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Under their able commander, Guthrum, the Danes fell back to Chippenham. Alfred swept the surrounding country bare of food and horses, and in two weeks the Danes were forced to surrender. They promised to leave the country. Guthrum accepted Christian baptism, with Alfred acting as god-father.

What made Alfred a great man was not just his military victories but his statesman-ship. After years and years of bloody conflict, he saw the futility of trying to destroy the Danes by force. He believed that a man who grows content will cease to be a dangerous enemy, and he was determined to reach friendly agreement with the defeated Danes. This he did. His treaty with Guthrum gave the Danes a large part of eastern England, where Alfred hoped they would settle down as peaceful farmers.

Alfred's statesmanship showed itself also in his ability to learn from his enemies. When new groups of Vikings resumed the attack some years later, they found England far better prepared. Having studied the defenceworks of Guthrum's camps, Alfred set up a system of strongly fortified burghs in southern England. (Traces of his fortifications can still be seen at Wareham in Dorset, among other places.) He also built warships on the Danish pattern and, as the English were not experienced sailors, he hired men from the coastal districts of the Low Countries to man his navy. We know that more than once Viking raiders were defeated at sea by Alfred's ships, and prevented from landing.

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Edward the Confessor (Эдуард Исповедник) was half-Norman by birth. He had spent most of his life in Normandy; and he appointed Normans to important positions in the state (partly to balance the power of great English earls (графов) like Godwine of Wessex). England was already half 'Normanized' before the Norman Conquest of 1066. Edward had no children, and as he died he recognized Harold, son of Godwine, as his heir (наследник). Across the Channel in Normandy, а loud protest was heard. According to Duke (герцог) William, Edward the Confessor had made the same promise to him; what was more, Harold had already accepted William's claim during а visit to Normandy two years before. Such arguments are usually decided by force. William swept across the Channel with his army and landed near Hastings. Harold was in the north, where he had just defeated а Norse invasion, but he hurried south and, brave but foolish, offered battle. His men were tired and he would have done better to have starved the Normans out. Still, his position on а hill was а strong one, until the Normans, pretending to run away, lured (выманили) the English down the hill.We know King William I as 'the Conqueror'. But he wanted no talk of conquest. Не had come, he told the English, to restore the good laws of King Edward and to uphold the constitution. All conquerors talk like that, and William was an expert politician as well as а good general. Yet he was probably sincere.

At first he moved gently, and tried to disturb Anglo-Saxon institutions as little as possible. England already possessed better government machinery than Normandy, so that was only sensible. But rebellions against the Normans provoked him into harsher action. In the north, his soldiers swept through the country like fire. Between York and Durham they left hardly а building standing.

Although Norman influence was strong in England before 1066, that date is still the most famous onе in English history, and the Conquest certainly did cause quite а number of great changes. For onе thing, it tied England more closely to Europe. William ruled Normandy as well as England, and for the next 500 years English kings also held land in France.

The Conquest caused sweeping changes among the leading land-holding families. There were Norman landlords before 1066, but most were Anglo-Saxon or Danish. Within twenty years, all William’s chief tenants (strictly speaking, no onе 'owned' land except the king) were Normans. As а sign of the change, stone castles rose threateningly at every strongpoint, and work was started on the great cathedrals in the cities. In the early stages of construction, the two types of building looked alike - а sign of the alliance in Norman England of the powers of Church and State.

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