The territory of Britain was divided into seven or eight Saxon kingdoms, each under a separate king. This power is known in history as the Saxon Heptarchy. The Danes were not exclusively the natives of Denmark. They came from all the shores of the Northern and Baltic Seas. They were a race of bold naval adventurers, as the Saxons themselves had been two or three centuries before. They were banded together in large hordes, each ruled by a chieftain, called a sea-king. One of the most famous of these sea-kings was named Ragnar Lodbrog. His father was a prince of Norway, and Ragnar had married a Danish princess, and had acquired a sort of right to a Danish kingdom, which right was disputed by one Harald. The Franks aided Harald in this contest, and Ragnar was defeated. But he now brought the other sea-kings under his control, and raising a large force, he invaded France, and landing at Rouen he marched to Paris. The king of the Franks finding himself completely in his power, bought off the sea-kings by paying a large sum of money, and Ragnar and his hordes returned to the Baltic Sea with riches and wide renown for their daring adventures. Ragnar afterwards invaded Spain, and finally grew bold enough to attack the Anglo-Saxons on the island of Britain. For this contest, Ragnar had prepared two enormous ships, and, filling them with picked men, he sailed down the coast of Scotland until he reached Northumbria. Here he encountered a large force of Saxons under their king Ella. A terrible struggle ensued. Ragnar was defeated and taken prisoner, and was afterwards put to death in a barbarous manner by the Saxons. They filled a den with poisonous snakes, and drove the captive Ragnar amongst these horrid reptiles, by whose venomous fangs he was killed. In 851 a large horde of Danes landed on the island of Thanet, and afterwards advanced boldly up the Thames. They plundered London and Canterbury, and marched thence into one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, called Mercia. Although the Danes were there defeated by a large force of Saxons, new hordes were continually arriving, and becoming more formidable. At length an immence force of Danes landed, under the command of Guthrum and Hubba. This horde was led by eight kings and twenty earls. Hubba was one of Ragnar’s sons, and many of the horde were his relatives and friends, who swore vengeance for his cruel death. It was at this time that young Alfred appears prominently upon the scene of English history. [Illustration: THE NORTHMEN INVADING FRANCE.] Alfred was the youngest child of Ethelwolf, king of the West Saxons. Under Egbert, the father of Ethelwolf, the kingdoms of the West Saxons had been united; and Egbert is called king of the English, he having given the name of Anglia to the whole kingdom.