[* Chron. Sax. p. 94. M. West. w 178.]
[** M. West, p. 179.]
But though the king had thus honorably rid himself of this dangerous enemy, he had not entirely subdued or expelled the invaders. The piratical Danes willingly followed in an excursion any prosperous leader who gave them hopes of booty, but were not so easily induced to relinquish their enterprise, or submit to return, baffled and without plunder, into their native country. Great numbers of them, after the departure of Hastings, seized and fortified Shobury, at the mouth of the Thames; and having left a garrison there, they marched along the river, till they came to Boddington, in the county of Glocester; where, being reënforced by some Welsh, they threw up intrenchments, and prepared for their defence. The king here surrounded them with the whole force of his dominions; [*] and as he had now a certain prospect of victory, he resolved to trust nothing to chance, but rather to master his enemies by famine than assault. They were reduced to such extremities, that having eaten their own horses, and having many of them perished with hunger,[**] they made a desperate sally upon the English; and though the greater number fell in the action, a considerable body made their escape.[***]
[* Chron. Sax. p. 94.]
[** Chron. Sax. p. 94. M. West. p. 179. Flor.
Wigorn. p. 596.]
[*** Chron. Sax p. 96.]
These roved about for some time in England, still pursued by the vigilance of Alfred; they attacked Leicester with success, defended themselves in Hartford, and then fled to Quatford, where they were finally broken and subdued. The small remains of them either dispersed themselves among their countrymen in Northumberland and East Anglia,[*] or had recourse again to the sea, where they exercised piracy, under the command of Sigefert, a Northumbrian.
[* Chron. Sax. p. 97.]
This freebooter, well acquainted with Alfred’s naval preparations, had framed vessels of a new construction, higher, and longer, and swifter than those of the English; but the king soon discovered his superior skill, by building vessels still higher, and longer, and swifter than those of the Northumbrians; and falling upon them, while they were exercising their ravages in the west, he took twenty of their ships; and having tried all the prisoners at Winchester, he hanged them as pirates, the common enemies of mankind.
The well-timed severity of this execution, together with the excellent posture of defence established every where, restored full tranquillity in England, and provided for the future security of the government. The East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, on the first appearance of Alfred upon their frontiers, made anew the most humble submissions to him; and he thought it prudent to take them under his immediate government, without establishing over them a viceroy of their own nation.[*] The Welsh also acknowledged his authority; and this great prince had now, by prudence, and justice, and valor, established his sovereignty over all the southern parts of the island, from the English Channel to the frontiers of Scotland; when he died,
901.
in the vigor of his age and the full strength of his faculties, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half,[**] in which he deservedly attained the appellation of Alfred the Great, and the title of founder of the English monarchy.
[* Flor. Wigorn. p. 598.]
[** Asser. p. 21. Chron. Sax. p. 95.]