Alfred the Great has gone down in English history not only as a great warrior but as a renowned scholar, who dedicated the latter part of his reign to education and literature, to the restoration of learning in the Church and to reformation of the clergy.

This is the story of Alfred. Not yet Alfred the Great, but a young boy growing up in turbulent Saxon times. When he became King in 871 at the age of 22, his only weapons against the Viking menace were a small fighting force and boundless courage. Within a few years he had gathered an army which succeeded in defeating the Danes at the famous battle of Ethandun, a battle which marked a turning-point in Saxon fortunes.

Naomi Mitchison enters and explores this fascinating period of English history with imagination and authority. She vividly reconstructs the atmosphere of long ago — the love of a simple honest life, the character of England as it begins to grow into an organized society. Long established as a writer of repute, she has assimilated a wealth of evidence, drawing from scholarship and archaeology, to produce a narrative full of color which immediately steeps the reader in the glory of the past.

From the dust jacket