01355383 Varieties of English and Cultures of English Native Speakers 03 | Page 5

As their armies were moving towards the south of England,
the Vikings destroyed schools, libraries and books of the
Anglo-Saxons, making sure they did not leave much behind.
This brought a great threat to Old English, the language
which was still in its infancy. At this point in history, English
was on the verge of extinction.
And it could have been so, if it wasn’t for this man.
King Alfred of Wessex
(Bragg, 2003)