Of these sovereigns the most conspicuous during the period of which we
are writing was Alfred. He was a grandson of Egbert (S49). He was
rightly called Alfred the Great, since he was the embodiment of
whatever was best and bravest in the English character. The keynote
of his life may be found in the words which he spoke at the close of
it, "So long as I have lived, I have striven to live worthily."

52. Danish Invasion.

When Alfred came to the throne (871) the Danes, or Northmen, as they
were often called, were sweeping down upon the country. A few months
before he became King, he had aided his brother in a desperate
struggle with them. In the beginning, the object of the Danes was to
plunder, later, to possess, and finally, to rule over the country.
They had already overrun a large portion of England and had invaded
Wessex or the country of the West Saxons. (See map facing p. 30.)
Wherever their raven flag appeared, destruction and slaughter
followed.

53. The Danes or Northmen destroy the Monasteries.

These terrible pirates despised Christianity. They scorned it as the
weak religion of a weak people. They hated the English monasteries
most of all and made them the especial objects of their attacks (SS43,
45, 46). Many of these institutions had accumulated wealth, and some
had gradually sunk into habits of laziness, luxury, and other evil
courses of life. The Danes, who were full of the vigorous virtues of
heathenism, liked nothing better than to scourge those effeminate
vices of the cloisters.