Alfred
Alfred the Great was king of the West Saxons until 901 AD. Born in 849, he came into his kingship in 871, following the death of his brothers Aethelbald and Aethelred, and for the next seven years he fought the Danes for control of Wessex in England. Finally, in 878, he managed to defeat Guthrum, the Danish leader, and forged a respectable treaty which brought peace to the region for nearly a decade. When a Viking fleet appeared on the Thames and threatened the general peacefulness of the region in 885, Guthrum repented the treaty which he had signed and came again against Alfred. Alfred hadn't been napping and his defeat of the Danish attackers was much more permanent as he drove them back to East Anglia and Northumberia where they fled to France.
No longer faced with a life of combat, Alfred turned his attention to educating his people. Seeing a dearth of teachers in England, he brought in scholars to educate his subjects. He also believed there were a number of texts which his people should have access to, and that these books should be translated into a language which the general population could understand. He undertook a number of these translations (from Latin to English) himself and several of the books he brought into English were Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, an interesting rendition of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and several adaptations of the writings of Gregory and Augustine.
"It should be borne in mind, however, that it is not the magnitude of Alfred's military achievements, nor the extent of the country which he governed, that lift him into the ranks of the world's great men, but the beauty and moral grandeur of his character. In him were combined the virtues of the scholar and the patriot, the efficiency of the man of affairs with the wisdom of the philosopher and the piety of the true Christian. His character, public and private, is one without stain, and his whole life was one of enlightened and magnanimous service to his country." [George P. Krapp, Encyclopedia Americana, 1962 edition, p. 380.]