Britain before the English 3 inscriptions since their date, but are great mines of information. Mommsen, Provinces of the Roman Empire, has a not very satisfactory chapter on Britain. All the authentic early information has been collected in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, ed. Petrie and Sharpe, which contains all the authorities down to the Norman Conquest. There is no first-rate small history upon the earliest period. The first four chapters of Freeman's Old English History make an excellent summary for young readers. Mr. York Powell's English History down to 1509 is as good as any on a small scale-superior perhaps to Dr. Gardiner's Students' History in the earlier centuries; and more correct, though less picturesque, than Green's Short History. LOW GERMAN, OR ENGLISH, ATTACKS AND SETTLEMENTS IN BRITAIN A.D. 286. Franks and Saxons are before this date infesting the Channel and attacking the shores of Britain and Gaul. 363. Saxons harass Britain. 368. Theodosius delivers Britain from the Barbarians. 387. Maximus withdraws many soldiers from Britain to Gaul, who never return. 396. Stilicho the Roman general gives temporary help to Britain. 406. The Vandals, Suevi and Alani, "become formidable even to the armies in Britain" (Zosimus), who appoint emperors of their own. 409. The Britons defend themselves from the Barbarians. 410. The Emperor Honorius bids the Britons look to their own defence in future. A.D. 418. The Roman Officials and upper classes finally 430. abandon Britain. Saxons fighting in Britain. 449. Landing of Hengist and Horsa in Kent. 455. Hengist and Esc become kings of the Kentishmen. 477. Landing of Ella and Cissa in Sussex. 491. Ælla called king of the South Saxons. 495. Landing of Cerdic and Cynric in Hampshire. 547. Ida first king of the Northumbrians in Bernicia. 571. 584. Crida first king of the Mercians. In these five latter kingdoms, to judge from what is told us of the southern kingdoms, settlements and conquests probably preceded the assumption of the title of king by a victorious leader (alderman or heretoga.) Other accounts antedate the arrival of Hengist and Horsa by twenty years, and all the earlier dates of the conquest cannot of course be certainly accepted as accurate. The student should observe the long space of time during which Britain had been exposed to piratical attack, before the era of Low German conquest and settlement began. It is probable that much of the coast outside the fortified towns had become depopulated, explaining its subsequent pure Teutonic character. Teutonic conquest, moreover, extended to both shores of the Channel, cutting the communications between the rest of Britain and the Roman world. EARLY ENGLAND THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS Kent, including the modern county, perhaps sometimes divided into kingdoms of East and West Kent. Before the defeat of Ethelbert at Wibbandune, A.D. 568, by Ceawlin and the West Saxons, Kent included part of Surrey with an overlordship over the East and Middle Saxons, including London. The South Saxons, including only the coast districts of the modern county of Sussex, from Chichester harbour to the great inlet of the sea where Romney marsh now is, reaching inland a few miles only. The centre of the county was filled with a nearly uninhabited forest, the Andredes Lea, which extended into southern Surrey and into much of Kent. The West Saxons, including Hampshire, Berkshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Surrey (after 568), Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and part of Bedfordshire (after 571), most of Gloucestershire and part of Somersetshire (after 577), some of the valley of the Severn and of the Warwickshire Avon (after 584), and gradually by successive conquests the rest of Somersetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall. Sussex and ultimately Kent became subject to the West Saxon kings, and were ruled sometimes by under-kings appointed by them, either separately or conjointly with each other and with Surrey. The West Saxon lands north of the Thames were conquered by the Mercians, perhaps finally by Penda in 645. In 671 there was an under-king in Surrey dependent upon Mercia, and Mercian rule was for a time extended over Sussex and Kent. East Saxons, including Essex, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire. They were early under the supremacy of Kent, afterwards of Mercia. East Angles, divided into the subordinate peoples of the Northfolk and the Southfolk, including Norfolk and Suffolk, with part of Cambridgeshire. They retained kings of their own till the Danish invasions. The Mercians, including many subordinate peoples, such as the Lindisfaras and Gainas, in Lincolnshire; the Magesaetas, in Herefordshire and Shropshire; the Hwiccas, in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire; the Pecsaetas, in Northern Derbyshire; the Snotingas, in Nottinghamshire; the Southumbrians, perhaps in part of the West Riding, Nottinghamshire,* and Lincolnshire; the Middle English, perhaps in Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Northamptonshire. Mercian conquests extended south of the Thames, as mentioned above, and into South Lancashire. Under Offa they were supreme over all Southern Britain. The name Mercians, men of the March or boundary, must have been applied during the earlier conquests over the Welsh in Central England. Offa, king of the Mercians, 757-796, fixed the boundaries of the Mercians and the North Welsh by Offa's dyke, which started from a point west of the estuary of the Dee, and went to a point on the Wye, some miles above Hereford, and thence the frontier ran to the mouth of the Wye. This boundary did not correspond to the present border-line of the English and Welsh counties, which is a purely artificial boundary fixed in Henry the Eighth's reign. The Northumbrians of Deira, including generally Yorkshire and Durham, though a Welsh kingdom long existed in the West Riding about Leeds; and by conquest, if not by settlement, Nottinghamshire, Chester, parts of Lancashire and * Nottinghamshire was ultimately included in Northumbria, in spite of being the home of the Southumbrians, a connexion attested by its inclusion in the diocese of York. (See below.) Westmoreland, their western March with the Welsh of Cumberland. Anglesea was conquered for a time by Edwin of Deira, circa 620, and Lincoln from the Mercians in 677 by Ecgfrith. The Northumbrians of Bernicia, including Northumberland and the south-east of Scotland. By conquest, from 756 for a short time, Strathclyde or South-west Scotland, but not for long. In the reign of Indulf, king of Scots, 954-962, the Scots occupied Edinburgh. In the reign of Eadgar, circa 966, the Scots perhaps received a grant of Lothian, which was certainly separated from Bernicia in or after 1018. It is impossible, however, to fix for certain the boundaries between the Northumbrian kingdoms and the Scots, and the Welsh of Strathclyde and Cumberland. There were in all these kingdoms at different times kings reigning jointly or in subordination to an over-king. THE BRETWALDAS This title, meaning either Wide Ruler or Ruler of Britain, is given by Bede to seven kings; namely, Ella of the South Saxons, Ceawlin of Wessex, Ethelbert of Kent, Redwald of the East Angles, Edwin, Oswald, and Oswy of the Northumbrians. Later writers add Egbert of Wessex. As, however, in the time of the three earlier kings the greater part of South Britain was not yet conquered by the English, and as none of the powerful Mercian kings, of whom Offa was probably more powerful than any of the seven named, are included, the title must be looked upon as more or less a fanciful appellation. THE WELSH KINGDOMS The West Welsh, under many kings in Somersetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall. The West Saxon victory at Deorham, followed by the fall |