THE DANISH INVASIONS.
The first authentic historical reference to Benfleet
occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year
894, when, during the time of the Danish invasions,
Benfleet became a place of national importance. Essex
gave way before the Danish invasions very early,
and in 878 it became incorporated in the Danelaw ;
place names like Wallasey (the stranger's isle) and
Wakering (the land of the Waker or Vikings) are a
sufficient evidence of actual Danish settlement.
Guthrum's peace with Alfred seems to have been kept
sufficiently well to enable the latter monarch to under-
take a reorganization of the defences of Wessex ; he
began the building of a navy and reorganized his
militia on a new dual basis, whereby only half the able
men were called out at one time. Then in 893 came a
new invasion that taxed Alfred's powers and
resources to the uttermost. This was led by Haesten,
a war leader of European reputation, who had attracted
to him in virtue of his prowess, a confederation of
desperate horsemen. He was, in fact, the hero of a
whole series of exploits in Spain and the Mediterranean,
and for twenty years had been known as the terror
of the Loire. A fighter of great capacity and much
experience, fierce, cunning and treacherous, he had
ravaged north-eastern France and had attacked
Paris, which had been saved by Charles the Bald's
buying him off and making him Count of Chartres.
In 885, when Rollo began a fresh series of raids, he
joined and took part in the desperate siege of Paris,
886, fighting against Charles the Fat. Later he moved
into Flanders, establishing his headquarters at Louvain,
but he was defeated on the River Dyle in 891 and
starved out by the famine of 892. He moved to
Boulogne and there made arrangements for the in-
vasion of South-eastern England. The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle tells us that in 893 Haesten and his host
"transported themselves over at one time with their
horses withal and they came up with 250 ships into
the mouth of the Limne. . . Soon after this Haesten
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