Despite the fact that the aged minds of many of Alfred's best nobles seemed to resist new learning, the king was resolute in his new demand. Soon the royal court of Wessex was filled with the comic sight of the thegns of Wessex--the same men who had stood undaunted in the shieldwall, standing shoulder to shoulder with the king throughout countless bloody battles-- sitting lost in a mental fog as they tried to push their faltering minds through simple Anglo-Saxan texts.The Life of Alfred the Great, 187-188