Alfred the Great Book

During the Anglo-Saxon period there existed an institution called the witan-- an assembly of elders who could remove an inept or unpopular king. Think about that for a minute.

The Ninth Century in what is now England met the definition set by Hobbes. It was panicky and bad. Suddenly on the horizon, longships! Matters were now worse. Or were they, in terms of the longue duree Braudel asserts elsewhere that the marauding of the Vikings removed wealth from such intense concentration and helped distribute such, which likely inspired artisanal efforts and possibly investment. The Danish kickstart of the swerve or Renaissance is left under-reported. The Danes trading networks for the Berber coast to the House of Rurik can't be ignored.

Well, anyway, there were a number of kingdoms in that nascent England and Alfred was the youngest of the heirs. Attrition was common in the Anglo-Saxon era and before Bob's your uncle, he's king. He proceeds with caution and prefers negotiations with the Danes, unfortunately this drains the coffers and suddenly the witan toss him aside and the Vikings are invited in to the vacuum to stabilize. Alfred lives in the woods for a while and becomes a folk hero of sorts. There's a popular revolt and Alfred is back. Populism has been the coin of many realms. Well, all of this from a Welsh scribe named Asser, who happened to be in the employ of Good King Alfred.

Learning from the repeated Viking raids and plunder, Alfred institutes a civil defense network, he invites intellectuals to his side and begins some serious nation building, including legal codes and the promotion of literacy. He also modernized their navy and consequently the Danes left, or did they? I hear you knocking, Norman Invasion