=1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.=[1]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which receives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced in the following order: King Alfred was the son of King Æthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa; he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went to Rome, and there ending the present life honorably, entered into the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he of Cutha[2]; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; he of Creoda; he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; <he of Esla;> he of Gewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Gegwis[3]; <he of Wig; he of Freawine; he of Freothegar;> he of Brond; he of Beldeag; he of Woden; he of Frithowald; he of Frealaf; he of Frithuwulf; he of Finn<; he of> Godwulf; he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshiped as a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical _Paschal Poem_, as follows: If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe, While in a turgid stream their numbers flow-- Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage, Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage; If by the art of song they still revive The taint of ill, and bid old vices live; If monumental guilt they sing, and lies Commit to books in magisterial wise; Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre, And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir, Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone, And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own? This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he of Sceldwea; he of Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra; he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of Sceaf[4]; he of Noah; he of Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; <he of Jared>; he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan[5]; he of Enosh; he of Seth; he of Adam. =2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.=[6]--The mother of Alfred was named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf. This Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes--of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and ealdormen. They, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric their cousin,[7] slew the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island, at a place called Wihtgaraburg[8]; for the other inhabitants of the island had either been slain or had escaped into exile.