What Ordinary Life Was Really Like in Alfred the Great's England, 878 | History for Sleep

Hey guys! We're now on Spotify 🎧 Join us here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1iLKLmP... Fall asleep in Anglo-Saxon Wessex in 878, the year Alfred the Great was driven into the Somerset marshes and came out again. Just after Twelfth Night the Danish army took Chippenham; in the 7th week after Easter the men of 3 shires met the king at Egbert's Stone, and the chronicle says simply that they rejoiced to see him. A free farmer's life was worth 200 shillings in law, about 1,000 silver pennies, or 33 oxen. Tonight we follow one farming family through that whole famous year, from one midwinter to the next, until the fire is covered with ash and the house sleeps. Subscribe to the channel: @oldhistorynights In this video, we talk about what ordinary life was like in Alfred's England in 878, including the fire covered with ash every night, the news of Chippenham arriving on foot, the king at Athelney and the legend of the burned cakes, the wergild and the price of a life, the one room hall house, bread at the quern and where the words lord and lady come from, the plough and the ploughman's acre a day, Egbert's Stone and Edington, the shepherd and the oxherd who watched all night, the warp weighted loom, Guthrum's baptism at Aller and the twelve nights at Wedmore, the price of an ox, a cow and a horse, the horn in the wood, Sunday rest and Alfred's holidays, the old English names of the months, the evening pottage and ale, Alfred's six candles and his horn lantern, the harp passed along the bench, beds of straw and wool, counting time in nights, the first sleep and the waking before dawn, and the Alfred Jewel. 🔔 Subscribe so the next long night in the English past finds you whenever you need it. 💬 Tell us in the comments where in the world you're listening from, and which part of this farm's year in 878 you would most like to have lived through. 📢 Share this with anyone who loves Anglo-Saxon history or needs a gentle way to drift off, on Facebook, Reddit or in the family group chat. You're the reason these long nights keep coming. Chapters: 00:00 Opening 21:09 News comes at walking pace 40:34 The plough in the spring field 59:29 The loom by the wall 1:19:50 A horn at the edge of the wood 1:37:52 How much light there was 1:56:48 The door is barred 2:17:38 The waking in the deep of night 2:38:06 The fire covered at year's end Sources: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entries for 871 to 894 (Avalon Project, Yale Law School) https://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/... Asser's Life of King Alfred, tr. Albert S. Cook (Project Gutenberg) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/63384... The Alfred Jewel (Ashmolean Museum) https://www.ashmolean.org/alfred-jewel The Laws of Alfred, tr. F. L. Attenborough (The Anglo-Saxons) https://www.theanglosaxons.com/wp-con... Food and Drink in Old English (University of Glasgow) https://oldenglishteaching.arts.gla.a... The Saxon Longhall at Cheddar (South West Heritage Trust) https://swheritage.org.uk/avalon-arch... Kings and candlesticks, Asser's candles (Thijs Porck, Leiden University) https://thijsporck.com/2017/06/26/kin... DISCLAIMER: This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from the sources listed above alongside primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional. #OldHistoryNights #HistoryForSleep #SleepHistory #BedtimeHistory #AlfredTheGreat #AngloSaxon #AngloSaxons #Wessex #878AD #Athelney #Edington #Chippenham #Somerset #Wiltshire #AngloSaxonChronicle #AlfredJewel #DarkAges #EarlyMedieval #MedievalHistory #SocialHistory #EnglishHistory #History #FallAsleepFast