to books and songs in his own tongue. ¹ But he
was already famous as a warrior who had rivalled
the glory of Æthelred in the storm of the pirate
camp on the Colne as well as in the victory of But-
tington; and with his father's warlike ardor he in-
herited his political capacity. Like Ælfred, he was
able to set aside for years the dreams of mere war-
like enterprise, and his earlier reign, though troubled
for a while by the revolt of a claimant of his throne,
was in the main a time of peace. The failure of
their last attack had left the English Danes little
minded to quarrel with Wessex, while the strength
of their Wiking allies was thrown for some years
into the strife on the other side of the Channel,
where Hrolf was establishing himself in the valley
of the Seine. The peace, indeed, was far from being
unbroken. Ælfred's death had revived the question
of the succession; the order established under Æthel-
wulf, by which his sons followed one another to the
exclusion of their children, was now exhausted; and
it can only have been by a decision of the Wite-
nagemot that the children of Æthelwulf's elder sons
were set aside and the royal stock settled in the
descendants of Ælfred, the youngest. That this
decision expressed the national will was shown at
Eadward's accession. When his cousin, Æthelwald,
King Æthelred's son, rose to claim the crown, he
found himself without support, and forced to fly
from Wessex. ² The shelter which he found among

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