Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

9:2 KING ALFRED.
St. Edmund,1 whose martyrdom
) his race.
was the work of
The Angles ceased to reign in East Anglia, and
the Dane, Guthrum, succeeded the king, who had *
laid down his life for his people. The Danish
domination lasted forty years, till Edward the Elder,
the son of King Alfred, reconquered these provinces.2
Dark, indeed, was the prospect of things, when,
in 871, Alfred, the last of his brothers, succeeded to
his father's throne of Wessex-a throne only in
name, for at that time hardships constituted the
royal birthright. The first years of King Alfred
were spent not in reigning but in fighting for the
homes and hearths of his subjects. He was ready to
die for them, as St. Edmund did, yet more fitted
to live for their protection
"
and civilisation. When
racked by illness in his youth, Alfred, with the mind
of a saint, prayed for a suffering which might be
compatible with the discharge of his kingly duties,
and his prayer was heard. His pain was changed,
not taken away. Up to the end of his comparatively
short life he had frequent and severe attacks of
illness, which chastened without prostrating him.
The wife of his choice w;as Alswitha, v a Mercian
princess, whom he married in 868. The battle of
Ethandune
"
in 878 made Alfred a king in more than
name. It told
P
decisively against the Danes, and
1 Butler, vol. ii. p. 906.
'2 Alford, Annales, t. iii. p. 118