The English Church was notably a learned Church, and numbered among its dignitaries Bede, the historian of the Church. Despite the intimate connection between Church and State, it was not a distinctly political Church. The sees were often set up at a distance from the great towns; and the bishops made their ecclesiastical duties the chief interest of their lives, seldom degenerating, as on the Continent, into great territorial princes. The Church was also a popular institution. It was supported by voluntary tithes which were not made imperative by law earlier than the year 787. Its main fault was a certain desultoriness of effort, which is to be traced in the failure to carry out Theodore's plans in their integrity. Learning had almost died out at the time of the accession of Alfred, and the invasions of the Danes can only be adduced as a partial excuse. We find that king complaining that very few of his clergy could translate a letter from Latin. The Church was, moreover, excessively monastic. Pious kings founded and liberally endowed numerous monasteries, which rapidly became luxurious and corrupt, until some were religious societies only in name. The system, however, had its advantages when it was necessary to furnish missionaries gratuitously to poor districts. CHAPTER V. THE DANISH INVASIONS AND THE REIGN OF ALFRED. Character of the Invaders--Reign of Ethelwulf--Reigns of Ethelbald and Ethelbert--The Conquest of East Anglia--Battles near Reading--The Accession of Alfred--The Extinction of the Kingdom of Mercia--The Invasion of Wessex--The Year 878--Alfred at Athelney--Death of Hubba--Victory of Alfred and the Treaty of Wedmore--Renewal of the War--Alfred's fleet--Expeditions of Hastings--Remainder of the Reign--Character of Alfred--His Rules of Life--His Legislation--Encouragement of Learning. We have arrived at the period of the Danish invasions, which has been divided by Professor Freeman into three parts: (1) When the Danes came to plunder. (2) When they came to settle. (3) When they came to conquer England. Of the first division little is to be said, and in part it has already been dealt with incidentally while tracing the rise of the kingdom of Wessex. The first descent upon the English coast seems to have been made upon Northumbria in 787.