them; and the forces of two ships surrendered to him, and they were sorely distressed and wounded before they surrendered to him.

II. ALFRED AND HIS TIMES

It was as leader in these struggles with the Danes. that King Alfred obtained his principal fame, although he had many other interests and ambitions. We possess a life of Alfred, from his earliest childhood, written by Asser, a Welsh bishop, whom the king invited to his court in 884 and appointed bishop of Sherborne. This work, as we have it, has been suspected of being in whole or in part a forgery, but the most careful scholars now believe that the greater part of it is genuine.

I think it right in this place to briefly relate as much as has 40. Extracts come to my knowledge about the character of my revered lord from Asser's Life of Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years that he was Alfred (894) an infant and a boy.

He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the people, above all his brothers, and was educated altogether at the court of the king. As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners he was more graceful than they. His noble nature implanted in him from the cradle a love of wisdom above all things; but with shame be it spoken! - by the unworthy neglect of his parents and nurses he remained illiterate even till he was twelve years old or more; but he listened with serious attention to the Saxon poems which he often heard recited, and easily retained them in his docile memory. He was a zealous practicer of hunting in all its branches, and hunted with great assiduity and success; for skill and good fortune in this art, as in all others, are among the gifts of God, as we also have often witnessed.

On a certain day, therefore, his mother was showing him and his brothers a Saxon book of poetry, which she held in her hand,

Alfred's and said, "Whichever of you shall the soonest learn this volilluminated ume shall have it for his own." Stimulated by these words, or book rather by the divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, he spoke before all his brothers, who though his seniors in age were not so in grace, and answered, "Will you really give that book to one of us, that is to say, to him who can first understand and repeat it to you?" At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had before said. Upon which the boy took the book out of her hand, and went to his master to read it, and in due time brought it to his mother and recited it. . . . The same year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up to comes king that time only of secondary rank, whilst his brothers were (871) alive, now, by God's permission, undertook the government of the whole kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the people; and if he had chosen, he might have done so before, whilst his brother above named was still alive; for in wisdom and other qualities he surpassed all his brothers, and, moreover, was warlike and victorious in all his wars.

Alfred be

And when he had reigned one month, almost against his will, for he did not think he could alone withstand the multitude and ferocity of the pagans, though even during his brothers' lives he had borne the woes of many, he fought a battle with a few men, and on very unequal terms, against all the army of the pagans, at a hill called Wilton, on the south bank of the river Wily, from which river the whole of that district is named. After a long and fierce engagement the pagans, seeing the danger they were in, and no longer able to bear the attack of their enemies, turned their backs and fled. But oh, shame to say, they deceived their too audacious pursuers, and again rallying, gained the victory. Let no one be surprised that the Christians had but a small number of men, for the Saxons had been worn out by eight battles in one year against the pagans, of whom they had slain one king, nine earls, and innumerable troops of soldiers, besides endless skirmishes, both by night and by day, in which the oft-named Alfred and all his chieftains, with their men, and several of his ministers, were engaged without rest or cessation.

How many thousand pagans fell in these numberless skirmishes over and above those who were slain in the eight battles above mentioned God alone knows. In the same year the Saxons made peace with the pagans, on condition that they should take their departure, and they did so. . . .

navy

In the year 877 the pagans, on the approach of autumn, Alfred's partly settled in Exeter, and partly marched for plunder into building of a Mercia. The number of that disorderly crew increased every day, so that if thirty thousand of them were slain in one battle, others took their places to double the number. Then King Alfred commanded boats and galleys, i.e. long ships, to be built throughout the kingdom, in order to offer battle by sea to the enemy as they were coming. On board of these he placed seamen, and appointed them to watch the seas. Meanwhile he went himself to Exeter, where the pagans were wintering, and having shut them up within the walls, laid siege to the town. He also gave orders to his sailors to prevent them from obtaining any supplies by sea; and his sailors were encountered by a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships full of armed soldiers, who were come to help their countrymen. As soon as the king's men knew they were filled with pagan soldiers, they leaped to their arms and bravely attacked those barbaric tribes. The pagans, who had now for almost a month been tossed and almost wrecked among the waves of the sea, fought vainly against them; their bands were discomfited in a moment, and all were sunk and drowned in the sea, at a place called Swanwich.

In the same year the army of pagans leaving Wareham, partly on horseback and partly by water, arrived at Swanwich, where one hundred and twenty of their ships were lost; and King Alfred pursued their land army as far as Exeter; there he made a covenant with them, and took hostages that they would depart. . . .

Alfred's

At the same time the above-named Alfred, king of the West The lowest Saxons, with a few of his nobles and certain vassals and soldiers point in used to lead an unquiet life among the woodlands of Somerset, fortunes in great tribulation, for he had none of the necessaries of life except what he could forage openly or stealthily. . . . The

Summer of 878

aforesaid Alfred often fell into such great misery that sometimes none of his subjects knew where he was or what had become of him. . . .

The Christians attacked the pagans suddenly in the morning, and from the first cut them down in great numbers, slaying also their king, so that few escaped in their ships; and there they gained a very large booty, and amongst other things the standard called Raven; for they say that the three sisters of Hingwar and Hubba, daughters of Lodobroch, wove that flag and got it ready in one day. They say, moreover, that in every battle, wherever that flag went before them, if they were to gain the victory a live raven would appear flying in the middle of the flag; but if they were doomed to be defeated it would hang down motionless, and this was often proved to be so. . . .

The next morning he removed to Edington, and there fought bravely and perseveringly against all the army of the great pagans, whom, with the divine help, he defeated with great slaughter, and pursued them flying to their fortification. Immediately he slew all the men, and carried off all the booty that he could find without the fortress, to which he immediately laid siege with all his army; and when he had been there fourteen days, the pagans, driven by famine, cold, fear, and last of all by despair, asked for peace, on the condition that they should give the king as many hostages as he pleased, but should receive none of him in return, in which form they had never before made a treaty with any one. The king, hearing that, took pity upon them, and received such hostages as he chose; after which the pagans swore that they would immediately leave the kingdom; and their king, Guthrum, promised to embrace Christianity, and receive baptism at Alfred's hands. All of which articles he and his men The baptism fulfilled as they had promised. For after seven weeks Guthrum, king of the pagans, with thirty men chosen from the army, came to Alfred at a place called Aller, near Athelney, and there King Alfred, receiving him as his son by adoption, raised him up from the holy laver of baptism on the eighth day, at a royal villa named Wedmore, where the holy chrism was poured upon him. After his baptism he remained twelve nights

of Guthrum

at Wedmore

with the king, who, with all his nobles, gave him many fine houses.

In the meantime, the king, during the frequent wars and other interruptions of this present life, the invasions of the pagans, and his own daily infirmities of body, continued to carry on the government, and to exercise hunting in all its branches; to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers, and dog keepers; to build houses, majestic and good, beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical inventions; to recite the Saxon books, and Alfred's reespecially to learn by heart the Saxon poems, and to make forms and example others learn them. He alone never desisted from studying most diligently, to the best of his ability; he attended the mass and other daily services of religion; he was frequent in psalm singing and prayer, at the hours both of the day and the night. He also went to the churches, as we have already said, in the night time, to pray secretly and unknown to his courtiers; he bestowed alms and largesses on both natives and foreigners of all countries; he was affable and pleasant to all, and curiously eager to investigate things unknown. Many Franks, Frisians, Gauls, pagans, Britons, Scots, and Armoricans, noble and ignoble, submitted voluntarily to his dominion; and all of them, according to their nation and deserving, were ruled, loved, honored, and enriched with money and power. Moreover, the king was in the habit of hearing the divine Scriptures read by his own countrymen, or, if by any chance it so happened, in company with foreigners, and he attended to it with sedulity and solicitude. His bishops, too, and all ecclesiastics, his earls and nobles, ministers and friends, were loved by him with wonderful affection, and their sons, who were bred up in the royal household, were no less dear to him than his own; he had them instructed in all kinds of good morals, and, among other things, never ceased to teach them letters night and day. . . .

But the king's commendable avarice could not be gratified even in this; wherefore he sent messengers beyond the sea to Gaul, to procure teachers, and he invited from thence Grimbald, priest and monk, a venerable man, and good singer,