The short scene where Iseult scolds King Alfred for letting her loaves burn in the stone oven is inspired by a popular legend that first appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 'The Life of St. Neot' from the St. Neots monastery in Huntingdonshire c. 1000 AD.
It was deduced by historians that the sickness afflicting Alfred was likely Crohn's disease.
In books the fight to the death isn't between Leofric and Uhtred: in books uhtred must face Steapa not Leofric.