Three weeks after his defeat at Edington, Guthrum was baptised at Aller near Athelney with Alfred as his godfather. Guthrum took the Christian name Athelstan. The ceremony lasted a week and included an elaborate chrism-loosing ceremony at Wedmore. Baptism made Guthrum Alfred spiritual son and created a personal bond that helped enforce the treaty. This was Alfred most brilliant diplomatic achievement: turning a defeated enemy into a Christian ally bound by religious obligation.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
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