It is, however, memorable as the first of a series of invasions from the Danes--or Northmen, as they are sometimes called, since they came from all the coasts of the Baltic and German Seas--which, in the end, gave the Anglo-Saxons infinite trouble.

At one time, in fact, the conquests of the Danes threatened to root out and destroy the Anglo-Saxon power from the island altogether.

They would probably have actually effected this, had the nation not been saved by the prudence, the courage, the sagacity, and the consummate skill of the subject of this history, as will fully appear to the reader in the course of future chapters.
Ragnar was not the only one of these Northmen who made attempts to land in England and to plunder the Anglo-Saxons, even in his own day.
Although there were no very regular historical records kept in those early times, still a great number of legends, and ballads, and ancient chronicles have come down to us, narrating the various transactions which occurred, and it appears by these that the sea kings generally were beginning, at this time, to harass the English coasts, as well as all the other shores to which they could gain access.

Some of these invasions would seem to have been of a very formidable character.
At first these excursions were made in the summer season only, and, after collecting their plunder, the marauders would return in the autumn to their own shores, and winter in the bays and among the islands there.

At length, however, they grew more bold.