In his darkest hour, hiding in the depths of the Somerset marshes in 878 AD, King Alfred devises a scheme to save his kingdom from the Vikings threatening to overwhelm the country. His spectacular success, beginning with the triumphant battle of Ethandun, involves creating a sense of nation among his subjects. To help with this, Alfred gathers a small band of brilliant foreign scholars in his court, chief among them John the Old Saxon. Follow this epic tale set in medieval England and see how King Alfred laid the foundations for a united country, and the tenth-century Anglo-Saxon Renaissance.