Steapa the Clever (died 5 August 910) was a West Saxon soldier who served as the chief of King Alfred the Great and King Edward the Elder's household guards.
Biography[]
Steapa was born in Wessex to a family of Christian Anglo-Saxons. Steapa's parents were massacred by the Danes during the invasion of the Great Heathen Army, leaving him with a hatred for the invading Norsemen. He entered the service of Odda the Younger, the son of Ealdorman Odda of Devon, and he became known as a warrior of great size and strength, although his lack of intelligence led to some fellow warriors giving him the ironic nickname "Snotor", meaning "the Clever". He was originally enemies with Uhtred of Bebbanburg due to Young Odda and Uhtred's rivalry, but he fought alongside Uhtred at the Battle of Edington and befriended him due to Young Odda's treachery and death. During the late 870s, he trained King Alfred the Great's daughter Aethelflaed in sword fighting, and he also aided Uhtred and Lord Aethelred of Mercia in taking London in 886. Steapa rose to command King Alfred's household troops, and, on Alfred's death in 899, he became a loyal servant of his son, King Edward the Elder. In 910, he saved Edward's life at the Battle of Tettenhall, but he was trampled by a Viking horseman; the wounded Steapa was then pinned to the ground by another Viking, who then smashed his head apart with a mace.
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