been challenged and other sources credit Aethelred with full participation in the engagement.
Whether his brother was involved or not, Alfred was victorious, skillfully leading his forces, and drove the Vikings from the field. Encouraged by this victory, the brothers pursued the Vikings and met them again at Basing but were defeated. In April, Aethelred died and Alfred became king. He led his army against the Vikings again at the Battle of Wilton and here again seems to have shown himself an effective leader on the field – at least at first. The Viking lines were broken and in flight, but there were too few of Alfred’s forces to pursue. The Vikings were able to regroup and countercharge, defeating the West Saxons and taking the field. Alfred at this point had no choice but to pay the Viking commanders a large sum to leave Wessex.
Over the next few years, Alfred would continually have to mobilize what troops he could muster to defend his realm. Although the money he had paid to Halfdane secured Wessex for the time, it did not mean the Vikings had to leave Britain. They consolidated their power in Northumbria, made peace with the Mercians, and were free to threaten the autonomy of Wessex whenever they pleased. In 875 CE the Vikings had firmly established their kingdom, and a new Norse warlord, Guthrum, had taken command.
In 876 CE Alfred made a treaty with Guthrum in which he gave the Viking leader hostages, and the Vikings swore an oath to leave Wessex alone. For unknown reasons, the Vikings broke the treaty, killed the hostages, attacked, and then retreated to Exeter where they wintered. Alfred rallied his forces and blockaded the Viking fleet at Devon, forcing them to withdraw to Mercia but, by 877 CE, the Vikings were back at the borders and, in early 878 CE, they took Chippenham. The raid on Chippenham was a surprise attack launched during the Christmas season when Alfred was observing the holiday in the area and was completely unprepared. The Vikings massacred much of the populace, but Alfred escaped with his family and a few men and went into exile. Asser describes this period:
At the same time King Alfred, with his small band of nobles and also with certain soldiers, was leading a restless life in great distress amid the woody and marshy places of Somerset. He had nothing to live on except what he could forage by frequent raids, either secretly or even openly, from the Vikings as well as from the Christians who had submitted to the Vikings’ authority. (Asser, 53, Keynes & Lapidge, 83)

Alfred & the Burnt Cakes
It is during this period that the events related in the legends surrounding Alfred are said to have taken place. Although it is often assumed that these legends come from Asser’s work, they are all later creations, c. 10th century CE. The most famous of these is the story of Alfred and the burnt cakes, which comes from The Life of St. Neot.
It relates how Alfred, traveling alone at this time, came upon the cottage of a swineherd and asked for hospitality without revealing who he was. They took him in for a few days, and one day when the swineherd was out, his wife was baking bread in the oven while Alfred sat nearby preoccupied with his troubles. The wife was cleaning house when she smelled the bread burning and hurried to the oven to draw the loaves out. She chastised Alfred, who was sitting close by, saying, “You hesitate to turn the loaves which you see to be burning, yet you’re quite happy to eat them when they come warm from the oven!” (Keynes & Lapidge, 198).
The story would go through many different incarnations with the wife depicted as evil and ignorant or simply exasperated by her houseguest, but in all, Alfred’s response epitomizes humility and grace. He never reveals himself as king or argues with the wife but accepts her scolding as appropriate and helps her bake the bread.

The Battle of Eddington
Alfred remained in exile, hiding from the Vikings, for less than three months, during which time he seems to have been preparing for an offensive against the Vikings through a network of spies and chieftains who remained loyal to him. By March, according to Asser, he was waging a successful guerrilla war against the Danes. By May of 878 CE, he had assembled a large enough force to meet the Vikings in battle. He had a fortress built at Athelney which formed a base of operations and seems to have used this to recruit men as well as to launch raids.
At some point in early May, he managed to draw the Vikings out of their stronghold at Eddington and defeated them in battle using the tactic of the shield wall. The Wessex forces would have held tight formations against the Viking onslaught and then counterattacked. The Vikings were driven from the field and fortified the defenses of their stronghold. Alfred, however, destroyed all of the crops surrounding the Viking defenses, killed all the men found outside, and took the cattle. The Vikings were left with whatever provisions they had inside and after two weeks of siege surrendered.
Alfred’s terms were lenient: Guthrum and 30 of his chieftains would submit to Christian baptism and renounce their pagan faith, hostages would be provided to ensure compliance, and the Vikings would leave Wessex; all of these conditions were met. Wessex was secure for the time being, but there is no evidence that Alfred thought Eddington had put an end to his Viking troubles.

Restoration, Reform, & Education
The theory that Viking raids were the wrath of God had gone unchallenged since the Lindisfarne raid in 793 CE as there was no better available, and Alfred most certainly believed it. Following the Battle of Eddington, he went to work to resolve the underlying causes of the raids which, in his view, were the poor state of education, clerical learning, and lack of unity in his kingdom.
Beginning in 880 CE, Alfred reorganized his kingdom and implemented educational, legal, and military reforms which would transform Wessex and eventually the whole of Britain. He began by rebuilding those cities and towns which had been destroyed in the Viking Wars and improving upon the earlier structures. Recognizing that these could be destroyed just as easily as their predecessors, he then reformed the military and the very structure of settlements in his kingdom.
Early in the 880’s CE, Alfred implemented innovations which included a restructuring of the network of towns and cities. These initiatives are known as the Burghal System, in which improved roads linked a series of 33 burhs (fortified settlements) throughout his kingdom. On a trip to Rome, at some point after Eddington, Alfred had learned defensive tactics and stratagems from the Carolingian kings of France who had been dealing with their own Viking problems for centuries. Alfred’s Burghal System seems to have been adapted from the Carolingian precepts.
In order for each burh to be able to defend itself, it had to be garrisoned, and those men had to be paid, and so Alfred reformed the tax code based on the abundance of crops gathered from a person’s land. The productivity of a region was then taken into consideration when stationing a certain number of troops there. The burhs were situated in such a way that any garrison could move to support any other within a day’s march.
At the same time, Alfred imported a number of learned clerics from Wales and France to reintroduce Latin learning to the court and translate Latin works into English. Public schools were created in which students learned to read English; those who were to go on to pursue holy orders would also be taught Latin. It was during this period that Asser, formerly of Wales, came to Alfred’s court as his personal tutor. In time, Alfred himself would translate works from Latin to English, serving as a role model for his subjects.
It should not be thought, however, that this period was – as has often been claimed – a “quiet time” in which Alfred could devote himself to study and domestic policies. He was daily involved in foreign policy decisions, and the problems of the Vikings in Britain persisted. In the early 880’s Alfred had gained control of Mercia, but the Vikings had settled the region from Northumbria known as the Danelaw and still made incursions into other regions.

Efforts to Unite England
In 886 CE Alfred captured London in a stunning victory, and “all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes submitted to him” (Keynes & Lapidge, 38). There may have been an official oath of loyalty to the king that the populace, or at least landowners, had to take, but even if there was not, it is clear that Alfred had united the people of Britain under his rule. Keynes and Lapidge note that Alfred’s victory at London marked “the emergence among the English of a sense of common identity, under a common leader, in a common cause” (38). Alfred was now king of all England not occupied by the Danes.
Shortly after taking London, Alfred sealed an alliance with Mercia by arranging a marriage between his daughter Aethelflaed (r. 911-918 CE) and the earl of that region, Aethelred II (r. 883-911 CE). It is certain they were married by 887 CE when Aethelflaed’s name appears on land charters with Aethelred’s. Aethelflaed would continue Alfred’s work in conjunction with her husband and then as sole ruler and Lady of the Mercians.

Alfred continued his educational programs, enlarged and reformed the navy, and drew up his own law code based on the Christian Bible and founded on the Ten Commandments. All penalties took the form of fines except for those which involved crimes of treachery or treason. The supremacy of lordship was emphasized throughout as Alfred believed that the king ruled by divine will and, if he were true to his calling, would rule justly in the best interests of his people.
Although illiterate in his youth, Alfred himself wrote the law code and translated a number of works, including Gregory’s Pastoral Care, Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, St. Augustine’s Soliloquies, and the first 50 psalms. All of these books had influenced Alfred personally for the better and so, he believed, would do the same for others.
By the time Alfred died, on 26 October 899 CE, he had transformed Britain from a disparate region of separate kingdoms to something resembling a unified nation. In spite of his accomplishments and fame, Alfred was not as highly respected at this time as he would come to be in later centuries, possibly because the Viking invasions would continue in Britain until c. 1066 CE.
Another important factor, however, is that Asser’s Life of King Alfred was not widely read at this time since Asser never completed it or had it copied for distribution. The work was only brought to public attention in the 17th century CE when Sir John Spelman published it as a guide for kingly behavior. In the 18th century CE, Alfred was regarded as the epitome of a noble king, and by the time of the Victorian Period (1837-1901 CE), he was embraced as the founder of the British Empire, father of the British Navy (although he only reformed it), and the greatest king to ever rule England.
His educational reforms paved the way for public schools in England, his law code served as the basis for future legal reforms, and his restructuring of the cities, towns, and roadways changed the infrastructure of the country forever. His daughter Aethelflaed of Mercia would continue his war with the Vikings as well as his educational reforms and Burghal System along with her brother Edward of Wessex, who had succeeded Alfred. Edward’s son, Aethelstan, would in time become the first King of England, reigning over a united land, and continue his grandfather’s legacy.

Bibliography
• Arman, J. The Warrior Queen:The Life and legend of Aethelflaed, Daughter of Alfred the Great. Amberley Publishing, 2017.
• Ferguson, R. The Vikings: A History. Penguin Books, 2010.
• Harl, K. W. The Great Courses: The Vikings. The Great Courses, 2018.
• Keynes, S. and Lapidge. M. Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources. Penguin Classics, 1984.
• Oliver, N. The Vikings: A New History. Pegasus Books, 2014.
• Sawyer, P. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Somerville, A. & McDonald, R. A. The Viking Age: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division, 2014.
• William of Malmsbury. The Deeds of the English Kings. The Folio Society, 2008.

2. Background from {[https://britishheritage.com/history/alfred-great-king-wessex]}
"Who was Alfred The Great, King of Wessex?
Tim Woodcock | @BH Travel Apr 01, 2020
He was one of the Empire's greatest rulers, but who exactly was Alfred The Great and how did he win the Battle of Ethandun?
Of the many distinguished figures in mankind's recorded history to have the title 'Great' accorded them, posterity has allowed a mere handful to retain it. Alfred, England's darling for more than a thousand years, had 'The Great' bestowed upon him in medieval times by the English nation proud of their ancestor. Alfred had a diminutive and isolated stage on which to perform, compared to the likes of Alexander or Peter. Alfred, when he became King of the West Saxons, was the monarch of Wessex, a wedge of southern England between the Thames Valley and the English Channel.
Read more: The secrets King Edward VII doesn't want you to know
Wessex, a prosperous land of scattered farmsteads and hamlets, seemed doomed to annihilation at the hand of marauding armies of piratical Vikings, heathen warriors that had already devastated Europe and laid waste to England's midland and northern kingdom. But Alfred was to prove of a different mettle than his unfortunate neighbors. Not only was he a canny and tireless campaigner - it is by his battlefield honors that many historians know him best - he was also a man of vision, learning, and a great statesman. These qualities saved a nation and earned for Alfred the lasting title 'The Great' despite having only a relatively minor role in the long play of history.
Who was Alfred The Great?
Legend has it that Alfred was directly descended from Wodin, the Nordic God of victory. History tells a more prosaic tale. Despite his larger-than-life attributes, he was a mere mortal born in 849, or thereabouts, into the House of Cerdic. This was a royal house, to be sure, but subservient to the neighboring kingdom of Mercia until the closing years of his father Ethelwulf's reign.
His birthplace was a palace or vill that lay at the foot of the Berkshire Downs close by what is now Wantage. The vill here, Wessex kings had several vills at various locations, has vanished without a trace, but we can suppose that it was little more than a grandiose wooden hall with a scattered community of farm buildings. Ill health marred Alfred's childhood. The youngest of four sons, he had little prospect of taking on the burden of ruling Wessex, so he was allowed to pursue his love of learning, a peculiar pastime for a Saxon atheling that must have earned him some derision from his elder brothers.
One of the many stories that illustrate Alfred's aptitude tells of how his mother, Osburh, showed her sons a beautifully illuminated book of Saxon poetry and promised to make a gift of it to the first of them to read it. Alfred found a tutor, learned to read it aloud, and won the rare book when he was only six years old.
King Ethelwulf was a devout Christian and is believed to have been a monk, pursuing a life of study at Winchester's monastery while Alfred's grandfather reigned. Their shared love of knowledge must have created a close bond between father and his youngest son, and Alfred accompanied Ethelwulf on a pilgrimage to Rome, an arduous journey taking two years.
Rome was still an awe-inspiring city despite the ravages of repeated sackings by barbarian hordes. The huge diplomatic center of Western Europe would have made a huge impression on the boy Alfred. Known as a modest man, he must have been acutely aware of his own lack of learning and seen how important literate lieutenants were to an effective government.

Alfred The Great's rise to power
The Church of Rome wielded immense power and its influence extended to almost every aspect of Saxon life. It also had a near-monopoly on the acquisition of knowledge as its official language. Latin, could be read and spoken only by church officials and understood by a mere handful of Wessex clergy. This awareness of the acute lack of Saxon books probably led his to have written a series of histories, each compiled in a different monastery, each added to year-on-year-that have come to be known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Much of it is beautifully illustrated and it is often regarded as Alfred's greatest achievement. But one of Alfred's greatest gifts to posterity was the translation of a collection of great Latin works into his native Saxon tongue.
But we must not get the impression that the young Alfred was a weak and sickly lad, forced by ill-health to bury his head in books and set apart from his peers. We do know that, whatever his affliction was, he led a vigorous life as befitted a Wessex atheling. Alfred's love of hunting was renowned and his skill as a warrior is testified in his successes against the Danes. And, in an age when the nobility treated their subjects as family possessions, Alfred emerges as a generous and affable monarch whose Christian ideals led him to believe that true Christian kingship was to have a genuine responsibility towards his country, a task entrusted to him by God. In this, he laid the foundations of a code that was embodied in the English monarchy for a thousand years. Such a visionary approach to monarchy was in stark contrast to continental rulers who were often barbaric in their treatment of subject and foe alike.
When Alfred ascended the throne in 871 he succeeded the last of three elder brothers who, between them, had barely ruled for a decade, characterized by defeat at the hands of increasingly powerful Danish armies. Amid these defeats, Alfred won a glorious victory at Uffington, not far from his birthplace, just months before he became king. He moved decisively to meet a huge Danish army advancing east, and he routed them. But the peace he won was fragile and one of his first acts as king was to ensure it by paying the Danes to leave. Like an ill-wind, they always returned and Wessex enjoyed only a brief lull before the inevitable storm broke upon them again.
Two key factors gave the Danes an immense advantage. One was their command of the sea. The other was the undependable nature of the Saxon armies. Comprised mostly of farmers, they had a habit of dispersing when crops needed tending and immediate threats were parried. Alfred used the time he had bought well. While the Danes busied themselves with easier prey in the north, Alfred reorganized his tattered field army and made good Saxon's other great weakness, their lack of ships to meet the sea-heathens before they landed, by building the first English navy.

Alfred The Geat at War
But Alfred's energetic and revolutionary re-organization proved ineffective against the greed and determination of the Danes' massive force under King Guthrum and The Great Army. After a series of inconclusive forays the Danes, smarting from stubborn Saxon resistance made peace and retreated, only to strike back almost immediately. Together with a Danish fleet ravaging the south coast they penetrated deep into Wessex, seizing the royal vill near Chippenham and laying waste to the countryside. In the face of such overwhelming odds, the Saxon resistance crumbled away and Alfred barely escaped with his life.
His people must have despaired and yet, when Alfred's cause seemed utterly lost, they still remained loyal to their tenacious monarch. From his island fastness of Burrow Mump, deep in the Sedgemoor marshes near Athelney, Alfred called on his people to rally around the golden dragon standard of Wessex. Alfred met his army near Kingston Deverill by the Wylie River. From there they hurried north to meet Guthrum's heathen army by the northern edge of Salisbury Plain between the iron-age fort of Bratton and Edington village. Sweeping down steep-sided gullies in a packed column, the Saxons split the Danish horde asunder and drove them pell-mell back to their stockade at Chippenham. A brief siege ended in probably the most important victory ever won on British soil, known as the Battle of Ethandun.
In victory, Alfred showed true statesmanship. When avenging the devastation of repeated Danish attacks must have seemed fully justified he took the defeated Danish king to a vill at the mouth of Cheddar Gorge and entertained him royally. Here was signed the Treaty of Wedmore. Alfred, realizing that lasting peace was only possible by accepting the Danish presence, suggested they occupy East Anglia. Guthrum acceded and even accepted the Christian faith by being baptized at the marsh-bound church of Aller, close by Alfred's former fastness.
The Danes' defeat secured Wessex for Alfred but, with his country in squalor and ruin, Alfred's genius as a ruler really emerged in the uneasy peace that followed.
From his capital at Winchester, he introduced a wealth of imaginative reforms that have left us a rich heritage. His military innovations included splitting his field army, or fyrd, into a bi-partied system. One-half of the levies serving until their comrades had left their crops to relieve them. Alfred also enlarged the English fleet, manned it with Frisian sailor who could match the Viking pirates and thereby gained the honor of being the founder of the Royal Navy. But more importantly, he fortified existing villages and created new ones at strategic sites. Many of these burhs are still with us, Shaftesbury, Chichester, Exeter, Oxford, London and by making the surrounding populous responsible for a burh's garrison he endured their continued existence."

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter CWO3 Dennis M. SFC William Farrell CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" NagelLTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson1SG Walter Craig CPT Paul WhitmerSP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-Cwik TSgt David L.PO1 Robert GeorgeSSG Robert Mark Odom SPC Nancy GreeneSSG Franklin Briant1stsgt Glenn Brackin Sgt Kelli Mays

Great early morning history share.

Another great share, David.