Comparison of King Alfred of Wessex and King Henry VIII of England in Terms of Their Economic and Political Objectives: The Founding of the Kingdom of England

This study examines the process of economic modernization in England from a historical perspective by comparatively analyzing the reigns of King Alfred of Wessex (871–899) and Henry VIII (1509–1547). Although operating in different historical contexts, the reforms implemented by both rulers played a decisive role in the construction of England’s fiscal capacity, institutional continuity, and economic sovereignty. Alfred responded to the political and economic instability caused by Viking invasions by establishing the burh system, which secured the balance between security and production and revitalized local trade networks, thereby laying the early foundations of a centralized fiscal structure. In contrast, Henry VIII dismantled the economic power of the Church within the framework of the Reformation and centralized state revenues through the secularization of monastic properties. Despite employing different instruments, both periods were oriented toward the same objective: the establishment of a state order based on autonomous fiscal resources and independent from external authorities. By combining institutional economics with historical analysis, this study reveals the structural continuity between Alfred’s defense-based economic model and Henry’s strategy of fiscal-bureaucratic centralization. The findings demonstrate that the modern fiscal state in England did not emerge in a single historical moment but rather through a two-stage process, beginning with Alfred’s institutional legacy and reaching maturity with Henry’s Reformation policies. In this respect, the study contributes to the historical institutionalist literature on the origins of the modern state by arguing that economic modernization was already being constructed through fiscal-administrative institutionalization in the pre-industrial period.