Continent
also did something to lessen the isolation of England from the rest of
the world. To these broadening influences must be added the effect
which the Councils made up of churchmen from all England exerted in
fostering the tardy growth of the unity of the country.

*5. Danish and Late Saxon England.*--At the end of the eighth century
the Danes or Northmen, the barbarous and heathen inhabitants of the
islands and coast-lands of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, began to make
rapid forays into the districts of England which lay near enough to
the coasts or rivers to be at their mercy. Soon they became bolder or
more numerous and established fortified camps along the English
rivers, from which they ravaged the surrounding country. Still later,
in the tenth and eleventh centuries, under their own kings as leaders,
they became conquerors and permanent settlers of much of the country,
and even for a time put a Danish dynasty on the throne to govern
English and Danes alike. A succession of kings of the West Saxon line
had struggled with varying success to drive the Danes from the country
or to limit that portion of it which was under their control; but as a
matter of fact the northern, eastern, and central portions of England
were for more than a century and a half almost entirely under Danish
rule. The constant immigration from Scandinavia during this time added
an important element to the population--an element which soon,
however, became completely absorbed in the mixed stock of the English
people.

The marauding Danish invaders were early followed by fellow-countrymen
who were tradesmen and merchants. The Scandinavian countries had
developed an early and active trade with the other lands bordering on
the Baltic and North seas, and England under Danish influence was
drawn into the same lines of commerce. The Danes were also more
inclined to town life than the English, so that advantageously
situated villages now grew into trading towns, and the sites of some
of the old Roman cities began again to be filled with a busy
population. With trading came a greater development of handicrafts, so
that the population of later Anglo-Saxon England had somewhat varied
occupations and means of support, instead of being exclusively
agricultural, as in earlier centuries.

During these later centuries of the Saxon period, from 800 to 1066,
the most conspicuous and most influential ruler was King Alfred. When
he became king, in 871,