Afterwards he spent a year in Rome receiving religious instruction.


II


In the year 871, when Alfred was twenty-two years old, the Danes
invaded various parts of England. Some great battles were fought,
and Alfred's elder brother Ethelred, king of the West Saxons, was
killed. Thus Alfred became king.

The Danes still continued to fight the Saxons, and defeated Alfred
in a long and severe struggle. They took for themselves the northern
and eastern parts of England.

Moreover, Danes from Denmark continued to cross the sea and ravage
the coast of Saxon England. They kept the people in constant
alarm. Alfred therefore determined to meet the pirates on their
own element, the sea. So he built and equipped the first English
navy, and in 875 gained the first naval victory ever won by the
English.

A few years after this, however, great numbers of Danes from the
northern part of England came pouring into the Saxon lands. Alfred
himself was obliged to flee for his life.

For many months he wandered through forests and over hills to avoid
being taken by the Danes. He sometimes made his home in caves and
in the huts of shepherds and cowherds. Often he tended the cattle
and sheep and was glad to get a part of the farmer's dinner in pay