One kingdom after another was subdued.

The kingdom of Wessex seemed alone to remain, and that was the subject of contest.

Ethelred was the king.
The Danes advanced into his dominions to attack him.

In the battle that ensued, Ethelred was killed.

The successor to his throne was his brother Alfred, the subject of this history, who thus found himself suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to assume the responsibilities and powers of supreme command, in as dark and trying a crisis of national calamity and danger as can well be conceived.