WI: Vikings Conquer Wessex

Let's say that before becoming king Alfred the Great suffers either a fatal or entirely crippling accident and the Norse invaders mange to conquer Wessex around 880. What would happen from here?
 
Well, a Norman invasion might actually be more likely, given the way Vikings feud and dynastic conflicts. However, new Daneland would provide an interesting dynamic- Danes ruling, while the lower classes would remain Saxon and Briton.

To me, I'd be interested to see how this would change modern English.
 
Let's say that before becoming king Alfred the Great suffers either a fatal or entirely crippling accident and the Norse invaders mange to conquer Wessex around 880. What would happen from here?

Admitting the death of Alfred manages that :

(I think that unlikely, would it be only because Wessex was the strongest, wealthier and more populated part of Anglo-Saxon England from one part, and Vikings numbers were simply too low for conquering all of it)

You'll have either a puppet king controlled by Danes, or a Dane estabishing himself as king as it happened in East-Anglia.

At this point, it could mean more scandinavian immigration in southern England but eventually, these would be more similar to local population : a constant feature of Norse domination over conquered territories was they really quickly assimilated themselves with the natives (Norse-Gaëls, Anglo-Danes, Normans, etc.)

Finally, you'll have a situation where Wessex is still largely an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, not regarding who rules, and would have still a predominance over England : unification may be delayed, but would certainly happen sooner or later.


Well, a Norman invasion might actually be more likely, given the way Vikings feud and dynastic conflicts.
No. Normans (as Franco-Normans) weren't a thing before 911. Before that Rollo had indeed several ties with Anglo-Norse populations and territories, but a full conquest of England would probably butterfly Normandy, at the very least how it happened.

An exemple among other : plenty of Rollo troops and Norse settlement in Neustria where of Anglo-Dane origin, as the Saxon pressure make them searcing a new establishment.

To me, I'd be interested to see how this would change modern English.
Much more Germanic, with relativly important Scandinavian elements (nowhere close to OTL French ones, due to the historical mix between Norses and conquered populations) and without, much probably, Franco-Norman influence.
 
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