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royal lines, indeed, of Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia, had all alike become extinct. That of Wessex, the oldest of all, alone was left; and henceforward its subsidiary realms, Mercia, Kent, and Sussex, were assigned not to Kings, but, like shires, merely to Aldermen. To the Alderman of Mercia Alfred gave in marriage his own daughter Ethelfled, whose claim, after her husband's death, to be Lady of the Mercians' was of such vast moment in that re-conquest of the 'Danelagh' which was the glory of the reign of her great brother, Edward the Elder.

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$ 13. And, with her, Alfred gave over to her husband's wardship the newly rebuilt city of London. The place had been utterly wasted by the Danes, 'the town burnt, and the townsfolk slain, . . . scattered far and wide, or brought in bondage to the heathen.' The old Roman walls were doubtless still standing, but breached and ruinous; and the old Roman centre of Britain, from which every road of theirs radiated, had become a dreary, flame-scorched waste, without inhabitant.

§ 14. It is possible that this may have been so once before, after the English conquest four centuries earlier; but as we read that the last British Bishop of London only fled from his see shortly before the coming of Augustine, this is scarcely probable. London, it is more likely, lived on through all the troubles which marked the end of Roman Britain, surviving, though with much diminished dignity, first as the capital of the Middle Saxons, afterwards as one of the leading towns of the East Saxons, from whom it was finally taken by the Angles of Mercia.

§ 15. Now, Alfred's genius for warcraft and statecraft saw the unrivalled strategic and political advantages of the site, and started London anew in her career of greatness. According to some of the chroniclers, he took the place by force from the Danes, who had drawn off most of their garrison here to aid their great siege of Paris; but the earlier authorities tell us only of the work of restoration. 'Worshipfully did he build again the place . . . that men might dwell therein and have it

in possession.' These men were, to a great extent, the old inhabitants, both Angles and Saxons' (the former representing the comparatively new Mercian element in the population), who before were scattered far and wide, and who now 'freely came in unto the King, and bowed them to his sway.'

§ 16. The event fully justified Alfred's intuition. The importance of London—as the lowest point for many a long mile, where a defensible bridge across the Thames was possible -manifested itself at once. Over and over again in every subsequent inroad the city checked the Danes, nor could they ever again take it. Indeed, it never has since been taken. It waxed ever greater, and in less than three centuries from the date of its restoration by Alfred had vindicated its claim to be the undisputed metropolis of all England.

§ 17. How much did anyone at the time, even Alfred himself, foresee of London's future greatness? But little, probably. Nevertheless, his restoration of the city was evidently felt at once throughout the whole land as an event of the very first importance. It made his claim to be not only King of Wessex, but, like his grandfather Egbert, Overlord of England, a reality. 'Unto him,' says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle here, 'turned all Angle-kin'; and henceforth we find him exercising authority, not only in his own Wessex, but in every part of the land not immediately under the Danes;—in the mountains of Wales, in the wilds of Northumberland, and in the fens of Ely, where he is said to have set up a little college of priests amid the ruins of Etheldreda's famous abbey, ruined, liked the rest thereabout, in the great Danish raid of 870. This great national event—the rebirth of our capital--took place in 886. It is noteworthy that never after that date do the contemporary authorities call Alfred by the title, used up to 885, 'King of the West Saxons'; henceforward he is King of the AngloSaxons,' or even 'King of the English.'"

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1 William the Conqueror, when unable to force London Bridge, had to go up the river as far as Wallingford before he could find another crossing-place. 4 Liber Eliensis,' i., § 41.

2 Asser.

3 Roger of Wendover, § 13.

5 A coin of Alfred figured in the British Museum Catalogue (ii. 34) is inscribed REX ANGLO.

CHAPTER VIII.

Subsequent Danish wars-Great invasion of 893-Military genius of AlfredCampaigns of 894, 895, 896-Battle of Farnham-Danes at ChesterDanish fleet taken-Alfred's ships.

§ I.

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OR, so long as Guthrum lived, had Alfred any further serious trouble with the Danes. Though shortly after the Treaty of Wedmore a large pagan fleet entered the Thames and wintered at Fulham, they found no support from the men of the Danelagh, and sailed away, without attempting mischief here, to ravage Flanders and France, and to be repelled from Paris by the noble devotion and energy of St. Genevieve. Some of the more turbulent spirits from Guthrum's following seem to have accompanied them; remembering, we may well believe, the vision1 of empire which, three years earlier, had led their old comrade, Rollo 'the Ganger,' across the Channel,-to become in due time (A.D. 905) the first Duke of Normandy. A petty raid, by four ships only, was vainly attempted in 882; and a more serious inroad, which stirred up a ferment amongst the East Anglian Danes, was nipped in the bud by prompt naval and military action in 885; but not till 893, when Guthrum was dead, and the Danelagh breaking up into a disorganized mass of petty Danish holdings, were the freebooters able to push any invasion home.

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§ 2. In that year, however, the mighty host came back from the East Kingdom,2 west to Boulogne, and there took they shipping, so that they came over at one crossing, horses and all, and they came to land at Limenemouth, with 350

1 See John of Brompton, § 22.

2 I.e. the German kingdom of the East Franks, whose King was also usually Emperor. The Empire of the West was divided at this time into three parts: the East (roughly=Germany), the West (roughly France), and the Middle Kingdom (the valleys of the Rhine and Rhone), usually called Lotharingen (Lorraine) after its first King, Lothaire, grandson of Charlemagne.

ships. This inlet is in the eastern part of Kent, at the east end of the great weald which is called Andread.' The weald is in length 120 miles, from east to west, or longer, and 30 miles broad, and the river Limin flows out of the weald. On this river they towed their ships as far as they might, four miles from the outer mouth, and there stormed they a stronghold. Within that stronghold were but few men posted, and they but churls, and in part only was it finished. Then soon after came Hasting, with 80 ships, to Thames mouth, and wrought him also a stronghold at Middleton, on the south side of the Thames. And the other host did the

like at Appledore.'

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§ 3. And this formidable inroad-the most formidable in point of numbers that England had seen since the Battle of Ockley, forty years before—was supported by treason at home. There was a general rising amongst the Danes settled in the land, and against their plighted troth, so oft as the other hosts raided forth, then raided they forth also, either with them or on their own count.'

§ 4. The crisis was acute, but the genius and energy of Alfred kept the situation well in hand. With true military instinct he had already provided against the great difficulty which besets the operations of a national militia acting against professional soldiery-the impossibility of keeping the former continuously embodied. The English levies were quite ready to rise at their King's summons, and to fight bravely beneath his banner in the field. But, the battle over, each man wanted to return to his home, and give an eye to his farmwork and his flock. After a few weeks at most, the landsturm would disband, leaving the enemy to make the most of the occasion, and harry unchecked till a new array could be summoned to meet them. For the enemy, a horde of fighters.

always under arms, living on their plunder, were under no

1 So called from the chief Roman city of Sussex, Anderida, utterly destroyed at the English Conquest.

2 A.S. Chronicle.

necessity ever to lay aside their swords for ploughshares, or to rear flocks and herds for themselves; they preferred to carry off those of others.

§ 5. All this was grasped by Alfred as it had never been grasped before, and he created a way out of the difficulty which had all the originality and all the simplicity of true genius. During the fourteen years of almost continuous peace which the Treaty of Wedmore had given him, he had been diligently elaborating a workable scheme of national defence. ✓ He had organized the able-bodied men of every district in England into linked battalions, which in time of need were called out alternately, for some limited period, of probably two or three weeks' duration. When the summons came, every man in the country knew his place in this landwehr, and was ready to serve his time. Thus, the King was able to operate continuously against the foe, who, go where they would, found the English ready for them at every point. The result was triumphant: the hapless freebooters were allowed no rest, but were incessantly hustled from side to side of the land, like shuttles in a loom.

§ 6. Their first endeavour was to effect a junction between their two armies from Appledore and Milton, their common objective being London; now, since Alfred's restoration of the city, recognised as the key of England. Alfred, however, anticipated the design, and sent his son Edward, afterwards King, to occupy, at Farnham, a strategic position between the headquarters of the two pirate hosts. The Prince, thus acting on interior lines, was able, when they made their effort, to inflict decisive defeat, first on one and then the other, ere they could unite.

§ 7. Thus worsted in the East, their next attempt was to transfer the seat of war to the West. But those who went round by sea to Devon were there kept in check by Alfred himself; while those who, by a hasty dash up the Thames Valley, reached the Severn were rolled back again with heavy loss to seek a breathing-space in Essex. Finding none, they

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