He issued a law code consisting of his own laws as well as those of his predecessor.

Some of Alfred's laws contradict the laws of his predecessor.

During Alfred's lifetime three-quarters of Anglo-Saxon territory was overrun by the Danes (Vikings). He managed to recover part of that territory (Mercia) and add it on to his own kingdom of Wessex. Within Wessex there were already two law-codes - those of Wessex itself and those of Kent, a country which had been annexed by Wessex fifty years earlier. The addition of part of Mercia, which had a third law-code, meant that different laws were being followed across Wessex. Alfred, with his councillors, stitched the three together so that the whole kingdom followed one set of rules for any given transgression. Just as importantly, the law-code was in the vernacular, ie English, so that it could be understood by everybody.

Second, he required all of his judges and the senior aristocracy to learn to read so that they understood the laws they were supposed to be enforcing - a radical concept.

Third, he agreed the rules for the Danelaw with the Danish king Guthrum, who ruled what is now East Anglia and Northumberland. This enabled the free passage of traders and mercers between the two kingdoms covered by one set of laws.