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Tests have shown that a pelvic bone found in a museum box is likely to have been either that of Alfred - the only English king to have the moniker "Great" - or his son King Edward the Elder. The bone was found among remains dug up at a medieval abbey in Winchester, southwest England, the capital of Alfred's kingdom. The remains were initially discovered in an excavation some 15 years ago but were not tested at the time, and were stored in a box at Winchester Museum until archaeologists came upon them after a failed bid to find Alfred...

Archaeologists dug up an unmarked grave in a quiet English churchyard in search of remains of King Alfred the Great, a ninth century monarch credited with fending off the Vikings. The exhumation was apparently triggered by fears that interest over the recent discovery of the skeleton of Richard III could lead grave robbers to dig the area for his bones. Alfred the Great is known to generations of schoolchildren through a popular legend that tells of his scolding by a peasant woman for letting her cakes burn while he watched over them. He was at the time preoccupied with the...