Born 849.—Died 901.—Ethelwulf.—Ethelbald—Ethelbert.—Ethelred.—Alfred.

This extraordinary man, who has with justice been called the greatest of all the line of English kings, was the son of Ethelwulf and Osburga, and was born at Wantage in Berkshire. He learnt to read at six years old, and steadily set himself to gain and spread the love of learning, when he began his reign at seventeen. The Danes overran his kingdom, and he was forced to take refuge in the Isle of Athelney, between the rivers Parret and Tone; it was then that he was set to watch the cakes baking in the ashes, in a hut in which he had asked shelter. After he had subdued the Danes, Alfred enlarged his fleet, and sent envoys to other countries to obtain a knowledge of their state and productions. His name was well known at Rome, Constantinople, Bagdad, and even in India. Alfred first sketched out the English Constitution in his Code of Laws. He built and endowed schools, had books written and chained in the churches, and invented a wax-candle clock, which measured the time by burning an inch of wax in twenty minutes. After a reign of thirty-four years, spent in unceasing toil for the good of his people, Alfred died in 901.