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Around the turn of the 8th century the Danes，or Vikings，invaded England，some of them came from Norway and attacked the rocky coasts of Scotland and northern England，but the main body came from Denmark.The Danes had no respect for the already existing churches or monasteries.They plundered and carried away gold and silver ornaments.They also drove away flocks of sheep and took grain from the barns for their own consumption.

By the time that Alfred became king，the Danes were threatening to take possession of all England.Alfred began to fight against them.He built boats，thus earning the name of“the Father of the British Navy”.He also reorganized the land army，marching one half of the men against the enemy and leaving the other half to till the land.But the Danes were too strong for the English to defeat them.Thinking that it was impossible to drive all the Danes from the island，he made a treaty with them，allowing them to keep the northern and eastern parts of England which later became known as the Danelaw⁸.

King Alfred，however，was even greater in peace than he was in war.He was a scholar and writer himself.He established many schools and brought in learned churchmen from Rome to teach in them.He himself learned Latin hard.He was also active in religions matters.He set about repairing the churches and monasteries that had been destroyed or damaged by the Danes.He codified laws and instituted the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.His services to literature were notable and highly praised.His writings and translations have been called the beginning of prose literature in England.

Alfred died in 899and now lies buried in Winchester Cathedral in southern England.

The 10th century was a period of important social change.The wars between the Danes and Alfred and Edward the Elder⁹ had caused social and economic disruption over a long period.As in most wars，a few people became richer and most people became poorer.Many peasants were compelled to surrender their land to the large landowners，and to deliver themselves into personal slavery in return for a promise of protection from some powerful lords.Other peasants agreed to hold lands from a lord in return for working on his land for several days in the week or rendering other services to him.By the end of the 10th century，slavery had become established throughout England on a much larger scale than in earlier times；a form of serfdom and the manorial system had appeared；and the power of the leading noblemen had increased.

At the end of the 10th century，the English faced a new threat from the Danes，who came in increased strength from Scandinavia.The weak King Ethelred，instead of fighting them，paid money to the Danes on the condition that they left his realm in peace.He raised the money by a tax on his subjects，which was known as the Danegeld.The payment of this money seemed only to encourage the Danes to return and demand more.He thus became known in English history as Ethelred the Unready，the word‘unread’in the Anglo-Saxon language referred not to his unpreparedness but to his failure to follow good advice.

In 1016Ethelred died.His son，Edmund Ironside，succeeded him and fought most heroically against the Danes.Edmund could not get enough forces to drive the Danes out，and then he made an agreement with Canute，the king of Danes，providing that the country should be divided between them.Very soon after the treaty，Edmund died with mysterious suddenness，and Canute became king of all England.Canute governed England through regional governors，who taxed the people to pay for the foreign wars，but otherwise interfered very little with the economic and social way of life of Anglo-Saxon England.Canute died in 1035and his two sons，Harold and Hardecanute，reigned successively.After the death of Hardecanute there was no capable man of the Danish line to claim the throne.An Englishman，Edward，the son of Ethelred the Unready，was then put upon the throne in 1042.Edward was a pious Christian and retained a position in history by building Westminster Abbey in which he was later buried.