ABSTRACT
King Alfred made history: indeed he was one of those rare spirits who not merely bestride their whole generation, and dominate it, but who actually turn back the flowing tide of circumstance, and avert what seem to be inevitable conclusions. Though his work was done on English soil, he is a figure of more than insular importance, as the first successful champion of Christian Europe against the all-pervading, all-conquering Viking swarm. Alfred's work was all devoted to a practical and an attainable end; what he accomplished was never undone, for neither the conquest of Cnut nor the conquest of William of Normandy cancelled it. Yet he is very far from being the typical "good king" of the Dark Ages. King Alfred was about to fight not only for himself but in behalf of the whole of Christendom; he had everybody's adversaries thrown upon his hands at once, when the new invasion came.
