Alfred the Great (849 - 26 October 899) was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England. 1] He is the only English monarch to be accorded the epithet "the Great" Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons"