Beacon Lights of History, Volume 08 | Page 7

wealth was succeeded by vices, especially luxury
and sloth. Their wealth tempted the more needy of the adventurers from
the North, who succeeded in their aggressions because they were
stronger than the Saxons. So slow was the progress of England in
civilization. As soon as it became centralized under a single monarch, it
was subjected to fresh calamities. It would seem that the history of
those ages is simply the history of violence and spoliations. There was
the perpetual waste of human energies. Barbarism seemed to be
stronger than civilization. Nor in this respect was the condition of
England unique. The same public misfortunes happened in France,
Germany, Italy, and Spain. For five hundred years Europe was the
scene of constant strife. Not until the Normans settled in England were
the waves of barbaric invasion arrested.
The Danish conquest made a profound impression on Alfred, and
stimulated him to renewed efforts to preserve what still remained of
Christian civilization. His whole subsequent life was spent in actual
war with the Northmen, or in preparations for war. It was remarkable
that he succeeded as well as he did, for after all he was the sovereign of

scarcely half the territory that Egbert had won, and over which his
grandfather and father had ruled. He preserved Wessex; and in
preserving Wessex he saved England, which would have been
replunged in barbarism but for his perseverance, energy, and courage.
That Danish invasion was a chastisement not undeserved, for both the
clergy and the laity had become corrupt, had been enervated by
prosperity. The clergy especially were lazy and ignorant; not one in a
thousand could write a common letter of salutation. They had fattened
on the contributions of princes and of the credulous people; they saw
the destruction of their richest and proudest abbeys, and their lands
seized by Pagan barbarians, who settled down in them as lords of the
soil, especially in Northumbria. But Alfred at least arrested their further
progress, and threw them on the defensive. He knew that the recovery
of the conquests which the Saxons had made was a work of exceeding
difficulty. It was necessary to make great preparations for future
struggles, as peace with the Danes was only a truce. They aimed at the
complete conquest of the island, and they sought to rouse the hostility
of the Welsh.
Alfred showed a wise precaution against future assaults in constructing
fortresses at the most important points within his control. Before his
day the Saxons had but few fortified positions, and this want of forts
had greatly facilitated the Danish conquest. But the Danes, as soon as
they gained a strong position, fortified it, and were never afterwards
ejected by force. Probably Alfred took the hint from them. He rebuilt
and strengthened the fortresses along the coast, as he had four precious
years of unmolested work; and for this his small kingdom was
doubtless severely taxed. He imported skilled workmen, and adopted
the newest improvements. He made use of stone instead of timber, and
extended his works of construction to palaces, halls, and churches, as
well as castles. So well built were his fortifications, that no strong place
was ever afterwards wrested from him. In those times the defence of
kingdoms was in castles. They marked the feudal ages equally with
monasteries and cathedral churches. Castles protected the realm from
invasion and conquest, as much as they did the family of a feudal noble.
The wisdom as well as the necessity of fortified cities was seen in a
marked manner when the Northmen, in 885, stole up the Thames and

Medway and made an unexpected assault on Rochester. They were
completely foiled, and were obliged to retreat to their ships, leaving
behind them even the spoil they had brought from France. This
successful resistance was a great moral assistance to Alfred, since it
opened the eyes of bishops and nobles to the necessity of fortifying
their towns, to which they had hitherto been opposed, being unwilling
to incur the expense. So it was not long before Alfred had a complete
chain of defences on the coast, as well as around his cities and palaces,
able to resist sudden attacks,--which he had most to fear. His great
work of fortification was that of London, which, though belonging to
him by the peace of Wedmore, was neglected, fallen to decay, filled
with lawless bands of marauders and pirates, and defenceless against
attack. In 886 he marched against this city, which made no serious
resistance; rebuilt it, made it habitable, fortified it, and encouraged
people to settle in it, for he foresaw its vast commercial importance.
Under the rule of his son Ethelred, it regained the pre-eminence it had
enjoyed under the Romans as a commercial centre.
Having done what he could to protect