White, the Norse king of Dublin, were about this time attacking the Strathclyde Britons. He may even be the Ivarr whose death is reported in the Annals of Ulster as occurring in 872. In England, at any rate, he ceases to be heard of, and his place as leader of the Danish army fell to Halfdene, represented as his brother, and to another sea king called Bagseag. These chiefs, by no means satisfied with the territories and booty already won, determined next to invade Wessex and surprise its king by a winter attack. They accordingly set out in the autumn to march by land into the Thames valley, and neglecting London descended late in December on Reading, in Berkshire. Here they set up a fortified camp at the point where the river Kennet joins the Thames. In describing the measures taken to repel this invasion, the West Saxon Chronicle suddenly becomes much more detailed, and so it is possible to follow the numerous engagements of the next few weeks with considerable minuteness, and even to gain some idea of the tactics employed. The most favourable encounter to the West Saxons was a fight which took place in January 871 to the west of Reading on the slopes of Ashdown. In this Aethelred fought in person and with the aid of his brother Alfred slew Bagseag and several other Danish leaders. But this success was counterbalanced by a defeat at Basing in Hampshire only a fortnight later, and by yet another disaster in March at a hamlet called Marton on the outskirts of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire.
Amid all this gloom Aethelred's reign terminated. He died about Easter, leaving only infant children, and was buried at Wimborne, one of Ine's foundations in Dorset. Aethelred's death was no real disaster for the West Saxons, for it opened the succession to his brother Alfred, who, in a reign of twenty-eight and a half years (871-899) was destined to prove himself one of the most remarkable characters known to history. Born at Wantage, in Berkshire, the youngest of Aethelwulf's sons by his first wife Osburh, Alfred was a married man just turned twenty-three when he was acclaimed king by the West Saxon magnates. His wife was Ealhswith, daughter of Aethelred Mucel, a leading Mercian duke, who witnesses many of Burhred's landbooks. Before his election Alfred was already known as a prince of courage and energy, who, according to his biographer Asser, had shewn in boyhood a taste for learning, which unfortunately had not been gratified, as he could get no proper masters. His health, however, had never been robust, and he must have taken up his task with many misgivings, having the disasters of eastern England before his eyes. The fate of central Wessex, indeed, seemed hanging by a thread a month later, when the Danes gained another well-contested battle at Wilton; but as it turned out Alfred was to have a four years' respite. After nine costly encounters, none of which had been at all decisive, the Danes began to think that the conquest of Wessex was too difficult and that Mercia would prove a more remunerative prey. Both sides, therefore, as at Nottingham three
