, whom he
constantly employed in rebuilding the ruined cities, castles, palaces,
and monasteries [e]. Even the elegancies of life were brought to him
from the Mediterranean and the Indies [f]; and his subjects, by seeing
those productions of the peaceful arts, were taught to respect the
virtues of justice and industry, from which alone they could arise.
Both living and dead, Alfred was regarded by foreigners, no less than
by his own subjects, as the greatest prince after Charlemagne that had
appeared in Europe during several ages, and as one of the wisest and
best that had ever adorned the annals of any nation.
[FN [c] Asser. p. 13. Flor. Wigorn. p. 588. [d] Asser. p. 20. [e]
Asser. p. 20. W. Malmes. lib. 2. cap. 4. [f] W. Malmes. lib. 2. cap.
4.]

Alfred had, by his wife, Ethelswitha, daughter of a Mercian earl,
three sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Edmund, died without
issue, in his father's lifetime. The third, Ethelward, inherited his
father's passion for letters, and lived a private life. The second,
Edward, succeeded to his power; and passes by the appellation of
Edward the Elder, being the first of that name who sat on the English
throne.

[MN Edward the Elder. 901.]
This prince, who equalled his father in military talents, though
inferior to him in knowledge and erudition [g], found, immediately on
his accession, a specimen of that turbulent life to which all princes
and even all individuals were exposed, in an age when men, less
restrained by law or justice, and less occupied by industry, had no
aliment for their inquietude, but wars, insurrections, convulsions,
rapine, and depredation. Ethelwald, his cousin-german, son of King
Ethelbert, the elder brother of Alfred, insisted on his preferable
title [h]; and arming his partisans, took possession of Winburne,
where he seemed determined to defend himself to the last extremity,
and to await the issue of his pretensions [i]. But when the king
approached the town with a great army, Ethelwald, having the prospect
of certain destruction, made his escape, and fled first into Normandy,
thence into Northumberland; where he hoped that the people, who had
been recently subdued by Alfred, and who were impatient of peace,
would, on the intelligence of that great prince's death, seize the
first pretence or opportunity of rebellion. The event did not
disappoint his expectations: the Northumbrians declared for him [k];
and Ethelwald having thus connec