ABSTRACT
The movements of Alfred’s older brothers across Wessex-in so far as they can be reconstructed from the evidence of royal diplomas (from Somerton, for example, to Dorchester, to Sherborne), communicate the appearance of leisurely, pastoral tranquillity, of a quiet and uneventful perambulation through the scirs (shires), unhurried by military concerns and untroubled by political disturbance. Nothing could be further from the truth. The will of Alfred exposes the personal and dynastic tensions lying just beneath the surface of royal family relationships. Even more serious than these was the threat of attack from the still-pagan Scandinavians, the Vikings.
