The Danes, reenforced by other invaders, overcame Alfred's forces and compelled him to retreat. He fled to the wilds of Somersetshite, and was glad to take up his abode for a time, so the story runs, in a peasant's hut. Subsequently he succeeded in rallying part of his people, and built a stronghold on a piece of rising ground, in the midst of an almost impassable morass. There he remained during the winter. 56. Alfred's Great Victory; Treaty of Wedmore, 878. In the spring Alfred marched forth and again attacked the Danes. They were intrenched in a camp at Edington, Wiltshire. He surrounded them, and starved them into complete submission. They had to confess that Alfred's muscular Christians were more than a match for the most stalwart heathen. The Danish leader swore to maintain a peace, called the Peace or Treaty of Wedmore. (See maps facing p. 32 and p. 38.) More than this, the discomfited warrior sealed the oath with his baptism,--an admission that Alfred had not only beaten him but converted him as well. By the Treaty of Wedmore, 878, the Danes bound themselves to remain north and east of a line drawn from London to Chester, following the old Roman road called Watling Street. All south of this line, including a district around London, was recognized as the dominions of Alfred, whose chief city, or capital, was Winchester. (See map facing p. 32.) By this treaty the Danes got much the larger part of England (called the Danelaw), but they acknowledged Alfred as their Overlord. He thus became, in name at least, what his predecessor, Egbert (S49), had claimed to be,--supreme ruler of the whole country, though the highest title he ever assumed was "King of the Saxons or English." 57. Alfred's Laws; his Translations. Alfred proved himself to be more than mere ruler, for he was also a lawgiver and teacher as well. Through his efforts a written code was compiled, prefaced by the Ten Commandments and ending with the Golden Rule. Referring to this introduction, Alfred said, "He who keeps this shall not need any other law book." Next, that learning might not utterly perish in the ashes of the abbeys and monasteries which the Danes had destroyed (S53), the King, though feeble and suffering, set himself to translate from the Lating the "Universal History of Orosius," and also Bede's valuable "Church History of England." 58. Alfred's Navy. Alfred, however, still had to fight against fresh invasion by the Danes, who continued to make descents upon the coast, and even sailed up the Thames to take London. The English King constructed a superior class of fast-sailing war vessels from designs made by himself. With this fleet, which may be regarded as the beginning of the English navy, he fought the enemy on their own element. He thus effectually checked a series of invasions which, if they had continued, might have reduced the country to barbarism. 59. Estimate of Alfred's Reign.