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ALF chiefs, in a similar manner, established themselves in the kingdom of Northumbria, which at that time extended from the Humber to the Tyne, if not to the Tweed.

In the course of the winter of the year 870, a large Danish fleet entered the Thames, conveying a numerous army under the command of two Scandinavian kings, named Halfdene and Bagseeg, and five powerful earls, named Osbearn, Frene, Harald, and two Sidrocs, father and son. The object of these invaders was to conquer for themselves principalities in the kingdoms of Wessex and Kent, as Guthorm and other Danish chiefs had done in the east and north of England. They sailed up the Thames without meeting with any resistance, and suddenly seized on the castle and town of Reading, which stands at the point where the river Kennet falls into the Thames. Here they threw up new fortifications, and thus established themselves in the very heart of the West Saxon kingdom. From this point they sent bands of plunderers to collect booty and provisions throughout the counties of Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, one of which parties was defeated at Englefield Green, near Windsor, by Ethelwulf, the earl of that district.

Before the mass of the Saxon troops could be got together, Ethelred and Alfred appeared before Reading with whatever troops they could collect hastily; but, after a succession of engagements, continued for three days with various results, they were compelled to retire across the Thames, near Windsor, and there to wait for reinforcements. Four days afterwards, the mass of the Saxon troops having come up, the battle was renewed at Essedun or Ashdown. Alfred led the attack, fighting, as the chronicles of that time say, "like a wild boar," and inflicted a signal defeat on the Danes. One of the Danish kings and six of the Danish earls were killed, and it was said that since the Saxons had landed in Britain, there had never been such a battle. Unfortunately, however, it did not give the Saxons possession of Reading, and there the Danes, having complete possession of the Thames and of the sea-coasts, soon brought together another large army. Two months later, the Danes were strong enough to fight another great battle at Merton, and even to keep the field against Alfred and Ethelred. Soon after this battle Ethelred died. His death took place on the 23rd April, 871, and Alfred immediately assumed the throne of the West Saxons, which was then threatened with instant destruction.

In the first year of Alfred's reign, the Danes at Reading, having received great reinforcements, advanced into Wiltshire. Alfred gave them battle at Wilton, but was defeated. After this defeat, negotiations were opened with the Danes, and they even agreed to retire from the West Saxon kingdom, though on very hard conditions; but this agreement they did not fulfil, and in the course of the year 876, they landed a large army at Wareham in Dorsetshire, and another in Devonshire, where they seized on Exeter. Alfred laid siege to the Danes in Exeter, and compelled them to surrender, and to engage to leave the kingdom. This promise they broke, as they did all similar engagements, and in the spring of the year 877, Alfred found himself assailed in all directions,—in the valley of the Thames, on the coast of Dorset, on both coasts of Devonshire, and at Chippenham in Wiltshire, by a new army advancing out of Mercia. Despair seized his subjects, and all his efforts to get together an army strong enough to keep the field, were for a while unavailing; but his heroic spirit was unbroken, and with a few resolute followers, he retired to the isle of Ethelney, a small tract of dry land, rising amidst the swamps caused by the overflowing of the rivers of Somersetshire. Here he remained during the winter of 877, concealed from his enemies, but constantly employed in organizing the campaign of the coming year.

Early in the spring of the year 878, Alfred began operations with the men of Somersetshire, and in the seventh week after Easter, he was again at the head of a powerful army, composed of the men of Somerset, Wilts, and Hampshire. With this army he attacked the Danes at Ethendune, probably Eddington, near Westbury, and, after a desperate battle, defeated them with enormous loss. The remnant fled to Chippenham, where they were immediately surrounded by Alfred's army, and in a fortnight reduced to such extremities by famine, that they surrendered, and agreed to leave the kingdom. This great victory very shortly placed Alfred in possession of his hereditary territories of Wessex and Kent, and by a treaty concluded with Guthorm and the other Danish chiefs, who had firmly established themselves in the east and north of England, he also received a large part of the kingdom of Mercia, including all the beautiful counties along the banks of the Severn. The old Roman road from London to Chester, known to the Saxons by the name of Watling Street, was declared to be the boundary line between the Saxons and the Danes, through the greater part of its course.

The victory of Alfred over the Danes gave peace and rest to his people for several years. Even Hastings, the most formidable of the sea-kings of that age, after showing himself in the Thames for a time, shunned a conflict with Alfred, and transported his army to the banks of the Meuse and the Seine. Alfred was thus left at peace to reorganize his kingdom; and in doing this, he displayed a talent and a grasp of mind even more wonderful than the constancy which he had shown in rescuing it from the hands of its invaders.

With a view of enabling his people to resist the attacks of foreign enemies, he organized the military part of the population in such a manner, that one portion of it should always be ready to take the field while the rest did garrison duty at home. He also strengthened the fortifications of London and other principal towns of the kingdom, so as to enable them to resist not only a sudden attack, but a protracted siege. He also attempted and made some progress in organizing that most important of all means of defence, a navy, capable of contending with the pirates who then infested every sea. To effect this great object, he hired Flemish and other seamen, and attempted to train his own subjects to seamanship, by encouraging commerce, fishing, and navigation. The navy of the West Saxons—the origin of the navy of Britain—made some progress under this great king; and under his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, acquired a strength which only required to have been maintained, to have rendered the kingdom secure against all attacks from without.

For the purpose of giving his subjects the security of good laws, Alfred compiled a code from the laws of the West Saxons, the Kentishmen, and the Mercians, and to these he added some laws of his own. That these laws might be carried into execution, he more thoroughly organized the old Saxon system of rendering the population of every township and every hundred answerable for all offences committed within its limits. This was the only kind of police practicable in so rude an age, and it had the great advantage of giving every free subject an interest in the prevention of crimes. The principle is still retained in the laws of England. In the case of offences perpetrated openly, and with tumult and violence, the people of the hundred or county in which such offences are committed, are liable for all damage done.

But Alfred, in addition to organizing a system of national defence and of legislation, applied himself, with all the power of his great mind, and with a zeal which would have been admirable in any age, and was truly wonderful in his, to the double object of instructing his subjects in useful knowledge, and of creating a literature in the Anglo-Saxon language—the only language they understood—worthy of being studied by them. There was nothing which he more deplored than the general prevalence of ignorance both amongst the clergy and the laity. In his preface to the translation of the Regula Pastoralis of Gregory the First, he says, "I have very often thought what wise men there formerly were in England, both priests and laymen, and how happy were those times, when the people were ruled by kings who obeyed God and his evangelists, and how they maintained at home their peace, customs, and power, and even extended them to other lands; how they prospered in war as well as in wisdom, and how zealous were the priests also in doctrine and knowledge, and all their divine duties; and how men came hither from foreign lands to seek knowledge, which we can obtain only abroad if we desire it. So utterly was it neglected by the English people, that there were but few on this side of the Humber who understood their prayers in English, or could even explain in English an epistle from the Latin; and I likewise suspect that there were not many beyond the Humber. They were so few that I do not actually recollect one south of the Thames, when I began to reign." This state of things he set himself vigorously to remedy; his object, to use his own language, being "that the whole body of freeborn youth in his kingdom who possess the means, may be obliged to learn as long as they have to attend to no other business, until they can read English writing perfectly, and then let those who are dedicated to learning and the service of the church be instructed in Latin."