there still remained in the hands of the Britons a large strip of
country; and from this they were not expelled until the time of
Cenwealh (652), who defeated them in 658 at "The Pens" (identified by
many with Penselwood), and drove them westward to the Parrett. Somerton
now became the capital of the Somersaetas, the Saxon tribe that gave
its name to the county (just as the Dorsaetas and Wilsaetas have done
to Dorset and Wilts). The third stage of the conquest was completed by
Ina (688-726), who subdued the rest of Somerset, forcing the British
(whose king was Geraint) into Devon and Cornwall, and building Taunton
as a fortress against them. _Williton_ and _Willsneck_ (in the
Quantocks) perhaps preserve the name of the defeated Welsh. Ina is
famous for more than his military prowess, for he was the first King of
Wessex to issue written laws for the guidance of his subjects.

During the Saxon period Somerset did not escape the raids of the Danes;
and in the reign of Alfred it was the scene of one of the most eventful
crises in English history. Alfred, after many battles against the
invaders, had at last seen Guthrum their leader retire from Wessex into
Mercia. But in 878, in midwinter, Guthrum suddenly surprised Chippenham
and made himself master of Wessex, and Alfred was forced to withdraw to
the fens of Athelney. To the narrow limits of the "Isle of the Nobles"
the Saxon dominions in the W. were for some months reduced. Here in the
Eastertide of 879 Alfred, in the words of the "Saxon Chronicle,"
"wrought a fortress [of which perhaps the Mump at Borough Bridge is the
site], and from that work warred on the (Danish) army, with that
portion of the men of Somerset that was nearest."[3] Seven weeks after
Easter, Alfred emerged from his place of refuge to join the men of
Somerset, Wilts, and Hants, who had gathered in force at "Ecgbryhtes
Stane" (Brixton Deveril in Wilts). Putting himself at their head, he
covered the distance that separated him from the foe in two stages;