It was a well-nigh ruined country which Alfred had now to rule over and build up again. His work of restoration invites comparison with that of Charlemagne. Alfred's first care was to organize a fighting force always ready at his call to repel invasion. He also created an efficient fleet, which patrolled the coast and engaged the Vikings on their own element. He had the laws of the Anglo-Saxons collected and reduced to writing, taking pains at the same time to see that justice was done between man and man. He did much to rebuild the ruined churches and monasteries. Alfred labored with especial diligence to revive education among the English folk. His court at Winchester became a literary center where learned men wrote and taught. The king himself mastered Latin, in order that he might translate Latin books into the English tongue. So great were Alfred's services in this direction that he has been called "the father of English prose." [Illustration: ALFRED'S JEWEL (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) A jewel of blue enamel inclosed in a setting of gold, with the words around it "Alfred had me wrought." Found at Athelney in the seventeenth century.] ALFRED'S CHARACTER Alfred alone of English rulers bears the title of "the Great." He well deserves it, not only for what he did but for what he was. Through the mists of ten centuries his figure still looms large. It is the figure of a brave, patient, and modest man, who wore himself out in the service of his people. The oft-quoted words which he added to one of his translations form a fitting epitaph to this noble king: "My wish was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after, my memory in good works." His wish has been fulfilled. FROM ALFRED TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 901-1066 A.D. About seventy-five years after Alfred's death the Danes renewed their invasions. It then became necessary to buy them off with an annual tribute called the Danegeld. Early in the eleventh century Canute, the son of a Danish king, succeeded in establishing himself on the English throne (1016-1035 A.D.). His dynasty did not last long, however, and at length the old West-Saxon line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor (or "the Saint"). Edward had spent most of his early life in Normandy, and on coming to England brought with him a large following of Normans, whom he placed in high positions. During his reign (1042-1066 A.D.) Norman nobles and churchmen gained a foothold in England, thus preparing the way for the Norman conquest of the country. 145. NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND; WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR HAROLD AND WILLIAM