Saxons, in the province of Berkshire, in the royal town which is called Wantage, who, at the sacred regeneration of baptism, received the name of Alfred. His mother's name was Osburga, a very religious woman, of noble family and great abilities, and she was the daughter of Aslat, the illustrious cupbearer of king Ethelwolf. And Aslat was descended from the Goths and Jutes, of the family of two brothers, whose names were Scuphus and Withgar. They, having received power from their uncle, the king of the West Saxons, and from Kenric, their cousin, first of all slew a few Britons in the Isle of Wight, whom they found inhabiting the said island, in a place which is called Withgaresburg, that is to say, the town of Withgar ; and after that, as I have said before, they occupied and made themselves masters of the whole island. The same year, on the vigil of the day of Pentecost, Berthfer, son of the king of Mercia, wickedly slew his kinsman, the son of Bertulf, the holy Wolstan. And he was the grandson of two kings of Mercia. And the corpse of the deceased is said to have been conveyed to the most famous monastery of his time, which was called the monastery of Rependune, and to have been buried in the tomb of his grandfather, king Wilaf. But heavenly miracles were not wanting to his martyrdom. For, from the spot where he was murdered in his innocence, a pillar of light rose up to heaven, and was visible for thirty days to all the inhabitants of that place. A.D . 850. The French were worsted in a terrible battle by the Bohemians ; which battle a malignant spirit publicly professed by the mouth of a certain demoniac, that he had regulated, and that he, by his own labours and those of his companions the spirits, namely, pride and discord, had caused the French to fly before their enemies. A.D. 851. A great army of pagans, with three hundred and fifty ships, entered the mouth of the Thames, and sacked Dorobernia, which is Canterbury, and put to flight Bertulf, king of Mercia, who had come against them to give them battle. And becoming more audacious. still after this, they marched with all their force into Surrey. But when the news of this event was brought to Ethelwolf, king of the West Saxons, he collected a great army, and with his son Ethelbald, fought a battle against the pagans in a place which