h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I enjoyed the entry and am glad that people (generally more knowledgable than me) are putting some decent history on the guide.

But was Alfred crowned in the UK? I thought "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" came into being a long time later. Wouldn't he have been crowned in, erm, Wessex? (hazarding a guess) OK, I know I'm being pedantic, but some people get very touchy about the labels you ascribe to them. Is Ireland part of the British Isles, for instance?

Also was Alfred's kingdom the first to be known as England, or did that come later? My history is pretty hazy, and it would be interesting to be able to point and say "this was the beginning"

If you're up to it I'd be really interested in seeing further high points in the creation of a nation - I was busy ignoring it all the first time anybody tried to teach it to me.

It doesn't say he was crowned king of the UK , just that he was crowned at a location that is currently in the UK. It's a little pointless saying it was in whatever the country was called back then because it would just confuse matters if the entry appeared to be talking about some other country.

The other points on finding out more history are good though

Unfortunately Alfred never ruled the whole of England. Kings before and after him held that honour. This is just the first of several articles that I have written on the subject of pre-conquest kings the rest will help fill out more of the story Stragbasher. So keep your eyes peeled.

I thought they used to crown kings at Kingston - hence the name. But then maybe I shouldn't believe everything I read....I think it's mentioned in 'Three men in a Boat'

They do. It's in the article. Arthur was crowned at Kinston (King Stone) I've also done the article on that as it's where I went to Uni. However some of the Wessex kings were crowned at Winchester hence the debate over the exact location of Arthur's crowning.

BTW The coronation stone is still in Kingston.

Oh dear, I obviously wasn't as awake as I thought I was when I read it yesterday...Sorry.

Nor was I looking at how I spelt Kingston above.

But there are interlinked articles of mine in the queue.

Excellent!

I'll go and see if I can find all the rest of them.

You are quite excused for grouching at my pedantry - I was born in England of Scottish ancestry and grew up in Wales so I enjoy taking the point with people who make "England" and "the UK" interchangeable. Not that you were, it just gets to be a habit to query the use of the names. Consider the point to be pointless.

So are you going to tackle the biggie?

Who actually invaded Ireland? Was it the English or the Normans? Or the Scots?

To try and help with a few questions:
I would expect Winchester to have been the place of Alfred's coronation, as he was king of Wessex, and the Winchester/Southampton twin-city was the religious and trading centre of Wessex. Kingston was on the Wessex/Mercia border, and later kings, such as Athelstan, were crowned at Kingston to symbolise that they were not just kings of Wessex, but also of Mercia and (from Edward the Elder and especially Edgar) all of England. On Edward The Elder's death, Athelstan had been accepted as king by Mercia, yet Wessex had supported Edward The Elder's son Alfweard. After Alfweard's defeat, Athelstan used Kingston to symbolise the Unification of the Kingdoms.

There was no single English king before this time, although several, such as Offa, were very influential. It was Alfred the Great who started, yet Edward the Elder, Athelstan and Edgar, who completed the task of unifying the kingdoms to make up England. England was very much a Wessex creation, and as Wessex spread north, it's system of local government - far superior to anything in France and Germany at the time - in the creation of Shires and Shire-Reeves (Sherriffs) was imposed on the lands further north. Essentially, areas were ruled from a central town ie Derbyshire from Derby etc.

As for the question of "Who invaded Ireland" - urm, I'm not sure about who did it first. But there was a Norman Invasion in the 1180s which was a Papal command.

To try and help with a few questions:
I would expect Winchester to have been the place of Alfred's coronation, as he was king of Wessex, and the Winchester/Southampton twin-city was the religious and trading centre of Wessex. Kingston was on the Wessex/Mercia border, and later kings, such as Athelstan, were crowned at Kingston to symbolise that they were not just kings of Wessex, but also of Mercia and (from Edward the Elder and especially Edgar) all of England. On Edward The Elder's death, Athelstan had been accepted as king by Mercia, yet Wessex had supported Edward The Elder's son Alfweard. After Alfweard's defeat, Athelstan used Kingston to symbolise the Unification of the Kingdoms.

There was no single English king before this time, although several, such as Offa, were very influential. It was Alfred the Great who started, yet Edward the Elder, Athelstan and Edgar, who completed the task of unifying the kingdoms to make up England. England was very much a Wessex creation, and as Wessex spread north, it's system of local government - far superior to anything in France and Germany at the time - in the creation of Shires and Shire-Reeves (Sherriffs) was imposed on the lands further north. Essentially, areas were ruled from a central town ie Derbyshire from Derby etc.

As for the question of "Who invaded Ireland" - urm, I'm not sure about who did it first. But there was a Norman Invasion in the 1180s which was a Papal command.